Sundog CSA August 21st, 2023

It is hard to believe that it has only been one week since we received rain here on the hill - .62 in the gauge that day. Unfortunately, that moisture is long gone. The heat has been intense and the vegetables, animals and people are struggling to stay upright and positive. We are counting the days until the forecast is below 100 degrees – if we are to believe the forecasters, that will be this coming Saturday. We are keeping fingers and toes crossed that they are right!

A lot of the tomatoes cooked on the vines with these high temperatures but there are still plenty for this week’s vegetable bags, along with the root crops. We decided not to bag any of the cherry tomatoes as they shriveled and cooked, probably due to their size, but we can tell you it was not a negative decision for the chicken population. They were absolutely delighted with all those mostly cooked and shrunken cherry tomatoes. The bigger tomatoes seem to handle the heat a little better so that is what you are going to find in your bags this week. We are watering the tiny little seedlings that we have planted in the past couple of weeks, every day and hoping that they make it through this intense heat. We are lucky to have a lot of grey water from washing buckets etc. in the milk house that we can carry to the garden and use to water.

It was family time in the tunnels this morning – all of us were there to get it done fast. After picking vegetables for the bag, we spent some time this afternoon cleaning out the chard bed. The bugs ruin so many of the leaves so we pick them all off and gift them to the chickens in the hopes that there are some bonus bug eggs on all that foliage. And then we water again and hope that this week will bring growth. We also went through our onions and tossed anything to the chickens that was not going to keep. The late onion row that we planted in between a couple of carrot rows was a failure in that the carrot foliage covered it, the plants died back and since we continued to water the carrots on a drip line in the bottom tunnel, the onions became compost of the smelliest sort! We should have checked on them sooner and noted that next time, we will plant them outside of the carrot rows so we see them! Army worms are out and about, becoming a real pest. Harlequin bugs are also on the uptick along with true bugs although neither population is a real problem yet.

The above left picture is a Harlequin bug, hard shelled and difficult to deal with in the garden but I have never been bit by one so that is a plus. The picture on the left is a Golden Tortoise Beetle. He is sitting on the underside of an eggplant leaf, looking shiny, beautiful and innocent. I think that they do a lot of leaf damage but since this is the first one that we have found, we are just going to enjoy this beautiful bug!

YOUR BAG THIS WEEK - grown in an organic manner!

• Lots of big beautiful tomatoes – all colors and kinds
• Potatoes – red and white
• Beets and Carrots
• Onions
• Peppers

RECIPE SHARE: These recipes are from “Too Many Tomatoes, Squash, Beans and other good Things; a Cookbook for when your Garden Explodes. Lois M. Burrows and Laura G. Meyers

PS: It feels funny to use recipes from this book title when we are struggling to fill bags! 😊

Herbed Tomatoes

6 whole tomatoes , peeled

2/3 cup olive oil

¼ cup wine vinegar

¼ cup minced fresh parsley

1 clove garlic

¼ cup minced green onion

1 tablespoon minced fresh basil

1 teaspoon minced fresh dill

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Marinate several hours, basting occasionally. You can also slice the tomatoes if you prefer. The whole tomatoes can be served in a big glass bowl. SERVES 6.

If you are not sure about beets yet, you might try these recipes as they give beets a whole new flavor.

Sweet-and-Sour Shredded Beet Salad

3 cups shredded cooked beets

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

Toss the above together.

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

¼ teaspon salt

Simmer to boiling. Pour over beets and chill. Spoon beets over lettuce leaves on salad plates and top with thinly sliced onion. Serves 4.

And an old tried and true recipe - HARVARD BEETS

So I was curious as to where the name for this recipe came from and found out that the answer is not really known for sure. Supposedly there was a tavern in England named the “Harwood Tavern” that served the dish and mispronunciation of their name was how Harvard beets came to be or you could go along with another theory which is that they are named for the colors of Harvard University. Whichever story, Harvard beets are really good!

½ cup sugar

½ tablespoon cornstarch

¼ cup vinegar

¼ cup water

2 tablespoons oil

Stir the above together in a saucepan in order given. Boil 5 minutes.

6 medium beets, cooked and sliced.

Stir the beets in. Simmer for 20 minutes and enjoy. Serves 4-6.

UPDATE ON ZACH and JEN’S “bat” situation –

So, Zach texted last night and another bat flew up the stairs from the basement into the kitchen area. Zach said this bat was “full speed ahead” and in trying to catch him, he returned to the basement. Zach and Jen spent some time looking for and finally capturing Bat #2 and releasing him. They also spent some time looking for anything else hanging upside down in the basement and found nothing. Hopefully this is the end of the story!

And additions to my owl story –

Nikol sent me a story about an owl that they encountered. I love hearing about other people’s experiences with critters. Currently, we have a Great Horned Owl, talking to us and skimming the tops of our heads in the evenings. We know that he is a great horned owl because Katy got a picture and we can see his “horns”. We read that they are quite aggressive especially if you are close to their nesting area. Katy is milking goats up by the high tunnel and this owl considers that his or her property. We think that the skimming is a warning. Sometimes in the evenings when I am lying in bed, the owls talk and believe it or not, if I make my best owl sound, they answer back. Maybe saying something like, you better be practicing up if you intend to try and trick me into a conversation? It is amazing to do it though! 😊

As part of my job, I attended National Night Out with our local agencies and Seth and Izzy came along. Seth was gifted with a fire hat and decided that Blue Collar should be a volunteer fire fighter!

When it is too hot to do anything else, have your mom make bubbles! We love doing bubbles and take them with us to Zach and Jen’s house sometimes and distribute bubbles all over their neighborhood!

Katy’s bubble recipe - she uses a five gallon bucket.

1 teaspoon or even a smidgen more of Guar Gum Powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon 91% rubbing alcohol

½ teaspoon citric acid

½ cup PLUS 1 ½ tablespoons Dawn Ultra Dishwashing Liquid

15 ½ cups Very WARM water

Mix the first four ingredients together and make sure that you mix it very well. It will become thick like cement.

ADD the WARM WATER to the mixture and stir until dissolved. Make sure that the water is very warm.

ADD the Dawn Ultra dishwashing liquid and stir until dissolved.

ENJOY!

Standing in the middle of the dirt road, looking up at a sky that was barely dark with the dimmest of stars beginning to poke through what looked like a murky gray-blue curtain, felt a little funny and exciting this evening. The slice of moon was sharp and distinctly colored in shades of melon and so beautiful. But we were looking for something different and at about 9:08, we saw the string of Starlink satellites making its way across the sky, from west to south east. Izzy spotted them first and suddenly we were all yelling and traveling down the road like we were going with them somewhere, watching the tracing of this string of lights and then they were gone. We send a thank you to Sally for sending us notice about the time tonight. For some reason, it feels like magic! 😊

Blessings from this hot, sticky hill – Teresa, Izzy, Jen, Zach, Dan, Seth and Katy