CSA For August 12th!

Romano beans!

We're really noticing the inevitable 'march' of the seasons this week!  As the raspberries come to the end of their season, the leaves of the canes that carried berries start to yellow and crisp up.  There is lovely new green growth, the canes that will carry fruit next year, but still the patches of yellow show in the rows.  We really notice, as the days get shorter, that The Hens are going to roost earlier (a good thing after the long days of CSA harvest).  And our egg count is down a bit, as chickens are stimulated by day length to lay their eggs.  We're now only bottle feeding our baby goats once a day, meaning they are growing up and soon we'll be free of that chore.  On the up-side: the corn is looking good, we have a bevy of small green tomatoes, the peppers are flowering like crazy and cucumbers are on the menu!

A nice change: hardly any biting insects bothering us today.  Mosquitoes seem to have abated, the little flies are hardly noticeable.  On the downside, aphids and fruit flies are around: you may find a tiny purple/black bug on your beans and it's not a spider - it's an aphid.  We've taken the unusual step (for us) of rinsing the both the Dragon's Tongue and Romano beans today.  Although we've given them plenty of time to dry we highly recommend you get them out of the plastic bags!  Think of it as another sign of your veggies being grown chemical-free!

We want you to eat your veggies!  All of your veggies!  So here's a great post from Mother Earth News on keeping the harvest fresh!  Some great links at the bottom of the page for preserving, too!

We don't grow copious amounts of chard, but because it re-grows nicely CSAers get some throughout the share season.  Here's a fantastic primer on all things chard: from storage to some unique recipes including a galette with Gruyere!  Chard will be available again in another week, maybe two.

Amanda and Ed came through with some lovely Long English Cucumbers today!  There are also mixed in a few Armenian cucumbers - long but pale green instead of dark green.  We've gotten the first nice pick on slicing cukes for everybody, too!  The second seeding of assorted salad greens have done well so some nice salads are in your future!  Amanda and Ed also brought the absolute last of the cabbage!

The bean-o-rama continues.  Dragons Tongue for everyone today and some close cousins: Romano beans.  Also a long, thin but wide bean, Romanos deserve more respect...and more planting.  Here's some great info on Romano beans.  We've also had a nice pick on a lovely green bean, Jade.  And the first pick on a true filet: Golden Child.  Filets are wee, skinny beans: delicate and tender! Although they are fairly prolific, their size means we have to pick a lot to get a pound!  Please do not overcook the filets - they will get too soft easily!

Here comes the summer squash!  There are Crookneck, with the rounded neck.  This is a soft, buttery delicate squash.  Stir fry lightly - the southern States consider this a delicacy and bread slices and then pan fry.  The roly-poly squash is a Papaya Pear - firm and nutty flavor.  BBQ slices like hamburgers, soaked in balsamic vinegar and olive oil for about 20 minutes before grilling.  The other little 'space ship' are Patty Pans, also firm and a light almond flavour.  All of these will be awesome raw in salads, in stir fries and, particularly the last two, in tin foil on the grill!

So, for the FULL SHARES:  Cabbage, Long English cucumber (or maybe an Armenian), slicing cucumber, summer squash mix of Patty Pan, Papaya and/or Crookneck, Beans: Dragons Tongue/Romano mix, Jade Green/Golden Child mix, onions, Mesclun mixed lettuces, Grand Rapids lettuce, Buttercrunch lettuce, Norland/Yukon Gold mixed potatoes, herb.

For the PART SHARES:  Cabbage, Long English cucumber, slicing cucumber, summer squash mix of Patty Pan, Papaya and/or Crookneck, mixed Dragons Tongue and Romano beans, Golden Child filet beans, onions, Mesclun mixed lettuces, Grand Rapids lettuce, Eramosa white potatoes, herbs.

For the SINGLE SHARES:  Long English cucumber, slicing cucumber, Summer Squash, Dragons Tongue beans, onions, Mesclun mixed lettuces, Buttercrunch lettuce, Norland red potatoes, herbs.