Sundog Farms

Sundog CSA July 28th, 2025

The rain dance worked. We had several rounds of rain this week with a total amount of 1.34 Monday night, .54 Thursday and .44 Saturday. The last two rains were really beneficial because they were slow and easy coming down. Hopefully, if the temperatures moderate a little bit, the crops will have a chance to use that moisture. Otherwise, they will be sweating it out like we are doing!

We have been pulling weeds and grass and making big piles for the pigs and calves to munch on. They like having their snacks delivered and we like sitting down and taking a break, watching them pick through, find their favorites and enjoy. The rest of the week has been chasing goats and calves who are testing every stretch of electric fencing. Due to having the fencer struck by lightning, we have been unplugging the fencer during every storm and we feel like the goats are using secret technology because they sense when the wires are vulnerable and they are gone. The calves are different in their escape practices. We stumble bleary eyed out to the barn in the early mornings and for some reason, you don’t recognize that the calf grazing under the clothes line or beside the swing set is in the wrong place for several minutes. You may even find yourself sitting beside a cow, plunking milk in the bucket when it comes to you that there was something amiss in the morning picture. Due to the goats being sneaky, Katy decided to put a little bell on the lead fence jumper, Honeybee. It makes a polite little tinkle and was not nearly as effective as the great big cow bell that is now being worn by Cracker whose full name is Soda Cracker Cheuvront. Cracker does not like the bell and tried to run away from it, however, since it ran with her, she has settled down and now just makes a steady “gong” while trotting. She did some fairly fancy bell ringing the other evening when she went into her house to escape a rain shower and since Seth was in the goat pen, he went into her house with her to take shelter. He noticed that she was shaking her head fairly rapidly and realized that her horn had hit a hornet nest in the corner of her home and they both crowded through the door to escape the fairly angry missiles headed for them. All in all, Cracker has had a rough week!

Due to being “tiller-less”, the beets were planted in ground using our push cultivator and we know why people had small gardens back in the day. It was the perfect time to lay seeds in the ground. Our cucumber plantings are just squash bug attractions and it is so frustrating because they will be blooming one day and laying limp and dying the next day. We are hand squashing but it is not really effective. We continue to plant with the hope that we will miss a bug cycle.

Today, we started putting the sides back on the shed we have been repairing. Finally, it looks like we are making progress on that project. The building is an old one but was well built and I appreciate its family history and love that it is going to last another few decades, I hope! It seemed appropriate that we are getting closer to finishing it since this past week was Grandpa Bill’s birthday and he was the one who put the roof on in 1974. If only all our buildings and roofs lasted that long!

YOUR BAG THIS WEEK –

  • Large Tomatoes
  • Salad Tomatoes
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Okra
  • Potatoes
  • Onions
  • Hot Peppers
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Swiss Chard bundles with a bundle of Basil tucked in 😊

OKRA – Info and recipes

One of the easiest ways to use okra is to wash it, cut the ends off and then thoroughly mix the okra in a small amount of a neutral oil such as extra virgin olive oil and a combination of spices that you like such as cumin, smoked paprika and or garlic. Add some salt to this mix and then bake the okra at high heat until it is crispy, much like other roasted vegetables. Have fun with the okra by using other types of spices or sauces. The baking eliminates the mushy, somewhat slimy feeling of okra which is a problem for some. For this reason, thin slices work well in stir fries, cooked at high heat along with other vegetables and then served over rice or eaten solo.

I found a recipe for pickled okra which is Dan and Izzy’s favorite way to eat okra. It is a refrigerator pickle and if you haven’t tried pickled okra, this is a perfect chance to do it!

PICKLED OKRA

¾-1 pound whole okra washed 4 cloves garlic 2 bay leaves 4-6 sprigs fresh dill 1¾ cups white vinegar ¾ cup water 4 teaspoons salt un-iodized 1 teaspoon sugar 1-2 Tablespoons whole black peppercorns 1-1½ teaspoons red pepper flakes optional

  1. Place two garlic cloves and 1 bay leaf in each of two pint sized glass jars.

  2. Place okra pods in jars alternating stem end up and down. Add dill sprigs.

  3. Bring water, vinegar, salt and sugar to a boil.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in peppercorns and red pepper flakes, making sure salt and sugar are dissolved.

  5. Pour vinegar solution over okra and fill to about ½ inch from top of jar.

  6. Allow to cool to room temperature before sealing tightly.

  7. Refrigerate a minimum of 5 days before eating and a maximum of 2 months.

Notes: Be sure to select young, tender okra. If you’ve ever grown okra before, you know it can get woody when it is too mature and then it is too tough for pickles (or anything else, for that matter). Use un-iodized salt for this recipe! The iodine in salt can make the pickling solution appear cloudy. It won’t hurt your pickled okra - it’s just not as pretty. A pound of okra pods is slightly too much for two-pint sized jars. I would happily throw any extras in gumbo, vegetable beef soup or cook it with a pot of peas. But if you want exactly the right amount it should be just over ¾ pound.

The above recipe was from “Biscuits and Burlap”.

A page of pictures - the first is Soda Cracker Cheuvront and on the opposite side is Loretta, Seth’s keeper from last year. And in between them is another sphinx moth. Seth starts off the bottom row, sitting beside a picture of two calves who are not where they are supposed to be and last is a picture of a vulture at the top of a dead tree. Wings spread, he is probably trying to cool himself on this hot afternoon.

Last of this week’s pictures is one that Katie took. All I can say is that you should not try and play “Hide ‘n Seek” if you have a big red comb on the top of your head!

The two weekend days have been hot and our shirts and pants were wet with sweat by the end of the day. We were picking vegetables, pulling weeds, scraping and sweeping out the barn twice each day, push mowing and sawing boards to fit into position on the shed repair. All of these tasks were done without thinking - until it came to the board sawing. The first board I cut was the wrong length so I decided to patchwork in a piece to fit the hole that was not supposed to be right in the middle of the side of the shed. The patchwork hole was not a straight shot and that was the problem. It had to be notched out. The first board I sawed with confidence - or at least I did not think that it was going to take long to fix the mistake until I realized that instead of cutting out the notch, I cut it out backwards as to where the notch was supposed to be. So, I started with a fresh piece of wood and tried not to think of the fact that lumber is like gold in price these days. By the fourth cut on the same little piece of stubborn board, sweat was trickling down and wetting the board and I was ready to take a hammer and make the piece fit. I was shaving slivers – sawdust and it was still not fitting. And then all of a sudden, on that fourth try, the notched-out piece of wood slid into place, like a puzzle. I love how it looks or at least that is what I am telling myself and everyone else. I cut the next board correctly because I measured it three times before the teeth of that machine ever got close to the wood. Puzzles are not meant for shed walls!

Beautiful end of the day summer sky - Blessings from the farm - Izzy, Seth, Katy, Dan, Jen, Zach and Teresa