Sundog Farms

Sundog CSA July 19, 2021

For our part of the country, rain came again this week. Saturday morning the gauge registered .76 and that was on top of the water amounts from Wednesday and Thursday. Totals for this week were 1.90. The moisture was enough for area farmers to plant soybeans after a late wheat harvest in the hopes that they will win the gamble in the race against a frost come September or October if we are all lucky. I say lucky because I have never wished for an early frost. Huge smoke clouds formed overhead as the wheat fields burned. The air was filled with dust and chaff from the wheat crop with smoke and ash from the fire as the wind carried the news of what was happening to the top of our hill.

We finished digging our potatoes out of muddy ground and will have to wait until it dries to till and replant to a cover crop. The squash plants are producing with enthusiasm while the cucumbers are reluctantly sticking a few fruits out here and there. We picked off of our first planting of green beans and although we tried to pitch everything with “rust”, you are probably going to find some in your “bean bag”. We are hoping that the next picking is better in quality and quantity. The first sweet peppers of the season are in the bag this week and they are beautiful!

Worms and bugs are plentiful on the crops however at this point most of the crops look good. I don’t like seeing the moths as they are the moms to the worms that follow. And the damage that the “chewing bugs” do by gnawing little samples as they travel around the tomatoes is frustrating. We would be peaceful about sharing if they would stick to one or two tomatoes but they like to sample 10 to 15 on each plant! Katy put up sticky traps but mostly we have caught ourselves in them! 😊

Dan spent part of Saturday hooking up an old homemade blade to our equally old tractor and trying to put our drive way back together. Three inches of hard rain had made new places to “bottom out” and added depth to some old places. We took time off from farm chores Saturday afternoon and headed up to see Zach and Jen and have a small celebration for Katy’s birthday which was Friday. As always it was good to spend time together and it definitely made my gratitude journal.

YOUR BAG THIS WEEK –

  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Tomatoes of various sizes and colors – mostly large and mostly red and all delicious!
  • Variety of Squash and Zucchini
  • Asparagus OR Eggplant
  • Carrots
  • Cucumber
  • Green Beans
  • Basil

RECIPE SHARE - Thanks Lauri!

Sauteed Swiss Chard with Garlicky White Beans

https://food52.com/recipes/23091-sauteed-swiss-chard-with-garlicky-white-beans/amp

There are a couple of different types of green beans in the bag this week. A little information if your bag contains Romano beans and you are unfamiliar with them. ——-

The wide bean is commonly called “flat pods” or Romano beans and the other is the green bean that most of us are used to eating. We usually slice our flat pods as they seem less “snapable” than round beans. Other than the difference in texture, we find them delicious in taste and interchangeable in recipes.

I found a recipe on “Food” that sounds simple and good – https://www.food.com/recipe/italian-flat-green-beans-with-tomatoes-and-garlic-325353?photo=cGhvdG8tNDA

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Tomato fruit worms – YUCK! At our house they are chicken treats!

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Bumble, one of our aging roosters, trying to pretend that he works in the high tunnel.

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Cordelia is a chicken who resides at our house - in her own special house. She refuses to stay in the chicken pen during garden growing season which wouldn’t be a huge problem except she makes it her special project to find a new dusting “bowl” each and every day that the earth is dry enough for her to make that happen. In her enthusiasm to excavate her “bowl”, she has managed to scratch out all kinds of plants that we had hoped to harvest crops from at some point. Her last bowl took out cucumbers and melons and so she spends her nights in the greenhouse and her days in her own special pen in the orchard. Each morning Katy releases her from the greenhouse (she is in good company as an older rooster and one of Izzy’s silkies are also in there in the evenings) and takes her to the day pen. The other morning, she darted past Katy and took off so was free for the day. An entire day of freedom was hers to do with as she pleased and the very first thing on her agenda was a dust bowl. Taking out one of Izzy’s birdhouse gourds, she managed to make a decent circle and settled in with a loud cluck of accomplishment, her beady eyes sort of shutting. I reported the damages and Cordelia’s one day pass was cancelled. She is not a candidate for probation!

Blessings from the farm – Seth, Izzy, Katy, Dan, Jen, Zach and Teresa