It’s been busy at Sugarloaf Ridge Farm this week. We have been working on the greenhouse. It has most of its skin fitted now. We just need to install the doors and the roll-up sides and it will ready to use. It seems to take a long time to do these infrastructure projects in between all the other jobs that need to be done to keep things growing.

We have also had some new solar panels and a battery system installed. This should mean we are now self sufficient for electrical power. Most importantly we are now able to keep things running when the grid is down, which happens from time to time. Now the water supply and cool room will not be interrupted when the mains in off.

Rainbow chard and chives are back for a new season and we still have plenty of Sugarloaf cabbages. I made a mistake and didn’t put the parsnips on the Vegetable order form last week. I’ve rectified that so you can add them to your boxes now. We also have some nice quality Pak Choi ready this week. We have got a few Romanesco broccoli heads coming on too. If you choose broccoli shoots you might be lucky enough to score one. We’ll see what we can do.

The micro greens have been going well and we seem to have worked a few tricks out to getting them to produce more consistently which is nice. They are quite popular so we will be keeping these going.

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Today's carrot harvest.

Some good looking sugarloaf cabbages in the rain.

Coriander harvest in the rain. Get these from @org

Broccoli in the rain.

Strawberry guavas for breakfast.

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The bees are buzzing in the almond blossom and the sun is shining. Spring is just around the corner and the mud is drying out. This week the tomato seeds have been sown, and tucked into the heat bed to germinate. Tomatoes need protection from the cold, but we also need to get them in early enough to get a harvest as soon as possible in summer. We are continuing to expand our existing garden beds to create more growing space. With spring on the way this job is becoming more urgent, particularly because we are running out of places to plant! I guess this means we will have plenty of produce in the coming months.

Our green house project is progressing and we should have the plastic cover on in the next week if the weather behaves and gives us a still day. It’s a bit challenging to manage a 40 square metre sheet of polythene in the wind! Once we have the greenhouse built it will open up opportunities to expand our propagation capacity and therefore increase our overall production of vegetables. Of course this puts even more importance on getting the new garden beds ready to grow in.

This week we will have some nice Sugarloaf cabbages ready to harvest. These little beauties are not too big and should be delicious in a coleslaw or sautéed with some butter and black pepper. There are also some baby parsnips coming on to the list. These are a real treat, and have a great flavour. I can attest to this as we had some baked earlier this week. After the broccoli harvest last week there are some side shoot coming on and these are also available, quantities might be a bit of a juggle but we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully there will be an ongoing harvest of these.

I did spot some asparagus spears poking their heads up yesterday too. Keep your fingers crossed that we have enough to share!

The good news is that the micro-greens are back after a weeks hiatus. The radish and broccoli are continuing to grow well as micro-greens. We now have some beetroot micro-greens to add to the mix this time around. It has been interesting working out the new nuances to the different crops and we look forward to offering the extra variety. There are currently carrots and parsley growing and are we have just sown some red mustard and mizuna. We’re looking forward to seeing how these new crops go.

This week we need to give our carrots a break to develop some more size. We think we’ve done pretty well to have carrots available for so long. With some better planning next year we should’t run out at all. Hopefully it won’t be long and carrots will be back on the list. We have some locally developed purple varieties in the ground which we are looking forward to tasting when they’re ready.

Excitedly there is a small amount of broccoli available, this is a sprouting European variety called Umpqua. I’m told it should produce a good sized main head, followed by many side shoots. Our Umpqua main heads are a little small, but look ready to pick to me. Hopefully we get some nice side shoots following up later on. There is also some really nice looking Hong Kong Broccoli ready for harvest. This small headed, tender variety is one that we use the whole plant (minus the roots!). It is great in stir fries, steamed or in salads. Yum! One of the best tasting broccoli varieties in my opinion.

It’s Bron’s birthday today so we planned on a day trip tomorrow. Due to the lockdown obviously we’ll be staying at home. That should mean that I’ll be able to get a few more jobs done on the farm. Perhaps I’ll continue on with the greenhouse project. I’ll make sure to post a proper update on it in the coming days.

Summer is here and whilst the tomatoes, zucchinis and cucumbers are still growing, we still have plenty of spring produce for you to enjoy.

Tokyo Bekana is back again! Our customers really liked it last time around and will be pleased that it is back again. It’s a rock star though (lives fast and dies young!) so it wont be around for long. For more info check out this earlier post https://sugarloafridgefarm.com.au/2020/11/04/asian-greens-bok-choy-tokyo-bekana-tatsoi/

Kohl Rabi is coming onto the scene this week. This is one our family favourites. We usually use it raw, shaved or grated into salads or slaws. It can also be used in many other ways but raw is best!

The lettuces this week are new ones – Jester and Magenta.

Jester is a crisphead lettuce, bright green leaves with red splashes.

Magenta is another crisp lettuce with attractive bronze leaves loosely surrounding a bright green heart.

Produce available this week:

Kohl Rabi (white)

Tokyo Bekana

Lettuce – Jester

Lettuce – Magenta

Spring Onion

Baby Beetroots

Rainbow Chard

Garlic

Rocket

Salad Mix

Tuscan Kale

Carrots – bunched

The following produce is available this week:

Baby Beetroots

Rainbow Chard

Garlic

Rocket

Lettuces – New Red Fire, Coastal Star, Romaine.

Salad Mix

Tuscan Kale

Baby Spinach

Radishes

Carrots – bunched

Carrots – loose

Bok Choy

Tokyo Bekana