Ok I know I say it often, but July truly is our fave month of the year! It's cool enough to grow lots of amazing veggies, the sun warms your back as your harvesting, and the bugs (for the most part) are all a bit dormant (more on that below).
So whats news for July in the world of organic fruit and veg?
On our farm
We've been enjoying our big harvest weeks, and there's so much activity happening with bed prep, planting, seedling germination and more.
Some of the veggies we're harvesting this month include:
- Lettuce (all the varieties including my favourite buttercrunch)
- Salad Mix (lots of this!)
- Baby Spinach (yay!)
- Rocket
- Coriander (yum on top of pumpkin soup)
- Silverbeet
- Kale
- Carrot Bunches (check out our carrot recipes)
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Beetroot
- Ginger
- Turmeric
I'm sure I've missed some, but you can understand why with a list that long! Be sure to check out our farm tour if you want to come along to see all the fun things we're growing! Heres the link for tickets!
We've had a little trouble with some bugs on the brassicas so Mick did a great post about how we treat these. Check it out here
One thing we are noticing is just how much amazing produce is around at the moment. We're talking with lots of farmers who are all feeling the highs and lows of an abundant market. More on that next week :)
Fruit
Of course the citrus fest continues and we're enjoying mandarins, blood oranges, lemons, limes, and some grapefruit. Lemonades have finished up for the season, and we will soon shift to Valencia oranges as the Navel Oranges end their run. Apples are crisp and tasty, and pears continue to make our morning porridge just that bit sweeter.
We are seeing the start of Strawberry season! It's not yet in full abundance so supply is limited but we're grateful to be working with Dan for a good supply for our lovely Harvest farm-ily members. We're also enjoying Papaya and some winter watermelon! Pineapples still continue to be extremely expensive and limited so we don't expect to see these available for some time. We've waved goodbye to Grapes this month. Avocado are on and abundant so we're enjoying these in all the ways possible! Bananas are still in strong supply although this may slow down a little due to the cooler time of year.
Veggies
We talked brassicas before and these are available in a BIG way! Think loads of Celery, Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Cabbage. Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes continue to bring life to our roast veggie salads, as does Beetroot and Pumpkin.
Leafy greens are abundant, and we're still enjoying a good supply of Corn too.
Zucchini, Cucumber and Tomatoes are moderately available although somewhat highly priced due to seasonality. Capsicum is also quite intermittent (its more a summer veg), as is Eggplant. Mint is off the menu for a while but we can enjoy dill, parsley and coriander for our herb needs.
