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Snake handling on the farm. Bravo to Theo for over coming their fear of snakes to give this lovely black snake some pets. (That's Tay and Sam in the background.)
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What's happening on the farm right now:
The breeze this afternoon is lovely and cooling. While not as hot as other places, it has been plenty hot here these past couple of weeks and we're grateful for the break, even if it is short lived.
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The crew has been great about getting out there and getting it done. More rounds of lettuce, lettuce mix, flowers and sunflowers have been planted, beets sown and existing crops kept weeded and watered. We also pulled up the red onions on Monday and they are up in the barn drying. (See photo below) This will be the second time the barn is filled with onions this season and we'll soon need to make room for our final beds of yellow storage onions.
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Michael helping to set up the stand at the RAD market on today. Those are some loaded tables!
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What's available in the store and at market this week?
The tomatoes are officially taking over. We have lots of kinds, heirlooms, cherries and cocktails and a deal on the red slicing tomatoes, 5lbs for $15. The summer squash and cucumbers are loving the hot weather as well and producing like crazy. The eggplants are not far behind. Does this sound like a good time to make ratatouille to anyone else?
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We also have plenty of lettuce mix and head lettuce for salads. Yellow and sweet onions. We harvested the red onion on Monday so will have those available sometime next week. Four kinds of potatoes. Topless carrots and beets. Cilantro, basil. Swiss chard.
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And flowers! Dahlias, zinnias, sunflowers and mixed bouquets in the online store, with some gomphrena and clelsoias for sale at market.
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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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We have four patches of winter squash scattered around the farm this year. All are just about at their prime of looking like a ocean made up of leafy green waves.
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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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With this hot weather, we have been irrigating alot. The water flow into the pond was a solid trickle so we needed to do some work around our intake pipe. Clearing around the pipe, we disturbed several of these little salamanders. So beautiful and so reassuring to know that our water is clean enough to support them.
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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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