Strawberries!

 Metchosin Grown and Certified Organic

We love growing delicious vegetables and sharing the abundance.
Our farm stand is open every Tuesday and Saturday all year long. We will be at the Metchosin Market every Sunday starting June 7 from 11am-1pm
 
On the farm stand this week:
Arugula  • Beans • Broccoli • Cilantro • Eggplant • Garlic Scapes • Green Onions • Japanese Turnips • Kale • Kohlrabi • Lettuce • Pac Choi • Peas • Radishes • Salad Greens • Rhubarb • Saanich Organics Vegetable Seeds • Spinach • Strawberries • Tomatoes 

The strawberries are starting! The hotter the weather, the better they taste -that's our insider tip for you.  We replace our strawberry patch every 3 years for maximum production. This year, instead of turning them under, we left our old strawberry patch for our Family without a Farm program.  So we have our main patch, where the strawberries on the stand come from and the patch for the Sea Bluff member families to come for u-picking and family fun.  The FWF program is full for this year but its been so much fun that we'll do it again for sure.

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A Lesson in Pest Control

June marks the time when aphids start appearing in our cabbage family crops.  Aphids are not only unsightly, they can transmit viruses and diseases to plants.  The winged adult female aphid lays eggs on the kale plants, and then the soft bodied insects multiply on the plants.  This Flower crab spider is waiting for her. The spider is my ally, but she won't be able to keep up with the aphid onslaught.  If I used a broad spectrum pesticide, I'd kill her and all the other allies along with the aphids.  Instead, I use a very targeted insecticidal salt.  The weak salt is enough to desiccate the aphid if it comes in contact.  The salt isn't strong enough to bother anything with more chitinous body armour, like most insects.  The only catch is that we've got to stay ahead of the infestation and have a regular schedule of application. The crab spider might catch what I miss.  Win-win!  

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The Great E-Scape

'Scape' is the botanical term for these juicy swan-necked spears that are the reproductive part of the garlic plant.  As they appear in June, its the signal to stop watering the garlic because the bulbs are ready to start their cloving process.  If we don't snap off these scapes, they'll draw the energy out of the bulbs in order to produce seed.  We don't need the seed because we plant the cloves to fast track our yield.  We can, however, relish these scapes for their culinary uses. 

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On the Menu at Sea Bluff

Roasted Garlic Scapes

If you love garlic punch, go ahead and blitz these into pestos, salad dressings (green goddess dressing begs for them) and dips. They are so versatile -minced into any recipe that calls for garlic, or cut into coins and tossed into stir fries for texture and flavour.  If you like mild and sublime, go for the roasted scapes, pictured here.  Just a note - when the scapes are older with double curls, they aren't nice whole roasted.  We won't sell them like this but beware of the woody double curled scape!

1 bunch garlic scapes
Olive oil for slathering on the scapes
Salt and Pepper

Toss whole scapes in olive oil.  Place in a roasting dish, in a single layer.  Roast at 400ºF for 20 minutes, turning once for best effect.  Serve as you would asparagus, or cut into a salad, making sure to preserve the interesting shapes.

Boatloads of Beautiful Broccoli!

 Metchosin Grown and Certified Organic

We love growing delicious vegetables and sharing the abundance.
Our farm stand is open every Tuesday and Saturday all year long.
 
On the farm stand this week:
Arugula  • Broccoli •  Radishes • Salad Greens • Rhubarb • Saanich Organics Vegetable Seeds • Spinach

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Boat loads of Broc!

Our colleagues at the Organic Seed Alliance have been hard at work breeding vegetable varieties to fill the gaps in our season.  I went down to Washington last fall for a conference and learned about this Burgundy Broccoli which is a spring planted type that is supposed to come in April, right when the winter broccoli ends.  Ours is just ready now, but we're not about to complain because its gorgeous and delicious! I also found out about a fall planted cauliflower for the mid spring slot which you'll get to enjoy next April. We're slowly learning how to fill this hunger gap time.

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Longing, Love, Betrayal and Revenge

Just a warning, you might not want to read on.  Its been such a dramatic two weeks with our nesting box, we're all emotionally exhausted from this saga :) 

You'll recall from our last newsletter the sense the joy and anticipation we had with the installation of a Kestrel (small falcon) box.  We were tasked with opening it each week to inspect and to kick out any non Kestrel residents.  

The first week was without incident, and the box was empty. Then, the sweetest little pair playful chickadees moved in. They were so happy with their newfound home that I decided to throw in the towel and welcome them.  But then, not three days later, my nemeses, the house sparrows were in.  House Sparrows are a menace at the farm, eating seedlings and having early morning parties in the wash area. It was time for eviction! 

When we opened it up, we were shocked.  There was a huge pile of messy nesting material.  And way underneath, in amongst the sweetest little tufts of cat hair and insulation and bits of fluff was a cold chickadee egg. The sparrows had built their nest right on top of the chickadees' nest! 

Now the question remains - do we leave the box up and risk more hapless victims?  Clearly we need a Kestrel to come and clear out these nasty invasive sparrows.  Is it too late in the season? Will the farmers get any work done or will they remained glued to the action in the oak meadow? Stay tuned!

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The Squash is Planted!

