Sundog Farms

Sundog CSA August 24th, 2026

Sunday afternoon and we hear sporadic rain drops now and then on the roof of the back porch as we weigh out tomatoes (lots and lots of tomatoes this week) and potatoes for the bags. It has been a sun out and sun in type of day here on the hill. Yesterday morning we had what the weatherman called an isolated shower that put .64 in the rain gauge, slow and soft which was very beneficial. The weather has been fairly pleasant with warm to hot days and cool down temperatures in the evenings. This morning was a “shoe soaker” as the grass was dew covered as we walked down to the bottom tunnel. An old neighbor of mine, Albert, told me that if the grass is covered with dew in the mornings, you will not get rain that day and I think for the most part that is a saying that rings fairly true. You can tell the weather is slowly changing as the “cling level” of the ever-present summer flies has intensified. There are clouds of them following the cows, landing and then having to re-land when they are swept off with the flick of a tail.

The tomatoes have signs of blight but are still producing and several of the varieties are blooming so I am hopeful that they will continue. The cucumbers are beautiful, climbing up and over their tubes in the bottom tunnel and our latest planting is starting to run on the ground in the top garden. Our plantings in the top garden germinated but have disappeared – again. We are not sure if it is the visiting guineas or if we have chickens out or if there are bugs/worms eating the new sprouts off. We are hopeful that the old saying, “third time is the charm” works for us as we intend to lay down seeds one more time. The okra did not like the dry week or the cool down in temperatures and responded by sending up fewer pods this week. We still have a few late potato rows to dig out and are keeping our fingers crossed that our experiment of changing planting dates gives us an additional harvest.

The tomatoes have signs of blight but are still producing and several of the varieties are blooming so I am hopeful that they will continue. The cucumbers are beautiful, climbing up and over their tubes in the bottom tunnel and our latest planting is starting to run on the ground in the top garden. Our plantings in the top garden germinated but have disappeared – again. We are not sure if it is the visiting guineas or if we have chickens out or if there are bugs/worms eating the new sprouts off. We are hopeful that the old saying, “third time is the charm” works for us as we intend to lay down seeds one more time. The okra did not like the dry week or the cool down in temperatures and responded by sending up fewer pods this week. We still have a few late potato rows to dig out and are keeping our fingers crossed that our experiment of changing planting dates gives us an additional harvest.Full moon on Thursday this week or at least it will still be Thursday here as the officially it becomes the “Full Sturgeon Moon” at 11:18 p.m. in Kansas. This moon, like most full moons, has various names such as Corn Moon, Grain Moon, Flying Up Moon, Black Cherries Moon. Some of the names make sense as corn and grain harvesting seasons would begin or be in the process at the end of August. I read that “Flying Up Moon” was because it is a time when young birds are confident in being airborne and the Black Cherries Moon comes from wild chokecherries which were important in native people’s diets being ripe at this time. I wondered about the most common name which is the sturgeon moon and found out some interesting facts such as the lake sturgeon that got away from your grandfather and your dad could still be swimming and floating in one of the Great Lakes because the females can live to be 150 years old. One person referred to the possible size of lake sturgeon as “as big as a Volkswagen”. More commonly, these huge fish live to be around 100 and are around 200 pounds. It is even more interesting because I read that in May of this year, a lake sturgeon was found in the Kansas River near Wichita. Rare but not impossible for us to see the August moon’s namesake! The reason the moon was named was due to the season of fish harvesting which was important to people’s survival. Hopefully it will be a cloudless sky and we can think of all the people before us who fished under the light of an August moon as the stars take a backseat to Earth’s only satellite.

YOUR BAG THIS WEEK

  • Tomatoes – large yellow, orange, red and multi-colored!
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Potatoes
  • Okra
  • Peppers- Sweet Green and a Jalapeno
  • Cucumbers
  • Basil

RECIPE SHARE

Tomato Pie - Too Many Tomatoes, Squash, Beans and Other good Things by Burrows and Myers 1 cup biscuit mix – See Substitution below. ¼ cup water 1 tablespoon soft butter Mix the above with a fork and press into a 9-inch pie pan. Substitution for biscuit mix: 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon of melted butter, oil, or shortening. Mix well and use immediately in your recipe.

4-5 medium tomatoes, peeled and sliced ½ inch thick. Layer the slices on your crust.

1 cup shredded cheese - -Sprinkle this on top of your sliced tomatoes

½ cup mayonnaise 1-2 green onions, minced 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley Mix and spread over cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes in lower half of oven. Serve immediately.

Southern Tomato Pie – From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce 1 sheet refrigerated pie crust Olive oil 6 plum tomatoes, cut ¼ inch thick 1/3 cup minced fresh basil Coarse salt (optional) ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper 2 cups shredded mozzarella or Swiss cheese

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Prepare pie crust sheet using a 9 ½ inch tart pan. Do not prick crust. Partially bake 9-11 minutes or until golden. (If crust puffs up, gently press back with back of wooden spoon). Remove and cool crust; reduce oven heat to 375 degrees. Sprinkle tomatoes with salt, if desired, and place in single layer on paper towels; let drain 30 minutes. Pat dry. Sprinkle cheese evenly on cooled pastry shell. Arrange tomatoes over cheese in an overlapping circular pattern, covering surface. Brush tomatoes with olive oil. Sprinkle with basil and pepper. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Recipe shared by Belva from Harmony Valley Farm

No wonder Izzy’s Silkie chicken herd likes to hang out under the morning glory and grape covered entrance to the top high tunnel. Izzy and Seth contributed pictures this week – she did morning glories and the next dragonfly pictures along with a sneaky frog.

A wall of cucumbers in the bottom high tunnel and our pig’s idea of a spa! Below are Seth’s spider pictures – who knows what walks over your feet in the hidden grass and a night-time food trap that we would rather not walk into in the dark!

The first picture is an “aggregation” of Walnut Caterpillar Moth worms. The second picture is a Hackberry Dagger worm with his spikes and flyaway hairs. We are pretty sure that neither of these worms need free housing on the hill. I am fascinated by the fact that there are so many “beings” that I am unaware of, inhabiting this chunk of land. The third picture is Lenni with her baby who has a name, GingerLea. From Lenni’s expression, it is not safe to approach, however she is really ok with visitors! 😊

The word that Katy said defined the clump of worms on the tree was aggregation and it reminded me of the word “murder”. A couple of weeks ago, Zach told me that he and Jen had seen this huge “murder” of crows and they were so surprised by how big the birds were and I was kind of stumbling in that conversation because the word murder was not connecting with a group of crows at first. I mean the group word for humans is a “crowd”. That seems fairly mild after aggregation and murder. Of course, we have all heard the common group names such as a “pride” of lions, a gaggle of geese and a murmuration of starlings. What about a “crash” of rhinoceroses and a “scurry” of squirrels? And then there is a “knot” of toads and a “parliament” of owls. I am still thinking about this last one – a “trip” of goats and thinking about using it in my next conversation with our fellow goat owners because we all think that owning goats is a “trip” in itself! 😊

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