Blue Wren Urban Farm

28/10/2020

Our garlic crop is coming along nicely , Julia's micro farm in her rental backyard. With only a few short weeks to go before harvest, we're hoping the rain this week doesn't affect the bulbs too badly as garlic is vulnerable to a range of fungal diseases with wet weather. Fingers crossed! 🤞

25/08/2019

Our savoy cabbages are good to go! High in vitamin C content (100g will provide you with half your daily intake!), these enormous cabbages are great raw, fried or roasted. Try stuffing the whole leaves before popping them in the oven for a real treat. https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/stuffed-cabbage-rolls/

23/07/2019

This glossy purple vegetable is Radicchio! I've grown them at special request of my Italian father, where radicchio is regularly used as a winter specialty. Radicchio is very bitter and is best sliced and mixed with other greens for a delightful winter salad, or paired with crumbled cheeses, dried fruit, and nuts.
Bitter vegetables have a number of health benefits, including containing glucosinolates which help your liver process toxins, as well as acting as a palate cleanser to help reduce our craving for sugary foods.
So don't be afraid of radicchio in your next veggie box ;) Give it a go with one of these delicious looking recipes:
https://www.sbs.com.au/food/ingredient/radicchio

12/07/2019

Veggie box customers better start getting their kimchi gear ready, as these beautiful womboks are almost ready for harvest! With daikon radishes also on the way, your veg box should have everything you need to get preserving. https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-easy-kimchi-at-home-189390

11/06/2019

‘Let food be thy medicine’ Hippocrates. 🥬🥒🍆🥦🥕🌶 A good way of cleaning up the diet is to fill your fridge with the good stuff 🥗 Fresh food of different colours provides a variety of nutrients. These chemical-free beauties came in a veggie box available from Sydney growers Blue Wren Urban Farm

11/06/2019

Carrots and beetroots are a staple for our veggie boxes at this time of year, and we recommend making use of the nutritious green tops as well! Did you know that carrot tops are more nutritious than the carrot itself? An easy and delicious recipe is to grate the carrots and beets, fry up briefly with the some onion, spices, and the sliced green tops, then form into patties and fry again until crispy. Serve with a side salad of your choice of winter greens and chomp down. Soo good!!

04/05/2019

What an absolute privilege to be part of this panel at Pocket City Farm's Farm Chats evening last week. Really inspiring to be talking alongside some talented and motivated young farmers, all making waves in their respective communities/fields. Great also to be amongst so many other passionate young people keen to learn more about our food systems or get into farming as a career. There's hope yet!

FARM CHATS//YOUNG FARMERS Wow what an evening! We were privileged to showcase another group of hardworking and passionate young farmers from different fields. We discussed what drove them to get involved in agriculture and the challenges of obtaining land + startup capital, the importance of gaining knowledge, practical skills and having mentors. We explored what their preconceptions were beforehand and whether they truly knew what they were getting themselves into. It was a great discussion and we also want to thank all the regulars AND the first timers in the audience who came along. We feel so nourished at the end of the night and it is the support from our local community that plays a huge role in that. Huge thanks to and all our staff and volunteers // 📸 by

05/04/2019

Farm dog Loki earning his keep, supervising the crops on a sleepy Friday arvo in between showers. Have a great weekend everyone!

24/03/2019

Shout out to the absolute legend Kiji Mossimo who came by last week for a sesh @ Blue Wren!! Together we shovelled a gigantic truckload of mulch over our site to help with w**d management & giving the farm a snazzy makeover.

Urban Farms provide more than delicious & fresh food to local communities, they are also opportunities for fitness/exercise, learning new skills & getting people together. These are forms of social capital which our governments should be supporting through recognising & encouraging more urban farms in Sydney.

If anyone wants to save money on a gym membership and come get , you're welcome at Blue Wren Urban Farm !!!

12/03/2019

An example of what was in the veggie boxes dropped off this morning - this is the larger size for $35 which includes a delivery fee (to certain areas). We've had some slots open up in our limited veg box service so send me a msg if you'd like some more info! x Julia

05/03/2019

You will find the mysterious Perilla herb in your box today. You can just mix it in a stir fry but for more sophisticated recipes here is some inspiration.

How to eat Perilla leaves and enjoy them in Korean cooking. 9 recipes to try at home from ssam bap to kkaennip jangajji!

04/03/2019

The protein myth debunked.

"When it comes to protein, most of us don't need anywhere near as much as we consume.

If you're eating a diverse diet rich in protein-packed plants and the occasional serve of healthy meat or fish, you'll be getting all the protein your body needs to maintain health and even bulk up."

https://www.abc.net.au/life/getting-your-daily-protein-intake-isnt-hard-or-expensive/10861512

For most of us, a diverse diet of protein-packed plants and the occasional serve of healthy meat or fish is probably all the protein your body needs to maintain health — and even bulk up, Dr Sandro Demaio writes.

