Ripple Farm Organics

Feb 2012, Ripple in Pictures

2012-02-27T13:13:00.000-08:00

February 2012

Winter finally arrived in February with 4-6 inches of snow and 2 weeks of freezing temperatures. The vegetables didn’t mind the snow too much (although they were a bit harder to find than usual!) but the freezing temperatures damaged the less hardy greens such as spinach, chard and some of the salad leaves so there will be less of those through March.

And the end of February has given us some relatively mild and dry weather, so we've been busy spreading muck and cultivating, and even planted a few early potatoes today (27 Feb).

The South East is officially in drought because ground water levels are low due to less than average rainfall and increasing water usage. There is no immediate effect on us as growers, our fields are holding plenty of water at the moment, but we will be happy to have plenty of nice gentle rain over the next growing season, both to replenish the groundwater sources (for every-one's benefit) and to establish our vegetable crops.

We are learning to adapt to relatively dry springs, for example, trying to cultivate newly rotated ground in the autumn, so we are not losing important moisture at planting time and working on a 2 year glass&clover/one year vegetable rotation, enabling more organic matter to build up in the soil, which helps to hold water. We will also be collecting rainwater on a small scale for irrigation, but as we are only tenant farmers, we would struggle to make the investment in a reservoir for large scale water collection/storage.

Claytonia salad leaves growing in a polytunnel. Claytonia is the cultivated variety of the wild plant
'Spring Beauty' and adds some balance to our spicy winter salad bags.

Autumn sown garlic, growing inside our rented Victorian walled garden.

'Olantigh' Field, late sown leeks to the left, some of this year's veg ground to the right and the North Downs Way'
public footpath going across the field.

...and Olantigh Field again, looking down towards Wye.

Newly ploughed ground outside the walled garden.

Orchard Field, rows of kales to the right, and more of this year's veg ground to the left.

Polytunnel cultivated, ready for sowings of early salad greens and spinach

First batch of seed potatoes, some of which were sown today, March 27.

Rinbow chard seedlings, showing their beauty already.

Snow

2012-02-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

Just wondering how many vegetables we will manage to harvest this week.....

curly kale just showing above the snow...

and red russian kale....

there's some purple sprouting broccoli there somewhere....

January in Pictures

2012-01-09T12:52:00.000-08:00

2011 was a 'funny old year' weather wise, mild and wet from January (after a very cold and snowy Nov and Dec), then very hot and dry in April, May and June. We finally got a decent amount of rain in July, and then some more and some more! A definite lack of sun and warmth through July and August, followed by a wonderfully sunny September and October was pretty good too (even I went swimming in the sea that first weekend!). And winter has been very kind to us as growers so far, relatively mild with few frosts, our winter greens are faring much better than last winter, no complaints there, too mild even to affect the whitefly that like to hide in the curly kale.

But it does seem un-seasonally mild, and the spring and summer did seem a bit mixed up, so a bit unsettling. Its much easier growing vegetables when the weather does what you expect!

No photo blog in Nov and Dec due to my camera not working, but back in action now, so I thought I would show you everything that we are harvesting on the farm at the moment (despite it being January, we still spend at least 4 days a week harvesting and packing for farmers markets, our box scheme, other home delivery and box schemes (including Growing Communities, Harvest 4 U, Sutton Farm and Local Greens), shops and restaurants in Kent and London (too many to mention, see our website for a listing).

We sell at Wye, Whitstable and Stoke Newington Farmer's Markets, all of which only allow us to sell produce we have grown ourselves.

sprouts - not just for Christmas!

A selection of cabbages........

Celeriac, most is covered by straw for frost protection.

Beetroot, again, most of the crop is snug under a layer of straw

Carrots under fleece, with more under straw.

And here's the beetroot under straw.

Not much to see, but there are some parsnips in these beds, we have to search for them, not our best crop this year, as many didn't germinate in the hot, dry spring

Spinach

Green Chard

Rainbow Chard

Swede

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Green Curly Kale

Cavelo Nero (Black Kale)

Red Curly Kale

Tha mainstay of our winter salad bags - 'green-in-snow' mustard leaf

Rocket, going to seed now, but the flowering shoots are great in salads.

