Inside a greenhouse, rows of seedling trays and small pots filled with sprouts cover tables and the floor. Long hanging shelves along the left side hold additional flats of young plants and labeled starts.

The greenhouse on the farm is being put to good use with the nursery side packed with baby plants, all hand sown from seed by Sally and Patrick, and the rest of the tunnel full with lettuce, beets and carrots (see below). The seedling trays pictured are only half of what’s growing! There’s another whole table full of tomato plants. We can’t wait for them to be producing fruit in a couple of months.

The photos here are but a tiny bit of what Patrick and Sally have going on, and it’s all so much work. Small scale organic market gardening is incredibly labour intensive and they are doing an amazing job. We’re so lucky to have them!

Interior of a plastic-covered hoop greenhouse with long rows of leafy green plants growing in dark soil beside a central mulch path. Blue pots of lettuce seedlings line the right edge, with more potted starts on the left.

Overhead view of a blue bowl filled with a chickpea and leafy greens salad with orange vegetable slices and chopped herbs. A dollop of yogurt, a lemon wedge, and a fork rest in the bowl.

Quick chickpeas with Swiss chard by Yottam Ottolenghi

Serves 2

2 carrots, peeled and chopped into 2cm pieces

60ml olive oil, plus extra to serve

Salt and black pepper

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 tsp caraway seeds

1½ tsp ground cumin

200g swiss chard leaves, cut into 1cm-thick strips

1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed (240g drained weight)

1 lemon, cut in half – one half juiced, to get 1 tbsp, the other cut into two wedges, to serve

80g Greek-style yoghurt

5g coriander leaves, roughly chopped

Heat the oven to 200c. In a bowl, toss the carrots with two tablespoons of oil, a quarter-teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper. Spread out on an oven tray lined with baking paper, then roast for 20 minutes: they should still be a little crunchy.

Heat the remaining two tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan on a medium flame, then fry the onion, caraway and cumin for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Add the chard, cooked carrots, chickpeas, 75ml water, half a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper, and mix through. Cook for five minutes, until the chard is soft and just about all the liquid in the pan has evaporated. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice, then serve with a generous spoonful of yoghurt, a sprinkling of coriander, a drizzle of oil and a wedge of lemon.

Close-up of assorted baked pastries in a box, including spiral Danish pastries and large muffins or cakes dusted with powdered sugar. One muffin is topped with a slice of dried citrus.

Stu from town drop off the occasional harvest of beautiful, organically grown fresh produce from his backyard market garden. He takes such care building his soil and it shows in the quality of the produce. At the moment we have plenty of his herbs instore, including coriander, sage, thyme, parsley and chives.

Close-up of purple lavender flower spikes in the foreground. Behind them is a mulched garden bed with green plants, with a clear blue sky overhead.