First week back and a little rusty with writing these emails, and still getting up to date with what's in season this week. Seems these rainy days have thrown a few plans out for some local growers.

Tomatoes, eggplant, cucumber and zucchini all a little disrupted. Leafy greens are good, brassicas not so much, stone fruit season slowing down and new season apples and pears arriving early.

Eat well,
Graham

PS. Choose from one of our box selection, and let us know your “no list”; or make one of your own by choosing the vegetables and fruit you prefer.

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THIS WEEKS SEASONAL BOXES

The MIXED Food Box contains a selection of:

carrots, onions, potato, sweet potato, broccoli, cabbage, cucumber, tomato, eggplant, capsicum, zucchini, sweet corn, lettuce, chinese greens, spinach, apples, banana, oranges, plums, pears, rockmelon

The VICTORIAN Food Box contains a selection of:

carrots, beetroot, cabbage, broccoli, beans, capsicum, eggplant, cucumber, tomato, leek, zucchini, lettuce, chinese greens, celery, spinach, apples, oranges, plums, pears, avocado

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THIS WEEKS PRODUCE

Taking up where last year left off, SWEET CORN back in the boxes as a regular for a little while.

EGGPLANT from Labertouche, biodynamic CUCUMBER from Inverleigh and CAPSICUM from Mildura all fared well with a burst of rain and warm weeks.

TOMATO hasn’t come on though, and we are still waiting for a good start to the local season.

A small amount of BEANS from Gippsland will be picked for the next couple of weeks, but may be limited for orders.

New season Victorian CELERY will be in the boxes in small halves. And from Labertouche small BABY COS LETTUCE for the boxes. OAK LETTUCE from Monbulk is also available.

Good value for BOK CHOY from Colac (also in the boxes).

Plenty of ZUCCHINI from Yarra Valley, Geelong area and Mornington (and Ronalds will start next week along with his YELLOW SQUASH).

From Pakenham small halves of RED CABBAGE in the veg boxes - the only brassica in abundance at the moment, with BROCCOLI pretty limited and CAULIFLOWER only coming from Tassie this week.

New season APPLES starting to arrive, and we should see more varieties coming near the end of January.

New season PLUMS starting too - with Pizzaz variety from biodynamic orchards near Shepparton. Blood Mariposa should be starting in the next week or two.

PEARS is also starting a new season with the small crisp Precoce variety from Shepparton coming down.

GRAPES starting in Mildura with the Flame Seedless variety our preferred.

From Colac RHUBARB has loved that burst of rain (if our garden is anything to go by).

AVOCADO from Shepparton will be a little green this week - we haven't had a chance to get an early start on ripening them.

And for BERRIES, we should have a full range with BLUEBERRIES, BLACKBERRIES and RASPBERRIES from down the Peninsula and STRAWBERRIES from Bullarto (if the rain eases up for picking).

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THIS WEEKS SEASONAL RECIPES

Eggplant, Zucchini & Lentil Bolognese

Roasted Zucchini, Capsicum, Eggplant And Goat's Cheese Tart

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