Raspberry leaves tea

Did you know that you can make a delicious (and medicinal) tea with raspberry leaves?  

If you're already growing raspberries (or know someone who is!), remember to harvest, dry, and brew yourself a wonderful cup of tea.

It’s wonderful to be able to harvest it from the garden, to drink a potion of vitamins and minerals and to feel a stronger connection with the plant.  

Benefits:

The leaves are rich in potassium, iron, magnesium and b-vitamins.

Red raspberry leaf tea is a natural remedy for women’s health including menstrual support, pregnancy, childbirth and menopause.

How to Harvest & Preserve Red Raspberry Leaf Tea

The leaves are best harvested in the spring before the flowers emerge. 

Choose young, bright green leaves. 

Collect raspberry leaves before the plant blooms.

Harvest mid-morning after the dew has evaporated and before the sun is hot to preserve the oils and flavor.

Spread the leaves out on a screen and allow them to dry naturally away from dust and sunlight.

Or you can gather the leaves by their stems, tie the ends, and hang them to dry.

Depending on the humidity, drying usually takes 2-3 weeks.

You can tell when the leaves are dry, by crushing a leaf or two. It should crumble easily.

Try not to crush the rest of the leaves to reserve the flavor until you are ready to brew your tea.

Once dry, store leaves lightly packed in a glass jar away from direct sunlight.

From the market garden.

On a whole we feel it’s been a great season for the market garden.  

We have had some stunning crops throughout the season with some of the favorites being the late carrots, dill, sweet corn, Chinese cabbage and the consistent crisp salad mix.  

The long dry period late summer and autumn gave our autumn and winter crops a bit of grief such that our cabbages, Japanese turnip, broccoli and cauliflower yields have not been so great.  As a testament to the diverse CSA seasonal veggie box model, we have still been able to provide a great value and a  range of veggies each week.

Winter boxes will be a little less abundant for the last few weeks and the last box will be on the 24^thof July.  As hard as it is not to see our crops reach their full potential and make it to our valued customers place , we have to accept that we can't “win them all” and plan to improve for next time.  

In terms of box numbers, demand continues to increase and at times we have had a small waiting list.  More and more people are seeking out farm direct veggies from the Jing Clinic in Lilydale and Upwey food hubs which has been great.   

A massive thanks to all our members and special acknowledgement to our members who made the time to come to help out on a Tuesday and for the hands on the land days. This connection and participation is at the heart of our CSA model and it really warms my heart and gives me a boost to see big smiles on our member’s faces getting out on the land!  

Thanks again for playing your part of the CSA and we hope you can join us next season when we start back up again in late December.

Cape Gooseberries

I have never heard of Cape gooseberries before, let alone picked and eaten them, but they are currently my favourite thing to forage for and find in the PEACE Farm mandala gardens.  Perhaps its because the mandala gardens are looking pretty sparse these days, or perhaps its the way the golden fruit is hiding with a paperthin leafy shell, and when its really ripe this turns transparent revealing the gold fruit inside.

There is something lovely about removing it from this leafy shell and popping it into my mouth.  The taste is different, not too sweet, not too tart if ripe enough.  It tastes like what I think a Vitamin C tablet should taste like - vibrant and alive.

Today the little kids of the farm helped me harvest them. Many had fallen off the vine prematurely from the wind.  Hopefully they might ripen if I bring them inside.

 I just checked online and they are also known as Inca berries, Aztec berries, Golden berries, and ground berries.  They contain Vitamins A, C & B and are high in protein and iron. Yeah!   If I stop eating them I may even have enough to make a gooseberry jam, but the temptation to just pop them in is too great.

Celebrating Lammas

Lammas is a celebration at the mid point between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox.
The essence of this festival is to celebrate the first harvest.

It is a time to give thanks for the Abundance of the Earth, acknowledging what we harvest from our efforts, what gifts we receive from the Earth.
It is also a time of dry heat, grass fire, and bush fire.
The main colours are yellow, orange and red (dry grass, corn, tomatoes...)

Today we gathered in the circle and shared about what we were symbolicly harvesting in our life.

We made some corn dollies from the harvest of our corn and wheat from our mandala garden.

"Corn Dolly" is an ancient craft going back to when it was thought that a spirit lived in the cornfields. To honour and preserve the spirit at harvest time and ensure the success of next year's harvest, a corn dolly was made for it to rest in.

First Vege Box

Last week Peace Farm began its CSA (community supported agriculture) box scheme. Anna and Dan were delighted by the value they received in their box and we at Peace Farm were grateful for their confidence in us to produce their families vege needs by paying in advance. This is part of the ethos of the CSA concept where growers and consumers share the potential risks and the abundance of food growing. 

Anna and Dan, the happy recipients
of the first CSA Vege Box

Our first box included an amazing variety including zucchini, beetroots, beans, potatoes, plums, shallots, onions, garlic, herbs, salad greens, beans, turnips and silverbeet. Tomatoes came in this week and next week we look forward to yummy sweet corn.

We're currently providing 10 boxes weekly and welcome expressions of interest from those who want to go on a waiting list.