Sundog Farms

Sundog CSA August 4th, 2025

It is sprinkle raining this Sunday afternoon, the beginning of the month of August, as I sit here and type the newsletter. The goats consider it a deluge and headed for their houses but I am not sure that it is even going to register in the gauge. We ended July with the rain gauge registering another .71 Wednesday evening which was so welcome after the heat of the first three days of the past week. Even with all that water on the hill the last half of July, we were digging in dry dirt as we excavated potatoes on Saturday. Our potato harvest is much lower which we think is because they were trying to grow during a fairly dry time this spring and early summer. Our replanted beets and the newly planted turnips are peeking out and will be helped along with this kind of a cloudy rainy day. Besides digging potatoes and mowing, we have been fixing fences again this week. The farm pigs are free roaming and checking out every single fence post, digging their way around the perimeter of the farm. Today, while washing up milk jars, Katy and I were going over afternoon plans and she heard breathing in the next room which is the milking room and opened the door to find that the pigs had gained entry and were very curious about the feed containers. After being herded out, Katy started sweeping the floor and here they came again just to make sure that she meant what she said about not coming in the barn. The cows are the only critters on the farm who have stayed inside their boundary fence this week. The rest of our free time this week was spent mowing and pulling weeds. RAIN UPDATE - .03 in the gauge.

This morning was a success. Loading cows is always a challenge and today was the day that our rented bull needed to be returned. He was actually an easy load as he walked right in the trailer which was great because we had forgotten our cattle panel pins to hold our little makeshift chute together. The cows from the neighboring pasture were part of the audience but once on the trailer he never gave them or my cows a backwards glance. I guess he was glad to be heading home. When Dan went to load the panels to bring them home, he managed to annoy a nest of hornets who gave him a warning sting – actually two - one for each elbow. We have been encountering more hornets this year than we have in a long time.

YOUR BAG THIS WEEK –

  • Lots of Tomatoes – Cherry, Salad and Slicers
  • Potatoes
  • Okra
  • Sweet and Hot Peppers
  • Onions
  • Basil
  • Swiss Chard

RECIPE SHARE - Thank you Julie!

Julie shared a recipe that she and her family are using with the okra in the bag – credits to “A Beautiful Mess”

Air Fried Okra

6 ounces of fresh okra

1 egg

1 teaspoon water

1 tablespoon flour

¼ cup bread crumbs

1 tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and 1 teaspoon of water, set aside.

Rinse the okra and cut off the tops and bottoms. Slice into pieces around ¼ inch thick. Toss the okra in the flour. Then dip each piece in the egg mixture and then in the bread crumbs.

Air fry at 356 degrees for 6 minutes. Depending on the size of your air frier, you will likely need to do this in two batches.

Toss the breaded okra in the oil (melting the coconut oil to a liquid if needed). Then air fry for an additional 2-3 minutes.

NOTES: You can swap the flour and bread crumbs for a gluten free version if desired.

TOMATO INFORMATION – the following facts are from “From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce” and The Rolling Prairie Cookbook by Nance O’Conner.

In 1893, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that tomatoes were to be considered a vegetable although botanically they are a fruit. There was a tariff tax on fruits and the United States was importing tomatoes. For the sake of the import tax, the court ruled that tomatoes were exempt from the tax. How complicated is that?

There are thousands of varieties of tomatoes with most of them falling into categories of large slicing tomatoes, paste tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. They come in all kinds of shapes and colors. The tomato is exceeded only by the potatoes in cultivated quantities in the United States. Tomatoes are native to Peru and were not globally accepted as a food until 1850. We were one of the last countries to accept the tomato as edible.

Tomatoes can be used in many ways - sauté, bake, broil, grill or eat them raw. One of the cooking tips I found was to slice tomatoes and top them with thin slices of cheese and either fry or broil them until the cheese melts and the tomato softens – simple and delicious. Toss thick slices with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar and some fresh basil. Homemade pizza can be topped with tomatoes slices instead of heavy sauce.