Sweet Red Russian Kale, the smaller leaves are harvested for salad,
and the larger ones for stir fry bags and mixed kale bags

Sweet Hungry Gap Kale, again the smaller leaves are great in salads (similar taste to pak-choi)

A glasshouse full of Claytonia, the cultivated form of the wild plant 'Spring Beauty'. Also known as 'Miners Lettuce, getting its name due to its use as a fresh salad green by miners in the 1849 Gold Rush in California

Red Mustard leaves, growing in a glasshouse.

One of the more tender winter salad leaves, Mizuna. This crop has already been cut once, and if the mild weather continues we will get another cut from it.

And the crops harvested in the Autumn and now in store include potatoes (under the covers),
as well as onions and squash.

Over-wintered garlic, something to look forward to in the Spring (we do still have some stored, dried garlic too).

And a late crop of leeks ( we do also have some larger ones we are harvesting at the momet)

October, Squash Harvest and More

2011-10-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

'Crown Prince' squash, cut and windrowed, ready to pick up.

We've harvested all our pumpkins and squash now, not such a big job this year as we lost a lot of plants after transplanting, in the cool June weather. But the amazingly sunny September and October ripened those that survived.

'Hokkaido', probably the tastiest squash we grow, but doesn't store long, so taste it while you can.

Pumpkins in the field, cut and ready to pick up

Crown Prince, a very tasty squash that can store until April/May

Pumpkins in store, still ripening (they all start off green and ripen to orange just in time for Halloween, hopefully)

'Habanero' chillies

'Green-in-Snow' - a winter hardy mustard salad leaf, growing inside our Victorian walled garden

Autumn planted garlic, just emerging.
It's a very difficult crop to weed, which is why we use this biodegradable plastic mulch.

So pretty, I had to take a picture! Rainbow chard harvested and bunched Monday, to be delivered into London shops early Tuesday morning.

Spartan Apples Harvest October 2011

2011-10-05T11:17:00.000-07:00

We have a small area od Spartan apple orchard, planted when the field was part of Wye Collgee, and very neglected over the years. Left un-pruned for a long time and un-weeded, many of the trees are covered in 'old man's beard' and crowded by Alder. But we have done some pruning and tidying since renting this field, and this year we have been rewarded with a bumper crop. It has generally been a good year for apples, and these are no exception. They are ready earlier than usual too, so on Tuesday we harvested the lot (we leart our lesson after last year, when we harvested a couple of boxes each week for the markets for a few weeks, and then found empty trees - some-one had been more than scrumping!

Here's a couple of pics to whet your appetite, they will be sale at Stoke Newington and Whitstable Farmers Markets this Saturday, and then every week until they're gone.

Also available to order as extras with our box scheme.

September, Spud Harvest Time

2011-09-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

September is Spud harvest time, so far we have been harvesting them as needed, but all the maincrop potatoes should be harvested over the next few weeks now ready for winter storage. A sunny, not too wet September will keep us happy, the squash will ripen, the tomatoes and peppers in the polytunnels will keep cropping and we can harvest potatoes anytime we're not harvesting and packing orders.

Potato harvester in action at Ripple, with one tractor pulling the machine, one driving alongside filling wooden bin as the spuds come off the belt, and 4 workers on top, sorting the clods and stones from the spuds.

Plenty of wooden bins still
to be filled, the 'Long Plantation' woods in the background.

'Amorosa' - reds and 'Valor' - whites

The harvester goes back to the workshop for minor repairs, Wye Crown claerly seen here looking up from 'Orchard Field' spinach, late sown leeks and kales under cover bottom right.

Stripy spinach - the central darker green rows are true spinach, and the outer, lighter green are perpetual spinach

Early leeks, irrigated back in the drought of April/May, and now ready to harvest,
looking pretty as a picture amongst the poppies

This year's squash crop is not looking so good after a relatively cool summer, many plants died in the cool conditions after planting, and those that are there still need more sun to ripen up.

Crown Prince squash, not yet ripe...

and butternut..

