Box Divvy Charlestown in Charlestown, New South Wales | Urban Farm

Box Divvy Charlestown

Locality: Charlestown, New South Wales

Address: Smith Street 2290 Charlestown, NSW, Australia

Website: http://www.boxdivvy.com

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• Urban Farm
• Grocers
• Farmers market

25.01.2022 A huge day today! We were so flat-out that I barely had the chance to photograph our gorgeous, fresh produce Hoping everyone enjoys their orders. See you next Tuesday!

24.01.2022 Ooohhh, inspiration for you creative Box Divvy chefs. I've never heard of pumpkin chutney before

22.01.2022 Ready, steady, PACK!

21.01.2022 W E E K L Y F R U I T U P D A T E : New season Menindee grapes Australian-grown! They are still a little pricey around $12-$13 per kg but give it a few weeks and they’ll be below $10. Earliqueen plums now available! ... Valencia Oranges have just dropped down to $1.53/kg! Mangoes will be approx $2.40 next week won’t fall below the $2 mark until well into December... While we wait for peaches to return you can gorge yourself on nectarines at under $4/Kg! Price drops across most of the fruit range! PRO TIP: Sprinkle some lime juice over freshly cut papaya: it will completely transform its flavour (but make sure the papaya is at room-temperature). The effect is akin to adding lime leaves to a green curry, or tamarind pulp to a Massaman curry.

21.01.2022 THIS MONTH'S SINGLE ORIGIN COFFEE IS.... Huila, Colombia Grown in nitrogen-rich volcanic soil, between 1200 and 1800m above sea-level and a moderate climate: conditions for coffee-growing don’t get much better than in Colombia’s Huila region.... Huila is framed by the Central and Eastern ranges of the Andes, with most of it sitting in the Magdalena Valley. This month’s Single Origin is actually a blend of 3 varietals - Colombia, Caturra and Castillo - from nine different growers that has wonbaccolades from aficionados across the globe. Flavour notes: caramel, hazelnut, black currant and peach. The Huila region is synonymous with quality coffee, a claim backed up by its Denomination of Origin status. This is the same status awarded to Champagne, Roquefort cheese and other foods with location-specific characteristics. No-one can deny the caramelly goodness! #BoxDivvy #BoxDivvyCharlestown #BoxDivvyNewcastle #BlackMarketRoasters #FreshRoastedCoffee #NotJustFruitAndVeg #FarmerDirectProduce

21.01.2022 Yup, definitely fresh and spray-free!

21.01.2022 Looking for large foodie families to join our amazing Charlestown Hub! We currently have a beautiful group of families who work together to source incredible, fresh, farmer-direct produce every single week. 5 spaces have just opened up in our Charlestown Hub (those who have followed us for a while will know that this is a rare opportunity! We've been fully booked for months as we have a capped membership base). ... If you join by 9pm Wednesday you will be eligible for our next order cycle. Please send me a message with any questions, I'll be happy to help! Sarah xx

20.01.2022 P R O D U C E U P D A T E ! FRUITS: Berry prices are still great! We're looking at paying under $2 a punnet for strawberries and under $3 a punnet for blueberries! ... Mango prices haven't dropped down like we thought they would. Give it another 2 weeks. Rockmelons are BACK!! The best value fruits are berries, pink ladies and citrus - especially the blood oranges! (has anyone tried the blood orange choc chip cupcake recipe yet? You really should!) VEGGIES: Our grower in Freemans Ranch still has plenty of large Cauliflowers ($2.72), Celery ($2.49), Iceberg Lettuce ($1.42), Kale, Wombok and Silverbeet. (The Wombok are particularly good, with a solid core and medium in size and still only $1.87 each!) There will be loads of celeriac from Horsley Park this week! It takes an extremely long time to grow, but will be quite cheap this week. Celeriac has the characteristic celery flavour, but with more of a potato-like consistency. Mashed with potato (50/50), it’s both refreshing and creamy. Aparagus supplies have been confirmed - could even be better than what we received last week! Mushroom supplies were patchy, but prices should level out again. Leeks have been sourced from a local grower - prices are much better at just $1.40 each. Sugarsnap peas are back - albeit a bit pricey. Brussels Sprouts, zucchini flowers, parsnip, rainbow carrots are gone now. Most other veggies remain good to excellent value! EXTRA NOTES: Belicious Sample Packs will be available again this week! Pink Ladies will be available in 6kg boxes for the short-term. Packham Pears, Navel Oranges and Sweet Potatoes are now also available in smaller cases to make them easier to get over the line. #boxdivvy #BoxDivvyCharlestown #BoxDivvyNewcastle #FruitandVeg #FarmerDirectProduce #BoxDivvyCoOp #CoOpBuying #CharlestownCoOp #NewcastleCoOp

