G’day everyone, well not including today we had 100mm of rain, too wet for anything, but the weather man said it’s clearing.

You will need to get in early if you want duck eggs as the ducks are molting and slow down laying, it is also last week or two of purple beans. Now for the good news, the first pick of passion fruit, water melon, and wait for it continental cucumbers that aren’t shrink wrapped,(OOOOH).

I don’t usually get into the political side of things on here but we read something in the Melbourne Farmers Markets’ newsletter that i would like to share with you to say thank you and we appreciate your support.

“A pinch and  a punch for the first of the month…that’s what Coles think anyway, ‘let’s beat up the farmers’, they’ve said  to themselves. ‘We’ve laid waste to the dairy  farmers already, we’re half job done with the free range egg people, let’s go  after the fruit and vege grower’.

And the sorry news is they can and they have; they wrote the  book on it.

G’day everyone, hope you all had a nice week. We have been trying out using the face book site more this week, look up champion mountain organics and click the like button, then you can have your say, ask a question, or even ask us to bring something you want in particular, like green tomatoes for your thai dish.

Welcome back Everligh market this week. hope you enjoyed your time off over christmas and the new year, and we look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

One new produce this week, the chioggia beetroot is back, and i was serious about the cherry tomatoes, they go like hot cakes at a cwa meeting so get in early and come straight up to us before you miss out. We also have had a lot of great feedback on the super sweet juicy corn so we are bringing down more this week.

We have had a few request for loose garlic so i have split some up and will be selling some like that.

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow, its going to be a warm one, bye for now.

G’day all and welcome to 2012. Hope you all had a safe and enjoyable holiday.

Were starting off this year at Sydney Sustainable Markets at Taylor Square this saturday, so any Everligh customers please come over and see me (Lee) at Taylor Square on Oxford st and Forbes st with parking behind on Forbes or Bourke st.

Now the formalities are over and summer has started we have some fantastic new produce to kick off the first market.

Sweet corn, the juiciest corn with a lasting sweet flavor. Capsicums, these are the best around, the wholesalers are begging for these but we are only selling them at the markets for you. Cherry tomatoes, wow if you got to enjoy these last year you’ll be lined up before 8 am to get some more, these tomatoes were without a doubt the best selling produce we had last year, they were running out the markets.

Like last year we still have the Romano or Italian flat beans are in plenty, and zucchini by the box, and on the topic look out for Luke from Tetsuya restaurant who is coming down to pick up his Zucchinis.

All very exciting for a new start to a new year, i am also facebooking on the champion mountian organics facbook page so check us out and like our page and get some more information  on the day to day happenings on the farm. Come and see g’day and introduce yourself if your new, and grab the best produce around. Looking forward to seeing you this saturday.

G’day everyone. Well like all good things they must come to an end, and that includes this year. Its gone too quick.

There is no new produce this week, but we do have, (thanks to the weather) some baby lettuce. These have formed shape without growing to full size so you can get the freshest lettuce at its crispest taste, and its $1.50 each.

That is it this week, we hope to see all you customers that are left at the markets tomorrow and if not have a safe trip to where ever you are going and we wish you and your family and very merry christmas and a happy new year.

Dear Friends and valued customers,

Well, you have all experienced the atrocious weather over the last few months and believe me it has been a very trying time producing enough to come to market each week. This week was no exception. Sunday morning was brilliant and I thought we’ll have plenty for next Saturday. But a solid dump of rain (flooding in some parts) and grey skies all weeks have not helped. BUT I FEEL CONFIDENT WE WILL HAVE A FULL RANGE NEXT WEEK.

ROCKET, WILD ROCKET, BABY SPINACH, LIMES, AND PLENTY OF MESCLUN AND SPICY SALAD.

Be early next week to ensure you don’t miss out and to be certain of your Xmas fare from us please ORDER FOR NEXT WEEK and we will put it aside.

Wishing you all a very enjoyable Christmas and a good rest, (if like me you need one)

Very best wishes

Michael Champion

G’day everyone. 4 days without rain is what we have been promised, 2 down lets hope they don’t break their promise. We had local flooding in our area, not what anyone needs before christmas. Hope you all were ok.

First this week i know this is our second last week but for those who are going on away next week, we would like to thank all of you for coming and supporting the farmers at the markets this year, without you guys these markets would not work and there would be a bigger gap between the farmers, the produce, and your plate. We enjoy coming into town every week and selling our produce and educating the consumers on the who where and how it is grown. Special thanks to the market organisers, it takes a lot of work to get all together and make it work so thank you. Now the most important people, the readers of the blog, wow there are so many of you guys that come up and commented on the blog, i didn’t think anyone read it but Michael and Susie, but the more i blog the more people have been commenting about it, even one young lady (i wont mention your name Keely) who moved to japan and still reads it every week, so thanks, next year i will try and get the facebook page running with photos and more explanations on the day to day going ons on the farm.

