November Produce Swappers Newsletter

Our monthly Malmsbury Produce Swap is was held again today, Sunday the 17th November, as part of the Malmsbury Farmers Market.

This month the market coincided with the annual Malmsbury Village Fayre. It was a festive, fun and very busy day! Grape vine leaves, lemons, leafy greens and bouquets of beautiful flowers and spring herbs featured for November.

Our October swap had some wonderful contributions including Warrigal greens, broad beans, radish seed pods, asparagus, chives, lemon verbena tea, coriander, duck eggs, bay leaves, boomerang bags and even a beautiful bespoke bag made from woven plastic bags. One swapper also brought along some potted figs and berries.

Broad beans are podding nicely at this time of the year and it’s easy to end up with a glut. If you have an abundance in the garden, or pick some up at the swap table you might like to try this simple Ottolenghi recipe: https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/avocado-and-broad-bean.

In a different vein, to make use of those abundant spring greens you could make saag paneer (For a vegan version use par-boiled potatoes or sweet potato). This is the recipe that we use and we substitute a couple of big bunches of whatever greens we have available for the frozen spinach. Half mustard greens and half spinach or silverbeet is our favourite combo. Recipe here: www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aarti-sequeira/saag-paneer-spinach-with-indian-cheese-recipe-1927603

IN THE GARDEN:
It’s tomato time! The weather has been so up and down (and by down I mean downright freezing!) but technically it is time to get all of those frost-tender summer veggies in the ground. In this area we can get late frosts through November so be sure to keep an eye on the forecast and, if we are in for a cold, clear, still night then cover any frost tender seedlings that have been planted out. You can use frost cloth, or like me, you can use old, op-shopped bedsheets. If you can it’s best to have the frost cover up off the foliage of your plants, one way to do this is to use garden stakes at intervals through the garden bed which you can then drape your frost cover over.

PLANT/TRANSPLANT NOW: Potatoes, tomatoes, chillies, capsicum, tomatillos and cape gooseberries, kale, silverbeet, perpetual spinach, Ceylon (climbing) spinach, eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, cucamelons (they look like tiny watermelons, taste like cucumber with a dash of lime - delicious!), pumpkins, melons, sweetcorn or popping corn, celery, broccoli (beware of cabbage moth though – but summer broccoli is possible with lots of organic matter, water and netting to exclude small, winged visitors), lettuce, leeks, spring onions, beetroot.

SOW: Bush and climbing beans, cucumber, melons, beetroot, broccoli, carrots, kale, silverbeet, lettuce, leeks, spring onions, salad onion, parsnips, pumpkin, radishes, perpetual spinach, swede, sweetcorn/popping corn, turnip and zucchini.

*This is not an exhaustive list

DON'T FORGET THE FLOWERS:
Sunflowers do well planted from seed now and it’s a good time to start thinking about beneficial flowers to plant in or around the veggie patch to attract pollinators and predatory insects like ladybirds, parasitic wasps and hoverflies. Flowers like alyssum, borage, African and French marigolds, nasturtiums (I find that they need a bit of shelter over the summer) and even herbs such as coriander and rocket are great flowering companions, and also edible which is an added bonus. In fact did you know that sunflower buds can be steamed and eaten much like globe artichokes? If you are curious check out this great blog post by Forager Chef: https://foragerchef.com/how-to-cook-sunflowers-like-an-artichoke/. I’ll bring along some of last year’s sunflower seeds to our swap on Sunday.

Thanks to all of the volunteers who have been helping on the swap table each month. This month's volunteer roster filled fast which is fantastic!

Thanks everyone and happy swapping!

October Produce Swap at the Malmsbury Farmers Market - 3rd Sunday of each month.

Bespoke plastic bag bag