This photo doesn't look like much, but this week we got our acre of winter squash in the ground.  You're looking at the upper field along Witty Beach Rd. It should be a gorgeous site through the summer as the rambling vines entirely fill the space, and the brightly coloured squashes start peaking out. If you have squash or pumpkin seeds, its the time to plant. The soil is warm and the danger of frost is over!

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On the Menu at Sea Bluff: Broccoli Many Ways!

We've been starting to sample the broccoli. Its really great raw, straight up. It keeps it's beautiful colour when raw, and looks gorgeous tossed in salad.  When its cooked, the colour goes dull.  The first time it made it to the kitchen, it was roasted.  Cut into bit size lengths, and tossed in oil and roasted at 350ºF for 15 minutes.  It should have been delicious but someone in our household left it in too long so it was dry. Hopefully no one will repeat this kitchen crime because a lot of hard work went into that broccoli :) Next we steamed it (cut into bite size lengths) for a scant 4 minutes.  Heavenly!

The Peas Are Up!

 Metchosin Grown and Certified Organic

We love growing delicious vegetables and sharing the abundance.
Our farm stand is open every Tuesday and Saturday all year long.
 
On the farm stand this week:
Arugula  • Chard •  Collards • Sprouting Kale •  Radishes • Salad Greens • Saanich Organics Vegetable Seeds

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Our Peas are Up!

We love growing peas, and we grow 3 successions every year so we'll have a long harvest of succulent munching.  We aim to plant April 1, May 1 and June 1 but we're flexible.  Because April was so cold, we're going to delay the next succession by a week so we don't end up with too many peas at once...or is there such a thing?

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Tractor Driving Lessons!

I love the opportunities I get to empower young folks with practical skills.  The most popular  lessons by far are the ones that involve driving the tractor.  I get quite nervous when they're up on the tractor for the first time because so much can go wrong, but we hammer home safety and taking things slowly.  Christine and Regina nailed their tractor lessons and I thought I'd show off their good work.  Look at Regina perfectly filling the wheel barrows with compost. Gold star!

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Transforming the Greenhouse from Spring to Summer!

Those wheelbarrows you saw being filled above were dumped into the greenhouse.  We're really lucky at Sea Bluff to have so much wonderful compost at our disposal.  Many of you have heard of nutrient dense food. We take this concept to heart when thinking about fertility.  We have the compost from our own crop residues, the sacred seaweed from Weir's Beach and the delightful pig manure from our neighbour (which we compost here for a full year while we monitor temperatures). All this nutrition gets lavished on our crops with amazing results.  Healthy soil yields healthy food.

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Calling all Kestrels

We were contacted this week by a researcher from the Rocky Point Bird Observatory.  She was looking to help create habitat for Kestrels, small falcons that feed on our nemesis -house sparrows.  We took a walk around the field and she picked a spot for our nesting box that faces South East.  We are crossing our fingers for a Kestrel family!  If you look really closely in the ring around the Garry Oak, you can see our first Camas coming through, along with some Shooting Stars and Western Buttercup.  This is the start of the restoration we have in process here, spearheaded by Sasha and his work with HAT and Saanich Native Plants.

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On the Menu at Sea Bluff: Kitchen Sink Salad

The key ingredient to the Kitchen Sink Salad is really the bowl.  You need a wide platter-like bowl so you can lay out all the goodies to tantalise your diners.  Fortunately here at Sea Bluff everyone is ravishingly hungry so its quite satisfying to make lunch for the crowd. As the name goes, you can put anything in: leftover rice, a can of chickpeas, some roasted nuts...anything goes.

Here we have a base of spinach (yes, there's lots coming!) with a centre of baked beens.  Next there are some finely sliced squashes. The Winter Sweet that we have on the stand are amazing thinly sliced, rubbed with oil and baked for 20 minutes. We eat the skin!  Then there's some Japanese turnips in there, quartered and then halved.  And for some fun, crispy tortilla strips.  Take tortillas, brush both sides with oil, and then stack them, slice into strips and lay them on a baking sheet.  Bake at 400•F for 20 minutes, while you're roasting the squash, and you'll have crispy bits to compliment the textures.  Top with a buttermilk dressing - I used buttermilk, a bit of yogurt, some garlic and paprika.  Everyone went back for seconds.

Saved by the Rain!

 Metchosin Grown and Certified Organic

We love growing delicious vegetables and sharing the abundance.
Our farm stand is open every Tuesday and Saturday all year long.
 
On the farm stand this week:
Arugula • Beets  • Chard •  Collards • Eggs •  Kale •  Radishes • Salad Greens • Saanich Organics Vegetable Seeds

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Saved by the Rain!

We were so happy to see the rain this week.  It's been really dry and we haven't completely got our irrigation system up and running.  This down pour really saved us from some last minute scrambling to get water to our new seedlings.  Look at this radish!  I swear it was just a wee bud yesterday and the rain was all it needed. So sweet and crunchy with just a touch of heat.  Can anything beat a spring radish? 

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Seeding, Seeding and more Seeding!

We've been spending lots of time in the greenhouse getting our seedlings planted.  Almost everything, except for our root vegetables starts out in a seedling tray and gets transplanted out.  This helps us cram many planting successions into our field.  We can get the next succession of lettuces started in trays while the first ones are just getting ready.  We can also get frost sensitive plants like squashes and celery off to an early start by having a one month old transplant ready to put out after the last frost date, which for us is about May 10.

