This week’s share
- Beans
- Carrots
- Cucumbers
- Garlic
- Herbs
- Kale
- Onions
- Summer Squash
Beans- Green that is. Venture green beans are a sweet young bean. Beans will be coming your way for weeks to come.
Carrots- Our carrots are sizing up a bit slowly this year. But what they lack in size they certainly make up for in taste and crunch.
Cucumbers- The two varieties we grow are Marketmore and Lemon. The plants, like other cucurbits (squash and melons), will really sprawl out, grabbing onto whatever they can. We are training our plants to climb trellises to make harvesting more efficient and keep the fruit in better shape.
Garlic- Making its debut this week is the lovely Siberian garlic. It is a porcelain garlic which means bigger cloves for you! This purple striped variety has a full flavor. As this garlic grows its neck becomes hard giving us a natural handle for easy harvesting.
Herbs- Yum! This week your share includes dill. Add to your cucumbers or last weeks potatoes for a delicious summer salad. Also, Sweet Genovese basil (what a great variety name) will be included for those who did not receive it in last week’s share.
Kale- Red Russian kale is coming to you a bit later than planned. Some nasty little garden centipedes called Symphylans got a hold of our first planting but we managed to come back with this second planting and triumph over those tiny pests.
Onions- Another debut here, the Purplette onion is a mini summer variety. Started in the greenhouse in late January, these Purplettes first saw the true light of day in April. Some of you may remember planting these at our Spring onion party! Other varieties to come: Red Torpedo, more Walla Wallas and some storage onions to get you through the winter.
Summer squash- As Blake mentioned last week, the race is on. It’s time to get creative and use your resources. I simply typed in zucchini recipes on Google and one site boasted hundreds of recipes.
Note- Although broccoli is pictured above it will not be in your shares. We thought we could eke out one more harvest this week but alas broccoli is indeed done for the season.
Recipes
Oh, how the internet has changed our lives. When I was young I thought in the future we would be ordering pizza and groceries through our computers and they would pop out of the printer instantaneously. Though thankfully that is not the case some wonderful recipes can be found there. This one comes from www.low-fat-recipes.com and would be a great addition to a picnic or sack lunch. Add a little of your mini onions for added flavor (their greens can be used as well!)
CUCUMBER, POTATO AND DILL SALAD
- 3/4 pound boiling potatoes
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 large cucumber, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Peel potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Cook potatoes until tender in a large saucepan of boiling salted water, about 5 minutes. Drain potatoes and rinse under cold water in colander. Drain potatoes well. Stir together yogurt, dill, coriander, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Combine with potatoes, cucumber, and season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Serves 2.
Here is a recipe from www.cooks.com to help you eat all of your summer squash and give you a tasty healthy snack. Apple sauce can be used as a direct replacement (1:1) for the cooking oil to make this recipe a little lighter. Also, remembering to adjust the baking time, this recipe could turn into some wonderful muffins!
SUPER WHEAT GERM ZUCCHINI BREAD
- 1 1/4 c. wheat germ
- 3 c. flour
- 3 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 c. chopped nuts
- 2 eggs
- 1 3/4 c. sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 2/3 c. cooking oil
- 3 c. grated zucchini
Mix together wheat germ, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nuts. Beat eggs until light colored and fluffy. Beat in sugar, vanilla and oil. Stir in zucchini. Gradually stir in wheat germ mixture. Grease and flour two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pans. Bake 1 hour at 325 to 350 degrees.
Introduction
My name is Kylie and I have been working here at Sauvie Island Organics for a little over a month now. I traveled from a land where yellow brick roads and ruby red slippers can be found on t-shirts in souvenir shops. From Kansas I journeyed west to check out the agricultural scene. I stumbled upon the organic farming scene about a year and a half ago with one semester left before my graduation from the University of Kansas. I was in need of one more credit in order to graduate and decided to take a look at the connection that people have with their food’s roots. I did an apprenticeship on a small farm in Oskaloosa, Kansas and got a taste of, what you all are taking part in, the CSA. I’m in love with this personal form of farming and am excited to meet more of you as the season progresses.
Field Notes
Though the weather as of late would have you believe that it is fall this is not the case. Summer is in full swing. Yesterday I saw one of the biggest smiles I have seen in a while as Shannon (our Crew Leader) walked in from the field carrying the first red, juicy tomato of the season! The ripe tomatoes are few and far between at this point but the excitement is building. Also, on the horizon, there are little baby eggplants greeting the world with their smooth deep purple goodness. Another sure sign of summer is that the ears of succulent sweet corn are filling out. I know it’s hard to wait for these summer gems, but waiting only makes them taste that much better!
Lettuce Notes
Though you may not remember, it was quite hot and sunny just awhile ago. This intense heat causes the sensitive lettuce leaves to become bitter and bolt (go to seed) more quickly. For this reason some of you received small heads last week as we were scouring the field for every last usable head. This week we are taking a break from harvesting head lettuce in order to let them size up a bit for next week.
The Rain
What does all of this rain mean for us? Well, of course rain is good for the plants but too much rain can heighten our concerns about blight. Blight is a fungus that affects the foliage of our tomatoes and potatoes when too much moisture is present. You may recognize blight as the cause of the Irish potato famine. We use several tactics to figth the blight. We grow most of our tomatoes in our Haygrove high tunnels. These large greenhouse-like open-air tunnels give the tomatoes a little extra heat, which they like, and also protect them from direct contact with the rain. We also tie our tomatoes up, weaving twine between posts that are placed every three plants. This keeps the plants up off of the ground, also reducing the opportunity for blight. We also try not to handle the plants when they are wet as blight can be spread easily from one wet plant to another.
New Farm Truck
Our old farm truck has been retired from the road. It is now confined to the fields where it seems most at home. We have recently acquired a little red pick-up from a CSA member that will allow us to run our errands off farm. Thank you Laleña!
True “Farm” Love
Saturday evening we had a wedding on the farm. Congratulations Amber and Jason! Amber and Jason met as apprentices in 2005 here at Sauvie Island Organics.