CSA Week 12, Sept. 9

So I'm back from the lake and the garden sprung in to action while I was away, mainly with corn and tomatoes. I don't seem to have enough time to do with them what I should. I need to make sauce and corn relish and salsa etc. while its all here in bounty. This is a problem that may face you on a smaller scale each week with your produce - how to use it all up. I encourage you to be resourceful, look up recipies, spend a little more time cooking instead of ......you fill in your favorite time sucker here :-) I know from experience that it is worth the effort to eat fresh food, even if you freeze it now and eat it in the winter. Make quiche with summer squash, and freeze for the future, or try your hand at making corn relish and can it! Some things like kale & swiss chard you may have used up all of your ideas, but blanch them and throw in the freezer in a baggie and use in the winter in soup! Just some ideas - buy hey, if you are fine with composting it or feeding it to your chickens, that is your choice :-)

We had some damage from the hurricane last week, though nothing compared with the widespread devestation in Vermont. We lost some corn and peppers - no big deal, right - and had to pick all the peaches even though they weren't all ripe and freeze them. We had high hopes of using them in CSA, but there is that risk thing we talk about in the sign up! There is no guarantee with what will happen with the weather and gardening. All the rain we've had is taking up issues with my tomatoes, which are wilting fast, and many are bruised with squishy soft spots. We also haven't been able to get the eggplants to put out fruit for two years in a row. Odd. Regardless, we are phasing out of summer veggies like cukes fast, you probably see the last of them this week. Winter squash shows its face this week - don't feel you have to use it right away - they last for a long time. As do cabbages by the way. Things like corn and tomatillos are best used right away as their sugars convert to startches rather quickly, so make a nice Mexican meal with fresh salsa verde, some sauteed corn, and fish tacos with a lime/kohlrabi slaw.....something like that :-)

Fall weather is setting in - days are getting much shorter, nights are coming sooner, and getting cooler. This means that plants to do not grow as well. Our second crops of spinach and beans are trugging along slowly, and it's always an experiment to see if they make it to picking size. Fingers crossed!

If you have any questions about anything, please email or call.

Medium Shares:
Winter Squash
Swiss Chard
Kale
Cabbage
Beets
Potatoes
Cukes
Tomatillos
Onion
Tomatoes
Garlic
Corn
Parsely

Large Shares:
Winter Squash
Swiss Chard
Kale
Collard Greens
Cabbage
Beets
Potatoes
Cukes
Tomatillos
Onion
Tomatoes
Peppers
Garlic
Corn
Parsely

Sorry about leaving corn off the list last week, though I'm sure you knew what it was :-) Hopefully you didn't find too many worms in yours, if any. An organic bacteria was sprayed this year to help kill the larvae of the worm and hopefully it worked. Of all the ears I've opened (about 50) I have only seen a couple.

Thanks everyone. Have a great week.