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What's happening on the farm right now:
What’s happening on the farm this week:
We are in the season of abundance! With Alex and Vanessa out of town this week, the interns and Sam have been running the farm. Mostly, we have been running to snatch up the bounty the land is providing. As the days stay hot and the sun stays strong, all of our crops are thriving. Our main flower field is awash in color: the zinnias pop with their purples, pinks, oranges, and greens. These flowers make me positively burst with joy!
For Tuesday’s harvest we spent a good amount of time (sweating) in the tomato tunnels. After much anticipation the plants are ready to share their delectable fruit. Despite it being hot in the tunnels, I quite like working with tomatoes. I like how sturdy and dependable they are. I like how they stain my hands for days afterwards, marking me as theirs. And, of course, it is pure delight to eat them. My favorite is a tomato sandwich with basil.
We are planting our next succession of flowers today. Planting successions helps me remember the cycles of life, how all things grow and die in their own time. Living and working on the farm is full of sweet reminders like this. I am so grateful to be able to be in this sort of connection with the season.
Your farming intern,
Theo
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What's available in the store and at market this week?
Tomatoes are here!! We have enough for all your sandwiches, salsas, gazpachos, soups and sauces. Plenty of summer squash and cooling cucumbers. Despite this super hot weather, we have head lettuce, green oak, romaine and red leaf. Lettuce mix. Basil and cilantro. Swiss chard. Lots of kinds of potatoes. The sweet onions are ready too and we have plenty of regular yellow onions. Three kinds of eggplant. Carrots and beets.
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And flowers! The dahlias are starting and we have zinnias, sunflowers, mixed bouquets and the fabulous delphiniums.
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North Asheville Tailgate Market hours are
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Saturdays 8am-12pm on the campus of UNC Asheville.
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River Arts District Farmers Market hours are
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Wednesdays 3-6pm at the Smoky Park Supper Club, 350 Riverside Drive.
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John's Recipe of the Week
| John Loyd is our dear friend, neighbor, CSA worker member and a gourmet Southern cook. His delightful observations on gardening and cooking appear here each week. |
“Only the pure at heart can make a good soup.” Ludwig van Beethoven
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Storing cucumbers – The best way is to use them right away. However, if you have your own plants, they may be need to be kept awhile. These methods work for about 2 weeks.
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Store by wrapping the cukes in a paper towel and putting them in sealed bag or, and this is true, place cukes in a bag and seal them with a metal spoon.
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A couple of ways to use a bunch of cukes is to make pickles. We are putting up bread and butter pickles here in Sandy Mush. Soup is also a way to use several cukes. Next week we will send over a cucumber lime soup recipe by Julia Childs, one we have been making for many years.
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Here are two recipes from Nathalie Dupree. She has written a number of excellent cookbooks on southern cooking, had acooking show on PBS and incorporates ideas from early influences on southern cooking from places like, England, France, Africa and the West Indies. Note that these recipes from Georgia don’t have pecans, of which Natalie is most fond. Mind you, they can be added if you feel the need.
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GRATED BEET SALAD – Good now and even better when the tomatoes are gone.
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2 cups cooked peeled and grated beets
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2 tbsp. chives or green onion ends
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Combine vinegar, juice, and sugar and stir. When sugar is dissolved, add mustard and oil and whisk until creamy. Mix in the parsley. Place the beets in a bowl. Pour the dressing over them, salt and pepper. Then refrigerate. When serving add the chives.
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CUCUMBER AND YOGURT SALAD – The main thing about cucumbers is that they can be bitter. Nibble one when using them to see. If they are bitter, place them in a colander or strainer and let stand for 15 minutes or longer. Rinse and pat dry.
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4 to 6 cucumbers, peeled and sliced
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1 clove garlic, chopped or crushed
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Place all the ingredients, except the cukes, and blend. Then add the cucumbers in a bowl and refrigerate.
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We're gone this week so many thanks to Theo (left) for the farm update and Ann Rene (right) for great photos. And to the rest of the crew for keeping those tractor wheels turning.
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Your farmers, Vanessa and Alex
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Love the flowers. Honor the vegetables. Let the weeds go!
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- Cheri Huber and Ashwini Narayanan
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