Sundog CSA July 12, 2021

A weekend of rain, clouds, thunder and lightning in the middle of July is something to be grateful for and as we record water amounts in the gauge, we are surprised by the differences in June and this month. I like to be able to predict the growing season’s weather but this year would take an expert in long shots, I think! Three inches plus in the gauge on the morning of July 10th would have been a long shot in years past!

The cucurbit family – squashes and cucumbers – have responded to the rains with vine lengths far past their bed boundaries and blooms are present as we walk by in the early mornings to do chores. The green beans have been blooming for awhile and we thought that they were going to die back with the lack of moisture and the high temperatures before last week’s rains. The rains have revived them. We are hoping for a harvest this week but haven’t messed with them much since the clouds let loose as beans are prone to fungus. Digging potatoes before this last rainfall was a task on our to-do list and we filled several crates with spuds – got down to the last four rows before we ran out of time. Blister beetles are present in the gardens along with tomato hornworms and we saw a few “dill” worms also. Cucumber beetles in their pretty lemon-yellow shells are out and about also.

The garden work “to-do” list had weed pulling in big letters this week so that is what we concentrated on. The compost piles gained a lot of height as well as sharing wheelbarrow loads with chickens. My brother brought over his sad load of corn stalks that were raided by the raccoons even though the corn was nowhere close to being ready to harvest. The goats and cows were grateful as they chewed through tender green corn that would normally be forbidden to them! We managed to grow a few stalks ourselves last year and tried planting corn again this year but due to the heat and dry conditions in June which is when we finally laid the kernels in the ground, germination was spotty. What did shoot through the ground is continually pruned or pulled entirely by the deer. Izzy found a large doe in the orchard pen the other evening, calmly munching down on chicken feed that was placed under the oak tree. Izzy said the doe easily cleared the fence when she became aware that she had company in the pen – besides the chickens! 😊

New critters on the farm this week are two little abandoned kittens that my nephew found at his workplace and rescued. There were several to start with and he was able to find homes for all but the last two and Friday evening they arrived here on the hill.

YOUR BAG THIS WEEK -

• Chard
• Basil
• Big Tomatoes – all colors and kinds
• Cherry Tomatoes – all kinds and colors
• Onions
• Carrots

RECIPE SHARE - Thank you Lauri! This looks scrumptious 😊

Sesame noodles with Napa cabbage. Also used onions from our bags. I added some chicken that I had left over. And I also added some ginger. I used pasta that I had… just spaghetti.

https://smartinthekitchen.com/2020/07/sesame-noodles-with-napa-cabbage/

CARROTS - Usually we eat carrots raw or dip them in yogurt. The other thing that we do is add them to a variety of vegetables and roast them sheet pan style with a sprinkle of seasonings and some olive oil. I looked up a recipe that was a little more formal than those vague instructions and it sounds like something that we might try 😊 The thyme and vinegar sound like a good combination.

OVEN ROASTED CARROTS – This recipe was in Taste of Home’s Garden-Fresh Recipes – a Christmas present from my mother-in-law.

1-pound carrots – the recipe calls for baby carrots so slice the carrots

2 small onions, quartered

3 garlic cloves, peeled

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

½ to 1 teaspoon dried thyme

¼ teaspoon salt

Pinch of pepper

Place carrots, onions and garlic in a greased 15-inch x 10-inch x 1 inch baking pan. Drizzle with oil and vinegar. Sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper and gently toss to coat. Cover and bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes; stir. Bake uncovered for 10 minutes; stir again. Bake 10 minutes longer or until carrots are tender crisp.

Weeding in the garden is good for me. I play around with all the thoughts in my head – have lots of colorful conversations and come to conclusions that are usually not options in reality. Sometimes a nettle interrupts my thoughts as it pierces through and I am lost in a different place as I sling dirt and weeds over my head into a pile at the end of the row and think murderous thoughts for a second or two towards “weaponed vegetables”. The goal is to remove offending vegetation but I manage to accomplish more than that by the end of the day. Sometimes I can come up with a solution to a problem that I have been “chewing” on for a few days. Sometimes I see things clearer because I have the time to think as my hands pull and sometimes now and then I remember things that have been long forgotten as memories have time to float through my thoughts. And sometimes I just daydream which to me has always been more fun than nightdreaming! 😊

Blessings of the farm - Teresa, Seth, Dan, Izzy, Katy, Zach and Jen

Seth checking out the green beans –

Sugar pears – fruit that did not freeze in the late snow! Saturday’s rain wash still sitting on them!

Seth does construction work between the late planted eggplants and the tomato tubes – road building I guess?

This is NOT a potato – but it was under one of the potato plants we dug up!

Damselfly – tropical beauty in a Kansas garden!