Sundog Farms

Sundog CSA July 27th, 2026

We did it!!! We really did it!!! We are smiling and dancing around our electrified corn patch because this is the first time in years that we have outsmarted the neighborhood raccoons. Usually, they are sitting somewhere snacking on our corn ears while we are looking at a flattened patch of broken and empty stalks. So, the main vegetable in your bag is a bi-color sweet corn that we think is delicious. We put some in our outdoor bake oven today along with some drop biscuits, fresh vegetables and chicken – wow, how lucky to have a menu like that on a hot summer evening! The corn is a bonus and we are grateful for it since we are struggling with our tomatoes. Saturday morning found a “herd” of chickens in the tunnel and a lot of red and yellow skins on the paths. We decided to put up a huge screen door since the netting door does not seem to deter them. We scrounged a few tomatoes for the bag and have hopes that the plants will regroup and start producing after this current heat wave. Tomatoes don’t like to “set on” if the temperatures are over ninety degrees and we are definitely over ninety in the tunnels. The entire garden really needed the rain that fell on the hill both Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Thursday mornings gauge total was .38 and the Friday total was 2.14 giving us a little over 2 ½ inches. We had worked Wednesday evening after milking and tilled and planted a bunch of seeds in the hopes that it would rain.

The weeds keep growing and we keep pulling them, feeding huge armfuls to the pigs and cows who even though they are out and about seem to like having someone else pull snacks for them. The bottom tunnel seems to be the perfect target for bindweed so last weekend, Katy and I laid down some old plastic on the bindweed as we pulled it and she reported that it was turning to straw underneath our covering. I am sure that it is regrouping and going to send up new sprouts somewhere else but it is nice to reduce their numbers. Our friends, Judy and Gary brought up cardboard that we finally have laid down in the top garden so we are walking on top of smothered weeds there also. Doing a second planting of squash is on the list of things to do this week as the squash bugs are hitting the first planting hard! Harlequin bugs have left naked stems in the beet rows and we can only hope that some of these bugs move on or are fried in the warm temperatures.
For those of you who have had “goat experiences”, there is a picture of Seth looking up at his goat. The truth is that the scene was not pastoral. Seth is the goat catcher at milking time if Izzy is busy at other chores. Some of the does like to play “catch me if you can”. Lydia decided that jumping up on the stump would prevent milk removal – she guessed wrong. It was a little awkward as Katy milked sort of in mid-air but managed to keep it in the bucket. Seems like every week brings new experiences with our herds of cows, goats, pigs and chickens.

YOUR BAG THIS WEEK

  • Sweet Corn - organically grown so you may find a visiting worm at the top!
  • Okra or Green Beans
  • Squash
  • Tomatoes
  • Onions
  • Basil

RECIPE SHARE

We really just like to eat fresh sweet corn but there are a lot of recipes using corn if you get stuck. From the recipe book “From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce” – corn is one of the old grains and is a member of the grass family. It is often referred to as maize and in earlier times was less sweet and had smaller kernels. Currently, corn varieties are selected by sugar content. Even though the ears hold a lot more sugar, they still offer a significant amount of vitamin A, B complex, phosphorus and potassium along with vegetable protein. Traditional native dishes pair them with either beans or dairy to form a complete protein. Corn is an excellent source of complex carbohydrate.

Thai Corn Black Bean Salad - The Totally Corn Cookbook 2 cups cooked corn kernels 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 can (16 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained 1 teaspoon minced gingerroot ½ cup diced celery 3 tablespoons sesame oil ½ cup diced red onion 2 tablespoons rice vinegar ½ cup diced red bell pepper 1 tablespoon lime juice ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro salt to taste 2 jalapeno chili peppers, seeded and minced

Combine corn, beans, celery, onion, bell pepper, cilantro, chilies, garlic and gingerroot in large bowl. Whisk sesame oil with vinegar and lime juice in a small bowl. Toss with corn mixture. Season with salt. Chill. Makes 4-6 servings.

Zach and Izzy are zucchini bread addicts. Izzy makes loaves from an old recipe given to me by Lola Markley who was one of my milk customers years ago. It is a good recipe but I thought that maybe they should try something new so I persuaded Izzy to try Snickerdoodle Zucchini Bread. It is a tiny bit different – we’ll see what Zach says when he gets his loaf tomorrow?

Snickerdoodle Zucchini Bread from “One Sweet Appetite” ½ cup sugar 1/3 cup oil 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon cinnamon ¼ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon baking powder 1 ½ cups shredded zucchini For the CINNAMON-SUGAR SWIRL: ¼ cup sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon (Izzy did not use quite this much cinnamon) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 5-inch load pan with non-stick spray or butter. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the ½ cup sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until smooth and well combined. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir just until no dry streaks remain. BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERMIX. Fold the shredded zucchini into the batter until evenly distributed. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon. Spread half of the batter evenly into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar mixture over the batter. Carefully spread the rest of the batter over the cinnamon sugar layer, then sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar mix evenly over the top. Bake for 45 – 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. If the top begins browning too quickly, loosely tent the loaf with foil during the last 10 to 15 minutes of baking. Let the bread cool completely in the pan for 10 – 15 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack to cool completely. Below is Izzy’s finished recipe.

Top Row: Meet Ronnie Walleye and Opal Bingus. This is the opening to their backyard “hangout” and they are watching us watch them. Next is Lydia on her “in the air” milking perch and Seth trying to talk her into moving down. Bottom row is our bake oven biscuits and a picture of an old elm tree that was here as a scrabbly little sprout in ’74 when we moved here. Goes to show you that you never know what someone or something will grow up to be!

This last picture has a story – those are Katy’s pants and her mud boots, abandoned by the gate to the pen where Lenni feeds her new baby calf. Lenni goes in and out of the gate 3 times a day, checking on her baby and feeding her. Lenni spends the night with her baby and after eating breakfast, goes out the gate to join the other cows and hang out in the pasture. On Friday, Katy appeared at the house minus what you see here and sporting a huge hornet “hole” on her leg that was already swollen. She had swung the gate to shut it after we have all been doing the same gate swinging multiple times, only this time the hornets had their “ring camera” on and decided that they did not like what they were seeing. Unfortunately, the hornet that stung her went up her pants and she abandoned what you see here.
We tried not to laugh as she seriously told this story but after she left, there were some wide grins!

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