Sundog CSA September 27, 2021

WE MADE IT! It is always a little “iffy” as to whether we will make it to the end of September with enough of a harvest to fill the bag – always glad when we do.

We continue to be dry up here on the hill and the morning air as we walk out to chore has a chill that wakes you up whether you are ready or not. It is not cold and I have been refusing to change into anything warmer than my usual t-shirt, ignoring the tiny rash of goosebumps that my arms send up as an alert. 😊 At some point the weather will force a change but for now, I am ignoring the fact that the calendar says summer is over. This week it was easy during the day with thermometers registering in or close to ninety. I always wonder if this will be the last ninety-degree day of the year as I walk from place to place during the warmth of the afternoons.

The green beans are beautiful for the most part and we are grateful for the harvest. The baby beans are withering with the dry conditions and the blooms have become few as the plants react to the weather. Okra which has not done well this season has lost most of the leaves on their tall stalks. Peppers, both sweet and hot, are still blooming and producing while the tomatoes have lost ground again this week. We continue to dig our “topless” carrots and mourn our “deer-eaten” beets which did not make it. We all love beets, especially roasted and it was discouraging to plant several times and have the deer use them as a breakfast entrée. Next year we will try laying our tubes down and seeing if that helps since we were able to grow peas that way this year.

We hope to spend the next few weeks cleaning up weeds and hauling some compost to each of the garden spots. Planting some cover crops is also on the list and doing some soil testing again. We are working with a soil lab that tests and gives us ideas as to additions to our ground with an end goal of healthy crops and healthy soil. Minerals and micro-nutrients as well as compost were recommended this past season and we feel that adding those things helped crops withstand pests and disease challenges – at least for a while.

BONUS for us this week was stringing hot peppers with Zach and Jen. It wasn’t a bonus for everyone as pepper juice caused some tears and some hand-waving as well as some exclamations but at the end of the afternoon, we had cayenne peppers on strings instead of bushes!

YOUR BAG THIS WEEK -

• Potatoes
• Green Beans
• Tomatoes
• Carrots
• Apples / Pears
• Sweet Peppers and HOT Peppers
• Basil
• Green Bean Information - JOY OF COOKING COOKBOOK – Janet Ballantyne

Beans can be served with a variety of herbs, spices, flavorings and sauces. Here are a few ideas – Sauté the beans with butter and herbs. Some of my favorite herbs are summer savory, mint, basil, rosemary, parsley, dill, fennel, chives and burnet. Sauté the beans with sunflower seeds, pine nuts, slivered almonds, cashews, walnuts, sesame seeds, garlic or onions. Or top with crumbled bacon; fried bread crumbs; julienne-sliced or diced ham; crumbled hard-boiled egg; grated parmesan, cheddar or Swiss cheese; blue cheese; sauteed mushrooms; or mandarin oranges.

Mustard Lemon Potatoes JOY OF COOKING COOKBOOK – Janet Ballantyne

Boil 4 cups of sliced or diced potatoes until just tender, about 10 minutes. Drain.

In a large sauté pan, melt 3 tablespoons butter, and add 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind, and 1 ½ teaspoons Dijon style mustard. Add the potatoes and stir to mix and heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serves 4 to 6.

Potato Pancakes JOY OF COOKING COOKBOOK – Janet Ballantyne

4 cups grated raw potatoes

1 cup grated raw onion

1/3 cup minced fresh parsley (optional)

3 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup all – purpose unbleached flour

1 ½ teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Oil for frying

Mix the potatoes, onion, parsley, eggs, flour, salt and pepper. Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan and spoon in ¼ cup potato mixture for each pancake. Gently flatten the pancakes with a spatula. Fry over medium heat until golden brown on both sides. Keep the pancakes warm in the oven. Yield 6 servings.

VARIATIONS: German-Style Potato Pancakes. Add 1 cup grated carrots and 1 tablespoon caraway seeds to the batter.

Carrot Fritter Puffs JOY OF COOKING COOKBOOK – Janet Ballantyne

These puffs taste very much like potato knishes but are much easier to make.

4 cups diced carrots (or 2 cups puree)

4 cups diced potatoes (or 2 cups mashed)

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour

1 cup bread crumbs

2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

2 cups diced onion

2 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Oil for deep frying

Cook the carrots and potatoes together in water to cover until soft, about 20 minutes. Drain and mash together. Add the eggs, flour, bread crumbs and cheese. Sauté the onion in the butter until browned and add to the batter with the salt and pepper.

Heat the oil to 375 degrees. Drop the batter into the oil by the teaspoon and fry for one minute or until golden brown, turning once to brown on the other side. Drain on a paper towel and serve warm.

And so as we end this season, we want to thank you all for hanging in there with us through downpours and dry times and eating the vegetables produced by those weather patterns. We appreciate your support and love the feedback about gardening experiences as well as cooking with the contents of the bag. It was motivating to see the different recipes and try them at our house – in fact last week we had Lauri’s “chaffles” for the first time! 😊

Sleeping with the window open at nights is my habit, only closing it on the coldest of nights. Feeling raindrops and snowflakes from the comfort of my bed is something I still find sort of magical. As I peer out the window, the dark of summer nights is lit up for seconds as lightning bugs criss cross the yard, using every bit of voltage they have in order to impress any other bugs looking and it is all accompanied by the musical chorus of crickets and locust with frogs picking up the low base. As the summer season wanes, the nights become darker and quieter and I fall asleep without distractions so last week when I awoke to something I was a little groggy and not quite sure what I was hearing. It almost sounded like a conversation and in my sleep fogged brain, I thought that someone was outside my window arguing as the sounds were sort of screechy and kind of garbled. Realization of the fact that it was owls talking instead of people became clear as I woke more and it was then that it occurred to me this was not a normal owl conversation. This was an owl argument! I don’t think that I have ever heard what sounded like a disagreement before as we hear owls fairly regularly – the soft hooting and the answering calls back that sometimes come closer and end as though someone was meeting? This conversation was not a friendly sounding one and it was loud. The exchange did not last long and then it was quiet outside as all of the beings awake in the night were thinking about that argument. As I drifted off, my last thoughts were wondering what would the apology consist of? 😊

Stay healthy – blessings from the farm – Izzy, Seth, Jen, Zach, Teresa, Katy and Dan

Not your usual toast and eggs this morning! 😊

The almost frantic hum of bumblebees gathering pollen.

Izzy’s “silkie” chickens - on the loose today!

Thru the tree canopy, a full harvest moon shines.

“Where is the person who is supposed to be doing the milking?” - usually it is the other way around so Katy felt no guilt as she looked out the barn door the other morning.