Here is a scan of a recent Express Advocate, Central Coast News article featuring Michael. It referenced his recent appearance at the Food Fairness Forums. (Click to the image to see it full-size)

We have some special additions to our market stall this Saturday: corn salad or mache lettuce. We have been using some of the leaves in our salads recently, and after an enquiry by a customer last Saturday have decided to bring some along this week to try out.

Mache lettuce, or lamb lettuce is a great variation on your regular salad greens, but much more than taste and variety alone, it’s incredibly healthy: “high in folate, vitamin C, A, K. Iron, fiber and more. It has a tender nutty flavour that most kids and adults love”. There is some good information available online which I can save you the trouble of finding yourself: some great recipes here, and from the same site, a bit more information.

Other market news: the heat has gotten to the bok choi and all we’ll have is a couple of heads and some very young shoots. There will be some good tat soi however, and if we’re lucky, some cauliflower heads too (if our neighbour is able to get some to us in time!). We will have some endive heads (which Michael informs me are Rhodes but I can’t find much about them – ask him in person tomorrow!)

We brought along some dandelion leaves (or red-ribbed chicory as they are otherwise known). They were also in the weeds special in the Good Living article that featured Michael last week. Unfortunately the nettles are almost done for the season but the chicory should be around a while longer.

We thought it would be nice to introduce you to the gang who run our Eveleigh Market stall each Saturday, so who better to start with than Katie!

Katie, also known as the Pierogi Princess, has become quite a celebrity at Eveleigh Markets… so much so that many of our fellow stall holders (such as Pat & Stick) refer to the Champion Organics stall simply as “the stall with Katie on”!

How did Katie end up working on the stall? Well, Michael Champion and Katie’s dad used to work together in London back in the 70s. Katie recently moved to Australia to study Art Theory @ COFA. Being a bit of a foodie and practically part of the family what better place for her to work than on Michael’s organic food stall!

Katie says her favourite CMO produce is definitely the blood orange juice (which she proudly squeezes herself!).

What does Katie like best about farmers markets? That would be chatting to all our customers about food and sharing recipes. In fact Katie promises she will blog some recipes shortly (isn’t that right Katie? ). A rhubarb compote recipe in fact, so keep an eye out for that! If you don’t see her recipes soon make sure you leave an encouraging comment on the blog, or give her a nudge next time you see her on the the stall.

So, now you know who Katie is, say hello next time you see her at Eveleigh!

Summer has come on very fast this year, and a lot of things are going straight to seed. Last week in particular, our cold winter days mixed with hot summer temperatures made a lot of our winter vegies – bok choi, lettuce and cime di rapa for instance – very unhappy.

Other winter veg that are ending soon are our nettles and Cavalo Nero kale, as they are going to seed as well. You’ll see some of the kale on our stall already have young heads growing, but if anything they are even more delicious. One of our customers said it was just like broccolini – tender and tasty.

The good news is that soon we’ll be able to start on our summer crops – zucchini and lots of tomatoes amongst other things will be planted soon and will be ready later in the year. Michael’s delicious cherry tomatoes have made it through winter and will be replanted to last us all year round.

Today Champion’s Mountain Organics features in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Living section. The story even got the cover picture on the print magazine, so look out for it (we haven’t got a copy yet!).

Michael was interviewed for the story on “Weeds” and their current popularity in cooking and culinary delights. Michael grows nettles, mustard greens and chickweed on the farm (not all of it intentionally!) and they have been getting quite popular recently. Here’s a couple of quotes from the article:

Champion has a following of intrigued home cooks and enthusiastic nursing mothers who have discovered the leaves’ positive effects on lactation.

If that doesn’t pique your interest nothing will! Head over to the SMH now to read the rest of the article.

Our only advice is to not let yourself get too influenced by all the “weeding” puns in the article! Anyway, I’m off to put the nettle on…