This week there will be Santa Rosa plums are in, just, they might need a day or two to ripen but are as sweet as lollies to eat when they do.

We have more Spanish onions and lots of Roma tomatoes, and for your roasts we will have the only organic garlic, sage, thyme, rosemary and our olive oil. I think we should sell them in a pack for a special price, come and talk to me.

Hope to see you all tomorrow and if not next week have a good christmas and a safe and happy new year.

G’day everyone. Well it is officially the coldest start to summer in 51 years, and if it continues to next week it will be the coldest start to summer since 1936, which makes it hard to know when and what to plant.

Once again not much whole lettuce and our tomatoes and basil is coming on slow, though we do have some. We also have some Romano beans or Italian flat beans, and purple beans. i have a recipe for garlic beans with crushed pecans. I have put the Romano beans in the recipe but you could use either or both.

Garlicky Romano Beans with Crushed Pecans

Total Prep Time: approximately 10 minutes

Servings: approximately 6

Ingredients:

· 4 cups Romano beans

· 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

· 1 tablespoon crushed pecans or walnuts

· 3 small cloves of minced garlic

· ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary

· 1 tablespoon of grated or shredded parmesean cheese

· Salt to taste

Directions:

· Add Romano beans to boiling water

· Boil beans for approximately 5-8 minutes or until tender

· When beans are boiling, in a small bowl, mix extra virgin olive oil, pecans or walnuts, garlic, rosemary, and parmesan cheese together (dressing mixture)

· Once beans are done cooking and tender, remove from stove, drain water, place back in pan or in a medium bowl, add the dressing mixture and salt to taste.

Hope you enjoy and we will see you at the market.

G’day everyone, hows your week been? I think i speak for everyone when i say we’re over the rain. Not as much as last week but enough to make it a long week.

I would like to thank all the faithful people that turned up last week even though the weather was ordinary, it was much appreciated.

Due to the weather we have had we are short on spinach and rocket and whole lettuces, but we have some bigger zucchinis that are good for stuffing on these winter like nights.

We will also have wilson plums. mmm my mouth is watering at the thought. These are an early season plum that come in season in time for the work Christmas party or eat them as i eat them, like lollies.

We here’s hoping for sunny weather tomorrow, and we look forward to seeing you there.

G’day everyone, on monday i was listening to a weather report on the abc radio and they said an estimate of 50mm of rain by friday, i wasn’t looking forward to that but when we had 50mm by wednesday i knew we were in trouble. We are past saturation point and this is no good for anything.

Not all doom and gloom though, are beans have started, green beans will start at taylor sq sustainable market this week and purple king beans will start at everligh farmers market. Hopefully next week we will have enough to take some to each market. Also the garlic plats have been a huge success we have plated up some more so come and get them while they are there. We also will have our first gold beetroot for sale, come and get some and tell us what you think of it.

Plums aren’t far either, i saw the first box today, still hard, though when these ripen up yummy is the only word to describe them.

We look forward to seeing you at the markets tomorrow and hope there is no more rain.

G’day everyone, Again the weather is all over the place, hot and humid then wet and cold, we knew the rain was coming but when was any ones guess.

Tomorrow we will have the last of the Chioggia beetroot, for a while, but we have the Detroit beetroot which is the normal red beetroot starting.

I will also be bringing down some of a neighbours  peaches and nectarines, although these aren’t organic, and i wont be selling them as organic, they are the best around, his fruit always fetches the best price in the wholesale markets, you will be able to get them direct from us tomorrow.

I brought some Zucchini flowers down last week to see if they would create any interest, and i will bring some down again tomorrow. if your not sure what to do with them you can stuff them or make fritters with them. Here is a recipe i just got off the net, but there is a lot of recipes on the net with different ingredients to put in them.

Ingredients

150 g (1 cup) plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
250 ml (1 cup) water
1 tsp olive oil
1 egg, separated
16 zucchini flowers
150 g marinated feta, drained
10 basil leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Oil for deep-frying

Sift flour and salt together in a bowl. Whisk water, olive oil and egg yolk together, then whisk into the flour until combined. Allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Beat egg white until soft peaks form, then fold through the batter just prior to using.

Gently open each zucchini flower and remove the stamen. Wash gently if needed and dry well.

Mash feta slightly with a fork. Chop basil leaves and add to the feta, seasoning with pepper. Place a heaped teaspoonful of the filling into each flower and press the petals back around it firmly.

Pour a 4–5 cm layer of oil in a large saucepan or wok and heat over a medium–high heat. Dip the zucchinis flowers, one at a time, into the batter and into the hot oil. Fry until golden.

Drain on kitchen paper, season with salt and serve immediate