Week 11

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Greetings, friends, family, and members!

We’ve had a lovely week on the farm! The weather has been gorgeous, and we are loving the cool evenings of late. Frankie (our dog) and I went on a nice evening walk together, and it sure felt a lot more like fall than summer. We were making our way past a few freshly tilled beds right next to some sweet corn when we noticed-YIKES!- bear tracks, again! They were very fresh and really high quality tracks, but since it was getting close to dark we high-tailed it back to the house, fast. The tracks appear to be coming from within the deer-fenced area of the farm, heading into the sweet corn. Now we’re starting to get paranoid that they’re living somewhere inside the farm…Pictures of tracks to come.

We also enjoyed a wonderful visit from Maybelle’s South Dakota grandparents, Lois and Richard. We had a lot of fun showing them the farm, telling them about the success of the Wiarda farm asparagus seed that they saved (we just planted it on our farm-keeping a little piece of the family farm going “out east”), and of course showing off our sweet little girl! Of course, they wanted to dive right into a project to help us out, so they amazed us by finishing the south side of the barn roof!

We got even more rain since the last newsletter! Almost another 2 inches, bringing us up to nearly 5 inches this month. That’s waaaaaaaaay above average for the month of August, and for the most part it’s been o.k. It’s just unusual. The rain patterns we’ve been seeing this year have been matching up with what climatologists predict for the midwest as global warming progresses -more rain throughout the summers and larger amounts of rainfall per event.

A few pictures for you…

There’s not much left in the greenhouse, but what is still around Maybelle makes sure gets watered well.

Tomatoes coming out of the field

Cherry tomatoes

A little gem from the library…how true Mr. Schultz, how true

What’s in the box:

Tomatoes–2 lb smalls, 2.5 lbs med, 3 lbs full

Broccoli–1.25 lb small, 1.5 lb med & full

Peppers–1 small & med, 2 full

Sweet Corn–4 small, 6 med, 8 full

Summer Savory Herb–1 bunch everybody

Mustard Greens: Mizuna and Ruby Streaks– 1 bunch med & full

Hot Pepper: Hungarian Hotwax–1 med, 2 full

Eggplant–1 portion med only

Cherry Tomatoes– 1 lb full only (Tuesday only–Thursday pick-ups got theirs last week!)

Zucchini–2 full

Cucumber–1 full

Baby Kale–1/2 lb full

Green Tomatoes

If you still have a green tomato on your counter from last week it is safe to say its time or past time to eat it. Below are two ripe green tomatoes. They’ll go from a pale green to having a deep yellow under the green and will often have a little pink blushing on the bottom. If you notice this yellowing or see any pink then it should be good to go. They are an excellent, low acid and mildly sweet tomato–one of my favorites.

Remember–don’t put your tomatoes in the fridge. It will change their flavor and texture. Take them out of their bag and find a nice plate to display them on your counter or table. And do your best not to stack them–cherry tomatoes are fine piled in a bowl but large heirlooms will bruise easily. We also recommend setting them stem side down so that their less ripe shoulders bear the weight.

Recipes

Holy summertime, just take whatever produce you have from last week and this week, and MAKE THIS!!! This recipe from the NY Times just might be the ONE for the season!

Mustard greens: We haven’t seen mustard greens in a long time, and we are happy to see them! This week they are coming to you in lovely large bunches. This means you can leave them whole if you saute or braise them, or you can chop them into pieces for recipes that need a little more delicate treatment. We’ve got some great recipes on our Mustard Greens page, or you can take a look at Martha Stewart’s ideas here.

Sweet Corn: If you’re looking for something really interesting and different to do with your sweet corn this week, try these Indian-inspired corn fritters. And for the love of all things summer, if you haven’t yet sliced off the kernels from a few ears and tossed them in the freezer, do it! Your winter self will thank you profusely.

Summer Savory: We like to think of this herb as a mash-up of thyme and oregano…use it in any way you’d use these herbs. It’s pretty great with eggs, so perhaps add some chopped savory to the pan right before you scramble or saute them? It’s great added to quiche, too, as you might imagine. For those of you that like to dig even deeper on new produce, the Kitchn wrote a great article all about summer savory.

Sneak Peek Next Week:

Tomatoes!

Sweet Corn (maybe the last week of?)

Peppers

Shelling Beans

Basil

Kale