DISPATCHES FROM THE FARM

From us at Angelica Organic Farm to all of you and your loved ones...

SEASONS' GREETINGS whatever you are celebrating at this time of year!!

Wishing you a safe and enjoyable holiday period, whether you are holidaying or mostly working and may 2012 be a wonderful, peaceful and prosperous year for you. xxx

Hello garlic lovers...GOOD NEWS...the 2011 GARLIC HARVEST is almost complete! 

We are very pleased with this year's haul, as it looks, smells and tastes fantastic :)! We can't wait to share it with you. 

The garlic we harvested last week is curing very well...a vast improvement on last year's pre-harvest and drying conditions we must say! Harvest and post-harvest time is always a little nerve wracking, especially after nursing the garlicky 'babies' for 8-9 months. 

Garlic hanging to cure.

It's also a very hectic month or so for our small team, from harvest, to curing, then feverishly cleaning it up for dispatching the first surge of online orders and for our farmers' markets.

So, the opening of the ONLINE GARLIC SHOP is just around the corner and very soon all our newsletter subscribers will received prompt notification of the online sales commencing (Quickly subscribe on the right side of this page if you still need to join the newsletter list!). 

Garlic updates will also occur on this homepage and the relevant garlic shop pages on this site, when available.

We are hoping the garlic will be well enough cured and enough of it cleaned up for sales to start prior to Christmas...hopefully in time for a garlicky Xmas, BUT please understand you 'keen beans', that we can not promise it will be ready and dispatched by that time. We will do our best, believe me, but we can't make guarantees and some of it is still up to Nature...AND we WILL let you know a.s.a.p.. Also, we won't be able to make garlic braids this season, so no garlic braids will be available, sorry.

3 typical bulb sizes: each with a sample of their respective cloves. 

As a reminder to our regular garlic customers and as new info perhaps for our more recent customers, the garlic is currently curing (drying), prior to being cleaned up and ready for sales. We maintain a good air flow around the curing bulbs and monitor their drying process closely, but depending on the weather (heat & humidity mainly) the curing process takes at least 2 weeks. Adequate curing is essential for the longevity of your garlic, as the drying prevents mould and rot setting in, the firming up of the cloves and drying of the skins protects the garlic from bruising, also preventing disease. Proper natural curing (as opposed to 'rapid drying' used in large-scale production) rather than putting it through sudden extreme change, helps maintain the garlic's integrity and curing with the 'necks' (stems) intact has also been shown to vastly reduce the occurrence of disease and therefore aid longer garlic storage. After curing and before sending the garlic out to you, it is all trimmed and cleaned of detritus and dirt by hand, bulb-by-bulb, to further help storage longevity and as part of our care and quality assurance and our commitment to providing you with a final product that is appealing and easy to handle.

Otherwise, the rest of the new produce season is burgeoning...although still up & down, weather has begun warming up here. Some early leafy greens are ready. The woody herbs are lush again. Compost is still being turned and the ready mix is spread prior to plantings. The 'bare' earth not still under green manure coverage, is alive with new vegetable crop growth. Our seedling plants are mostly in the field now and new crop seeding continues on a regular basis for months to come. A lot of weeding is going on now too (rain + warmth = even more WEEDS!) A lot of effort and planning is afoot towards an abundant imminent new growing season.

The 2011-2012 Red Rocambole garlic is looking great folks! We have started to 'string' some warm days together here and there, so the garlic has begun flowering with its scapes and plumping up or setting its bulbs/cloves.

We still can't be specific about exactly when garlic harvest will start, but if we keep getting mostly mild-warm weather (i.e. less major temp dips and sun-less days like we have still been getting too often!), it should be able to begin end of November/early December, all going well, followed by the curing and cleaning up period prior to sales commencing. 

PLEASE NOTE: We do not take pre-harvest orders (paid or unpaid for). The online shop will be opened once the 2011 garlic is ready for dispatch only.

We'll of course send out a 'garlic alert' newsletter to our subscribers (subscribe right-hand side of this page) once the online shop is about to open and post harvest and sales update info here on the website (homepage and garlic shop pages) when the time comes. 

Things are taking shape at Angelica Organic Farm as we've finally gotten into our local version of spring.

We've been sowing seedlings for weeks and have begun planting out the first round of seedlings into the field.

Lettuce...

Red bok choi

Red kale...

...PLUS directly sown in the field but not highly visible yet are a range of carrots, beetroots, coriander, dill, rocket, mizuna, potatoes and a few others.

Some of the woody herbs which 'die back' over winter are springing back to life, like this lemon thyme above.

The green manure oats are on the 'go' towards feeding the soil and boosting organic matter in the areas for the next planting of garlic next autumn.

Other green manure oats have been 'turned in' to the soil in order to start breaking down a bit prior to planting new summer crops soon.

New compost made from last growing season's plant remnants, waste and weeds is being used for seed raising mix and to feed the fields before planting.

See also (in the foreground) the organic hay waiting to be used in the next compost heap.