18.01.2022 Box Divvy lunches are the best! Poached Hunter Valley free-range eggs, fresh baby spinach and Shepherds Charcoal Sourdough slathered with my fave Dijon mustard PS If you haven't tried the bread yet, now is the time! They even have amazing gluten-free options! ... PPS 3 membership spots still up for grabs! #boxdivvy #boxdivvycharlestown #charlestowncoop #newcastlecoop #farmfreshproduce #shepherdsbakery #farmtoplate

16.01.2022 How amazing are the colours in this #BoxDivvy salad?! Shredded cos lettuce, red cabbage, snowpeas and baby truss tomatoes (honestly they're the best tasting tomatoes available right now) Quick tip - make a dressing by blending a few tablespoons of virgin olive oil, the juice of half a lemon, some salt, a crushed clove of garlic and maybe a sprinkle of #Belicious Lemon & Herb mix (shake it in a jar before pouring over) to take it to the next level. ... So simple, so easy and completely delicious. #BoxDivvy #BoxDivvyCharlestown #BoxDivvyNewcastle #BoxDivvySalad #SupportOurFarmers #buylocal #freshfruitandveg #CharlestownCoOp #NewcastleCoOp

16.01.2022 WEEKLY PRODUCE UPDATE: FRUIT: Apple season is almost over, with the previous bushfires & droughts making them even more scarce now. Most growers have nothing left to pick, and only dribs and drabs left in the apple crates for packing. ... We did however manage to find some good value Granny Smith apples. However, as they can be hard to get across the line in a split, we’ve reduced the box size to 6kgs. Pears (including nashis) are still fantastic value! Bananas and large pineapples are still cheap. Passionfruits are taking a break. Blueberry supplies have tightened a little, but strawberries are still in good supply. We're expecting the first peaches & nectarines in late October - prepare for a bumper season as they wont be exporting as much as previous years. VEGGIES: Asparagus are down to $1.45 per bunch. Beans, snow peas and sugarsnap peas are fantastic value! A local grower is having a huge harvest this season with masses of celery ($1.81), cauliflowers ($2.34), kale, silverbeet and zucchini flowers. Give it another week and he’ll be picking zucchini as well! Dutch carrots are down to $2 per bunch Broccoli shoots down to $2.50/kg Green cabbages are half the price of supermarkets at $1.81ea!

16.01.2022 Does anyone have friends or family around the Cessnock area? Box Divvy is coming to their area soon!

15.01.2022 B A N A N A S ! After selling around $2.50 for most of winter and spring, they have now dropped to under $2. Why are #BoxDivvy bananas so good?... 95% of Box Divvy bananas are sourced from the Coffs region. Transport from Coffs uses about 80% fewer food miles compared with Queensland bananas. Because of the more humid climate in North QLD, the crop requires a fair amount of chemicals fungicides and pesticides mainly to maintain their good looks. That is important, as the major supermarkets only buy QLD bananas and cosmetics are considered more important than flavour and nutrition. By contrast, Coffs bananas use little or no chemicals at all. Because it’s a little cooler than Qld, it takes an extra 1-2 months to bring the fruit to maturity. That makes the Coffs bananas noticeably sweeter. That said, they may not always win a beauty contest. Lower input and transport cost plus Box Divvy’s low-cost model mean they are consistently 30-40% cheaper than supermarket bananas! What’s more: bananas are remarkably healthy. They provide lots of energy, but still have a lower GI (Glycaemic Index) than sweet potatoes and pumpkin. That means blood sugar rises only gradually after eating a banana. They’re also full of vitamin B6 important for the manufacture of red blood cells as well as fibre, plus potassium (good for brain development and maintaining healthy blood pressure).

14.01.2022 Australians are used to having food in abundance: shops, farmers markets, delivery services, Box Divvy there is no shortage in food options. Not only is Australia as a nation self-sufficient, we export 65% of all our food which makes us just one of about a dozen countries in the world who are self-sufficient. It’s easy to take this for granted, but all it takes are some natural (or man-made) disasters to change the equation. To illustrate, consider two reports from th...e some of the wealthiest countries in the world: Last week, some 10,000 cars queued up at a Foodbank in San Antonio, Texas for a 50kg food parcel. Half the people who queued did so for the first time a continued fall-out from the COVID crisis that has caused 20 million Americans to lose their jobs, and 250,000 to lose their lives. These scenes are repeated at hundreds of Foodbanks across the USA. Meanwhile, the Brexit deadline is looming in the UK, and there is growing concern of food shortages that could last weeks or even months, according to The Guardian. The UK relies on Europe for much of its fresh food, and there is a growing risk of delays at the border not so good for perishable food. Coupled with very little spare warehouse capacity, it is feasible that food prices will rise sharply and leave many Britons going hungry at a time (the middle of winter) when virtually no fresh produce is picked locally. Drought, floods, bush fires, climate change, pandemics, you name it: all of these factors can impact on our food supply, which is why Box Divvy has adopted a diversification strategy: at the same time as we help local growers to become more resilient, we are expanding the amount of produce we can source from backyard growers across Newcastle, Central Coast & Sydney suburbs. Mums, dads, kids, community gardens and schools are starting to recognise the risk, and expanding their food production. Please check out the Backyard Growers Box Divvy Facebook page, managed by Jaq our Freeranger in Panania. If you want to get involved and start supplying your produce to local Box Divvy hubs, please touch base with Jaq.

