Beautiful, almost Bountiful, Tomatoes

It's been a long, cold struggle to get to the ripe tomato stage, but the weather the past two weeks has significantly helped the ripening process! This week I made 14 quarts of vegetable soup: tomato base, peppers, onions, kale, potatoes, corn, cabbage, carrots...all picked fresh from the garden that morning. The corn was the 9 ears of sweetcorn we actually grew ourselves this (pitiful corn-growing) season. It was a long hard day of cleaning and chopping vegetables but the 14 beautiful jars of soup that stand on my counter are a great reminder that it was all worth it! They will be a wonderful taste of summer in the dead of winter, a bowl of hot soup and some crusty homemade bread...now that's a great meal that Campbell's just can't come close to!

Week Thirteen CSA Boxes

What a great week of weather and the gardens have continued to respond! We have a wonderful variety of vegetables for you to enjoy this week:

POTATOES
CHARD
KALE
BROCCOLI
CABBAGE
TOMATOES
CHERRY TOMATOES
BASIL
PARSLEY
BANANA PEPPERS
JALAPENO PEPPERS
BELL PEPPERS
CARROTS
ONION
SUMMER SQUASH
ZUCCHINI
CHOKECHERRY JELLY
and not pictured, CUCUMBERS and FRESH FLOWERS!

Week Twelve CSA Boxes

The end of the season is in sight, but still so much food to put in the boxes. Here is what we have this week:

KALE
CHARD
ZUCCHINI
BELL PEPPERS
BANANA PEPPERS
JALAPENO PEPPERS
ONION
CHERRY TOMATOES
LETTUCE
CABBAGE
TOMATOES
BROCCOLI
CUCUMBERS
POTATOES
CARROTS
SWEET CORN

Enjoy!!

Another Great Homegrown Dish

Some of my CSA customers have asked "What do I do with chard?" Here's a great way to eat it! Chop up some onion, zucchini or summer squash. Strip the leaves of the chard from the stems. Tear into rough pieces. Saute the onions and squashes in a couple tablespoons butter or olive oil until almost tender. Add chard and cook until wilted. DELICIOUS!

Pinto Beans

This year I tried to grow pinto beans. I bought a 1/2 pound of seed and planted them next to my green and yellow bush beans in a brand new garden space. We did do some battles with grass infestation but when it was all said and done, I yielded a half bushel of unshelled beans.


The shelling process was tedious. John remarked "Don't they have combines to do this?" Actual yield was about 12 cups of pinto beans.


I shared these beans with my CSA members along with a refried beans recipe...much better than ANYTHING in a can!

Week Eleven CSA Boxes

Here are the box contents for this week:
SWEET CORN
TOMATO
CHERRY TOMATOES
BROCCOLI
SUMMER SQUASH
LETTUCE
ZUCCHINI
POTATOES
CARROTS
CUCUMBERS
BANANA (OR BELL) PEPPERS
JALAPENO PEPPERS

Not pictured but still in the box:
ONIONS
PINTO BEANS
CHARD
KALE

Hopefully, those four items have learned their lesson and will not be late for any more group photos!!

Our Local Meal

This was our supper tonight, Fry Bread Tacos! The dough is from an artisan bread recipe I have that allows me to make a big batch of dough, keep it in the refrigerator and then use it as needed for homemade bread. My oven quit on Friday so I couldn't pop a loaf in the oven. Onto the stovetop it went! The dough has taken on a sourdough flavor and was delicious just by itself. The beef was locally grown from a friend of ours that we traded some work from us for beef from them. The tomatoes were the first of the season and they were wonderful! The lettuce, onions and jalapenos were fresh picked from the garden minutes before we ate them. The only thing in our tacos that wasn't homegrown was the cheese. But I told John, "Give me a year or two with goats and we'll have the cheese too!"

Greenhouse and CSA class

A while ago, I was asked to speak at a class about the CSA model/concept. I enthusiastically accepted!! I love to talk (as my teaching and training colleagues can attest to) and especially about gardening and sharing food. The class is November 4th and I will be listening with rapt attention in the morning as John and I are planning our greenhouse. And in the afternoon, I'm on! If you would like more information about the class, and to sing up:

http://www.farrms.org/cgi-bin/farrms.org/farrmsnews/fnews.pl?record=35

It will be held at the FARRMS building on the east side of Medina. Come on out and let's learn something!!

Week Ten CSA Boxes

This week marks the 2/3 point in our season. Is it just me or has the summer flown by? Here's what we have to eat this week:


CHARD
KALE
CUCUMBERS
POTATOES
LETTUCE
CHERRY TOMATOES
CARROTS
BANANA PEPPERS
JALAPENO PEPPERS
BELL PEPPER
CAULIFLOWER
BROCCOLI
ONIONS
ZUCCHINI
BEETS
SUMMER SQUASH