Blender Salsa Di Pomodoro - shared by Anne, Dog Hollow Farm

Lots of tomatoes 1 or 2 carrots, finely chopped small amount of basil and parsley, dried or fresh

A large amount of oregano salt and pepper minced garlic cloves

Olive oil

In Italy, no one follows a recipe for tomato sauce, so use your imagination for quantities. A couple of guidelines. Do not underestimate the amount of garlic; when in doubt, put in lots. Also, carrots are often the sweetener in Italian tomato sauce. Blend or process the tomatoes to an almost pureed texture. Gradually add herbs, garlic and carrots. Slowly cook the mixture in a deep skillet (cast iron is best). When has reduce about halfway to the texture you want, add salt and pepper. Add several tablespoons of olive oil before reheating for servicing.

Cherry Tomato Pasta Sauce from “One United Harvest”

1 pound any type of cherry tomatoes, cut in half

olive oil

½ to ¾ cup any combination of chopped: onions, garlic, celery, mushroom and or pepper of contrasting color

½ cup chopped basil

1 Tablespoon sugar

Salt to taste

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Sauté all the vegetables in a small amount of olive oil until they are just tender. Add a generous amount of chopped basil, sugar and salt. Serve over pasta with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Recipe shared by “Friends of Four Springs Farm”, Vermont

City Slicker Tomato Soup from “One United Harvest”

Equal parts of tomatoes and milk (8-10 tomatoes makes a good batch)

½ cup diced onions

½ - ¾ cup bacon, chopped

¾ cup diced celery

1/8 teaspoon soda

Scald and skin tomatoes. Dice into soup pot. Simmer. Sauté celery and onions in a small amount of butter or margarine. Fry bacon. Drain grease. Heat an equivalent amount of milk in a separate pan. When tomatoes are tender, add the soda. Pour the cooked tomatoes into the warm milk, slowly, stirring continually. Add remaining ingredients. Add seasonings such as pepper, dill, garlic powder, onion powder or celery flakes. RECIPE NOTE: A city attorney for Sioux Falls, South Dakota gave us this awesome tomato soup recipe. This soup is a delicious and easy way to use extra tomatoes. Put the simmered tomatoes through a colander if your family minds the tomato seeds. Recipe shared by Harriet from Seedtime and Harvest, Iowa.

Here is Seth trying to lecture the pigs on proper pasture behavior.

Katy took a picture of a beautiful yellow katydid. Research says that although katydids do some plant damage, the population here on the hill seems to be a small one so we don’t worry about them. And there was definitely no doubt as to who ate the parsley.

Our last three pictures - a member of the Wolf Spider family was in and around as we were digging potatoes Saturday. He was bigger than the normal spider so we kind of shuffled him in the opposite direction just in case he decided to cozy up. We were mowing around the hay pen this week and found these tiny little eggs in a hole in the ground when we moved some limbs to pile them. The eggs were probably ½ inch in diameter. We checked on them again today but there has been no change. Snake or turtle? And the last picture is a mantis being held by Izzy. They are pretty interesting creatures and kind of cute. This one was in the potato patch doing good work for us!

Trying to put a positive spin on milking the cows in the heat of this past week, I decided to think about all the pore cleansing going on as the sweat trickled down my back and dripped off my arms and filled the lenses of my glasses. I could define this experience as a sauna visit. Then there was the fact that some people pay to have their skin brushed and I just have to sit close to my cow and feel each brush of her burr and weed filled tail swipe across my back and arms as she switches from side to side. There is also background music to the tune of my milk squirts filling the pail. Cows can tell time so if I run late getting out there, they stand at the door and send out these low rumbling bass sounds, sticking their heads clear inside the barn to make sure I get the full echo effect. So, I have the health benefits of a sauna, the rough massage and some bass music to milk by. If my cows could communicate in English, they would say – “what more do you want?”

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