selwoodgreen

Our second Gardening Workshop has just been rescheduled to Tuesday, March 6 instead of Wednesday, March 7.  Please be advised of this date change and contact us by phone to reserve your spot.  Our first workshop was a big hit (as was the meal we served).  Book ahead to ensure we have room for you.

I Love Juicy Things!

What’s a girl to do by mid February when the craving for juicy things and green things is already starting to build and there is still a long Nova Scotia winter ahead of us? I’m trying to be good.  I’m trying to be organic and local.

Who would have thought you can have your root vegetables and your juicy things too!?

Down at Selwood Green-Norbert’s Good Food we are dusting off the juicer and oh my! Juiciness!  Juicy roots!  Bunny’s Delight is a bright orange bit of sunshine in a glass, made with the best roots Nova Scotia has to offer.  Norbert’s own sweet organic carrots.   If you really love your roots, get fresh with the Ruby Lips:  a blend of our own sweet organic carrots, and organic beets, Boates or Noggins apples and add some heat with a bit of ginger.

Ruby Lips    =   juicy immune boosting  love!

Ps….I’ll let you in on a secret…I stashed a whole bunch of parsley that I harvested from our fields late this fall in the freezer.  It is bright green and full of goodness.  So, if you can’t live without your greens, we can add parsley to your smoothie.  It’s even tastier than kale (which we’re out of, except for our occasional limited editions)…zestier and chock full of vitamin C!  Local, organic blueberries and parsley in your smoothie!

Wholesome, local, organic, yummy juiciness!  Oh my!

How do you get your juiciness on in the winter?

Winter Roots

It is that time of year when the pickin’s from the farm become pretty slim.  We have spinach growing very, very slowly in the unheated greenhouse…mostly it is just waiting…waiting for a sunny day, like the rest of us, to feel inspired to stretch out and grow a bit.

There are a few little patches of holdouts of kale and collards in the fields (occasionally you stumble across a few handfuls that still look delicious-a few lucky customers were on the receiving end of such a find last Saturday!), but mostly  there are potatoes, carrots, beets,  onions, parsnips and some cabbage in the cold storage.   The roots.  The last vestige of energy and nourishment in the plant kingdom.  Our winter sustenance.

Winter is a time to hunker down, curl up, turn in, retreat inside.  We almost make like a plant and draw our energy deep inside us to store it and protect it and keep it alive so that in spring…! Well that’s another story!  For now, we are rooted in the earth and appreciating it’s grounding balance to the airiness and boundlessness of summer.  Savour your deep and quiet moods just as you savour  the comfort and deep flavour of warm stews and soups and chicken gravies, all made with potatoes and carrots and beets and onions and parsnips!  Roots to keep you rooted.

Down at our market shop, Selwood Green-Norbert’s Good Food,  we have root vegetables for sale for your soups and stews and roasting.  Norbert has also been cooking up some super delicious Beef Stew w/ Rosemary on Wednesdays, using beef from Getaway Farm.  This stew meat practically melts in your mouth and it seems to LOVE root vegetables too! He made a beautiful Sweet Potato with Roasted Root Vegetable Soup last week too.  Stop by, he might be willing to share his recipes!

Do you have a favourite root vegetable recipe that you think would knock our socks off this winter?  Stop by or drop us a line!

We’re pretty excited about our first  Seaport Neighbourhood Shops Newsletter. You can find it in the Feb. 9 issue of The Coast, or at any of the participating vendors at the Seaport Market.  It highlights many of the vendors, like us, who are set up and offering great food, 5/6/ even 7 days a week.  Drop by and pick up a copy.

Here’s our photo and article that appear with several other profiles.

Selwood Green – Norbert’s Good Food

Since 1989 Norbert Kungl has been known as one of the leading advocates for local, organic farming in Nova Scotia through his family farm called Selwood Green, located in Hants County on the Minas Basin. When the new Seaport Farmers’ Market opened, Norbert and his wife Minga were ready for something new and so they opened Norbert’s Good Food, a special combination of his fresh, seasonal fruit and vegetable stand and a breakfast/lunch counter. This is the only place in Halifax where you are eating food prepared for you by the farm family that grew it. Norbert’s Good Food is also the Halifax outlet for the Boulangerie La Vendeene organic bakery.

Enjoy comfort food that is lovingly prepared from family recipes and naturally localicious.

Organic Farmer and gardener, Norbert Kungl, will be hosting two gardening workshops here at Selwood Green at the Halifax Seaport Market;

On Wednesday, February 22, the topic is Urban Gardening Planning and Seed Ordering.

Menu:  Chicken Stew w/ Dumplings or Vegetarian Hungarian Mushroom Soup (both come with salad and bread).  Coffee and tea included.

On Tuesday, March 6, the topic is Seed Ordering and Seedling Production.

Menu:  Beef Stew w/ Dumplings or Vegetarian Roasted Root Vegetable Stew (both come with salad and bread).  Coffe and tea included.

Both workshops run from 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm and cost $22 per person and includes a hearty soup or stew for everyone who registers.

Call 420 0376 or email us at novahort@yahoo.ca  to reserve your spot.  Payment must be received by the Sunday before the workshop in order to confirm your spot.  All payments to be made at Selwood Green-Norbert’s Good Food Market Shop at the Halifax Seaport Farmer’s Market.

WE reserve the right to cancel the workshop due to low enrollment.

“I hate kale but this is the best thing I’ve ever tasted!” said our 10 year old daughter Lily as we were eating kale for dinner recently. Although we usually eat a lot of our meals at home we have recently found ourselves gathering round a table at our new shop Selwood Green- Norbert’s Good Food- at the Seaport Farmers Market, at the end of the work/school day. My husband Norbert had grabbed a fresh bunch of kale off the display counter and he whipped us up a delicious meal of kale and mashed potatoes and sausages in no time.

When we cook kale we usually keep it simple. For the kids I choose the Red Russian Kale as it is sweeter and more tender. I steam it for about 10 minutes or so until it is tender to the fork but still vibrant in colour. Add butter and salt and serve it in a little bowl as an appetizer to hungry kids before they fill up on mashed potatoes! Or mix it all together into one big yummy buttery bowl of kale spiked mashed potatoes. Either way, our kids go for it….almost every time (-:

Here at Norbert’s Good Food we offer kale in several ways. We sell several varieties, including the sweet and tender Red Russian variety. They come fresh from our Selwood Green farm several times a week. We also cook it up in several of our All Day Breakfast and Lunch menu items. Check out our Kale Scramble. Scrumptious and nutritious!

Some of the health benefits of kale are:
-kales flavenoids combine antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits in ways that give kale a leading dietary role w/ respect to avoidance of chronic inflammation and oxidative stress.
-aids in body’s detoxification system.
-risk lowering benefits for cancer.

We would love to hear about how you and your family enjoy your kale this winter.

“My wife Minga and I have had a lifelong passion for good food that is grown locally and organically whenever possible. Food prepared in our kitchen offers the highest nutritional value, intensely delicious flavours and is truly hand-made comfort food prepared for you.

All produce comes from our family’s organic farm, Selwood Green, when available. We only source the very best of ingredients, giving priority to our fellow local and organic producers and market vendors.”

Norbert and Minga