CSA Harvest Guide : August 16

        Today officially marks the halfway point of the season! We have 12 more wonderful weeks ahead of us, and I really hope the weather and harvesting luck stays on our side through to the end. Even with these strange weather patterns...or lack thereof, our veggies as a whole seem to continue churning out the good stuff, and we are forever grateful.

        A freakish storm hit the farm Tuesday night, hail and all, and once it passed, it left us with a magical light display in the darkened sky. Here are a few photos I experiemented with in trying to capture the bursts of lightening in the clouds. The photo above is in the direction of where the sunset, and the one below is of lightening on the left part of the sky. Keep in mind, these photos were taken after dark!

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What's in your bag?

Expect to find these items in your bag: Summer, Patty Pan and Zucchini Squash, Cucumber, Lettuce, Cherry and Slicer Tomato, Pepper, Onion, Garlic, Parsley for an herb and hopefully you'll also be getting either some Wax Beans or a Melon.

Description of Peppers: Bell- green, box-shaped, firm; Sheepnose- red, round, firm; Anaheim (mildly hot): green, long and slender

Note on the Sheepnose peppers and Patty Pan squash: They bake well stuffed with your favorite grains and veggies, topped with a bit of cheese!

And must we remind you to visit and pick more basil and flowers?! The basil is already back to looking like it hasn't been touched again, so take as much as you can use!

Hope you're enjoying the cooler temperatures, Peace & Enjoy!

CSA Harvest Guide : August 9

        A Big Thanks goes out to all of the shareholders who came on Saturday to help in the fields. It was an especially unique experience, for me at least, to harvest the last of the first wave of cucumbers in the morning and completely clean out their beds in the afternoon...talk about a total transformation. Thanks everyone!!

        Last harvest day, we celebrated a belated birthday for Quentin, here marking the beginning of the season's post-harvest Tea Parties. Ana, that cake sure was miiighty fine...

And now that tomato season is ramping up, we're ready to make available bulk quantities of paste tomatoes and seconds for canning, sauce, soup, or anything you like!

        For those of you new to the CSA, this is something we've been happy to do the last couple of seasons, and those with time to make use of extra tomatoes have loved it.  Our feeling is that distributing paste tomatoes to the entire membership every week leaves you with enough to do very little with.  So we prefer to offer them in a quantity that is useful.  This in no way cuts into your weekly supply of slicers or cherry tomatoes.

Here's how it works:

We're offering 10lbs (give or take) of pastes and seconds to anyone intersted.  There is no additional charge -- this is offered as part of your membership.

Orders will be filled in the order they are received.  This is a first-come, first-served scenario, and if the vines run dry before all orders are filled, that's just the way it is.

The tomaotes are just now beginning to flow, so orders will be filled as they become available incrementally over the next several weeks.

Once your number comes up and Brett contacts you, your order must be picked up promptly at the farm, and we ask that you bring a box (preferably) or bag with you to carry them home.  He'll try to give you a few days advance notice.

If interested to get on the list, or have any questions, contact Brett by email.

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So, what's in your bag?

Expect to find these items in this week's harvest: Patty Pan, Summer and Zucchini Squash, Cucumber, Tomato, Cherry Tomato, Lettuce, Wax Bean, Melon and Basil for an herb.

A small note about your wax beans: They were greatly anticipated here on the farm, but were unfortunately hit a bit harshly by the infamous Mexican Bean Beetle. Because of this, expect your share of these beans to be on the lighter side...still a great compliment to your summer recipes!

Peace & Enjoy :)