Sundog CSA May 31th, 2023
If my intentionally planted, carefully selected seeds had the determination and passion for growing that pigweeds do, our hilltop farm would be drowning in produce. I think of all kinds of ideas as I pull weeds such as why not graft tomatoes and peppers on pigweeds? Why bother grafting them on their own kind when the pigweed standing by them, growing in the same soil, and facing the same day to day challenges is towering over them and when I try to pull the offending “weed”, it takes two hands and I hear the reluctance as the roots come slowly out of the earth. I guess I am thinking about weeds because we spent most of the weekend with them as we worked on pulling and piling weeds to be toted to the calf pen where they were received as treats. That was the fun part of the work as we watched those weeds disappear.
One of the other things that we did this weekend was to make a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. Growing up, my grandma made rhubarb pies from a patch that grew on the west side of some cedars. She would sometimes refer to it as “pie plant” because pie was the only recipe she used that featured rhubarb. I love the plant. It is beautiful with its large ruffled leaves. It has survived deer, drought, wind and hail as well as some pretty tough winters. Even with all those positives, I was not in love with “grass pie” – at least not until we tried strawberry rhubarb pie! The purist in me thought that it was a betrayal of the rhubarb to add strawberries. I have been missing out! That pie was delicious and I would encourage everyone to make that “sugar” exception and enjoy a slice of sweet tart that has a haunting flavor that will have you sneaking into the kitchen after everyone is in bed to find the last slice! 😊
The last of our transplants have made it into the garden. Digging holes, adding compost, soil amendments and lots of water, the rows of peppers, eggplants and tomatoes are all full. The green beans are blooming along with the potatoes and some of the early planted tomatoes are setting fruits. The forecast of eighty degrees is perfect growing weather and if only we could order ½ inch of gentle rainfall on Wednesday evening to be dry enough to work the earth on the weekends! Bug challenges in the garden are flea beetles and leaf eating worms. We found the first potato beetle today and Seth promptly fed it to the waiting hens who watch us garden as though they were at a soft ball game and hoping for a home run – over the fence the worm flies into waiting beaks! 😊
YOUR BAG –
- Rhubarb
- Onions
- Garlic Scapes
- Lettuce
- Tatsoi
- Mixed Greens
- Chard
- Arugula
- Eggs
RECIPE SHARE –
For those of you who want to try the Rhubarb Strawberry pie recipe, here is one from my friend Marvelle. Her family declares her to be the best “pie maker” around and requests pies for all special occasions which is how she came to be baking a Rhubarb Strawberry Pie. I asked her for the recipe and this was her reply – “I don’t have a recipe – I rarely use them but I can probably tell you pretty closely how I made it.
For a 9-inch pie: Prepare pastry for 9-inch two crust pie
1 ½ cups rhubarb
1 ½ cups strawberries
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/3 cup flour
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Cut fruit into bite sized pieces. Mix sugar and flour together until well blended. Cook fruit over medium heat until it comes to a boil, then slowly add sugar/flour mixture, stirring constantly. Reduce heat as mixture thickens. Remove from heat and p our into a pastry lined pie pan. Top with second crust and cut slits to vent. Dust top of crust with sugar. Bake until crust is golden brown, 20 – 25 minutes.
PS – Instead of a second crust, Izzy and I decided to make a crumble crust and that worked out well. Peering through the oven door, we watched the deep red bubbling of the filling cooking as it appeared through places where our crumble mix fell short on the edges.
BUG OF THE WEEK —–
Flea beetles have been making their presence known in the greens patch as well as on our eggplant transplants. The damage is cosmetic and frustrating. I looked them up and this was the description of them.
How do you identify flea beetles?
Flea beetles can be black, bronze, bluish or brown to metallic gray. Some species have stripes. All flea beetles have large back legs which they use for jumping, especially when disturbed.
Not all beetles are bad. In another part of the garden, I found this little lady bug. Climbing without hesitation, this ladybug was moving quickly though the potato patch as we were hoeing and pulling weeds. Ladybugs eat aphids, up to 5,000 aphids in a lifetime which is a lot of aphids, and other garden pests. I am hoping that they take a shine to raw flea beetles! 😊
Remember Hollyhock dolls? And how special it was to go to someone’s house who had more than one color of these old-fashioned flowers so all our dolls would be dressed in different colors. Instead of playing with hollyhocks, this butterfly is working hard by the looks of that pollen load.
The clouds were dark and towering to the north and west as we picked greens late this evening. The wind would pick up every now and then whip around us while the sounds of thunder rolled through the clouds. Every now and then we would feel a few hard plops of rain – enough to make us run for the clothesline and bring in the last of the laundry. We settled in to our regular routine of chores later as it felt that the storm had passed us by and then heard Seth yelling in a voice that meant something was serious. We were all running to see what was wrong and he was shouting that a tree had fallen. He had seen a huge limb split from one of the trees east of the garden and fall, getting caught up on one side by another tree and hanging by shreds of bark on the other. Isn’t it a wonder to see something that in another few seconds can’t be seen again? It is like a small gift specially given. . . . . and even though I wasn’t the one who got to unwrap this one, it was something to see that amazement on Seth’s face as he owned the moment.
Blessings from the farm - Teresa, Katy, Izzy, Seth, Dan, Jen and Zach