July 13/14 - CSA Basket

- baby carrots
- radishes
- summer savory
- basil
- green onions
- romiane lettuce
- curly leaf lettuce
- butter crunch lettuce
- swiss chard
- kale
- spinach

Another green basket this week with bits of color. Scrumptious taste of the first tender carrots and red crunch radishes definitely brighten the salad with their added color, crunch and taste.

We were sorry the peas just were not ready yet this week ... need more rain. Watering just isn't the same as a good soaker from above.

Enjoy the salads while you can. We have huge rows of lettuce and spinach that are already bolting because of the heat ... some rain would be helpful. Succession plantings are coming along, but they are prone to bolting also with the hot summer days. We'll seed more for Fall harvests.

Some of the plantings of spinach and dill are already harvested -- we'll put more stuff into those spaces for later harvesting.

The herbs in your basket this week are summer savory and basil. Cooking with fresh herbs is truly a culinary experience to savor.

Basil is the large leaf herb while summer savory has the smaller leaves.


Use summer savory in soups, basil in soups, stews, sauces, homemade hamburgers ... and smoothies??!! Yumm! Watch for another post on "Adventure in Smoothies".

Be sure to toss the herbs, spinach etc. into ziplocs and into the freezer for later use ... then you can enjoy a bit of summer in winter! Or if you have a vacuum sealer your herbs will store even better.

What Do You Do with Kale?

They tell me Dr. Oz says you should eat kale. It's good for you.

I agree.

Not only is it good for you. It's just plain good.

I didn't know that until two years ago though. So don't feel bad if you haven't discovered yet. Maybe this is YOUR year of kale discovery.

Let me share with you four great ways how we've begun enjoying kale...LOTS of it!

1. Ripped and tossed into a green salad (remove the stems, use in the next idea) -- that's the easiest way. You don't even know it's there, but you're getting the nutrition just the same. See our twelve green salad.

2. In smoothies -- this is the sweetest idea. A good blender makes wonderful cooling freshing summer snacks so handy & nutritious. Use up the stems from the kale you had in salad, don't throw them out, use it all.
If you can wrap your brain around drinking green, the kale taste is practically "invisible" in a smoothie because fruits like bananas, strawberries etc. camouflage the mild kale flavors. In fact, I freeze kale washed & whole or blended into a puree to toss into our winter smoothies. Fresh, organic summer goodness in winter. Yumm!

3. In stir-fries -- the stems are great here too. I just cut them first and give them a bit more time to cook than the leafy parts which I add a bit later.

4. Do try Kale Krisps if you haven't yet. This is so-o-o-o good. Comments I heard today around the table when I served Kale Krisps were:
"Don't take it all, leave some for me."
"I want some too."
And from our 2 yr old, "Mama, can I have some more cheese." The tenderized kale with cheese was so much easier for her to eat than a green salad!



The Kale Krisps are a nice vegetable to eat with eggs. Some of the boys even made a sandsich with Kale Krisps on their toast and topped with a fried egg. Yummy!


That said, now I'm thinking I better go plant more kale. You all will be wanting more than I can supply??!!

Too bad it took me so long to discover kale, but I'm so glad we did!

Week #2 CSA

- romaine lettuce
- butter crunch lettuce
- Grand Rapids, curly leaf lettuce
- spinach
- swiss chard
- kale
- baby dill
- green onions
- thyme
- rhubarb

Next week? Peas, carrots, and probably potatoes, beet greens ...

CSA 2011 #1

The first basket, aren't you excited? We are.

There are lots of greens:
- Romaine Lettuce
- Curly Lettuce
- Spinich
- Swiss Chard
- Kale
There is also:
- Rhubarb
- Radishes
- Onion Greens
- Baby Dill
- Thyme

If you think it isn't very full don't worry, more is coming!

Aftermath

Cleaning up all the coverings to hold back the frost from damaging tender plants:



We grateful for these resources: Old sheets & towels, holey socks cut open, dirty laundry, tarps and plastic have served another purpose in protecting the gardens. They've been re-purposed!

They can be used again. The bigger pieces can be used in Fall again, the smaller ones are only useful for seedlings & transplants so they'll need to be washed & dried ... well, everything needs to at least be dried so it doesn't go moldy.

It is easiest to let my maid do the laundering so ...

You do the math.

Thanks for praying off the frost with us.

You prayed. We prayed. We did our part. God did the rest. He did the Best!

Adversity Brings Advantage

We've often heard it said, "There is an opportunity behind every adversity".

Our children found an opportunity to run through the tunnels and swing in the tent made by setting up and drying off the tarps that were used to fend off the frosts.

It thrilled my heart to hear their squeals of glee as they scooted through their miners tunnel and swang under the tent tarp. You would've smiled too!

Like most things, the their thrill didn't last too long ... not long enough for me to enjoy & get the camera. But they did have fun, and I chose to enjoy them instead of running off for the camera.

You'll just have to trust me on this one.

Fighting Frost

Holey socks cut open to lay flat, larger ones cut in half...serve to blanket tender seedlings and transplants:



Even with a two year supply of holey socks from nine of us, we still didn't have enough. So we garnered other resources: tarps, poly, old sheets, towels, etc.



Two hours of frantic effort for six of us = 12 man hours. Then we pray, go to bed and check in the morning.