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The Weeds Begin Again

As the weeds begin, Bob comes out in force and battles them with a determination to be admired.  There have been many times when I've turned my back and accepted defeat, and then Bob will save the crop on hands and knees, covering hundreds of feet in a morning. Done, no big deal.  Bob is our backstop.  Hell and high weeds come, and Bob fends them off.  The farm continues.

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Weeds may be Ferocious, but the Paperwork is the real Bear

Far away from the glory atop the tractor is the real farm hero, the accountant.  You might recognise Sasha as the friendly farm stand attendant, but he spends some long hours in the office keeping the farm on the rails.  This spring has been challenging because we've been working with half a dozen other farms, buying their produce for the farm stand.  Its been a tough spring for some of our farming friends, especially those who have specialised in supplying restaurants.  Thanks to you, we've been able to sell their produce here.  But there's a lot of admin that comes with retail and Sasha has been left holding the pile.  Fortunately Sasha gets to de-stress in his seed plot where he saves over 20 varieties of seed that we need for the farm.  Some of the seed on the farm stand is from Sasha's hands.  

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On the Menu at Sea Bluff this week:

 How about this for a spring bonanza?  We just sliced and diced kale tops, chard, bok choy and kale, and stirfried it up with some ginger and tamari.  We served it over some of Level Ground's heirloom rice. And the 'piéce de resistance' was the spot prawns that one of our customers dropped off as a gift. We joked that we were probably eating the best meal served in all of Victoria!

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As a final note, we've been so heartwarmed by everyone starting to grow food at home. What an amazing way to help the world in a hard time.  As my colleague Jen Cody says, "never waste a good crisis".  While this Covid really is terrible, it is shining a light on how very unstable our food system is. From overloaded industrial meat farms unable to process their animals, and dairy farmers dumping milk, to epic line ups at food banks, we're demonstrating the need to do better.  I've been asked for my take on the situation, and I say that everyone should try to create their ideal food system by shopping close to home, and networking to make the shortest distance from the land to the fork. It may not be exotic, but food grown by people who really care is the most wholesome.  Make choices that shape the food system you want, not just now but for always.  And try your hand at growing your own.  There may be bad things coming from this disruption, and we need all hands on deck.  Here is a website to help : www.growingfood-together.com

April and May are our Hunger Months

 Metchosin Grown and Certified Organic

We love growing delicious vegetables and sharing the abundance.
Our farm stand is open every Tuesday and Saturday all year long.
 
On the farm stand this week:
Arugula • Cilantro • Chard •  Collards • Eggs •  Japanese Turnips • Kale • Rhubarb • Salad Greens • Saanich Organics Vegetable Seeds

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What is a Hunger Month?

In almost every cropping system, all around the world, there is a gap.  It is the time from when the winter storage crops run out to the time when this year's crops are ready. Usually this happens in April and May.  It hit this week! We have had stores of potatoes, carrots and rutabaga, that were planted last summer, and then harvested and stored. But now they are gone.  This week the soil was finally warm enough to seed our carrots and beets, they'll take about 90 days.  This picture is of the potato planting.  Not much to eat here, unless you eat the seed! We sometimes start robbing baby nugget potatoes on the Solstice but nothing before then.  Luckily, in our climate we can do a little bit to bridge the lack of carbohydrate containing veggies with lots of delicious greens and spring treats like Japanese turnips and radishes.

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This is a Kale Top (Sprouting Brassica)

We grow a lot of plants in the cabbage (brassica) family: cabbage, broccoli, kale, rutabaga and turnips .  Like most biennials (overwintering crops) they store up sugars in the winter and then use this as energy to send up their seed head in the spring.  While we do save a lot of our own seed, we can't save all the different varieties at once or they'll cross.  So instead, we snap off these delicious broccoli-like shoots to eat.  They are lovely lightly steamed or braised, and we'll have them for another week.  Unfortunately, once you see these coming, it means your plant's journey is over.  You can't just snap them off and hope your kale will keep on.  They're a signal to plant your next year's kale

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Asparagus Fans, mourn :(

I revealed last week that I'd sealed a deal with Ten Acres Farm in North Saanich to buy their asparagus for our farm stand.  I just got a call from Evelyn, the farm manager, to tell me that the restaurant is re-opening for take out, so our deal is off.  I was crushed.
There is a glimmer of hope.  Our friend Rachel from Saanich Organics has a very small amount, which she is willing to share. Hers is a delicious variety and fully certified organic.  So we'll have little bits here and there throughout the season.  Hopefully Ten Acres will find that asparagus really isn't suited to take out :)

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On the Menu at Sea Bluff this week:

 Rhubarb Custard Bars

As usual, the picture doesn't do it justice, but honestly, this is one of the best uses of rhubarb. Find the recipe here which comes from Heidi Fink, our Moss Street Market customer.  If its too much fuss, you can also just cut up rhubarb and put a little water in the bottom of a pot.  Simmer gently for 10 minutes and add sugar to taste.  You can add honey but it makes it go brown. Its amazing on yogurt.





Abundant Spring Greens

 Metchosin Grown and Certified Organic

We love growing delicious vegetables and sharing the abundance.
Our farm stand is open every Tuesday and Saturday all year long.
 
On the farm stand this week:
Arugula • Beets • Cilantro • Cukes • Purple Sprouting Broccoli •  Carrots  • Chard •  Collards • Eggs •  Kale •  Potatoes •  Rutabaga • Salad Greens • Saanich Organics Vegetable Seeds

Lovely Spring Greens Abound!