04/03/2019

Salad mix is finally looking lush again. Bring on autumn! ❤️

27/02/2019

Before and after throwback from 12 months ago! A year ago we dug out our first garden beds which have now produced hundreds of bunches of carrots, beetroots, turnips, leafy greens as well as kilos and kilos of salad mix, pea shoots, zucchinis, eggplants, chillies et cetera. You can grow A LOT of delicious food in the space of an average backyard, and Sydney needs to step up its game in urban food production if we want to live in a thriving, resilient and abundant city!
I'm on the lookout for more backyards to dig up and plant out, so if you or anyone you know is interested, please hit me up via DM! x Julia

04/02/2019

Someone is a watermelon 🍉 fan!

28/01/2019

This vibrant leafy green is amaranth, a nutritious and tasty plant that can be used raw in salads, or cooked and eaten like you would spinach. With the brutal heat and humidity lately, a lot of our traditional leafy greens like silverbeet and kale have struggled, so we've been experimenting with heat-loving leafys like amaranth. It has not disappointed! Try it out, it'll be coming in the veggie boxes tomorrow! https://www.organicauthority.com/energetic-health/goodbye-kale-7-reasons-why-amaranth-leaves-are-the-next-super-green

26/01/2019

We’re back on the farm, w**ding, harvesting and plotting what else will go in the boxes 📦 next week.

02/01/2019

Summer edition veggie box bursting with produce! If you're interested in signing up for a fortnightly veggie box and you live in the Bankstown/Inner West/Kogarah area, get in touch :)

31/12/2018

Purslane and amaranth make a wonderful summer salad and they don’t mind growing in the heat. On top of it all purslane has more omega 3 fats than most 🎣 oils. Make yourself a big bowl if you can forage some or wait until Thursday for veggie 📦 delivery. We grew golden purslane variety which has even fleshier leaves 👌🏼😋

10/12/2018

"Police investigate garlic crop thief" We've got top-notch security looking after our garlic crops. Ain't nobody getting close without a smushy kiss.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2018-12-10/police-investigate-garlic-crop-theft/10595544

03/12/2018

Eagerly awaiting all the summer produce... on the brink!

26/11/2018

The pumpkins we planted in our front garden are going gangbusters! In our veggie boxes this week you'll find pumpkin shoots, the tender growing tips of the pumpkin plant. They are a speciality in Nepal and delicious fried up with some mustard and fenugreek seeds, chucked into a curry or steamed with some salt and lemon. Enjoy!

07/11/2018

Impromptu garlic harvest before the rains start. They're looking good! Also, a couple of people have asked about volunteering lately. YES, I always need extra hands so please get in touch if you're keen to get dirty and learn more about urban farming!

05/11/2018

Lemon balm will be in tomorrow's boxes! This is what it looks like for those unfamiliar. It has a range of medicinal properties and makes a lovely herbal tea. Hot tip: save fridge space by keeping your herbs on your bench in jars of water.

01/11/2018

Wow, we have ladybugs! 🐞

29/10/2018

In the next couple of weeks, our veggie boxes will have these in them - garlic scapes, which are considered a seasonal speciality! As our garlic crop has started bulbing up (yay!!), the scape is the emerging flowerhead at the centre of the stem of each bulb. Cutting them off increases the garlic bulb's size, and they are good eating too. Think of them a bit like a garlicy shallot and chuck them in stir fries and soups, or pickle them for later use. Some recipe ideas at https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/article/garlic-scapes

18/10/2018

In between the showers today Julia planted our summer tomatoes and basil. Grow tomatoes 🍅 grow!

16/10/2018

The Warrigal Greens have truly made themselves at home in the patch and they love the recent rain. 🌧☔️🥙

07/10/2018

Purple Bok Choy is fattening up nicely.

17/09/2018

This morning in the box you'll find the humble cabbage, here are some ideas of how to make it the king of the meal.

Because there's so much more than coleslaw.

10/09/2018

Spicy Salad Mix coming in the box this week 🥗

03/09/2018

Happy borage ☔️

25/08/2018

Gigantic chinese cabbage! Kimchi here we come!

17/08/2018

Our wong bok cabbages are coming up real nice. Veg box customers should start getting their kimchi and saurkraut gear together!

13/08/2018

This is what’s in the veggie box. The big and the small.

12/08/2018

How to make an urban farm:
1. Tarp grass
2. Remove tarp
3. Invite friends
4. Promise food
5. FORK FORK FORK
6. Feast and revel in your awesomeness

THANK YOU so much to all the absolute legends who made it out today and sweated away in the wind and sun

11/08/2018

Ron Finlay is a legend greening up the food deserts in South Central LA by planting edible gardens on the kerb. "Kids look at images of gangsta rap and gangstas and ... my whole thing is, I wanted to flip that. That's not cool, it's going to get you confined or dead. This right here, this is gangsta. The soil, these plants, being self-sufficient... you can't get more gangsta than that."

08/08/2018

are fun for the whole family! One of our veggie box customers (and good mate) Anj brought her little munchin Ruby to see where their vegetables come from - a 20 min drive from their house. Little Roo loved meeting the silverbeet plants that were as big as her!

30/07/2018

We tested the Bok Choy coming in the veggie boxes tomorrow. It’s Yuuuuum 😋