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News from the farm...
Summer is really here. The blazing sun over the past few days has reminded us of the time of year. We're starting to enjoy some of those truly summer crops, like basil & cucumbers. We're looking forward to green beans arriving in about two weeks. Of course we're anxiously awaiting the start of the tomato season. There are lots and lots of tomatoes on the vines, but they're all still very much green. It's pretty interesting to look back at past years to see when we had our first red tomatoes. Last year we had tomatoes the first week of June! That really re-enforces the notion that we are not in control here. The weather is. Last year the month of May was HOT, in the 80s all month, this year it's been cool, (including that late freeze close to the middle of May!) and our warm weather crops are taking their sweet time to get ready.
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What have we been doing in the past week...The big project last Thursday was harvesting all the over-wintering onions. The loft of the barn is now full of onions laid out on 4' by 8' trays, stacked 3 high. There are a lot of big & beautiful onions. They should be cured enough to sell by next week. We've also been planting and weeding. All the big plantings have happened, so now we're planting succession plantings of lettuces, chard, summer squash, cucumbers, beans, cilantro, basil, sunflowers, and more! Our daughter, Ada, has started to work with us on a regular basis, which has been truly wonderful to share with the work, the triumphs & disappointments of the farm with her.
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What's Available This Week
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Lots of tender lettuce mix and head lettuce: red leaf, green oak leaf, red butter, & romaine lettuce perfect for summer salads. Red and green kale, cilantro. Plenty of summer squash, zucchini, zephyr and patty pan, beets, cucumbers, basil, the start of the snap peas, & swiss chard. Don't forget to feed your soul with fresh flowers!
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Next week will see the return of onions, and the first carrots!
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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 cooking observations and delicious recipes offerings appear here each week.
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JOHN HAS TAKEN THE WEEK OFF THIS WEEK, this is last week's post, again...
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“Food is everything we are.” Anthony Bourdain
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Do remember that recipes are guides and that you may often omit an ingredient you don’t like, and add one you think might be tasty. It’s all about taste.
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There is going to be lots of summer squash and for a good while. So there will be several ideas and recipes coming along.
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In truth, we can have casseroles that do not feature creamed soups as the base. There are also casseroles that are not slathered in gobs of cheddar cheese. Now, if you love casseroles made this way, there’s nothing wrong with that.
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Zucchini Bake with Feta and Thyme
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Thank you, Kalyn’s Kitchen
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Serves 6, a half recipe serves 4 quite well.
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4 medium summer squash, about 8 cups
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1 Tablespoon minced garlic
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2 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves or 1 tablespoons of dried
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1 cup crumbled Feta, plus a few tablespoons for the top
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2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
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1 tablespoon of lemon juice
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Preheat oven to 375 and spray or grease a 2-quart casserole dish.
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After washing and drying the squash and cutting off the blossom end, cut them lengthwise in half, then slice into half-moon slices ¼ inch thick.
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Heat oil in a large skillet (non-stick if you have a big one), add garlic and thyme and cook for 45 seconds to season the oil. Don’t let the garlic brown.
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Add the squash, cook 4 minutes or until it is barely starting to soften.
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While squash cooks, break eggs into a bowl and beat them. Then stir in the sour cream, feta, Parmesan and lemon juice.
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Layer half the squash into the casserole dish and cover with half the egg/feta mixture, spreading it over the squash. Salt and pepper this layer.
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Repeat with another layer of squash, season again and pour the rest of the egg-feta mixture, spreading it over the top.
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Sprinkle a few tablespoons of feta on the top.
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Bake for 40-45 minutes, until top bubbles and is browning.
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An option would be to add more pungent herbs into the egg-feta mix for bolder tastes. We plan to play with combinations of them next time we make this dish.
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After years of negotiation and a broken down tractor to help the cause, we just got a new tractor! This is Alex's dream tractor (more or less). It has enough horsepower (60) to run all our implements, rear hydrolics, a hydrostatic transmission, and quick release, loader attachments. In the picture there is a bale feeder on the back, borrowed from a neighbor. We're going to use this machine (with the rear hydrolics) to mulch all the paths in the winter squash, popcorn, & peppers. In the past we had a neighbor square bale our hay and we had to lug the 40-50# bales down the paths to spread out the hay as mulch. This way the machines do all the work (more or less)!
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Thank you for being there for us week after week and eating what we grow. Enjoy the good food and nourishment!
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