- • Lettuce
- • Cucumbers
- • Zucchini (patty pan, yellow, green and light green heirloom)
- • Tomatoes- “Legend”, “Mountain Magic” and “New Girl”
- • Cherry tomatoes!!
- • Basil
- • Parsley
- • Kale
- • Hot Peppers
- • Onions – “Alisa Craig” large yellow onions with mild flavor
- • Garlic
- • Beans (green and a few purple)
- Potatoes
- • Plums
- • Apples
This has been a busy week. Luna has been at the county fair since Tuesday night. She has had to arrive early (at about 0645) to wash her animals, feed and water them and she can leave about 9:30 pm. The days are packed with shows, barn duty and a smattering of competitions that test her ability to judge cows, hay and weeds. She again showed her expertise at weed ID tying for first in her division. She missed the distinction between Queen Ann’s Lace and Curly Dock but go the rest.“Bellatrix” and “Mia” did well with the stiff competition and Luna learned a lot. We enjoyed being at the fair, but we are ready to get back to all the work on the farm.
It is almost time to harvest the onions. They have sized up well thanks to all that weeding. Once they come out we will quickly compost and get ready to plant the overwintering brassicas. We are trialing about 8 varieties of overwintering cauliflower and 4 new cabbages. We are working with Osborne Seed Co. to come up with those varieties that work for CSA and market growers. Good thing we love cauliflower.
The peppers, tomatoes and eggplant are almost there. They are growing and setting fruit and these hot days have really helped. The winter squash and pumpkins are doing fairly well, they could use more water and more fertility, perennial problems at this time of year.
It is almost time to sign-up to help anytime from now through end of the season October 29th. The new sign-up is in the barn. The cherry tomatoes, beans and cukes are all in so we need your help.
The canning party is just around the corner, sign-up will be up next week. Mark your calendars for September 7. If you have ideas, recipes you want me to consider, please send them my way. I am gathering ideas and will give the first run list to Mary Kay this week for her to create the marketing list. The party starts at 0900 and goes all day until the canning is done (5-6 pm). We prefer you stay all day but also recognize that soccer season starts and there are other commitments on that day. As long as we have a core of people to participate the entire time we may be able to accommodate your plans.
The Power of the Cucumber
By admin on December 11, 2009 | Comments Off
The Amazing Cucumber This information was in The New York Times several weeks ago as part of their “Spotlight on the Home” series that highlighted creative and fanciful ways to solve common problems.
1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.
2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.
3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.
4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.
5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!
6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!!
7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.
8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don’t have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.
9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!
10. Stressed out and don’t have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber with react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.
11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don’t have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemcials will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.
12. Looking for a ‘green’ way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won’t leave streaks and won’t harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.
13. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!
Attack of the Squash People, Marge Piercy
And thus the people every year
in the valley of humid July
did sacrifice themselves
to the long green phallic god
and eat and eat and eat.
They’re coming, they’re on us,
the long striped gourds, the silky
babies, the hairy adolescents,
the lumpy vast adults
like the trunks of green elephants.
Recite fifty zucchini recipes!
Zucchini tempura; creamed soup;
sauté with olive oil and cumin,
tomatoes, onion; frittata;
casserole of lamb; baked
topped with cheese; marinated;
stuffed; stewed; driven
through the heart like a stake.
Get rid of old friends: they too
have gardens and full trunks.
Look for newcomers: befriend
them in the post office, unload
on them and run. Stop tourists
in the street. Take truckloads
to Boston. Give to your Red Cross.
Beg on the highway: please
take my zucchini, I have a crippled
mother at home with heartburn.
Sneak out before dawn to drop
them in other people’s gardens,
in baby buggies at churchdoors.
Shot, smuggling zucchini into
mailboxes, a federal offense.
With a suave reptilian glitter
you bask among your raspy
fronds sudden and huge as
alligators. You give and give
too much, like summer days
limp with heat, thunderstorms
bursting their bags on our heads,
as we salt and freeze and pickle
for the too little to come.
ZUKE SOUP
• 2 lbs. zucchini
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1/3 c. chopped onions or shallots
• 5 c. chicken broth
• ½ tsp. cumin
• ½ tsp. chili powder
• ¼ c. corn meal
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 c. sour cream
Peel and roughly chop zucchini, reserving ½ a zuke to slice into paper-thin slices. Melt butter, cook onions or shallots until wilted. Add chopped zucchini, broth, cumin and chili powder. Bring broth to a boil, whisk in corn meal. Cook until soft. Puree. Before serving, reheat and thin if necessary with water. Whisk in half of the sour cream, garnish with zuke slices. If you wish, this can be served cold, chilling instead if reheating. Serve remaining sour cream at table as a garnish.
Becca’s favorite Thai Cumber salad with Roasted Peanuts
¼ cup fresh limejuice
1 ½ tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)
1 ½ tablespoons sugar
1 ½ tablespoons minced seeded jalapeno chili (about 1 large)
2 garlic cloves
1 ½ English hothouse cucumbers, halved, seeded, thinly sliced
¾ cups sliced red onion
2 tablespoons fresh mint
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped lightly salted roasted peanuts
Whisk first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Place cucumbers, onion, and mint in large bowl. Add dressing and toss to coat. Season salad to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle on peanuts and serve.
TOMATOES AND FETA CHEESE WITH HERB-AND-GARLIC DRESSING
6 tablespoons tarragon vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or 2 teaspoons dried
1 tablespoon coarse-grained Dijon mustard
1 shallot, minced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 cup olive oil
4 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
1/3 cup Kalamata olives or other brine-cured black olives, pitted, chopped
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
Combine first 6 ingredients in medium bowl; gradually whisk in oil. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper.
Arrange tomatoes on platter. Sprinkle with olives and cheese. Drizzle with enough dressing to coat. Serve, passing remaining dressing separately.
Maryanne’s Tian of Basil
• 2 medium- small zucchini, thinly sliced
• 4 bunches basil, 4 cups loosely packed fresh basil, stemmed and coarsely chopped
• 3-4 ripe tomatoes, thinly sliced
• ¾ cup or less shredded kasseri, gruyere or Swiss cheese,
• ¼ cup or less fruity extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil a shallow (about 2 inches deep) ovenproof serving dish. Place the zucchini slices over the bottom and press chopped basil leaves firmly over the zucchini (the basil will cook down the way spinach does).
2. Arrange the tomato slices over the basil. Then scatter the cheese evenly over the tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil and back about 35 minutes, until hot through and cheeses are melted