Basket contents: Ground cherries, peppers, choice of tomatilloes or eggplant, choice of carrots or beets, choice of shallots of green onions, choice of Swiss chard or kale, parsley, cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, leeks.
Recipe of the Week: Enchiladas verdes
In this week’s newsletter, we will share some photos and stories from some a few of the many groups we’ve had out to the farm this year. When we first moved to this farm in 2012, we didn’t know the region or almost anyone in the area. It is nice to feel that now, well into our third year, we have been able to connect with a number of groups in our area, helping us to move toward our mission of building an alternative food system based on real relationships between producers and consumers, community involvement and accountability.
In the past two weeks we’ve had three groups from Argenteuil come out to visit the farm and lend a hand. The first was a group of parents and children from the Maison de la famille in Lachute. Eby brought them to visit the animals, tour the fields, and even do a little harvesting for their picnic lunch. Despite the difficulty distracting them from our troupe of kittens, they did seem pretty amazed at pulling carrots straight from the ground.
The second group that came out was a knowledge-sharing visit organized by the MRC of policy-makers and farmers from the Carribean seeking innovative ways to improve quality of life in their home countries through agriculture. It was interesting to be able to share experiences with them, especially around the benefits and challenges of cooperative management. Maybe they’ll invite us down to visit their sites at some point during our long winter months…
The third group that came out this week was organized by Café Partage, a local community organization that works for food security through popular education. We have been working with them since our beginning, offering them our surplusses, opportunities to come glean extras from our fields and even a biweekly discussion around the cooking of some of the lesser known vegetables. This week they got a full farm tour, and then helped clean and pack onions with us for a couple of hours.
Thanks to all of our lovely volunteers that come out to lend a hand, easing our work load and allowing us to continue to produce good food and make it as accessible as we can. We’re looking forward to hosting a bunch more of you at our annual harvest party this weekend! Please confirm your presence with us so we can plan the work accordingly and help coordinate rides.