The spring greens have been spurred on by this wonderful sunshine, as our spirits have been.  Adundant, velvety, mild greens will be on the stand this weekend.  Arugula is also growing in great quantities so spring salads are back on the menu! 

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This is what a million flowers looks like

A few years ago we got serious about creating habitat for pollinators because we were having trouble with our hazelnuts getting pollinated. Its amazing what a little learning can do.  A few years ago, I would have looked on a field like this with horror.  Now I look on landscapes with the eyes of pollinating insects.  My heart was filled up as I listened to the symphony of buzzing.  If you sit and listen, they all have a slightly different pitch - big ones, little ones, and tiny ones.  The sad finale is that I did mow it, because I can't cope with a million more weed seeds, but the key is that I've learned how the make the most of the landscape - to leave what I can, to share what I can and to think about where the pollinators can go when one abundant patch disappears because of my hand.

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Kohlrabi Fans Rejoice!

Regina is watering in two whole beds of kohlrabi, along with broccoli, cabbage and pac choi that got transplanted out this week.  In about a month, we'll have lots of juicy spring cole crops to tantalise your palate.  Now that we're in the fine print mid way down, I'll reveal that next week we're expecting asparagus from Ten Acres Farm in North Saanich.  Since their restaurant closed, they're at a loss with what to do. I said we'd take it all -so over the next 8 weeks, we'll have lovely fresh asparagus on the stand for you

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On the Menu at Sea Bluff this week: 

Don't worry, Im not about to start a career as a food photographer   Literally as I sit down to eat, I pull out my phone and my end goal is to just show you what can be done by a regular family cooking in a hurry.  Sometimes I've already started eating when I think of it, so apologies for ketchup smeared forks! We've been needing comfort food, and the German Butters that didn't make the grade for the farm stand made amazing fries.  Just cut into fries, toss in light oil and bake for 20 mins, turning once. You can see the large leaves of kale, stem and all. Obviously for finer palates, you'd want to cut out the stems but we just eat the whole thing. We roasted this mutton loin (Metchosin Grown of course) and then braised the kale in the juices.  Heat up a frying pan, pour in the drippings, move the greens around in the pan until nicely coated and cooked to your desired tenderness.  Easy and delicious. And you don't have to leave Metchosin for any of these ingredients -except the ketchup :)

The fields are starting to fill

 Metchosin Grown and Certified Organic

We love growing delicious vegetables and sharing the abundance.
Our farm stand is open every Tuesday and Saturday all year long.
 
On the farm stand this week:
Arugula • Beets • Cilantro • Cukes • Purple Sprouting Broccoli •  Carrots  • Chard •  Collards • Eggs •  Kale •  Potatoes •  Rutabaga • Salad Greens • Saanich Organics Vegetable Seeds

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The Farm Stand Keeps on Going!

Thanks to your cooperation, we can stay in business and keep everyone safe! We believe its working to have three tables set up in the peak times to help alleviate the line up, and let people shop a bit more leisurely.  Also, please try and park in our parking lot so we don't sprawl all over the road and create hardship for the neighbours.

Getting those Crops in the Ground

We've been transplanting as fast and furiously as the weather windows allow.  Bob has been out on the tractor spreading compost and we've been following closely behind with the transplants and seeders. It feels really good to get the season off to an early start! I feel badly that the newsletter looks like a kid in kindergarten did the layout but it's all I can do to get you the visuals :)

On the Menu at Sea Bluff this week:  

I’ve been embarrassed with the quality of the dregs of rutabagas and turnips that we've been putting out on the stand.  Normally they'd just be in the staff and family bin by now but I've been feeling pressure to fill the stand. However, I was truly reminded this week of how mind-blowingly delicious they are.  Sasha threw a Still Meadow pork roast in the oven, surrounded by culled rutabagas and turnips.  Normally I'd say to cube them small and toss them in oil, salt and pepper.  He didn't even do that - just big chunks dry roasted beside the pork.  By the time the roast was done, two hours later, they had caramelised into the most divine morsels.  We delicately savoured them in disbelief (and we're already hardcore rutabaga lovers) and went for seconds before touching anything else on the plate.  To be sure, the pork was amazing but the rutabaga was the star by far so you'll see it proudly on the farm stand for at least another week.

Getting through this together

 Metchosin Grown and Certified Organic

We love growing delicious vegetables and sharing the abundance.
Our farm stand is open every Tuesday and Saturday all winter long.
 
On the farm stand this week:
 Beets • Cukes • Purple Sprouting Broccoli • Cabbage • Carrots  • Chard •  Collards • Garlic • Kale •  Leeks • Parsley •  Potatoes •  Rutabaga • Salad Greens •  Turnips • Winter Squash • Saanich Organics Vegetable Seeds

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A Plan for Managing Traffic Flow

We're a little concerned about the line up created by everyone having to wait for their turn.  We want to get you in and out in the safest way possible, and prevent a back log of cars impacting our wonderfully patient neighbours on Wootton Rd. If you could parallel park as illustrated, and then drive out along our neighbour's driveway, this will prevent the congestion. Please check that the parking lot is full first before parking on the road. I think this will keep us all safer. And please keep a safe distance from others as you wait to shop, one person at the farm stand at a time please! 

