Farm Happenings at Main Street Urban Farm
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A sweltering g'day to you!

Posted on July 20th, 2019 by Timothy Lyon

There's been some hot days in the past seven. It was 29 after sunset Saturday! We survive by drinking lots of water, completing high-energy tasks in the cooler hours, and by taking breaks or working in the shade. We appreciate the camaraderie of people coming out to lend a hand. Do book in a time to visit the farm, whether to say hi or help out.

Aphids 

The tiniest of insects can be the biggest pests! We've lost a second bed of turnips to aphids now. Every organic intervention was taken, but the aphids were indomitable. This week's turnips ome to you without greens, and despite thorough cleaning may harbour some stowaways. Sorry for the lowered quality.

Psssst, tell your friends & associates about Market!

Memorial Centre Farmers' Market remains our main veggie pickup site, and another great place to top up on our veggies. There you can get them in 3 formats: raw, fermented and cooked. If you visit us you'll see the colorful array of sugar and vinegar free, low-sodium ferments. And, we cook okonomiyaki - a Japanese savoury pancake/pizza - and serve it hot at market on ceramic. We cook and do the dishes too! Our okonomiyaki is unique, gluten-free, dairy-free, oil-free, and the majority of the ingredients are from our urban farm! Come out and try it any Sunday 9am-2pm. And please tell your friends.

Ferments

We've included a new ferment in the extras this week - Fermented Zucchini Relish. It's our low-sodium, sugar-free take on 1000 Islands Relish. Enjoy as a side or in your burgers and sandwiches. Made from our farm veg using a recipe adapted from Ripley's farm.

Repeat of last week's news including a fantabulous salad recipe:

  1. We're delighted you enjoy fresh sprouts as much as we do. If you've decided which type you favour, do go into your Preferences and rate them higher so you get the type you like more often. Harvie provides a lot of recipes for you, but because the one below is often repeated at our mealtable, we're including it here for you:

Super Sprout Salad Recipe

Get this:

  • 1/3 Crunch bean sprouts (chickpeas, peas)
  • 1/3 Brain Booster sprouts (Alfala mix)
  • 1/3 pea shoots or another leafy green
  • 3 small or 1 large Radish chopped (easter egg, black flesh, watermelon, or all types)
  • 2 Jerusalem artichokes chopped 
  • 1/3 cup seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame)
  • 1/4 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, chashews)
  • 1 chopped apple or pear
  • 1/2 cup raisins or cranberries
  • other yummy additions :- mushrooms, turnips, kohlrabi, any seasonal vegetable. 

Dressing

  • 1 Tbs soy sauce
  • 1 Tbs sesame oil
  • 1 tsp maple syrup

1/2 cup of olive oil (or sunflower, veggie oil)

  • 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 clove of garlic (or scapes) minced

Adjust according to your taste shake well 

Do this: 

  • mix all ingredients well in a large bowl and pour dressing over the salad and enjoy

Speaking of Preferences, we want you to enjoy the adventure of eating from our urban farm, but also to get into eating what you want as much as possible within local seasonal availability. To give you that freedom we use Harvie. To use it, go into your Preferences and rate each vegetable so the system can give you the most of what you like most. We're delighted that Harvie let's us give you this level of selection.
Main Street Urban Farm
A decentralised urban farm in downtown Kingston Ontario, Main Street Market Urban Farm has been run by co-farmers Tim & Tracy Lyon since 2009. We grow vegetables and mushrooms on several city centre plots. And, we also grow the connection between eaters and farmers, eaters and the earth. We fell in love with farming and the food we grow when we tasted the fruit straight from the field. You can get it delivered right to your door by bicycle! Our growing methods follow organic principles in our intensive, market-garden style beds.
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