Winter Vege Bag - Week 7
Click on any vegetable that has a link to see previous posts with recipes and cooking tips. You can also browse the filter the whole vege bag archive by vegetable here.
Farewell Bella
Today is Bella’s final day! Bella met us at Crooked Vege while wwoofing at our landlords. She has a background in climate justice, and asked if she could work with us. Our response was “uhh, we have no money to pay you” - she ended up volunteering in various capacities for at least half a year. Eventually we were able to offer her a paid job, that recognises the immense contribution she’s made to Ōtaki Vege Bags and Crooked Vege Ōtaki. She’s regularly done work that’s way out of her job description, putting out (metaphorical) fires, and at times, helping us deal with emergencies late into the night. It’s hard to imagine this kaupapa without her.
Bella is off to travel and visit her ancestral lands in Latvia. She will continue to have some involved in Crooked Vege, and we’re really excited that Bella will be joining the board of directors. She feels like a natural and suitable person to join the board - we’ve always wanted to avoid the issue many non-profits have, whereby boards are filled by people who are more interested in their snazzy linkedin profiles than they are in the kaupapa. So we’re glad Bella, who knows the kaupapa intimately and is genuinely invested in it, will be 1/3 of the board. She will doing a little bit of contract-based research work for us (we have an ongoing project exploring ways to more efficiently and legally-sound-ly co-operatise Ōtaki Vege Bags).
We’re having a little morning tea at Vege Bag’s this morning, so feel free to stop in and say farewell in person!
Crooked Vege is fundraising
You’re likely already aware, but Crooked Vege is running a 10 day fundraiser after we were burgled for the the 2nd time last week. The fundraiser is aiming to partially cover the cost of the tools that were stolen and improve our security systems. We’ve had an overwhelming, super supportive response from the community, which has been really great for our spirits in a challenging moment. But fundraisers lose serious momentum after the first day or two, so we’d really appreciate your help in spreading the word among your own networks. You could share the fundraising page, or find our recent social media posts on instagram/facebook to share on your own feeds.
This week we have
Fennel (Common Property)
Baby Rocket (Ahoaho māra kai)
Spinach (Ahoaho māra kai)
Carrots (Ahoaho māra kai)
Silverbeet or Swiss Chard (Crooked Vege Ōtaki)
Pumpkins/Squash (Crooked Vege Ōtaki)
Microgreens or Parsley (Crooked Vege Ōtaki)
Potatoes (Mingiroa Farm)
Vege highlights, tips & recipes
I featured a roast fennel salad recipe last week. I also love a creamy fennel and potato soup. There’s 1000 variations, but I like this one (I’ve never used the liqueur in the recipe).
Ka kite ano,
Jon