Hard at it this week!

Its been a stressful second week for our amazing staff but we're breezing through big jobs at a great pace. It was awkward at first to figure out how to work together while staying 6 ft apart but we've mastered it.  We planted almost four thousand new, disease-free strawberry plants from the nursery which will renew our patch and have it healthy and producing strawberries by July.  For anyone interested, we do have extra plants which we'll sell at cost .50¢ each.  They definitely look horrible but its because they're still dormant, but not to worry because they perk up fast.

We also planted our seed potatoes, which we bumped up by a week so we could know how much of our seed inventory we could keep on selling.  Turns out it's tight, but our friend Diana at Lohbrunner has some beautiful potatoes for you, and so does Dieter Eisenhawer of Eisenhawer Organic Farm.

Regina was plugging in the seed potatoes, and with Bob's help from our Farm-All Cub tractor that made the trenches and covered them up after, we were done our acre in less than a day!

What is happening with Markets?

The short answer is that no one knows, the long answer is that a lot of creativity is happening with alternative ideas on how to get food to people.  From on-line market places, to customer buying groups and everything in between, the emails have been flying.  Its really too early to tell but a lot of our customers are in quarantine and have lots of time to think. 

On the menu at Sea Bluff Farm this week

Mutton Stew

We've been getting Parry Bay mutton from Nootka Rose Milling and making nourishing stews which we can put in the slow cooker and savour at the end of the day.  Throw in stewing meat, onions, carrots, rutabaga, turnips. Top with water, and some wine if you want and set on medium heat for 4-6 hours.  Add potatoes in for the last hour.  

Thank You!

Metchosin Grown and Certified Organic

We love growing delicious vegetables and sharing the abundance.
Our farm stand is open every Tuesday and Saturday all winter long.
 
On the farm stand this week:
 Beets • Cukes • Purple Sprouting Broccoli • Cabbage • Carrots  • Chard •  Collards • Garlic • Kale •  Leeks • Parsley •  Potatoes •  Rutabaga • Salad Greens •  Turnips • Winter Squash • Saanich Organics Vegetable Seeds

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We did it!

Im feeling teary as I write, reflecting on yesterday.  A neighbour showed me a video she took of Wootton Rd, full up with cars.  But instead of mayhem, there were people chatting from their distance and smiling.  Folks were taking charge and organising the queue.  And I felt love from everyone as they helped take care of me, by keeping their distance and being so cooperative and kind. 
I feel like I was born for times like this, I've always been an activist farmer.  I went to a lecture early on in my career (25 years ago) where the theory of climate crisis was explained.  It cemented my calling, that farming was really the best way to help, when at the time, I could hardly call myself a farmer as a new entrant with a degree in Post Colonial English literature. 
At this point in time, its hard to predict what will happen to our food system, if anything.  Its my hope that everything stays normal.  Unfortunately with farming, you can't turn on a dime.  We're pulling out all the stops, planting more than ever.  I've been spending a lot of time on the phone with my farmer networks, assuring folks that we'll buy their excess, convincing those who were planning to fallow fields because their usual outlets are closed, that no, they should continue with full production and we'll get their food sold.  I don't take promises made to farmers lightly.  I've shouldered a lot but from what I saw yesterday, it was the right call, and that you, our co-revolutionaries are in with both feet. Thank you.

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On the menu at Sea Bluff Farm

Carrot Cake!

We needed some comfort food after our ordeal yesterday.  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture until we all had a healthy helping, but it was that kind of day.  Here's the recipe from the Rebar cookbook. Instead of pineapple, we always use more carrot. Its sweet enough, and really doesn't need any icing.

Getting by with a little help from our friends

 Metchosin Grown and Certified Organic

We love growing delicious vegetables and sharing the abundance.
Our farm stand is open every Tuesday and Saturday all winter long.
 
On the farm stand this week:
 Beets • Cukes • Purple Sprouting Broccoli • Cabbage • Carrots  • Chard •  Collards • Garlic • Kale •  Leeks • Parsley •  Potatoes •  Rutabaga • Salad Greens •  Turnips • Winter Squash • Saanich Organics Vegetable Seeds

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A Week spent washing, writing policy, rewriting policy, and more washing

It's been a rough week for everyone.  Here's how it played out for us on the farm: On Monday, it really hit home for us that we had to change everything.  Everything.  We're always very diligent with food safety because of our Food Safe, Market Safe and other training with Certified Organic standards but we hadn't really thought through extreme person to person, and person via vegetable transmission.  Our first response was to institute everyone wearing gloves at all times, surfaces sanitised and the farmstand set up with a disinfecting regime. We're doing lots of checking in with staff and self reflection on our state of health. By today, Friday we instituted a mandatory 6ft separation, and we now have lunches outside.  Its fortunate we have an enormous table so that we can isolate everyone while being together. We're committed to enforcing the single (or family group) of shoppers at the farm stand at a time.  We want to make sure that Sea Bluff stays open and can continue to provide food for our local community.  Stay safe everyone, and I'll wave in my gloves in between surface sanitising :)

Getting by with a Little Help from our Friends

We've been bolstered by our Certified Organic friends in Saanich this week.  While seasonal stocks normally run thin this time of year, we've been able to draw on stocks of beautiful garlic from the Saanich Organics Farms and cucumbers (and hopefully cherry tomatoes soon) from the heated greenhouses at Northstar Organics. As the orders from the restaurants thin out, interest in the farmstand has surged. We're grateful for your support, and we're honouring your trust with double duty on our already very high standard of food safety. The gloves have come out, and we're committed to keeping you safe with our evolving pandemic protocol.