The abundance of fresh, lush, oh-so- green clover is living evidence of the TLC we have invested in the previously neglected land over the 5 years since we arrived as custodians for it.  

Our gorgeous red rocambole garlic is doing well too...watch this space for a pictorial update coming soon... 

Dear reader, we thought we'd ask for your help...

We need a large, round, copper tub for the farm. An old laundry tub, know as a 'copper' would be ideal for our purpose. We are posting this appeal because we haven't had any luck in our own search so far...

The copper tub needs to be:

• Round (NOT oval, square or any other shape) 
• In good condition - no holes
• Solid or with Internal copper not just externally copper-clad
• Approx. 12 gallon capacity
• We mainly need the tub - no real need for the stand, grate e.t.c. (but will consider)
• Available within around 90 mins drive from Daylesford/Glenlyon in Central Victoria

I'm sorry I haven't got a picture to show you, but I assume if you can help, then you know what we're referring to?

If you have an old copper you're willing to part with/sell or know someone else who has one, please email us with the details/offer (info@angelicaorganicfarm.com.au ) OR call Tim on 0438 482 738. 

Thank you very much.

We need to bear in mind that this is based on U.S. research of course, but there are very often similar practices in Australian non-organic agriculture. Supermarkets and greengrocers are also increasingly selling imported produce, which is often not grown to the health and safety standards we do have here in conventional food production. We know for a fact that Australian non-organic, 'conventionally' grown apples and pears are commonly sprayed dozens of times during their growing period with a number of different pesticides and fungicides, not to mention the petro-chemical fertilisers and herbicides also used. Even after washing and peeling, residues can remain in food. I have asked our certification body (ACO) to clarify whether this EWG info correlates to Australian produce and/or what is the 'Dirty Dozen' for Australian conventionally grown produce? I'll let you know when I find additional information. (N.B.: Apparently there isn't an existing correlating list to this U.S. version to simply 'refer' to. If you're seeking further clarification about what is used in growing non-organic Australian produce, you can approach the relevant Govt. & conventional agricultural industry bodies, e.g.: ANZFA, FSANZ, Vic Farmers Federation, DPI e.t.c.. There's also an excellent Biodynamic Agriculture Aust. article (referenced): http://www.biodynamics.net.au/articles/myths_of_safe_pesticides.htm. You can also contact Aust. organic certifying bodies for any info they might be able to share - BFA/ACO, NAASA, OFA)

According to the EWG information, picking 5 servings of fruits and vegetables (the recommended daily intake of F&V) from the 12 most contaminated would cause you to consume an average of 14 different pesticides a day. This does not sound unrealistic to us by what we know about conventional food production, including here in Australia.

1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Strawberries 

    4.  Peaches
    5.  Spinach
    6.  Nectarines
    7.  Grapes
    8.  Capsicums
    9.  Potatoes
   10. Blueberries
   11. Lettuce
   12. Kale/collard greens

The EWG's guide also lists the "Clean Fifteen", the produce items least likely to test positive for pesticides. If you choose 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day from EWG's "Clean 15"  rather than the "Dirty Dozen", you can lower the volume of pesticide you consume daily by 92 percent, according to EWG calculations. Prioritising these choices, you'll also eat fewer types of pesticides, maybe fewer than 2 pesticides per day (but in reality, you never know what you're eating if it's not certified organic!).

Remember though folks, pesticides are not the only chemicals used in non-organic agriculture, there's also herbicides (i.e. weed killers such as Round Up and worse), fungicides and synthetic fertilisers.

The idea is to use the EWG's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides to reduce your exposures as much as possible, but eating conventionally-grown produce is far better than not eating fruits and vegetables at all. We would agree with this in principle, but would also urge people to seek out quality certified organic produce as much as possible 'across the board', not only for their's and their families well being but for the animal welfare and environmental conservation inherent in sustainable and ethical food production, that organic farming offers. Remember though, you can exercise choice over what you buy wherever it's available to you...We'd personally only recommend the EWGs shopping approach if sourcing organic produce is a problem where you live. 

To learn more about the Environmental Working Group and their goals or to read about the EWGs methodology for compiling this Shopper's Guide go to:  http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/methodology/ 

There are many sources of exposure to pesticides and other health-depleting chemicals in our daily lives such as:

• Household Products - fly sprays and all other pesticides (domestic and commercial), air fresheners, cleaning products & others
• Personal Care Products and Cosmetics which contain  parabens, SLS, sulfates & other nasties.
• Pet Products
• Lice Shampoos
• Garden Chemicals (your own and perhaps neighbouring properties, golf courses, council spraying)
• 'Town' Drinking and Shower Water (unfiltered)
• Swimming Pools and Hot Tubs (often use fungicides and algicides)

...obviously we can't live in a 'bubble' and escape exposure to all of these things, but just as with organic foods, it's about informed choice, consciously choosing your 'poisons' (which ones and how much exposure)  and taking personal responsibility for what you buy and what you expose yourself and your kids to - and there IS loads of good info and better, often easy choices out there if you make the effort to check it out. Our 'favourites' page on this website can start you off with a few resources...