The waning summer days have a way of sounding a bit like a ticking clock. Almost all wild and domestic plants are in fruiting and seeding stages. Nature knows that her time is limited. She knows that the warm days we are enjoying now are fleeting and her chances for reproduction are now. There is a sense of hurry or rush in the air. We’re over the halfway point in the season and the ball rolls down hill from here.
Now is the time of year where we scurry like the mouse. We run around the farm gathering bushels of tomatoes, filling up bins of cabbages, bringing the onions into the greenhouse for curing, waiting for the peppers to turn red so we can fill up bins of them resembling crates of apples in the fall. The land is full and fruitful and heavy with food. Cukes
If a person was not careful, she might forget to be thankful. She might forget to pause in the field or at 5 o-clock or before her food. In a hurry to get the kids fed, the laundry done, the lawn mowed and the e-mails responded to-we could forget. We could forget about the farm and the food and the purpose and the community behind it all.
There is a short distance between the farm and your home, but we’re really not that far away from one another. We’re like your big backyard garden. We’re your personal farmers who infuse love and purpose and strength and nutrition into your food. We strive to grow food for people who want to know that their food is coming from a clean and peaceful and beautiful place. And amidst the alarm clocks, the barking dogs, the street cleaners and the sirens, we search for a place of calm.
Just before your meal at night, while you are preparing this food from this place you think of as “the farm”, you’re chopping and dicing and listening to the radio. We want you to imagine people in the fields working together and telling stories. We work while you’re working. Imagine us laughing and talking politics and religion all the while filling up bins of green beans or shallots. Imagine us thinking about who is going to get the carrots that are twisted together.
At the end of your busy day and with your tired brow lowered over your dinner table while you’re holding hands with your family, we ask you to pause and think about this amazing food that you’re eating. We ask for a moment of grace and thanksgiving and tribute for what we have created together. We are a community of growers and eaters who have come together under one very cool program. I think that in the midst of the high summer tide, we deserve to sit back and give one another cheers.
Green Cabbage- Green cabbage for making your home-made sauerkraut. See recipe Below.
Melons- We mostly shipped the Ananis melons this week. These are the white fleshed melons with a sweet, juicy flavor. We like that these melons are not only flavorful, but they don’t get over-ripe too quickly. Their rinds stay a bit on the firm side even when they’re fully ripe.
Sweet Corn- A whopping 13 ears per member this week! This tops the most sweet corn we’ve ever given in one week. The only drawback is that even though we planted our sweet corn in succesions to mature over a three week time span, they all came to maturity this year in a two week time span. We are giving two week’s worth of corn in one week here. Remember that it is the nature of organic sweet corn to have worms in the tips of the ears. You’ll just have to cut that off. We love organic, right?!?!
Cucumbers- Another impressive cucumber week although we did have to hold some back because we couldn’t fit them all in the box. We’re going to try to hold some in the cooler and keep them until next week. The boxes were so full this week we literally could not fit everything in.
Summer Squash, Zucchini and Patty Pans- Right now it feels like the summer squash and zucchini will go on forever, but I promise that they do come to an end. Production is waning now fairly significantly. 
This week’s bounty!
Curly Green Kale- Pretty huge bunches of kale this week. There was a real concern that we might not be able to fit these huge bunches in the box this week.
Jalapeno Pepper- Small, but they pack a punch!
Sweet Red Pepper- We were able to pick a red pepper for everyone this week. Some of them were turning slightly with a bit of green, but the peppers have been taking their sweet time turning colors this year.
Tomatoes– Finally a bit more tomatoes this week. There were about 1.8lbs of tomatoes per member this week. Some folks received a half pint of Sun Gold Cherry tomatoes. Remember that we pick all tomatoes with a blush. They will ripen on your counter at room temperature. Do not put your unripe tomatoes in the fridge for they will not ripen in a cold environment!
Lettuce- You may have received a red or a green head of leaf lettuce. Lettuce is a bit difficult to come by these days in the heat, but we grew some heat tolearant and bolt-resistant varieties that are standing up alright in the heat. New Red Firea and Tropicana.
Dill- Half way to the flowering stage, but dill is good in all stages. Some members like to dehydrate dill and save what they can’t use now for in the winter monthes.
Celery- Another nice head of celery this week. You could also use your celery for dehydrating as well.
