See you on Saturday

Hello!

Long time no see.

So here's my idea; why don't you come along to the Collingwood Children's Farm farmer's market this Saturday between eight and one and see us for real. In person.

How much fun would that be!

We could chat, you could buy some gorgeous heirloom variety beetroot and some eggs, all certified organic and of course delicious. And while you are there your kids could dance around with the buskers, you could stock up on the freshest, seasonal, farmer's market goodies and make a morning of it.

See you there?

Hope so.

Heirloom beetroots and carrots.

It's the first day of winter here in Southern Australia and our little farm is full of rainbows.

Rainbows of heirloom beetroots. Five varieties.

And rainbows of heirloom carrots. Five varieties.

The vegetable cool room is on and full of crates of gorgeous certified organic vegies.

And the farmer boys are a blur of picking and washing and weighing and packing.

It's been a crazy season and we are about five months later than usual, but we are finally doing what organic vegie farmers do and wow it is fun!

Roasted beetroot divine!

Happy weekend folks!

To celebrate weekend eve, we made the yummiest dinner. Every single ingredient except the olive oil and the feta was grown right here at Daylesford Organics and everything except the garlic was picked less than an hour before it was cooked.

Four colours of heirloom beetroot. From left: Detroit, White Blankoma, Golden, Chioggia.

Eshallots

Tossed together with some garlic and olive oil, baked for an hour and then served with a lettuce and fetta salad.

It doesn't get much better than that. Simple, colouful, fresh, seasonal, organic, delicious!

We hope you have the most wonderful weekend.

Optimistic.

I've been thinking lately that the dictionary definition for the word optimistic should include the word farmer and more specifically a farmer planting a crop.

When a farmer plants a crop she/he hopes for the perfect weather conditions to enable that crop to germinate, to grow and to thrive. It cannot be too hot, too wet, too cold or too humid. The farmer hopes that the irrigation pipes don't block or burst, that pests leave the crop alone, that there are no diseases, not too many weeds and enough water to irrigate it. He/she hopes that there is no flood or fire or wind storm. The farmer hopes that Mother Nature is kind and enables a delicious crop to be picked at the end of the growing season.

After a month of 'will we or wont we's', the last few days at Daylesford Organics were spent ploughing, laying irrigation lines and planting out a couple of gardens of carrots and beetroots.

Where other years we plant many, many different varieties of vegetables and lots of successions of each, this year we are most grateful to get anything in at all.

We are optimistic.

From The Earth.

The boys have been picking and washing gorgeous heirloom vegies to send off to Circa The Prince for this year's Delicious Magazine's Produce Awards cocktail party on Monday night.

They picked rainbow carrots, white and yellow baby turnips,

as well as four varieties of beetroots.

Last year we were lucky enough to win the From The Earth category. This year we have been included in the list of finalists but will have to wait until Monday night to find out.

I have a gorgeous new frock to wear and now I just have to decide between last year's shoes or my Hunters, it is the produce awards after all.

Have a great weekend.

Heirloom beetroot.

Last Monday the Melbourne Food & Wine festival held their media and industry launch lunch at the Abbotsford convent.

Nicolas Poelaert from Embrasse restaurant created the main course (see above). It was john dory cooked with squid ink, burnt carrot puree, rice paddy herb and that magical colour was our Daylesford Organics heirloom beetroots.

Check out the tummyrumbles blog where the above photo came from for more amazing photos and reflections from the lunch.

These are what the beetroots looked like when we delivered them to Nicolas on Saturday.

We love having such close relationships with the chefs that create magic with the heirloom vegies that we feel so passionate about growing.

I hope you are having a fruitful and delicious week.

Heirloom beetroots.

First bunches of the season.

Sold at the farm gate stall today.

Baby beetroot.

Ducklings & Chicks

Last Wednesday Bren brought home 300 day-old chicks and 25 day-old ducklings.

The chicks are made up of three different varieties. The whites are Leghorn cross New Hampshires, the blacks are Australorp cross New Hampshires, and the browns are Gingerhams. The ducklings are Khaki Campbells.

We have had never had ducklings before and are all absolutely taken with them.

When we brought home our last batch of chicks in July they were very sleepy for a few days and stayed huddled together, some barely opening their eyes. This time the weather was a bit warmer and they were quick to jump out of their boxes and explore their new surroundings.

Some even jumped off the side of the brooder, ready to take on the big wide world.

Did you see the Discover Daylesford exerpt in yesterday's The Age newspaper?

On page 12 there is an article about local producers.

And page 13 has a big picture of our betroot.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend.

Quack quack.

Stamps.

Look how gorgeous these fruit and vegie stamps are.

My friend Beck bought them from here for me and I just adore them.

Carrots.

Peas.

Beetroots.

And apples.

I'm thinking swing tags, labels, row markers....

I LOVE them Beck. Thank you so much.

The Epicure Green Issue.

We are in today's Age newspaper food supplement: 'Epicure'.

It is called 'The green issue' and has some great articles on all sorts of ethical food matters.

It is fantastic that topics like harvest swaps, farmers' markets, locavores and buying, cooking and eating with a conscience, have hit the mainstream.

On page 20 there is an article written by Matt Wilkinson.

It is a great article, you can find the whole thing here.

I'm not overly happy with that photo. I look like I had been cutting and burning gorse all day which I had. Maybe from now on I'll have to do the farm work in my Campers, just in case.

Put Victoria On Your Table (part two)

Last Thursday Bren attended the official launch of Put Victoria On Your Table (PVOYT).  I have previously written about our role in the campaign.

It was a lunch held in inner city Melbourne at Chapter House and the invitation told you to be there at 12 sharp.

The table centers were described as nests of regional Victorian produce.

Included in these nests were our heirloom carrots and our heirloom beetroot.

Also included were Daylesford Organics friends Daylesford Hepburn Mineral Springs Co and Holy Goat Cheese.

I love the look of the long white tables and all that earthy, untouched produce.

Before lunch was served there were some speeches, the launch of the logo and then the movie was screened. The movie was the story of Matt Wilkinson travelling around regional Victoria, picking up the produce to make the lunch about to be served.

And then for the lunch.

In case you can't read the menu above, Alla Wolf Taska from the Lake House in Daylesford made; medallions of smoked Skipton eel, Istra pancetta, remoulade of Daylesford Organics beetroot and fresh horseradish.

Cheers!