Sundog CSA July 11th, 2022

Mid July is potato digging time here on the hill. We planted potatoes in two different gardens this year and both did fairly well according to the potato grubs who sampled in both pieces of dirt! It took an entire day but the potatoes are in crates and although they still need to be sorted to make sure that cuts and green tops are out, the hardest part of the task is done. We usually eat the cuts as they tend to deteriorate quickly and it is a good excuse to make potato salad. The green tops, courtesy of the sunshine, are edible but we do cut off the discoloration. The potatoes were close to the surface this year, making it easier to remove them. While digging, we found grubs and blister beetles and a very strange worm that is most likely related to the tomato hornworm. There were several wheelies, lots of sowbugs and ladybugs. Horseflies kept buzzing us and attempting to bite which was distracting. They are annoying to us and even more annoying to the cows this season. We look a little sillier than the cows though as you see us standing in the garden with our hands flapping in every direction as we try to bring down a mostly unseen target. The rest of the weekend was spent pulling weeds in the high tunnels and getting ready to replant chard for the third time and hoping that the rabbits are tired of it finally. We have lost our first squash planting to borers and squash bugs. The second planting is hiding underneath floating row cover and we hope that it makes it to maturity. We are doing the same with our cucumbers as the small yellow cucumber beetles are spreading wilt and the row covers might be the answer since it will make it harder for them to land on the plants. We picked the first offerings off the bean rows. Bean rust ruined most of the harvest. It is not a total loss as the pigs like fresh vegetables and are not bothered by speckled beans.

Our tomatoes are late this year and we are not sure why. It is unusual and we hope that production picks up.

Exciting things this weekend was the arrival of new baby chicks, courtesy of our friends, Judy and Gary. Judy called with a deal that no one could pass up on the tiny balls of Rhode Island Red fluff and even offered to bring them up. They have been adopted by a little red hen who had hatched our 8 tiny little bantams so now she is squawking orders to 18 chicks. Seth had thought that he was going to be taking on the task of mother hen. The other thing was that our neighbor, Max, brought over his tractor and equipment and mowed down the small field to the east and wound up 18 big bales. He said that the content was weedy which could have been because of all the rain? Weeds as defined by “hay balers” are brown-eyed Susan’s, daisies and clover. Sometimes if young enough, the weeds are very palatable and other times, they are the residue left in the bottom of the feeding ring.

YOUR BAG THIS WEEK –

The bags this week are a BIG surprise because we had lots of little amounts of this and that and added to

• POTATOES
• ONIONS
• GREEN PEPPER
• CARROTS
• BEETS

Hope you like whatever ended up in your bag - -and hoping that the bugs slow down, the heat index lowers and the clouds give us some gentle rainfall to speed up crops ripening/producing!

RECIPE SHARE –

Lauri sent several recipes that use some of the bag’s contents. I appreciate the ideas and love trying some of them here at home - thanks Lauri!

The first recipe is “The BEST Chinse Chicken Salad Recipe”. Lauri said that she found this recipe at a site called “The Healthy Maven”. She tweaked it some to use bag contents and made it her own!

Begin with 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, 2 Tbsp. soy sauce, 1 tbsp. hoison sauce, 1 tsp. sesame oil and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Marinate the chicken breasts in these combined ingredients in a large bowl for about thirty minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake chicken with any remaining marinate in a shallow dish for 15 – 20 minutes or until chicken juice runs clean. Remove from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes before cutting it into strips.

While the above is marinating, you shred Napa cabbage – 6 cups of it. Lauri used the slicing blade on her food processor to slice rather than shred the cabbage. To this add ½ cup grated carrots, and 3 green onions, thinly sliced. Lauri used the onions in the bag. The remaining salad ingredients are 4 oz. of ramen noodles, broken into pieces, ¼ cup chopped almonds and 2 tbsp. sesame seeds. Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add almonds. Cook for about 2 minutes and then add the ramen noodles and cook one more minute or until everything is lightly brown.

Add the almond and noodle mixture to your shredded, sliced cabbage and carrots. Tope with the chicken which has been cut into strips and optional cilantro. This salad keeps in the frig for 2-3 days.

DRESSING: 3 tbsp. olive oil, 1 ½ tbsp. honey, 2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar, 1 ½ tsp. freshly grated ginger, 1 ½ tbsp. soy sauce and a pinch of salt and pepper.

ANOTHER RECIPE that Lauri shared was for meatballs. She started with a recipe that she found on the smittenkitchen site and again, tweaked it. FROM LAURI: I made these meatballs tonight. They are one of my favorites. When I made the sauce, I used some finely chopped onion, garlic scapes, and kale stems. When I put in the tomatoes, I added the sliced kale leaves. https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/02/everyday-meatballs/ I served them with some broiled mozzarella over the top and with garlic bread.

Everyday Meatballs Generously adapted over the years from Ina Garten with some helpful tips from Luisa Weiss

Yield: 22 to 24 small (about 1.5-inch or 1.5 tablespoon) meatballs

1 pound ground meat (I use a mix of beef and pork) 2/3 cup fresh bread crumbs or 1/2 cup panko 1/3 cup milk or water 2 tablespoon finely chopped parsley 2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (optional) 2 teaspoons coarse or kosher salt, divided Pinches of red pepper flakes or few grinds of black pepper 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 2 large eggs 2 garlic cloves, minced, divided 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 28-ounce can of tomato puree or crushed tomatoes

Place meat, crumbs, milk or water, parsley, cheese (if using), 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, onion powder, eggs and half of your minced garlic in a large bowl. I like to mix all of this together with a fork, which does a good job of breaking up the eggs and chunks of meat. Form mixture into 1 1/2 to 2-inch meatballs and arrange on a plate. I like to let them set in the fridge for a bit — 30 minutes, if you can spare it — which helps them keep their shape.

In a large pot, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add remaining garlic and some pepper flakes and let sizzle until garlic is golden, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add tomatoes (beware the splatter!) and season with remaining salt. Let mixture simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes (with a thicker puree) or 20 (for crushed tomatoes, which are usually more watery), stirring occasionally.

With stove on the lowest heat possible to maintain a gentle simmer, add meatballs to sauce one by one, and cover with a lid. It will be hard but please don’t touch or move them for at least 20 minutes of the 25-minute cooking time, so that they have a chance to keep their shape. Meatballs should be fully cooked through at 25 minutes, but it cannot hurt to cut one in half to verify.

We were dead tired last night as we finished up the chores well into the dark time. Everyone was a little crabby and we were more or less plodding through the last of the routine chores, one of which was to empty the buckets underneath the sink into other buckets so that we can use that water the next morning to revive small plantings of cucumbers and squash and hopefully drown bugs. As I walked my buckets out, I passed one of the newly wrapped hay bales and breathed in the smell of summer and soft winds and late nights and frog songs accented with cricket and locust back-ups and I stopped and put my buckets down. It was worth the time standing there and letting summer coat me with memories that came tied up in dried grass.

Mama Hen with her biological chicks and her adopted family.

I believe this butterfly plant is aptly named!

This was just plain beautiful to see and to photograph. Sitting so perfectly on an eggplant leaf and getting himself ready for take-off.

We love echinacea almost as much as this beautiful butterfly does! Katy took this one!

There is just something about braided onions that appeals - not sure about hanging them on the back porch though! 😊

Not on a tropical island - a canary colored spider living in the middle of the potato patch

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