Tomatoes are maturing like crazy – all shapes and colors. Let us know if you are interested in buying any for canning. Enjoy!
As many of us prepare for school to begin, we are preparing for the growing season to come to an end before we know it. Mother Nature keeps us on our toes, and we must be prepared for what will occur. While some of the produce is hitting their peak. Others are on the decline, and we are starting to see “gaps” in the field as we clean-up and feed garden scraps to the chickens.
You also may be wondering, when is our last box? We are anticipating that the last box will be the last week of September. Which will be slightly longer then what your contract stated, simply because of the growing season, and how the crops worked out. We will keep you posted as we proceed through September.
We are busy with garden clean-up pulling up old vegetables that are no longer producing and feeding them to the chickens.
Part of the garden clean-up includes driving the lawn tractor. It makes this task a lot easier!
Boxes of Produce
This list is prepared before we harvest your share. Some guesswork is involved! We do our best to predict which crops will be ready to harvest, but sometimes crops are on the list that are not in the share. Sometimes crops will be in the share even though they’re not on the list.
Remember food safety in your kitchen when preparing, always wash your hands before working with your produce and always wash your produce before eating.
Sweet Corn – Yeah for sweet corn! Thank you to FarGaze Farms, our neighbors, for providing the sweet corn for your boxes this week. We hope you all enjoy it. We appreciate this partnership!
Salad Mix – A mixture of Black Seeded Simpson, Red Oak Leaf, beet greens and spinach. Here are a few salad ideas. I planted a new crop of lettuce about 5 weeks ago and very little grew because we had such a dry July. After the rain last week, I planted another round and four days later the seeds have germinated and are peeking out of the ground. I am hoping for a new crop of the lettuces in the near future.
Beets – The whole plant is edible.
Green Beans – We are at the end of this crop and should have a small crop towards the end of the season.
Broccoli – Great to enjoy in your salads or cooked with some cheese sprinkled over it.
Cucumbers – Nearing the end of this season as well.
Peppers – Jalepeno peppers – see how peppers are grown in America.
Tomatoes – Baby Boomer cherry tomatoes, Big mamma, Sunny Boy (yellow), Honey Delight (small yellow) and Fourth of July (medium red) – Learn more about tomatoes are grown across the U.S. on America’s Heartland.
Onions – Walla Walla, Snow White, yellow Candy and Giant Red Hamburger (purple)
The Purple Majesty potatoes need to be dug during the daylight. They blend right in with chunks of soil.
Potatoes – Red Pontiac – the link is to more potato basics and recipe ideas. Purple Majesty potatoes – fun as French fries or mashed potatoes.
Butternut Squash – Choice of squash tonight. For those of you that chose this squash, it is one of my favorites. Here are a few recipes from Martha Stewart.
Spaghetti Squash – Enjoy this as spaghetti. Here are different ways to cook it: by boiling or by roasting.
Fresh Arrangement – Zinnia or Sunflowers – Here are a few tips to try to keep your fresh-cut flowers fresh longer. I have tried the bleach trick, and it has worked for me.
Garden Science
We found cabbage loopers this weekend. Check out how small this one is compared to the thumb.
We found a larger cabbage looper.
This cabbage is being eaten by the cabbage looper but the boys want to see how many cabbage heads this one forms during the growing season.
Insects, insects every where including this green tomato worm.
The Red Pontiac potatoes were huge. These three were from the same plant.
Recipe of the Week
I thought you would like to know what I do with all of the produce. See the links below the recipes and photo how to enjoy your produce throughout the year.
Lettuce and Spinach – I enjoy a variety of salads. Give Lazy Tacos a try – super easy and delicious.
Green Beans – I freeze or can my green beans.
Sweet Corn – I keep freezing sweet corn simple. I don’t have time for a lot of preparation so keeping it simple is my style. Here is Martha Stewarts tips on preserving corn.
Onions – I have had the best luck chopping and freezing onions to be used in recipes throughout the year. Less mess and more time efficient.
Butternut Squash – I cook and freeze the squash to be used in smaller portions and perfect substitute for a recipe that calls for canned pumpkin. Give these Squash/Pumpkin Donut Drops a try – fun for a long weekend.
Potatoes – I enjoy making into Lefse and Potato Bread.
Tomatoes – We plan to can some tomato juice and salsa this fall.
