Wednesday, August 29

Week 13!


Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each. Let them be your only diet drink and botanical medicines. In August live on berries, not dried meats and pemmican, as if you were on shipboard making your way through a waste ocean, or in a northern desert. Be blown on by all the winds. Open all your pores and bathe in all the tides of Nature, in all her streams and oceans, at all seasons. Miasma and infection are from within, not without. 
                   
Henry David Thoreau, Aug. 23, 1853

     Leaving the Dutchess County Fair each year always feels like leaving summer behind, and there is evidence of that in this week's share.  This is peak tomato week, so both sufficient heirlooms and cherry tomatoes are offered, but so too are the first fall crops I sowed just a few weeks ago in anticipation of cooling temperatures: turnips and beets.  The turnips are especially tasty, and the greens are tender, too--use the whole plant!  I keep it simple by chopping everything and briefly sweating them in butter, garlic, salt, and pepper.  Be quick and simple with the beets as well.

I've hand selected the quarts of heirlooms; please don't pick individual tomatoes.  These heirlooms have a very short shelf life and can't stand the handling.  Eat them soon, sliced, with some basil, some salt.  Subsist on tomato sandwiches for a day or two...or three.  

In this week's share:

Cherry tomatoes
Heirloom tomatoes
Zucchini/patty pan squash/peppers
Potatoes
Chives
Beets/turnips
Apples/peaches/nectarines

Appleridge chickens should be at the stand.  I've got 1 chicken pot pie left.  The last of the summer lettuce is available in a nice salad mix and as heads.  Bags of Asian greens and the first fall arugula are at the stand, too, along with some colorful varieties of eggplant.




Wednesday, August 22

Week 12!!!



Well, everything is peaking at once: squash, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers...And the weather keeps co-operating.  The zucchini plants have usually collapsed by this time of year, and I could sorely use the space for greens for fall...but they keep producing!

 A quick yummy no-fuss zucchini treat.

The cooler nights have been great for the micro-greens, so we have a very full bag of pea shoots and a tangy mix of asian greens and arugula.

The heirloom tomatoes have been fantastic, but it's very hard to get enough ripe at once--and not overripe!!!--for the CSA distribution.  They have not peaked yet, so perhaps next week.  There are a decent number for sale, though.  If you've been reluctant to try these gnarly, misshapen, oddly colored fruits: get over it!  The range of flavors is remarkable, and sliced, they make the most beautiful salads.

Also for sale at the stand: Lou's corn, melons and cantaloupes, Cayuga Pure Organic grains and beans (fantastic!), Arethusa cheeses, milk, and yogurt, grass fed cow butter, and Red Jacket juices and apple sauce.

Also, I have a few of the chicken pot pies left.  Left me know if you want one.

In this weeks share:

Pint of cherry tomatoes
zucchini or eggplant
cucumbers or peppers
pea shoots
tangy micro-green mix
head of lettuce
apples and peaches or nectarines, or quart of plums

Anyone who ordered plum canning tomatoes, I'll have them boxed or bagged for you.

See you tomorrow!

Wednesday, August 15

Week 11



Ah, lunch on a sunny summer afternoon.  Keep it simple.   

Plentiful rains, sunshine, nights cooling by degrees, goldenrod and anemones,  germinating spinach, the coming crush of schoolbuses on the road out front, county fairs and fried pickles: enjoy summer's harvest while it lasts!


In this week's share:

Swiss chard
Cherry or heirloom tomatoes
Head of lettuce
zucchini, patty pan squash, or eggplant
purple beans, or beets, or cukes
potatoes
Woodland Farms apples or plums or peaches


Wednesday, August 8

Week 10


Tomato tip #1: If plagued by birds, chipmunks, or other nefarious critters--who all seem to enjoy just one chomp out of each ripening tomato--look for the slightest blush of color on your fruit.  Pick them, put them in a cardboard box or bag in a cool, dark place, and let them ripen.  Once the tomato shows any color, it has finished it's organic communication with the mother plant.  Ripening has nothing to do with being on the vine!!!  Another myth shattered!!!!!

Potato informative missive #1:  By receiving freshly dug potatoes each week, you are saving me lots of time and effort.  Washing, drying, and curing potatoes is an elaborate, delicate process.  This way, they stay in the soil until I'm ready to harvest, and you enjoy a meal or two or three worth of potatoes each week.  They don't need to keep very long at all, do they?  Hope you like potatoes...

Potato informative missive #2:  Should you be so mistaken as to subscribe to a "No-Carb" diet, read this about the holy potato:  All Hail Potatoes!

In this week's share:  Cherry tomatoes!!!!! Purple or green beans.  Salad mix or a head of lettuce or spicy salad mix. Pea shoots.  Zucchini or patty pan squash or cucumbers or eggplant!!!! Potatoes!!!!! Woodland Farms peaches and apples (Ginger Gold, Redfree)!!!

Did you try the beans and grains from Cayuga Pure Organics?  Holy mackerel, you can really taste the difference.  Fantastic.  They sold very well this past week--thanks for your support!!!

Lou's corn is available.  However, I have some very bad new for you...I visited some grocery stores and organic markets this week.  I've been giving the corn away!!!!!  Stop and Shop desiccated week old ears were going for 60 cents!  Non-organic corn in smaller shops were going for 99 cents and 1.25 an ear!  How about 75 cents an ear for Lou's corn...does that sound fair?  Thanks!

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Wednesday, August 1

Week 9: Halfway!



This has been a summer to judge all summers against, and it looks like it will keep on rolling on.  Eggplants and peppers are sizing up nicely, the heirloom tomatoes are juuuuuussssttt coloring up, the cherry tomatoes fly off the stand as fast as I can harvest them, and many of the fall crops I seeded last week have germinated.  

Another good summer share this week: a head of heat resistant lettuce, french sorrel, basil or chives, potatoes, peaches, corn, and beets or kale or arugula.

We're very pleased to be offering organic grains and beans from Cayuga Organics in the Fingerlakes Region near Ithaca, NY.  We've heard many good things about this farm, and now have black and pinto peans, farro, polenta, and wheat berries from them.  Give them a try!

Corn is difficult to give out in the share because we have several large families and many couples.  We're giving out 4 ears of Lou's fantastic corn; if you need more, please feel free to buy more!

In addition to the peaches in the share, we have nectarines, red plums, and blueberries.  We also have Concord Grape Jam from Red Jacket Orchard.  Perfect for PB&J sandwiches!

The sunny part of the Garden is overwhelmed with flowers--take a stroll if you have time!