The Hedgerow is Blooming

The highlight of our spring has been our native plant hedgerow and our Garry Oak restoration projects on the farm.  We've been partnering with Saanich Native Plants who have done a consultation process with us, they recommended plants for our specific site and needs and they have grown tremendously over the last year.  We are considering having a small open air dinner in the Garry Oaks when its in bloom. Stay tuned for more information on this!

The Rhubarb is Thriving

We had a tough year with rhubarb in 2019.  We had moved it in the fall, to a grassy area of the farm and it had a rough time competing.  Now that its emerged, we laid down our 20 year landscape fabric.  This same poly weave has handled 3 moves so far for strawberries, and we just laid it down for an eighth year, getting ready for our new strawberry plants.  We're all hands on deck here, and we're in process of hiring a full team for 2020.  We are planning for full production, and then some, so I hope your ready for some good eats!

On the Menu at Sea Bluff this week:  

Greens, greens and more greens.  It seems like with the coming of spring, we crave the strong and sweet and flavourful greens.  We've been having collard salads with grated carrot, lightly steamed sprouting brassicas and even the strong tasting salads with very little except some nice olive oil and a dash of apple cider vinegar.  Good news, the spring planted greens are almost ready! Delectable tender salad greens are on the way very soon, but please enjoy the last of these hardy winter greens.

A joke, which is in bad taste, but it sure made us laugh.  A farmhand suggested as a saying for our sandwich board:

“In case of emergency, our kale can be used as toilet paper!!”

Are you a Family without a Farm? Come Join Us!

By: Robin T.

Metchosin Grown and Certified Organic

We love growing delicious vegetables and sharing the abundance.
Our farm stand is open every Tuesday and Saturday all winter long.
 
On the farm stand this week:
 Beets • Purple Sprouting Broccoli • Cabbage • Carrots • Celeriac • Chard •  Collards • Garlic • Kale •  Leeks • Parsley •  Potatoes •  Rutabaga • Salad Greens •  Turnips • Winter Squash • Saanich Organics Vegetable Seeds

Are You a Family without a Farm? Come Join us!

Would you like a backstage pass to Sea Bluff Farm?  We're opening up the farm this year to our customers: families, friends and anyone who wants to enjoy the seasons with us.  We're excited about our programs.  In addition to a farm tour, and extra time on the farm for picnics and hanging out, here's our plan for the year:
April - Planting seeds and planting potatoes
June - Harvesting strawberries and seeing our pollinators in action on our gorgeous hedgerow and in our Garry Oak meadow restoration in progress
August - Harvesting the potatoes we planted together, and doing a tomato tasting.
October - Picking a pumpkin, and enjoying a hay ride around our fields that will be burgeoning with winter bounty

Sign up here.

There is no cost for the programs themselves but we're asking for $500 which you'll get in Sea Bluff Bucks to spend at the farm stand whenever you'd like. Your money will help us at a much needed time (now!) to get the season rolling -hiring staff, buying seed and getting the farm in shape to host you.

As an incentive, our friends at Wild Mountain Food and Drink in Sooke have offered us a $100 gift certificate which we'll raffle off for all the folks who have signed up by March 31! 

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We're Coming into Lean Times - A seasonal primer!

The caption for this picture should be Grow Grow Grow!! We're feeling the pressure! We're coming to the end of the winter, and with it the winter veggies.  Its not just about supply, nature just puts the brakes on.  The winter veggies want to go to seed.  You've probably seen signs of this in your arugula - the stems get thicker and the leaves get stronger tasting as the plant gets the call to action.  As much as we trim and pamper, the plants know its their time.  We've even had carrots and turnips send out a seed head inside dark bins in the cooler.

 
Plants that have been growing all winter can continue to grow in the cold and wet, but its very difficult to get new seedlings started until about now.  And the quickest growing veggies take about 40 days to mature...so there's a gap.  We coaxed some seedlings to start in late January in the greenhouses, so we're doing our best to bridge but get ready for some lean times on the farm stand.  Its good to imagine what we'd eat this time of year if we didn't have food coming in from the rest of the world!

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On the Menu at Sea Bluff Farm

Sprouting Brassica Tops, lightly roasted and served beside a Still Meadow Farm Roast.
Just as I was saying, the spring energy is flying around here, right through the kale and prompting it to send up a luscious seed head.  While we do save the best plants for seed, there are plenty to munch and share.

1 bunch kale tops
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Toss the kale tops in oil, salt and pepper and arrange on a cookie sheet. Roast in the oven at 375•F for 20 minutes, turning once. You can also lightly char them on the bbq.  One bunch might not be enough because they are so divine. The essence of spring, in a bite!

Momentum Building!

By: Robin T.

Metchosin Grown and Certified Organic

We love growing delicious vegetables and sharing the abundance.
Our farm stand is open every Tuesday and Saturday all winter long.
 