August 2011 in Pictures

2011-08-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

August is a quiet month in terms of harvesting and packing, as many of our customers go on holiday, but then so do many of our staff, so it doesn't feel that quiet. A bit of a lull though before the main harvest of onions and potatoes gets going in September.

Onions, drying in the field, looks like a good crop this year.

The squash still have a lot of work to do after being planted so late, let's hope for a sunny September!

A patchwork of kales, Russian Red, Cavelo Nero, Red and Green Curly and Hungry Gap

Straw bought from a local farmer, in readiness to protect the carrots and beetroot over winter.
Kings Wood in the background.

The last of the leeks in the Nursery Bed that are still to be transplanted.
The module grown ones are almost ready to harvest.

Looking in to the Victorian Walled Garden. Sadly, some of the old wooden glasshouses are beyond repair.

Newly sown chard inside the walled garden.

We have sold a few organic figs at Stoke Newington market during August, this is where they came from, one of the remaining fig trees growing outside the walled garden.

A trial planting of Thai Basil for markets.

Phacelia strip next to our early leeks, food for bees.

A pear tree left over from the days when these fields were full of fruit. The pears are only good for cooking and do make a tasty jam, combined with summer and autumn berries. If you look hard you can see Wye Church in the background.

The 'Lazy Bed Weeder' - although after an afternoon on this you don't feel as if you've had a lazy afternoon at all! We all get to take turns driving the tractor.

Whats Happening July 2011

2011-07-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

First it was too dry, then too wet (no pleasing us vegetable growers!) but then conditions were just right, so the last couple of weeks have seen us transplanting in every spare moment, (well, when we're not harvesting, packing or weeding that is) and we're almost caught up now.

These leeks were transplanted (and then irrigated) during the 'drought' and are now doing well

We finally got good enough ground conditions to plant our squash (not too dry, not too wet),
what they need now is lots of sun

Less watering to do as the number of plants still in plug trays lessens

The 'Hungarian Hot Wax' Chillies get going

And the tomatoes start to redden.

Rainbow and Green Chard plants just transplanted, we should be able to harvest chard from these plants through to next Spring, as long as thwey survive the winter (once they get a bit bigger that is!)

Our frindly 'Hawk Kite' bird scarer keeping the pigeons off our kales.

Lovely, almost weed-free rows of Cos lettuce

What we should be doing - June 2011

2011-06-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

It's almost the end of June, and we still have hundreds of squash plants ready to be transplanted, but dare we say it, it's been a bit wet and cool over the last couple of weeks!!

But here we are in action, transplanting courgettes and sweetcorn a few weeks ago before the rain came, both these crops like a bit of sun, and the courgettes particularly dislike cold nights and windy days so aren't doing too well at the moment.

Courgette plants in plug trays

David Brown tractor loaded up with plants

Martin driving and checking the transplanting is going OK

Jane enjoying her work!

Jane and Sam on the transplanter feeding the sweetcorn plants in.
For crops that we grow 3 rows to a bed, there will be a third person on the transplanter

Lovely, neat rows of transplaneted sweetcorn and courgettes

What's happening in June

2011-06-12T08:25:00.000-07:00

We finally got the rain we so were so desperate for, about 25mm on Sunday 5 and Monday 6 June and have had more since then, and everything is growing well and no need for irrigation for now, happy again!

Ridging up potatoes before the rain (with a little help)

Picking up the first of the new potatoes by hand

Seeding into module trays, the majority is done now, but crops such as lettuce will be seeded every 2 weeks until August.

Sweetcorn and courgettes transplanted into nice moist ground, but not enjoying the wind and cool nights since.

Our quiet bird-scarer, a hawk kite, acts as a potential predator keeping smaller birds away from the crops

Basil growing well in a polytunnel, the scent from so many plants
is amazing

Nasturtiums just starting to flower to brighten up the salad bags

Squash plants ready to be transplanted.

