DISPATCHES FROM THE FARM

 

As you know, we like to grow open pollinated heirloom or heritage vegetable varieties as much as possible. Beetroots are one of our favourites (to eat, grow & sell). At the moment we have several types in the ground, including Detroit (typical red beetroot colour & size), Bull's Blood (black-red colour with feint rings, very sweet & delish!), Golden (fab golden colour, soft texture, great in salads) and Chioggia (originally from a fishing village on the Adriatic coast, a.k.a. 'Bull's Eye Beet', it has dark red skin with alternating pink and white rings when cut.). I'll post some photos of the different kinds once we've harvested them...they're a feast for the eyes and inspire many dining ideas!

Apart from being gorgeous to look at with their brightly coloured skins and flesh, these babies are rich in antioxidants and other nutrients such as boron and I read that the ancient Romans considered beetroot juice to be an aphrodisiac - cool :).

I'll be back onto beetroots in the coming weeks to share more info about our new crop and delicious suggestions for eating them.

Apologies for my shortage of blog posts this week, but I haven't been slacking off.  I've actually been working hard at the farm with Tim, particularly getting the tomato and zucchini seedlings planted out in the field. These tomato plants will increase in size by many times their current size over the coming weeks, under the summer sun. We anticipate starting to pick zucchs in about a month and tomatoes by the end of February. 

As previously mentioned, we grow a wide variety of tomatoes but specialise in heirloom or heritage varieties, which allow us to help keep centuries of plant history and diversity alive and available into the future. Heirloom tomatoes are tender, rich and juicy and what's more they come in pretty much all colours of the rainbow and then some and can include contrasting coloured stripes and speckles on their skins. They make very 'sexy' summer salads!  These tomatoes are so opposite to the often flavourless and tough-skinned field and Roma tomatoes commonly available in the supermarkets and most other shops, which are 'factory' grown on broad acreage farms. We do grow Romas and a couple of other 'typical' red tomatoes but again they are open pollinated seeds from organically grown tomatoes, so they too are tender and super tasty.

       

Each year we have varied how we've planted (raised or flat beds, mulching or not) and/or 'supported' our growing tomato plants (e.g. stakes as above or strings or wire...). This year we're going with raised beds and stakes as you can see. We have found that although labour intensive to install, tomato stakes are the most reliable, sturdy form of tomato support (accompanied by regular ties)  for field grown tomatoes, especially as gale-force winds are not uncommon at the farm.

Like for most of our veg., we use drip irrigation, which is not only water efficient but allows the water to get to exactly where it's needed, the root zone.

Although a real scorcher weather-wise, it was really fantastic to be back at markets last Saturday. Collingwood Children's Farm is such a bucolic setting and there's always a lively collection of stalls and shoppers.

See you soon with more farm happenings...