On the farm stand this week:
Arugula • Beets • Purple Sprouting Broccoli • Cabbage • Carrots • Celeriac • Chard •  Collards • Garlic • Kale •  Leeks • Parsley •  Potatoes • Radishes • Rutabaga • Salad Greens •  Turnips • Winter Squash • Saanich Organics Vegetable Seeds

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February is all about Timing

There is almost always a window in February when some soil is dry enough to work.  Our window was late Friday afternoon.  We had fingers crossed and teeth gritted.  Healthy soil is a beautiful thing.  Its actually made up of mostly air.  If you work it when its too wet, you ruin its ability to hold air, and then it becomes compact and infertile.  Its wise to wait.  But when you're as keen as we are, you check it every few hours after 4 day dry spell. Its high stakes gambling, but we won.  The soil churned up fluffy and loose. Woohoo! Sadly it rained hard on Friday night so I couldn't get it seeded, but at least it's open!

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Saanich Organics -Seeds of the Revolution

Seed Bred for our Climate

For the past ten years, I've been going to Washington and Oregon to the Organic Seed Alliance's training sessions for farmer-seed breeders. In addition to being really inspiring, I've learned all about selecting and growing better seed.  The principle is very simple - start by finding all the seed companies that you can who are carrying your favourite variety of whatever seed.  This is called gathering the available germplasm. Grow these out together, and see which ones thrive. We grow out 250ft rows, and we love when they can be faced with extremes: hot, dry, cold, wet, snow, flood.  The ones with poor genetics will die, and the ones that thrive, and have the characteristics that you want, are saved for seed, and replanted.  Repeat, repeat in large trials, and in a few years you have the very best seed for this climate. Saanich Organics is saving seed in 4 locations so that we can have the isolation distances that we need.  After 10 years of learning and careful selections, we're proud to offer 40 varieties of vegetables and flowers that we are confident are better for our climate than anything else on the market.

A note about arugula and salad: we realize that its been inconsistent and pretty strong tasting at times.  We're getting to the end of the life of the greens, some of them are trying to go to seed, but we keep cutting them!  Some of them (mostly the claytonia) start to get a burnished red tone in the spring which can be attractive on its own but looks kind of brown in the mix. These are the trials of early spring.  We're doing our best to get new greens sown but many factors are out of our hands. Our solution: Salad Crack! See recipe below :)

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On the menu at Sea Bluff Farm:

 
Hollyhock Salad Dressing, or as we call it "Salad Crack" because its so addictive.
It can be used as a dressing on roasted veggies as well.

Hollyhock Salad Dressing

⅓ cup cider vinegar
⅓ cup water
⅓ cup tamari
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes (we like Bulk Barn's best)
11/2 cup vegetable oil

Place cider vinegar, tamari, garlic and nutritional yeast in a blender and combine. With blender running, pour in oil to reach desired consistency.

Roasted roots are easy and delicious

By: Robin T.

 Metchosin Grown and Certified Organic

We love growing delicious vegetables and sharing the abundance.
Our farm stand is open every Tuesday and Saturday all winter long.

 
On the farm stand this week:
Arugula • Beets • Purple Sprouting Broccoli • Cabbage • Carrots • Celeriac • Chard •  Collards • Garlic • Kale •  Leeks • Parsley •  Potatoes • Radishes • Rutabaga • Salad Greens •  Turnips • Winter Squash •

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Mucky Work!

One of the reasons for our success with winter growing is Bob's investment in subsoil drainage, many years ago.  I delight every time I see the drain pipe flowing out onto Witty Beach Rd.  But even with this network of underground pipes, we're literally up to our ankles in some parts of the field after a big rain.
Harvesting is slow and methodical because we don't want to sink in too badly.  At times like this, I think of my farming friends in Manitoba who got cheap land by the Red River.  They farm in scuba socks, sometimes in the summer, so really, we don't have it so bad.

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First Salad Planting of 2020 Accomplished

Just after Christmas, I got into the lower greenhouse and turned in some old salad greens. After they died back, and the soil was dry enough (quite the waiting game) I was able to re seed some new salad greens which will help keep your green supply constant.  The seeder that we use, looks much like the seeders from a hundred years ago.  Its a simple hopper that drop just the right amount of seed through a gauged metal plate. Theres a little plough at the front that makes a little furrow, and a chain drags behind to cover the seed.  Very satisfying.

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Rooting for Rutabaga and Turnips

Our rutabaga and turnips haven't been our most beautiful this year.  We made a bad call to not to use row cover on the emerging beds back in August and the rutabaga was decimated by flea beetles.  We hadn't previously had to worry about these pests so late in the season but! that's what keeps it interesting.  Luckily, Im a seed hoarder, so we had enough seed to try another planting.  It worked but the roots haven't sized up like we hoped.  No big deal, because they're still delicious, but you need a few more to make a meal. The turnip bed should have been covered to keep out a fly whose offspring like to chew the sweet roots...the turnips grew huge and tasty, but most are unsightly. Luckily there's next year! 

On the menu at Sea Bluff Farm:  

Roasted Turnips and Rutabaga with Sea Salt 

• 1 turnip large

•  2 tbsp olive oil

•  1-2 tsp sea salt

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Peel and cut the turnip and rutabaga into half inch cubes. Toss with salt and olive oil.

3. Place on a large baking sheet in a single layer and roast for 25-30 minutes, until fork tender.

4. Serve and enjoy!

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Delicious Collards! Really!

By: Robin T.

