In Your Box October 13th

Veggies- Large boxes

Red Cabbage, Bunching Broccoli, Cucumber, Lettuce, Potatoes, Broad Beans, Boc choy, Beetroot, Snow Pea sprouts, Shallots and Coriander.

Medium Boxes- Watercress, Snow Pea Sprouts, Chinese Broccoli, Baby Carrots, Lettuce, Coriander, Shallots, Cucumber, Potatoes and Broad Beans.

Small Boxes- Beetroot, Alfalfa Sprouts, Chinese Broccoli, Cucumber, Mesclun salad mix, Potatoes, Watercress and Coriander.

Fruit- All boxes contain Avocados, Oranges, Tangelos and Lemons. Large and Medium also contain Pink Grapefruit.

In Season

Beans and peas are sprouting like fleas! Snow peas last week and this week Broad beans , shelling peas round the corner and if you didn’t get your fill of snow peas last week the large and medium boxes get to try snow pea sprouts, which cheer  up the taste buds immeasurably. More berries on the horizon and new this week are cucumbers, as Rita’s vines start to weave and climb around the greenhouse. Still plenty of citrus around to combat and heal all those change of season flues from navel oranges, early season valencias, pink grapefruit, lemons and this week we have a new zesty fruit , bulging with juice and vitamin C, it’s the tangelo. Due to the abundance of rain in the Coffs Harbour area recently we haven’t been able to get bananas this week as it’s too difficult to pick them. I have been assured they will be back next week if the weather is dryer.

Direct from local farmers

A thriving array of greens will be coming from all the regular local farms. Rita is harvesting some new season chinese broccoli, coriander and watercress, then at Lins Organics, Belinda will be avoiding puddles to pull forth the first of their beetroot meanwhile tending to her enormous quantity of sprouts, alfalfa and snow peas. Next weeks large and medium boxes will also have broad beans coming from Champion Organics on the Central Coast where I sourced our snow peas from last week.

The riches of the red soil

A new grower this week by the name of Sandra Fishwick from Mooral Creek. Only four hours away, the rich red soil of Red Plateau in the Comboyne area is the home of hundreds of hass and reed avocado trees as well as tangelo and macadamia nut trees. Situated on 80 acres of volcanic, fertile, red soil which is ideal for avocado, nuts and tropical fruit growing, Sandra has been farming for 23 years. Her property is surrounded by acres of bush which adds to the premium quality of her fruit trees. We are also tasting her tangelos, lemons and grapefruit this week. She tells me her tangelos are a treat, really juicy and sweet and the lemons succulent and she expects persimmons at the end of the year, so you should too!

My other new farmer is a potato grower from the pastoral lands of Crookwell.  Crookwell is the birthplace of the Australian potato industry that began in 1828. Joy and Lester Price grow a numerous range of organic potatoes and copious quantities. The variety we are getting this week is called Coliban, which is a white skinned spud and an all rounder. Especially good for chips apparently, but also great boiled and mashed.

Plenty of lovely spring vegetables for this week, lots of potential for salads with beetroot or dips. I love lettuce mixed with alfalfa, cucumber and feta cheese and then dress it with a squirt of lemon, olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Or boil beetroot till soft, then pour a dressing of tahini, sea salt, olive oil and finely chopped shallots. I always pickle my red cabbages or press them with sea salt and sometimes add it to soba noodles. Lots of options for the broad beans, especially if you have some mint left over. Lemon zest always combines well with broad beans and of course avocados go well with everything….yes I can’t think of anything that wouldn’t go with avocados.