Hello farm friends!

We've got a couple of exciting things to report this week!

First up is the fact that we have signed up as vendors at the Cornwall Kinsmen Farmers Market!  As summer veggies become more abundant, we are starting to have more veggies than we can sell at just our farmstand!  We are thus planning to attend the market on any weeks where we have surplus veggies to sell.  Hopefully, that means that we'll be there on most Sundays between now and October.  Look for us there as of this upcoming Sunday, August 6th!

And second, we are very excited to report that, last Friday, we received our updated organic certificate!  The result of countless weeks of paperwork and preparation, a 5 and a half hour on-site inspection and painstaking attention to the details of the organic standard in everything we ever do, this beautiful piece of paper is representative of the fact that we can declare ourselves "Certified Organic" throughout all of Canada and use that glorious little COR (Canadian Organic Regime) logo that everyone knows and loves (or is that just us?) on all of our labelling.  We celebrated its arrival with an enthusiastic high five and a nice glass of organic sparkling wine.

Tiny tomatoes aren't new this week, but they sure are plentiful, so definitely worthy of a special mention!  New to the farmstand in any significant quantity are slicer tomatoes, so those of you with a penchant for tomato sandwiches can break out the mayo!  A few things we will have at the farmstand, though not in great enough quantities to officially feature them, are cucumbers (our first batch of plants is winding down, but our succession of new plants is just a couple of weeks away from producing!), baby carrots and radishes, so watch for those, in addition to the veggies listed below!

If you would like to preorder a veggie box on any given week, you can do so by clicking on the preorder button, below!

All preordered veggie boxes will be "Farmer's Choice Boxes" in that they will contain a selection of veggies of our choosing.  If there is a veggie that you absolutely must have, you may want to come by and select it yourself, just to be sure!

You may not receive every vegetable that is on offer on any given week and not all boxes will be the same.  They will all, however, be of the same value (according to the size of box you ordered) and your veggies will always be fresh and delicious!

Please note that we will have a limited number of Farmer's Choice boxes available each week - if we are sold out, you will receive a sold-out message when you try to place your order.

Payment can be made by e-transfer or with cash at pick-up.

If you know your way around a kitchen, you don't really need a recipe to cook patty pan squash - just dice 'em up and sauté them in olive oil and/or butter with fresh garlic and a sprinkle of salt and...voila! You've got yourself a supercute and tasty side dish!

But if you're wanting to make something a little more elaborate, check out this week's recipe, which comes to us from one of our very own farmstand customers!  Yay!!!  I haven't yet tried this recipe, but I know already that it'll be a keeper - the combination of Moroccan spices, along with the variety of fresh vegetables that it calls for, as well as delicious optional add-ins, are sure to make this an irresistibly tasty dish that offers the flexibilty of using whatever is in season or happens to tickle your fancy as you are making it!

A couple of thoughts: Don't steer away from this if you don't have patty pans - just add more zucchini instead!  And if you don't have, or don't want to have, lamb, substitute your favorite stew meat or even big chunks of potatoes or sweet potatoes.  May your fancy be tickled as you give this a try!  

Moroccan Lamb Stew

• 1 lb. boneless lamb shoulder in 1” chunks
• salt & pepper
• 1½ T olive oil
• 1 large onion cut in 8 wedges
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 T ground cinnamon
• 1 t ground allspice
• ½ t turmeric
• pinch of crumbled saffron
• 2 cups each chicken stock & water
• 2 medium carrots, quartered
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 2 small zucchini, dimed thickly
• 10 small patty pan squash
• 19 oz cooked chickpeas
• 3 T fresh coriander, chopped

Serves 6. Traditionally served over couscous. Equally savoury with rice, noodles or solo, with country bread.

• Liberally season lamb with salt & pepper. Heat oil in large heavy saucepan. Sauté meat over moderately high heat until well browned. Add onions & let brown about 4 minutes.
• Add spices, stock & water. Bring to simmer over high heat. Reduce to medium low, simmer about 1 hour until tender.
• Add carrots, celery: cook 15 minutes.
• Add zucchini, patty pan squash & chickpeas. Cook additional 10 minutes.
• Stir in coriander & serve.

Note: Consider adding some or all of the following: chopped dates, figs, apricots and/or raisins, hot sauce, string beans, parsley

That's all for this week, folks!  Wishing you all a fantastic week and hope to see you at the farmstand.

Enjoy your veggies!

Anna & Patrick