Metchosin Grown and Certified Organic

We love growing delicious vegetables and sharing the abundance.
Our farm stand is open every Tuesday and Saturday all winter long.

On the farm stand this week:
Arugula • Beets • Purple Sprouting Broccoli • Cabbage • Carrots • Celeriac • Chard •  Collards • Garlic • Kale •  Leeks • Parsley •  Potatoes • Radishes • Rutabaga • Salad Greens •  Turnips • Winter Squash •

Pruning the Orchard

We made the most of the beautiful weather on Sunday to get out into the orchard. Its always fun to get up into the trees and give them some love and attention.  Pruning is important at this time of year so that you can direct the growth of the tree to promote airflow and a healthy balance.
While up in the branches, Sasha discovered clusters of very organised and carefully protected eggs. We excitedly brought out our entomology book, only to discover that they are the eggs of our nemesis -the tent caterpillars!

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Perfect Carrots? - I didn't even knock on wood!

For those of you who have been with us over the years, you'll remember all of us suffering together through some rough times with carrots.  These sweet roots are infamous for attracting every munching creature for miles (admit it, we'd all be at the feast!). The thing that bugs me most about farming is the lack of consistent cause and effect. In the past, I've tried so hard with carrots, experimenting with deterents to wire worm, and trials different varieties of carrots.  No luck.  And then when I resign myself to mediocrity, perfect carrots emerge.  Let's delight in them this year, and then hold no future expectations, ok? 
As an endnote, I attended my favourite farming conference in Washington this fall, and I did learn some new tricks for deterring wireworms, so I'll be trying my best out there, but no guarantees in 2020/21.

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A Note about Collards
.

I wish we had another name for these sweet winter greens.  The name collards conjures up memories for some -leathery leaves that taste sharp and acrid.  Or worse, slimy greens that were boiled to death and served slathered in bacon grease.  My favourite quote from a Southern native: "We didn't eat collards for health reasons."
Collards in the grocery store are invariably grown where there is no frost.  Frost is key for creating winter sweetness.  Collards exposed to frost are an entirely different experience.  We like them more than kale, which is saying a lot.  And I don't harvest them until they've had a good hit of cold weather.  
They're easily prepared.  Take the whole bunch and roll it lengthwise.  Slice it really finely, removing the coarse stems as you work your way down the leaves.  Then, add these fine ribbons to soups in their last 5 minutes of cooking, wilt them over stir fries and casseroles at the very end, or eat them raw like in this recipe.  May you relish and delight in your newfound acquaintance with collards. We use delicata squash instead of sweet potato for this recipe!
http://http://www.arthurstreetkitchen.com/journal/2015/3/6/shredded-collard-baked-sweet-potato-pinto-bean-and-spicy-buttermilk-dressing



How do I love January? Let me count the ways!

By: Robin T.

We love growing delicious vegetables and sharing the abundance.
Our farm stand is open every Tuesday and Saturday all winter long.
 
On the farm stand this week:
Arugula • Beets • Purple Sprouting Broccoli • Cabbage • Carrots • Celeriac • Chard •  Collards • Garlic • Kale •  Leeks • Parsley •  Potatoes • Rutabaga • Salad Greens •  Winter Squash

We've Come Through the Snow Unscathed!

We were bracing for the worst.  The warnings of -11C windchill were worrying because drying winds can abrade and desiccate greens. Lucky for us, a lovely blanket of snow fell when the ground was still warm so our produce was nicely nestled away from the elements.  Some of the salad even grew while under the snow -hard to believe but true!

Waxing Poetic about the Beauty in January

How can you feel blue in January when there is so much joy in the fields?     We love January for all the amazing sweetness it brings to the most beautiful produce.  Harvesting these gorgeous cabbages and purple sprouting broccoli is sheer joy.  But then eating them...how is it even possible to have such sweet broccoli? I harvest them with lots of leaf because the leaves are honestly just as good as the broc!  Of course you've noticed how good all the greens are with the frosts. And they're gorgeous. The chard...bliss. 

Harvest Days are Fun Again!

We had a few nasty cold and windy days for the harvest.  On one occasion, my bin full of kale blew clear across the field. On another day, it was touch and go about whether the water in the wash area would flow or freeze.  We had some cold fingers and sore muscles after repeatedly cleaning the snow off the greenhouses. Snow can collapse greenhouses like ours, so its a constant fear when the snow flies. We have our (re-warmed) fingers crossed for no more snow.  The warm weather today had me ready to do some spring seeding.  Im cautiously optimistic about getting a start on the spring season!

On the menu at Sea Bluff Farm:

Steamed purple sprouting broccoli, cabbage and carrot slaw, and Stillmeadow Farm ground mutton hash with carrots and German butter potatoes

What to serve hungry farmhands when they are beating down your door?

Hash is fast and oh so delicious! Cube up veggies on hand, especially waxy potatoes (like German Butters or Ozettes), carrots, celeriac, leeks, onions. Put them all in a large frying pan, along with the ground meat.  Add some herbs like thyme and sage.  Cover and simmer over medium heat, stirring often, until the veggies are tender.  Add in frozen peas and/or corn during the last 5 minutes of cooking.  You can also wilt in chard or kale at this time.
For the slaw: grate cabbage, carrots, green onions and parley.  Dress with vinaigrette.  Toss in sliced almonds or sesame seeds if you'd like.