Newsletter July 20

Wow, it’s cold outside! What a weird summer this has been. We’ve only had one or two days in the nineties, and the tomatoes are slow to ripen. But there are a few in the bags this week. And we have an abundance of cucumbers, so you’ll have to get creative this week. There’s a recipe for cucumber soup below.
Of course, one of those ninety-degree days happened last week, when our irrigation system was on the fritz. Our loyal supporter Janice had come out Thursday morning to help Katherine plant 800 or so heads of lettuce. The irrigation pump hadn’t been working since Tuesday, and Todd had been scrambling to get it up and running again, finally having to return it to Tractor Supply and get a new one. Then he had to move the whole rig to a better spot on our creek, one where the water didn’t have to go as high up the hill. But after we got the last head of lettuce in the ground, Todd got the pump hooked up and it worked. Phew! So, as you might have guessed, we should have lettuce again soon. We’ve never tried to grow it this late in the season, but seeing as Fort Valley is known as “the freezer” by some, we think we have a good shot at it.
In other news, we’ve started an Etsy shop for our soaps (www.passagecreekfarm.etsy.com). Etsy is a very cool online store where everything sold is made by hand or vintage (older than 20 years). You can really waste a lot of time fantasizing about how you’d spend your money there. We’re currently trying to purge the plastic from our home, since it’s full of scary chemicals that can impair child development, and Etsy has lots of handmade kids’ toys made of old-fashioned materials like wood and felt. So it’s worth checking out even if you aren’t interested in our delicious soaps (which we know you are).

This Week (*full share only):


Cucumber
Squash and Zucchini
Yellow Onions
Basil
Garlic
Tomatoes
Sweet Banana Peppers
*Mystery Green Peppers
*Okra
*Cherry Tomatoes


What to do with it:

So the mystery green peppers are the large green ones. We thought they were hot ancho peppers, but we ate one last night and it was sweet. So, either we mixed up our seeds or plants, or our seed supplier did. But they’re pretty good anyway. Last night we had them with burritos and they were nice and crunchy. The sweet banana peppers have beautiful purple streaks in them. They’re good for frying, like for fajitas, or just eating raw in salad.
We’ve been hitting Barbara Kingsolver’s website (www.animalvegetablemiracle.com) pretty hard lately, since we’re both in love with that book. If you haven’t read it, you should. It will make you feel so good about being a CSA member! Anyway, we made her cucumber soup recipe this week, which is just cucumbers, plain yogurt, a little water, and some dill. If you don’t have dill, you could probably substitute basil or mint fairly successfully. Stick it all in the blender and chill before serving. We also made her zucchini chocolate chip cookies, which are really good. Check out her site for inspiration for what to do with all these summer veggies!
The tomatoes don’t need much explaining. The cherries are best just as a snack. We know few people who have the patience to eat them with anything else – they usually just go straight to your mouth. We are big fans of the tomato sandwich. Our version is bread, mayo, salt and pepper, and thick slabs of tomato. This is one meal that only works with a fresh, ripe tomato.