Sundog Farms

Sundog CSA September 16th, 2024

Mid-September with the Full Harvest Moon coming on Tuesday, September 17th and a partial lunar eclipse that evening and it is also supposed to be a “super moon”, all happening in the last week of summer, 2024. A super moon is one of those close-ups when the moon appears so much larger than at other times. The first day of autumn/fall is next Sunday, September 22. It is the day when the Sun crosses the celestial equator going south.

We have been in a long dry stretch with wonderful weather as far as temperatures are concerned, at least for me! Crispy mornings and warm afternoons are my favorite kinds of days and I always hope that it stretches until the first day of spring, bypassing the cold days of winter. I have yet to see my hopes come true! We (and our gardens) do need some rain although the farmers who are harvesting corn are grateful for the dry times. Corn harvest is breaking records in our area of the country with one of the neighboring farmers on dryland raising 240 bushels to the acre. In our gardens the tomatoes are losing foliage and even though we are watering, some of the peppers are also drying down. The weeds are wilting down and the earth is cloddy when we hoe. We have been watering our surviving leeks and hoping that at least a few of them make it to “grown-up” stage! Digging carrots takes a sharpshooter shovel to make sure that we don’t break roots bringing them out of the hard clay soil. So far, that crop has done well. Another crop that has done well is okra as we continue to pick pods and more pods. Our volunteer amaranth in the high tunnel has started to dry down. We tried to separate out the seeds in order to grind them - that was a failure of sorts as we ended up with nothing edible however, the birds loved our attempts.

We took some time off from our building project to do some fence repair because a couple of our small calves moved in with the pigs without a formal invitation and made themselves at home. The pigs are free-rangers and only use their pen as a dining hall. Even though the calves are six months old and fairly big, the pigs are a force on their short little legs. The fence had been on my “to-do” list for some time and it moved to the top slot this afternoon. We also added another repair to the list as we loaded out a bull from the summer pasture and remembered that the damage to the holding pen from the spring floods had left sagging wires that could tempt some of how more experienced “high-jumpers”. The bull was an easy load and did not even eye the low wires!

Spending the afternoon at the zoo with Zach was another unplanned activity and one that was a lot more enjoyable than the fence repairs. So many new exhibits since I had been there and then smelling all the roses at the park, checking out the size of the goldfish, reading the words on the photographs in some of the exhibits, listening to the sounds of all the tiny little waterfalls – all bringing up memories of visits in the past or making new memories.

YOUR BAG THIS WEEK –

  • Carrots
  • Potatoes
  • Okra
  • Large Tomatoes
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Basil and Sage

RECIPE SHARE from Amanda - Amanda sent me this picture and I asked if I could use it in the newsletter because it looked so delicious and she graciously allowed me to share

I put five whole tomatoes (just a mix) with the tops cut off, tossed a few cherry tomatoes in as well, a whole red pepper and a purple pepper with the seeds cut out, an onion, and all of our carrots, into a crockpot. I poured in chicken broth until the veggies were about half covered. Added salt and pepper and garlic and Italian seasonings and a dash of red pepper flakes and let it cook until I could blend everything up with my immersion blender (when I didn’t have one, I’d toss it all into a blender or my food processor - works great as well - just a little more messy). I added a couple pours of heavy cream and blended that as well. Served with a little circle of heavy cream on top and a dash of Italian seasoning. It’s sooooooooo good! (And so easy!)

Our honey project continues with wax cleaning this week. The good thing is that in the directions Shawn sent, we are not the ones doing the cleaning, the bees are supposed to accomplish that task. If you look closely at the picture, you can see the bees working in what looks like an impossible mess.

Above is Chefs Choice Yellow, Purple Boys and Pineapple Pig is the third picture. We like all three for different reasons.

As our winter hay supply begins to arrive, Hank, Izzy’s dog, inspects and guards the new arrivals but most importantly, he does bale jumping with Seth. Running from bale to bale and not telling anyone when he falls in a hole and has to dig out!

As the day began, I was texting with Zach and telling him that we were going over to the summer pasture to load the bull that I had rented and take him back to his owner. And it was because he was running the fences and making acquaintance with the neighbor’s cows and I was pretty sure, he was also making plans for an in-person or “in-bull” date, whatever that term would be. We were dreading the load as a person never knows for sure whether a large one ton bull will decide to get in your trailer or walk all over your makeshift pen. Zach’s suggested option was ankle weights and as I thought about it, it sounded better by the minute. That might be something we will explore in the future!

Hope everyone’s week goes well - -

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