Hello Everyone

The auditor, Ray Najm, came this week for our certification for OGA.  He went round the farm with Michael & Josh was there too. Lots of questions & answers on all sides and it was good to hear him say that to see the bio-diversity on our farm renews his faith in the organic farming process. Well done everyone.

Michael now just has to pay the fee and wait for the masses of paperwork that comes through to fill in.

IMG_20150211_074121733 IMG_20150211_074133066_HDR IMG_20150211_074144925_HDR

It may look like a lot of weeds around to you guys but these plants hold the soil together and even more importantly are hosts to the predators for our pests. So, basically, pests we don’t want get eaten by insects that live among all the other plants that you have living next to the ones you want. If you were silly enough to spray herbicides then you would kill all the pest predators. You know, like people who spray and thereby kill ladybeetles and bees etc in their gardens and wonder why nothing gets pollinated!

This week we have plenty of wild rocket and fancy lettuce. That’s the soft lettuce. Also Mini Cos lettuce. The main ingredients in the Horta mix this week are red and green amaranth, red ribbed chicory, fat hen, milk thistle and false dandelion/flat weed. Here’s Josh selecting it this morning.

IMG_20150212_082034420 IMG_20150212_082042130

There’s watermelon, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, Tobago potatoes (a good all rounder so a great buy).

There’s Eureka lemons, Valencia oranges and Tahitian limes. All grown at Mangrove Mountain despite the exotic names!

Back in as a special item this week are bunya nuts. They take a little bit of preparation but are very different! Slightly like sweet chestnut in a way. A good link is www.sgapqld.org.au which tells you about their history as bush tucker and how to cook them. The website tells you they are pretty much only in Queensland but they do grow south and have been grown in Victoria. These we sell are very local!

IMG_20150212_103508538       DSCF0389

Pat, from up the road, besides lemons & oranges, also grows and loves prickly pear, a real delicacy. Here’s one of the bowls he peeled for his 40th birthday party last Saturday. they were delicious. Thanks Pat.

20150207_210508 

Make sure you get into Eveleigh or Taylor Square markets on Saturday morning to buy the best produce for a healthy, energetic week! Co-ops and chefs, we hope you have really inventive and productive meals too.

Nancy