August Tenth
Here in the depths of summer we lie. Our schedules are busy, the days still feel long and hot and our brains feel a little foggy from all of the heat and activity. On a farm, farm families are busy keeping up with the daily harvesting, weeding and planting. We’re focused on the farm and the thought of a vacation is months away. We watch our friends and family around us take camping trips and vacations and we are reminded of how different we are from a modern day family.
The sacrifices are real, but the rewards are rich. We spend our weekends preserving the bounty and inviting family to come and see us instead. Rather than journeying away from the farm, we journey deeper into our very grounded family unit and the full experience of summer on a farm. The intimacy we experience with the plants and animals in our surroundings on this little piece of earth is rich. We get a day by day visual of Day Lilies opening and closing and then falling off. We are literally watching the peppers turn red. We watch the raspberry patch ripen and the young pullet hens begin to lay eggs that we raised from day-old chicks this Spring.
We don’t go far distances in the summer, but our roots grow deeper. We find a wholesomeness and feeling of fulfillment in the stillness and quietness on our home and farm. And while our children are still very small, we see the value in creating a soild foundation and family routine that honors home-made meals, work routines, food preserving and naps for the wee ones. We are secretly envious of all of our friends (with older children or no children) who are traveling and camping and getting away this summer, but we store up our urges to travel and see the world for a more still and quite time in the off season.
The farm is a living a breathing beast that requires close attention and care. We are thankful for a shift now as the cucumbers and summer squashes slow down and the tomatoes and sweet peppers are about to pick up. The melons are amazing and bountiful and the sweet corn seems to get better and better every year. The fruits of our labor and loyalty are paying off and feeding us all well! Fall is just around the corner!
Canary Melon- The Canary Melons are a bright yellow rind with a yellow/green flesh that is crunchy and sweet. The Canary melons have been confused for spaghetti squashes in the past. The canary melons are not a spaghetti squash.
Broccoli- Very nice broccoli heads for everyone this week! This is some of the nicest summer broccoli we have ever grown!
Cucumbers- The cukes are really slowing down now. We were down to giving just 2 cukes per member this week! This was very likey the final cucumber giving.
Summer Squash and Zucchini- 3 Summer Squash and Zucchini this week. The plants slowed down in production a little, but we still stay faithful to harvesting every other day. Summer squash and zucchini also prefer 50 degree storage.
White Onions– Another week of whole onions. These are more of the ‘rustic’ onion look. We snagged these off of the curing tables, but we didn’t take the time to peel them back this week to make them look pretty.
Hungarian Hot Wax Pepper- These peppers are also known as ‘Banana peppers’. They are most commonly seen lime green or a yellow-ish color. When they are ‘ripe’ they turn orange or red which sometimes makes them a little sweeter. Hungarian Hot Wax, despite their intimidating name are amidst one of the most mild of all hot peppers out there. For a Woose like me, they’re perfect!
Jalapeno Pepper- One of these little guys per box. Jalapenos pack a little more heat than the Hungarian Hot Wax peppers. We recommend wearing gloves if you go to cut these up!
Fennel- Fennel bulbs. The bulbs are most commonly used in fennel, but many people do like to cook with the stems and frawns as well. The frawns can be added to salads for flavor or garnish.
Dill– Sure, just when cucumbers are coming to an end, we give Dill! Lickily, Dill goes well with more than just cucumbers! Or, if you lay it out on dehydrator trys, you can make your own home-made dried dill. Once it is dried, store it in a mason jar with a tight lid to preserve freshness.
Sweet Corn- 5 Ears of sweet corn per member this week! Boy are they delicious! Sweet corn needs to stay very cold in order to keep it’s sweetness. Sweet corn does not keep well outside of the refrigerator, despite the fact that you see it being sold by truck farmers in parking lots outside of refrigeration. Eat it up ASAP for the best flavor!
Eggplant- You may have received either one standard eggplant or one Japanese (or Asian style) eggplants. Eggplant also keeps well in a 50 degree storage area. You choose, the countertop or the fridge?
Basil- The basil wanted to be harvested two weeks ago when we didn’t quite have the time to get to it. We harvested generous bunches this week, but the plants were starting to flower. Just pluck the good leaves off of the stems and make pesto! We made up for in quantity for what we lacked in quality here on basil this week. Basil will turn black in the refrigerator and it keeps well stuck in a vase like fresh cut flowers.
Celery- Okay, so local celery is no comparison to California Celery. I don’t know what they do to that stuff to make it so crunchy and light green and contain so little leaf. But I’m here to tell ya folks, this is what local celery looks like! It’s even a pretty good year for it with all of the rain that we’ve had. The stalks are juicy and sweet! Local celery has a stronger celery flavor when compared to our usual California Celery. Don’t forget to use the greens in your cooking, salads and soups!
Green Curly Kale– Nice bunches of kale for your cooking green fix for the week. Curly green kale makes great kale chips!
Tomatoes- The beginning of the tomatoes! We were able to give everyone two tomatoes this week. We pick any tomato with a ‘blush’ or any shade of red, yellow or orange. We grow many different kinds of tomatoes and some are romas, some are heirlooms and some are standard slicing tomatoes. We grow many different colored tomatoes as well. You will soon be receiving bags of tomatoes with a mix of different kinds and colors. Do not put your tomatoes in the fridge as their flavor with diminish We recommend leaving your tomatoes on your countertop to ripen if they are slightly under ripe. Only if they are very ripe and you are in danger of loosing them should you put them in the fridge if you can’t eat them up promptly.
Green Beans- When we picked the green beans on a wet and dewey morning, some of them were getting put in their bins wet. Green beans do not like to be wet or dirty, but these were both a little wet and a little dirty. We also do not wash green beans because they don’t wash easily and don’t like to be wet and it would be very difficult to get them all dry before we stuck them back in the cooler. Wash these guys right before you eat them! We’re hoping for another nice giving of green beans next week.
Next Week’s Best Guess:
Disclaimer: This is only our best guess from what we see up and coming from field walks. Next week’s actual box may look slightly different from this projection.
Honeydew, Melons, Broccoli?, Celery, Summer Squash, Zucchini, sweet corn, Eggplant, White Onion, Hot Peppers, green beans, sweet peppers, tomatoes, swiss chard, carrots?,
Recipes
