More planting to report! The first round of sweet corn is in the ground!, as well as all the popcorn. We can look forward to some wonderfully delicious sweet corn in July, and the best popcorn in late October. The first round of watermelons and canteloupe are in, as well as the next round of beets and carrots. The crew has spent a considerable amount of time mulching many of the paths between the winter squash beds, and we still need to get some paths mulched between the eggplant and peppers, sweet potatoes, and a few others.
Ever since we dug our irrigation pond a few years ago, we’ve been blessed with an annual hatch of little toads! Maybe millions of them, well at least thousands of them. The little baby toadlets are everywhere, it’s actually hard to walk around the farm without accidently stepping on one. They are very fun to watch and are voracious eaters of little insects!
With all the rain we’ve been having I haven’t had to turn on the irrigation system at all in what seems likes weeks. All the crops have really enjoyed the rain. Usually there’s either too much or too little, but for the past couple of weeks the amounts have been pretty good. I can’t complain about the weather, too much. But, the weeds also like the rain and have really taken off. There’s a lot of weeding in our future!
The Farm Party is scheduled for JULY 12th! Mark your calendars and we hope that many of you will be able to attend. It’s a potluck get together and a chance to see where all these vegetables are coming from!
******Worker members, we are ready to put you to work! Please take a moment to look at your calendars to see when you might be able to fulfill your work commitment.******
Amy in the zucchini trenches.
Drea gettin’ the cukes.
Julia’s meditation on patty pan squash.
Ideas for Cooking
TO STEAM OR NOT TO STEAM VEGETABLES
Boiling vegetables in water or steaming above boiling liquid offers value each way. My tilt is toward steaming because boiling decreases the nutritional value. Vegetables generally look better with steam cooking and, more importantly, the natural taste is stronger. The exception for me is older vegetables that are tough or ones that may need long cooking times like some greens.
Certain flavors can be added to water. My favorite would be pork products added to green vegetables and, if you are a true child of the South, you will sometimes add sugar to your green beans. With steam, salt has to be added later. Flavor steaming is possible. Chicken broth is good. Beer for seafood works as well.You can blanch with steam. Allow one and one half more time. This is all a matter of personal taste, of course, but these are some of the main considerations.
This week’s recipes: