CSA Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden! This box has tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, zucchini, cabbage, eggplant, peppers, Walla Walla sweet onions, lettuce, garlic, basil, the last beans, and apples.

Mobile tunnel - wide open in the heat

Field Notes.  We were pretty excited to get some rain - about 1/2 inch - last week.  It is still dry.  Ken is about to start irrigating in the greenhouses again. The peppers look a bit dry.  The good thing about greenhouses is the ability to control temperature and moisture;  The bad thing is you have to control the temperature an moisture.  Growing in greenhouses allows for extended season, but it also means irrigating and monitoring and opening and closing greenhouses.  It also means that when it rains Ken does not take a break - because he can work in the greenhouses.

Onions in the Drying racks

As the days shorten, we are looking toward fall and winter storage crops.  Thanks to friends, the onions and shallots are harvested and curing in racks.  Soon we will be moving them to make room for winter squash.  Although many people harvest winter squash before frost, Ken and I believe they are sweeter if allowed to go until the first light frost.  

From the Kitchen. We are enjoying this cool down - the oven is not a four letter word, and so Ken has made his baked ratatouille regularly. It is a great, flexible recipe to use whatever you may have for eggplant, zucchini, onion and tomato.  

With Ken at a family picnic and me home for pottery and vegetable sales Sunday, I made a pasta with cream sauce and used onion, garlic, mild red pepper and broccoli.  The contrasting color and texture was great!  I have also been sauteing onions and peppers and adding eggs in the morning for a colorful breakfast.  I also add peppers to rice dishes.  I tend to minimize cooking time on peppers as heat lowers their vitamin C. 

Cabbage is great.  I like to saute onion, add sliced cabbage, simmer briefly in stock and add butter or umeboshi vinegar before serving. 
'Til Next Week, 
Judith