August 27 Delivery

Tomato jungle ... after being pruned twice.

You can't see them really well, but there are a whole lotta green tomatoes in there! We've been finding a red one here and there.

This week's delivery (Week 10) will include leeks, onions, variety of squash with zucchini included in the variety pack, red potatoes, spaghetti squash, cucumbers, green peppers, eggplant, parsley and basil.

Spaghetti Squash - Preheat oven to 350. To prepare, rinse the outside off. Cut in half length-wise (blossom end to stem end), scrape out seeds. Brush the inside half that you are cooking with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Turn the spaghetti squash upside down in a 9x13 baking dish. Make steam vent holes in the top side. Place in oven for about 45 minutes. When done, you will be able to scrape the inside out and it will be stringy ... similar to spaghetti. It doesn't taste like spaghetti, it just looks a little like spaghetti. Top it with your favorite toppings. Olive oil, butter, parmesan cheese, parsley or basil. (If you have enough room in your oven to cook both halves ... that's what I do ... energy savings and leftovers!)

Eggplant are still looking weird ... small and deformed ... but, they still taste the same. Peppers are coming on great!

FREEZING TIP: Did you know that you can dice onions and green peppers and put in serving size (usually 2 cups) quart freezer bags (flatten for better storage space). Later in winter, you can just go to your freezer and grab a bag of one or the other or both and add directly to your spaghetti sauce, chili, soups or stews without even thawing?

Hope you're having a great day!

Air card down ... and out ... got a new one!

Yup, our blog was off line for more than two weeks ... took us that long to figure out our air card stopped working ... arrggghhhh ... diagnosing a computer problem is much harder and more frustrating than pulling weeds!

In the meantime, to our CSA subscribers ... the eggplant this week was small ... they should get bigger as the season continues. We planted several varieties, including the big "egg" shaped ones. Their growth is slower than we would like, but we still have 4 to 5 weeks of growing time left. And, ha, ha, they're all under cover in the hoop house ... yay! So, hopefully, they'll start doing something. Feel free to share recipes. (We slice them real thin, then stir fry lightly in olive oil ... they're great with the zucchini and onions.)

AND, we picked the William's Pride apples about a week earlier than they should have been picked. This weeks delivery should be a bit sweeter, if not, let them sit, they should ripen up nicely ... if you got one with blemishes, (oops) just cut it away and enjoy what's left (please).

There was a great picking of peppers this week ... and they will continue to get better and better ... the more we pick a peck of peppers ... the more we get ... (sorry, couldn't {LOL} help myself.)

Update:

• The spaghetti and buttercup squashes are coming on nicely ... they should be ready for next week's delivery. (Got a pumpkin that's turning orange ... yay, again!)
• No sign of any butternut squash ... they're in there somewhere ...
• Lots of carrots, another whole row of carrots that we're pouring the water to, should be ready in about two weeks.
• Another picking of beets will be ready soon, possibly next week.
• We will dig Yukon Gold spuds for next week's delivery ... our test digs turned up some hollow ones ... so that might be an issue.
• Lots of green tomatoes ... no red ones ... not even red cherries ... patience.
• We're starting to see a lot of ears on the corn ... and yes, the local corn is starting to come on ... more patience.
• The Chehalis apples are doing well and should be ripe within the next week or two ... will run our taste test ... they're real close.
• Wait til you see the size of the onions ... holy cow, they're awesome!

As a side note: Last year we had saved some potatoes and squashes to deliver mid-winter ... just as a bonus ... but our storage facility (the old uninsulated milk room off the barn, which we had used in years past) didn't hold up to the unexpected long-term freezing that we had. So, this year, at the end of the season we'll be gathering up and delivering some extra potatoes, yellow storage onions, and winter squashes for our customers. If this extra delivery is a storage problem for you, please let us know ... the extra that our CSA customers can't use will be donated to the Stanwood food bank.

Also, we do guarantee our product, so if you receive something that is not up to your standards, please let us know and we will replace it.

Whew! Not usually this long winded ... well, okay, sometimes ... but two weeks is a mighty long time to be off line! Thanks for your patience! AND, YOU have a great day! Keep smiling.

August 1 Open House

Wow! After all of the heat the week before, we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day for an Open House on August 1. There was a cool breeze blowing and the temperature was just right for being outside.

Faces were painted, bunnies were well petted, the alpacas were hand fed, rows of veggies were identified and there was plenty of food for everyone. A few veggies were sold. Door prizes were won. Sandy and Dirk won the $20 Starbuck's card and Brad Z won the hat.

The horse and wagon rides by Richard, Vanessa, Wendy and Toni (of Ferrytails, specialty pet treats) were just the right length to leave us wanting more. They did a great job and the Shire draft horses were well-behaved. It was obvious that the horses are well loved and cared for. Our "teamsters" also brought along a mare and her three month old foal. The foal is as tall as it's mother's shoulders ... and they do grow up fast!

A great day to be alive!

If you and your family attended our open house, thank you so much for your support. We appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to come to our farm. It was good to see you and visit with you. We enjoyed your company and hope that you will come back again next year. If you didn't make it, we hope that you can drop by next year ... take care and have a wonderful day!

Photo Album from the Farm

Yes, this is the same corn that was "knee high by the 4th of July!

August 6 Delivery

Oh, my gosh! It's unbelievable to go out in this garden! During the heat of last week we watered every other day. It's paying off this week with lots of "fruit."

Can you guess which crop we will be picking this week? Yup, slicing cucumbers! Along with leeks, green beans, sugar snap peas (I don't know how they did it, but the peas survived the heat), zucchini, a variety of small squashes, patty pan, crookneck, and scallopini and red cabbage. If the lettuce can hold up without becoming bitter ... there may be another cutting. (Iffy)

Update: Green peppers have set fruit ... lots and lots of green tomatoes living in the jungle they formed ... they're happy. We planted several varieties of eggplants, i.e. large bulb, pickling, and white. They are slow to set fruit, we're getting one tasty taste per eggplant. So, we will be letting them get bigger before picking them. WANTED: Your favorite eggplant recipe. Please share via e-mail.

Corn picture: If you look really closely at the white spot near the center of the picture ... that's corn silk. Yay! It's forming ears. (Yes, the black spot is a fly that just wanted it's picture taken.) There has been some discussion as to whether or not some of our corn is 10 OR 12 feet tall! We'll post pictures and you can be the judge. We're estimating a picking of corn toward the end of Aug first part of Sept. (After the harvest, if you would like us to save you some corn stalks for fall decorating, let us know and we'll save you some.)

Take care and thank you to all who received an early delivery last week. It helped us get through the hot spell!