12.01.2022 The asparagus looks amazing! It tastes even better

12.01.2022 $25 Sample available this afternoon. Includes carrots, beetroot, potatoes, apples, oranges, parsnips, wombok cabbage, onions, cucumbers, spinach, bananas & avocados! Picked fresh in the last 48hrs

11.01.2022 New Kurri Hub opening soon! Tell your friends & family

09.01.2022 Nikki from Simply Homesteading is at it again! How AMAZING does this sound?!!! Now, who wants to order pumpkin, kale and papaya/zucchini this week....?

07.01.2022 Late, post-workout lunch for me! Perfect for this warmer weather - I've added tonnes of seeds for an extra nutritional boost. Bio-Dynamic yogurt, topped with #BoxDivvy bananas, kiwifruit, strawberries & blueberries, then drizzled with my homemade chia-maple jelly and sprinkled with coconut flakes & hemp seeds - bliss #boxdivvycharlestown #boxdivvynewcastle #boxdivvyfruit #boxdivvylunch #supportourfarmers #buylocalbuyboxdivvy

06.01.2022 That's it, from now on I'm hulling and freezing all my berries when I get them! This is the perfect summer smoothie! A couple frozen bananas, some frozen strawberries, a couple scoops of biodynamic yogurt, a little oat milk and a dash of vanilla - the result is like a (guilt-free) icecream shake. YUM!

05.01.2022 1 x $30 sample box available for pickup today! (photo is example only, contents vary)

03.01.2022 Found a stowaway in my Silverbeet tonight! I actually keep my silverbeet on the bench like cut flowers. Trimming the ends and sitting them in water allows me a couple days to use it before it begins to wilt. Refrigerating leafy greens actually stops the process of photosynthesis, so keeping them on the bench is fantastic for keeping the nutrient content as high as possible. ... I do the same with my baby cos lettuce - in a glass on the windowsill (keep the water topped up!) Similarly, celery and soft herbs such as parsley, chives and basil store well standing in a glass or jug of water on the kitchen bench as long as the room is not too hot.

03.01.2022 P R O D U C E U P D A T E : FRUIT: Rockmelons for under $2 each... Ruby grapefruit this incredible source of vitamin C for around 70c each, or under $2/kg Packham pears for just over $2/kg Berries galore, with Strawberries expected to stay under $2 a punnet, and blueberries under $3 a punnet Passionfruit will continue a little longer, but will remain pricey as are mangoes for the next 2 weeks. The forecast supply should still see mangoes selling between $1.50 and $2 each by the end of this month. VEGGIES: In vegetables, we are seeing even more incredible value: Asparagus will be around $1.80 a bunch Green beans should be no more than $2.70 a Kg JAP pumpkins at less than $1/Kg Local grower, Charlie Vella is going to town on: Cauliflowers at $2.55 each Iceberg lettuce just $1.25 a head Medium-sized Wombok for $1.87 Both Silverbeet and green Kale will be $1.47 a bunch!

02.01.2022 Av’ an Avocado.... or two Did you know that avocados don’t ripen until they’re picked? It’s actually the harvesting (picking) action that triggers the ripening process. The Hass avocado has a rough skin but a creamy texture. As the Hass ripens, its skin goes from green to a dark purple. Before cutting, make sure they have plenty of ‘give’ when pressed: an unripe avocado is pretty tasteless.... Box Divvy Avocados will usually come to you hard, as they have just been picked and not ‘gassed’ in order to ripen them. Most supermarket avocados are gassed with ethylene to get them ‘just right’ when they go onto the shelf. However, this will shorten its life: they tend to go brown within a few days of purchasing. Box Divvy avocados are left to ripen naturally. Whilst you might have to wait a little, they’ll then last a week. How to speed up the ripening process ~ Pop some unripe avocados into a paper bag with an apple or ripe banana (heavy breathers): these fruits give off natural ethylene. This can speed things up by a few days. Once ripened, the fruit can be refrigerated for two or three days. Why are Box Divvy avocados smaller? How many of you have cut a large avocado, put half in the fridge only to find when you are ready to eat the other half it’s gone brown? With Box Divvy avocados you can eat the lot! If, however, you only using one half, leave the stone in the unused half, this helps prevent it going brown.

01.01.2022 Divvy time! See you all this afternoon

01.01.2022 Does anyone need a use for all these gorgeous strawberries that we're receiving? Strawberry Bliss Ball recipe in comments