- Tomatoes – some of the first, some salad tomatoes and some cherry tomatoes
- Wax beans – the first beans of the season are yellow and quite good when steamed
- Lettuce
- Onions – Walla Walla sweet
- Beets
- Cucumbers
- Zucchini and other yellow summer squash
- Hot peppers
- Kale or chard
- Parsley or basil
- Potatoes
- Garlic
- Sugar snap peas – while they last
- Cabbage or broccoli or cauliflower
It is so hot we have to take a break. I want to be out cutting flowers and other items but I literally feel like I am melting. Heat is good for summer loving plants, but they all have their limits and once it is past 90 degrees no one is doing much growing. It also makes it hard to transplant and get the crops that are ready into the ground. We will work to keep the broccoli, cauliflower, leeks and cabbage alive until later in the week when we can transplant them safely.
The folks at Gordon’s acres have offered to pick and deliver blueberries in flats for our customers. Rosalba does a super job at harvesting the ripest berries and then cleaning the flower ends so they look beautiful and taste even better. To ensure you get your flat please send us an email. There will be extra flats but those will be first come first serve. If it goes well we may continue to offer this for a few more weeks while supply lasts.
Juvencio and to a lesser extent our European crew have been working to keep the weeds at bay. Most areas in the garden are doing well with little weed pressure. My flowers seem to suffer a lot from neglect in that department. I don’t know what I was thinking when I planted so many flowers. It seems I can cut for hours and barely tell I decreased their number at all. They have been selling well at the farmers market.
We have put out some fresh kale starts for you to purchase if you need to fill in your home garden. Kale is so wonderful, it goes right through the winter, getting much sweeter with the first frost It is glorious in February and March when you long for a fresh vegetable. We will plant extra back up kale in the greenhouse this year as it did so well last year and the cold dip into down to 6 degrees, killed most of the outside kale.
The cucumbers and zucchini have gone wild! They love the heat as long as they get watered. The tomatoes, peppers and eggplant are also beginning to produce. The Thursday group got the first tomatoes last week and everyone will get a little bite of a fresh garden tomato this week. The first eggplant is ready, so a few of you can try some. Hot peppers and coming on and the sweets are soon to follow.
The onions are almost ready to harvest. Their bulbs are pushing out of the ground and a few of their tops are flopping over. Once half the bed has its green bent over that is the signal to us to stop watering and get ready to harvest. We have so many varieties this year it will be fun to have onions on everything! I will leave you with a few reminders and then get ready to harvest. We are trying to beat the heat.
1) The remainder of your payment is due for the CSA on August 1st
2) Canning party 2014 on September 13th !! Mark your calendar. We will make 13 or so recipes together and share the production with all participants.
3) Harvest Festival 2013 on October 19th
4) Sign-up to help harvest anytime, you are asked to help with 2 harvests over the course of the season.
5) There is still some beef and ¾ of a pig left to purchase, contact Juvencio for details
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.
- 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).
- 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
Beet Marmalade
(copied from Marion Cunningham’s The Supper Book, page 168)
4 medium-large beets, boiled** and peeled
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 large lemon
2 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
Put the beets in a food processor and process until coarsely chopped, or mash the beets by hand. Transfer the beets to a heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir in the sugar.
Cut, seed, and quarter the lemon. Put the pieces and the ginger into the food processor and process until finely chopped, or chop by hand. Add the lemon and ginger to the beet mixture and stir to blend. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the marmalade has thickened a little. This takes about 2 minutes – remember that the marmalade will get even thicker as it cools.
Put the hot marmalade into clean jars, cover and refrigerate when cool. This will keep for a month. For longer preserving, fill sterilized jars with the hot mixture, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Put on the lids and tighten, and process in a boiling-water canner for 15 minutes.
** Instructions for boiling the beets are on page 11. They are pretty standard. But in the interest of sharing as much Marion Cunningham wisdom as I can, I’ll summarize them here. Basically, she advises that you cut off all but an inch of the beet tops and drop the beetings into boiling water for 30 minutes to an hour. Don’t trim, pare or otherwise remove the roots. When they are cooked, drain and cool them down in cold water. When you can, slip off the skins.
Zucchini Pesto
Lyn–this is the one that was in the Oregonian–it’s quite good! Pretty tasty straight up, but seems like it would be great on crostini or pizza, or w/chicken or fish, for instance…
1/2 c olive oil
1 large shallot chopped (I used a sweet onion)
6 garlic cloves
3 Tbs toasted blanched almond slivers
1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2 ” dice
1 c basil leaves
1 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste.
Sauté garlic and onions in 1Tbs oil until softened, not browned. Transfer to blender or processor and blend with remaining ingredients (except oil) until smooth. Gradually add in oil with blender running until smooth and creamy. Season w/S&P to taste.
Apparently keeps several days in fridge or freezes well
GREEN BEANS WITH CRISP SHALLOTS, CHILE, AND MINT
1 1/2 lb green beans, trimmed
2/3 cup vegetable oil
6 oz shallots (5 medium), thinly sliced crosswise and separated into rings (you could use the Walla Walla onions)
1 small fresh Thai or serrano chile (2 1/4 inches long; preferably red), thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
Cook beans in a 4- to 5-quart pot of boiling salted water, uncovered, until just tender, about 5 minutes. Drain beans in a colander.
Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then fry shallots in 3 batches, stirring frequently, until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes per batch (watch carefully; shallots burn easily). Transfer shallots quickly as browned with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. (Shallots will become crisp as they cool.)
Discard all but about 1 tablespoon oil from skillet, then cook chile over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add beans and salt and toss with tongs until heated through. Remove from heat and add fried shallots and mint, tossing to combine.
Provencal Zucchini and Green Torte (serves 8)
1 lb. greens, stemmed
2 Tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 lbs zucchini cut into 1/4 inch dice
2-3 large garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 c. chopped parsley
1 tsp fresh thyme
1-2 tsp fresh chopped rosemary
3 large eggs
1/2 c. Arborio rice, cooked until tender
1/2 c.shredded Gruyere cheese
1 recipe yeasted Olive Oil Pastry
Before starting, make the olive oil dough and set it to rise while
you prepare filling.
Blanch the greens until just tender; drain and cool. Squeeze out
any excess water and finely chop.
Heat the oil in a large pan, then saute onions until tender. Stir
in zucchini, season with salt and cook until just tender–about 8
minutes. Stir in garlic and heat for 1 mnute more, then add
greens, herbs, mix well and remove from heat. Season with salt and
pepper.
Beat eggs in a separate bowl and reserve 2 Tbs for brushing crust.
Combine eggs, rice, cheese and veggie mixture.
Heat oven to 375. Oil a 10-12″ springform pan. Roll out 2/3 of
dough into a large circle to line springform with edges overhanging.
Scrape in filling. Roll out remaining dough to fit pan and place
onto filling; crimp edges together and brush with remaining egg.
Bake 40-50 mnutes.
Olive Oil Pastry
2 tsp yeast
1/2 c lukewarm water
1/2 tsp sugar
1 beaten egg
1/4 c olive oil
2 c. flour (can be up to 1/2 c. whole wheat)
salt
Dissolve yeast in water with sugar and let sit 5-10 minutes. Add oil
and eggs, then beat in flour and work just until a smooth elastic
dough. Place in an oiled bowl to rise for 1 hour until doubled
before using.
Blueberry Blast
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup frozen mango pieces
juice of 1 lemon
4-5 large swiss chard leaves
Blend into a smoothie. The color is a little strange, so I always serve it up in a plastic non-see-through cup versus glass, but my kids BEG for this one it is so tasty! Definitely can’t taste the chard.