What's Happening in May (part 2)

2011-05-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

No significant rain now since March 17th and over the last week or so only the occasional shower giving us the odd mm or two of rain we can't put off transplanting for any longer. We are using T-Tape (trickle tape) laid along rows of crops for irrigation. This is a long process as our water pressure only allows us to irrigate 2 or 3 rows at a time. We do usually have to do this for selected crops, depending on the weather, but with no significant rain due yet we're going to have to continue irrigating all transplants for now

Irrigating kale

and leeks

Young plants ready to be transplanted

onions in Olantigh Fields, newly transplanted leeks to the right

New Season's rainbow chard soon ready to harvest

2nd outdoor sowing of carrots, in need of hand-weeding (they have already been weeded between the rows using a tractor mounted hoe

...and here are the carrots after hand-weeding

Cucumber, peppers and aubergines recently transplanted into a polytunnel

Working very dry ground for llek transplants

What's happening - May in pictures

2011-05-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

May 2011, we've had a very dry and the hottest April since records began, and now have the wind to dry things out even more so deperately need some rain.

Early spuds, some under cover, before being ridged up May 3rd in case of an overnight frost

Martin rotovating a tunnel ready to plant tomatoes into, May Day Bank Holiday

Runner beans just transplanted, ready early after a hot April, but not enjoying the windy days after they were planted.

Lettuce and brassicas ready to transplant

Rainbow chard looking very pretty, but just starting to go to seed!

Wild Rocket spring re-growth

Lettuces under fleece, not pretty but it gets us an early crop

We have a few strawberries in a polytunnel, ripening up very early, May 2nd, after a very hot April

Hundreds of leek tranplants waiting for rain so they can spread their roots out in the field

Whats happening at Ripple in April in Pictures

2011-04-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

The potatoes are in the ground

The seeding greenhouse is full, and we have transplanted some early crops of chard, beetroot and lettuce.

Autumn sown garlic grown outdoors in the shelter of our walled garden

Recent sowing of onions now up, most of this early sowing will be harvested as spring/green onions

Broad beans

Raised beds made ready for sowing carrots into

New season's salad in polytunnel

We still have leeks

Latest News

2011-03-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

Lots of lovely sun this week, so quite a bit of activity on the farm, Martin has started twittering (ha ha, I know that should be tweeting) so follw @rippleorganics to get news of what we're doing in the fields.

And for those living in and around Wye, take a look at the Wye Food website to find out what's going on at the first ever Wye Food Festival in June
http://www.wyefood.com/

Leeks Lifecycle

2011-03-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

Digging leeks, March 2011

Here's us harvesting leeks on Tuesday this week, a lovely spring day. When the ground is too wet or when we just have a small amount to harvest (or when the tractor is being used elsewhere) we just loosen them with a fork, then they need pulling up, and roots and topped and trimmed. Finally, back in the shed, we peel off the outer layers and they are ready.

Leek Harvest in Olantigh Field, March 2011

Meanwhile, back in the seeding greenhouse, many of the new season's leeks are already seeded and growing. We grow some leeks in module trays, sowing several seeds per module so we don't get too may giant leeks; and some in trays, which will then be transplanted into a 'nursery bed' for a while, before being transplanted into their final home

leek seedlings, march 2011

Leek Nursery, June 2010

And this is what the leeks looked like back in December, not so easy to harvest then!

Leeks - December 2010

Spring Soup

2011-03-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
2-3 small leeks
1 medium carrot
1 litre vegetable stock
1 lemon
1 handful green garlic

Wash and cut up the leeks, soften in a little butter or oil. Add the diced carrot and stock to the leeks and simmer for 20 mins. Add the zest and juice from the lemon and the shredded green garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Add salt if desired.

Thanks to Nigel Slater for the inspiration for this soup, I hadn't thought of adding lemon to a soup before, very tasty. You can substitute cabbage or kale for the wild garlic.

A sign of Spring - Wild Garlic / Ramsons

2011-03-07T13:43:00.000-08:00

For some years now we have harvested wild garlic from some woodland on an organic farm belonging to friends of ours in Egerton. In return we provide them with waste vegetables for their pigs.

We want to continue harvesting the wild garlic for years to come so we only pick the leaves and flowers, and the area it grows on there is big enough that we can rotate which bits we harvest from each year.

