Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This week's CSA box has lettuce, baby salad greens, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, green and /or Walla Walla sweet onions, parsley and basil and sweet corn.

Field Notes.  The garden and fields are lush and productive this time of year.  All of Ken's prior work comes to fruition.  We  have canned tomatoes, I have made jam, and we will continue to can and freeze food for later use.  Now is the time to consider making that batch of salsa or tomato sauce to save the flavor of the summer.  We balance our time harvesting and preserving and as the days shorten we feel like the ant, not the grasshopper.

Ken has been vigilant about weeds this season - this late rain has meant a whole new crop of weeds.  Each season presents its challenges.  The cool nights have meant heat loving crops are later - the corn for example.  And the dry weather meant some stress on the fall crops even with irrigation.  

Here we are at Labor Day, and change of season is apparent.  Shorter days, fewer hours of heat, and the plants are pushing to set fruit and seed.  Each year I wonder if I am up for this and each year the next crop and thought of having it from the root cellar pushes me onward.  Soon the leaves will change and we will be digging and root cellaring. 

From the Kitchen  Oh, ripe red bell peppers!  I have been waiting for them.  I add them to so many dishes - almost as many as onions. Ripe peppers are sweeter, mellower and have a more developed flavor.  They are high in vitamin C.  I like to add them to salads, and also to sauces for meat.  I like to saute an onion, add red pepper and wilt greens and top with vinegar or dressing.  They are great paired with tomatoes and basil.  Here is a Ken concoction with eggs, sliced pepper rings and parsley.  Enjoy!

Sweet corn is always worth the wait.  We grow an old variety with deep white kernels.  We believe a longer season corn has a more developed corn flavor.  We often steam and top with butter, or for a change Ken uses umeboshi paste to top corn.  Ken also likes to soak the unhusked ears in water and grill; it is delicious!

'Til Next Week, Judith