Wednesday 4 October 2017

We are STILL picking tomatoes!

I tell people I don’t really grow fall vegetables like pumpkins, butternut and acorn squash anymore since the “squashbug” year.  But as it turns out tomatoes and peppers are the new fall vegetables and they do like to grow here.  I never dreamed we’d be picking fresh tomatoes and peppers in October.  If weather is going to throw nastiness at us in the spring, it’s very kind to give us back the warmth we need to produce our (previously known as) summer vegetables. 

There are a few housekeeping issues I’d like to take care of. 
1.      Salad Greens – one of you told me that the Salad Greens two weeks ago tasted so bad that you threw them in the garbage.  Thank you so much for telling me that.  I really need to know if this happens.  I want to be the first to know after you. 
I can understand and explain how this might happen.  We cut the mixed greens from one bed for three weeks.  Then it’s done, the arugula and mustards in that mix have bolted and the lettuce just tastes “tired”.  We clear that bed, amend the soil and either leave it for a week or plant again and move on to the next bed that’s ready.  With the crazy heat we had a few weeks ago, this particular greens bed probably should have been cut only twice.   We always taste a few of the greens before we delve into cutting mode.  If they do taste okay to us, we go ahead and cut for your Salad Greens.  Most weeks there are not enough for us to take for ourselves at the end of the day so we’re not experiencing the same foods at home as you are.  I do apologize and want all of you to keep me informed about such things.
2.      Online Shopping – Local Line tells me that some of you are looking to shop on line, many times.  In case you missed it, Day Brighteners does not currently have an Online Store.  It didn’t work for everyone and it needs to work for everyone.  We’ll look into getting something set up in the new year.  It’s just too busy around here right now to make it happen. 
3.      Tomato Sauce – if you’re new to our tomato sauce and you see little black bits in it, that’s okay.  The vegetables which make the sauce are roasted in the oven at a high temperature for a long time.  Even though we stir it at the half-way point, the top layer sometimes gets crispy black, especially the peppers and herbs.  I leave these “bits” in intentionally as I believe they add flavour to the sauce.  Just so you know, it’s bits and not bebittes.  :)

When we make the tomato sauce, we drain the “juice” from the glass roaster pans and transfer it into jars.  This makes a wonderful vegetable stock for tomato based soups.  It’s been suggested that some of you would buy this.  So I can certainly offer it for your soup making needs. 

Now is usually the time to be indoors, usually.  We’ve been outdoors as much as in these days, as I was saying picking more and more and more tomatoes and peppers.  The tomato plants have actually started to regrow themselves and have flowers too!

The onions are all out of the gardens now and curing.  The leeks are still in the ground but we can dig some up for you.  Some carrots and beets are pulled and packaged, the rest can stay in the ground for the cool weather.  Granola is made for this week, as is applesauce.  We dehydrated some apples already.  They are such a wonderful snack.  There are still 80 pounds of apples to be processed.  That’s one thing I’ll be doing this weekend.  Funny, we put the apples out in the garage last week to keep cool, now it’s not so cool out there.  Good grief. 

Something has chewed the leaves off many of the potato plants so it’s a crap shoot as to how many potatoes will actually be in the ground when we check tomorrow.  I just checked a few plants and it seems we’ll have some. 

Salsa is made and put up in jars for the coming months and we’ll be making more next week.  We have 10 cases of tomato sauce in jars so far and there are 17 more on the go.  We’ll make fresh salsa perhaps for the last time this week, maybe, I think.  We’ll be making tomato sauce until what seems like the end of time, or until we run out of tomatoes, whichever comes first.  Many have already been frozen and dehydrated

Remember, I’m always happy to have jars returned to me.

So, for your Thanksgiving weekend we have:
Apples, dehydrated  $2 sandwich bag
Applesauce  $4 500mL jar  sealed, can be stored for a year – goes well with Granola
Beans  $3/pound   you can order ½ pound if you like
Beets, red and golden  $3/pound
Beet Greens  $3 bunch
Carrots  $3 bunch
Carrot TOPS  free with your order if you need them for your little bunnies or horses, etc.
Celery  $2 / bunch
Chard  $3 / bag
Garlic  $3, $2, or $1 each
Garlic  $12 / pound
Granola, with fruit  $8 /500mL jar  is nice with Applesauce
Granola, with nuts and fruit  $10 /500mL jar  is nice with Applesauce
Herbs, fresh:   basil, cilantro, citrus thyme, DILL(so much dill), mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, savory, thyme  $2 each  
Kale  $3 / bunch
Leeks  $3 / bunch
Mustard Greens  $3 bag
Onions, yellow  $2.50 / pound
Onions, large sweet Ailsa Craig  $2.50 / pound
Onions, red multiplier  $2.50 / pound
Onions, sweet Spanish  $2.50 / pound
Peppers, sweet $4 / pound  we have lots
PESTO, basil  $4.50 / 125mL jar 
Potatoes  $2 / pound 
Radicchio  $2 each
Rapini NEW $3 bag.
Salad Greens  $5 bag  washed and table-ready
Salsa, canned $8 500mL jar sealed, can be stored for a year
Salsa, fresh  $4 / 250mL jar
SHOOTS, Pea  $2 / bag
SHOOTS, Sunflower  $2 / bag
SPROUTS, Spring Salad Mix  (broccoli, radish, red clover & alfalfa)  $3 / bag
Tomatoes, cherry  $3 / pound
Tomatoes, dehydrated  $2 snack bag
Tomatoes, mix $3 / pound  mostly paste now like roma, san marzano, black plum
Tomato Sauce  $6 500mL jar  sealed, can be stored for a year
Vegetable Stock  $3 pint jar

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Day Brighteners is a non-certified organic farm, where we practice sustainability and environmentally-friendly farming.  We always use non-GMO and organic/heirloom seeds.  We use no “cides” of any kind.  You are very welcome to drop by most days, but if it’s picking/packing/delivery day (Friday) you take your chances on getting the tour.  Calling or emailing first is a good idea.  We do appreciate your business very much and would like to hear from you with any comments or questions you have.   

Please call or email me with amounts you’d like and any questions you may have.  Remember you can order any day.  Give us 24 hours to pick freshest for you.  I deliver to Ottawa and Merrickville either Saturday or Sunday each weekend. 
Thanks.

Until next post, have a great every day.

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