You may find the leaves in your stir-fry bags, salad bags or bagged on their own, just rub the leaf between your fingers and smell, no mistaking them then! As the season progresses you will also find some of the beautiful white flowerheads in with the leaves, which are the prettiest salad ingredient and give a strong garlic hit too!

A couple of leaves in a sandwich really gives it a taste of spring, or add to green leaf salad, or to an omelette. Cut up finely and add to a bowl of soup just before serving or tear up some leaves and add to a winter stew for the last 5 minutes of cooking. I've even used a few leaves as a substitute for cloves of garlic in hummus (makes the hummus green, of course!). I plan on trying wild garlic pesto this year, let us know how you eat yours....

Chocolate and Beetroot Brownies

2011-02-22T12:56:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

250g/10oz good, dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
250g/10oz unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus more for greasing
250g/10oz caster sugar
3 free-range eggs
150g self-raising flour (we used wholemeal self-raising)
250g beetroot, boiled until tender, peeled and grated
Teaspoonful of good quality vanilla essence

Method: How to make chocolate and beetroot brownies

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Grease a baking tin of approximately 20 x 30 x 3cm and line the bottom with baking parchment.

2. Break up the chocolate into pieces, cut the butter into cubes then mix them up a bit in a heatproof bowl. As the oven begins to warm up, put the bowl onto one of the shelves for a few minutes until the chocolate and butter starts to melt. Stir, and put back into the oven for a few more minutes to melt completely.

3. Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a bowl until combined, then beat in the melted chocolate and butter until smooth. Gently fold in the flour then the beetroot – be careful not to overmix or it will make the brownies tough.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth over the top with a spatula. Bake for about 40-45 minutes. A knife or skewer pushed into the middle should come out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Don't be tempted to overcook them! Remove the tin from the oven and leave on wire rack to cool before cutting into squares.

Thanks to Vicky Sandifer (for testing and tweaking this Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe), I will definitely be trying this - Sarah

Beetroot Soup / Borscht

2011-02-15T04:16:00.000-08:00

Beetroot soup (Borscht) Claimed by some to be the ultimate hangover cure,I just love it.

- Beetroot
- Cabbage (about one cup)
- stock (veg or meat)
- onion
- carrot
- lemon juice

Grate the Beet and the carrot, chop up the cabbage and the onion and put it all in a large saucepan.
Add the stock (or water with a cube)so that all is covered and bring to the boil. Boil until all is tender (about 20 mins). Stick it all in the food processor or blender than back in the pan. Add the lemon juice and fresh ground pepper. Serve with a dollop of yoghurt (or cream if you prefer). Enjoy!

Thanks to Jacqueline Thatcher for this recipe

Recipe - Brussel Sprouts Cheesy Casserole

2011-02-15T04:13:00.000-08:00

Brussels Sprouts Cheesy Casserole Recipe

Quantities for 2

This sounds an unlikely recipe but we were amazed how good it was. This a main course dish.

Quantities need not be exact.

5 oz. Brussels sprouts

1 slightly beaten egg

1 large slice of bread /end crust made into soft bread crumbs

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

3 oz grated cheddar cheese

1 small chopped onion

1 tbsp. butter, melted

Combine remaining crumbs and butter; sprinkle on top.

Cook Brussels sprouts; drain. Cut sprouts into halves / quarters and set aside.

Combine eggs, half the crumbs, soup, cheese, onion, and dash pepper.

Fold in sprouts.

Transfer to a casserole dish.

Bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes

Serve with crusty buttered rolls or bread

Thanks to Dave and Pauline Goddard for this recipe

Ripple Farm Organics New Blog

2011-02-13T04:21:00.001-08:00

We've been looking for a way for our customers to share recipes and ideas for a while now, so here goes, the Ripple Farm Organics blog. Not all of us at Ripple are of the facebook/twitter/ blogging generation but we'll try our best to catch up (after all, they're doing it in the Archers....).
We won't be bombarding you with daily posts (we don't have that much time on our hands!) but hopefully the new blog will enable us to pass on a bit more information about what we're doing, and receive feedback and for our customers to interact. We'll see what happens. ....