week 11

Red Springs Family Farm 8/12/14

In one bag: Potatoes Golden Treasure Sweet Pepper

Carrots Garlic Onions

In the other bag: Lettuce Cucumber

Basil (green & purple) Cilantro Parsley

And then there are Tomatoes Cantaloupes & Watermelons

Well, that was a great rain. Our road is washed out and rough, but it's worth it, one hundred percent, to have refreshed the garden ground. I rinsed the muddy veggies once for you – they will need a slightly more thorough washing this week because of the rain.

There's another planting of green beans flowering now, and a second planting of squash, patty pan this time, about to flower. The next corn planting is making silks and new eggplants are fattening up. Fall crops are looking better and there's lots more that need to be planted now. Change is a-foot in the garden. It always is.

These first golden sweet peppers are just a sign of things to come. The plants are loaded and still blooming. There will be red bells, too, as the season progresses. These yellow ones are our personal favorites. We hope you enjoy them too.

Carrots come in many shapes, colors and sizes. Usually, I pick through the harvest a little, pulling out the ones with extra arms and legs. There were so many in this particular picking that I left several of the more interesting ones for you to enjoy. They are fun food. Levon eats them like apples.

This week might be the end of the Halona Cantaloupes. It's been a nice run of them. There are more, different varieties out there. We'll see how they do.

Herbs feature prominently in your salad bag this week. If you are overwhelmed, I have two diverse suggestions: 1) put a little basil, parsley, or cilantro on EVERYTHING. Every salad, every sandwich. Throw a handful into biscuit dough. Put them in marinades for grilling, in stuffings and breading batter. Chop them coarsely for salad, and as fine as possible for marinades and batters. 2) Make concentrated dishes, such as pesto (which can be made with cilantro or parsley, or cilantro and parsley and basil mixed) or tabbouli. This uses lots of herbs all at once, and then they can be put to use in different dishes throughout the weeks. Pesto also freezes well. If you don't want to mess with nuts and cheese and garlic, you can also just chop the herbs, add olive oil and freeze that, as is, for later use.

We don't do much grocery shopping in our house. We try to start from the base materials of food and make what we need. I have played around with making mayonnaise before, with mixed results. The worst thing is usually that we don't use it, so it sets in the fridge, where space is precious, until we forget what it is and throw it to the chickens. Then, on those rare events that we want mayo on something – oh well! My newest solution to mayonnaise aspirations, especially on potato or pasta salads, is plain yoghurt. I'm sure it's better for us, and when tossed, salad-style, with olive oil and some lemon juice, the effect is just plain wonderful.

There's another pot of tomatoes to cook down on the stove right now, and a million weeds growing before our eyes in the garden. I can hardly stay in front of the screen for another moment.

Thanks for your good eating – stay well!