Doorstep Harvest Newsletter 8-10-13
As always, try new foods with caution, and in small amounts. Also, please note that some herbs-foods may interact with pharmaceuticals so, if you use meds, please go to http://www.drugs.com/ to check them out.
News from the garden: Cool cloudy weather is still keeping the okra production down. Today’s sunshine will be helpful to inspire growth. Potato plants just are not dying off (sign that it’s time to harvest) so, still no potatoes (I checked at fair time and they were not even big enough to exhibit). Sweet potato plants appear to be thriving (wish I’d planted more than I did). Crensha melons and broad beans are all setting well and growing in size. The variety of shell beans (for fall) that are edible when green are blooming well now but they are not yet setting. Tomatillo plants are thriving and blooming! Planting time is here for fall garden but the ground is too wet to plant! In my garden at Grandma’s I found a few dry patches of soil and planted sugar snap peas and snow peas. Triple Crown Black Berries are still ripening and although the peak has past, I expect continued production over the next two weeks at least. Hurray for tomato season. I’ve enclosed a recipe for “Gazpacho” (a raw soup) that mom likes: all of the ingredients for it are included in the delivery today-including the 2.5 pounds of tomato (not including cherry). Bee Balm is sending new shoots and I expect another flush of flowers later in the season so hang on to that fish recipe, if you liked it. The garden flowers are really coming on strong now so the bouquet this week is a treat of hyacinth bean blossoms, butterfly bush flower stocks, straw flower, salvia, and surprise lilly.
This week, you will find:
J/JJ Cucumbers: Mix of varieties.
JJ/J Summer squash/Zuccinni
J Cherry tomatoes: Blend of various varieties- pear, yellow, and red
J Tomatoes: The single big funny shaped one is an heirloom variety. The bag of narrow oval ones is Roma. There is also a bag of rounded ones. Total weight on the three brown bags is 2.5 pounds – precisely the weight required for “Gazpacho” recipe included this week.
SOUP BAG: Small amounts of some things are just coming on and may be good in soup: J Okra, J JJapanese bunching onion, J thinned carrots, JJyard long bean, JJokra leaves.
JJ Chard
JJHerbs : J Jalapeño peppers, J Shisho (Perilla), JJParsley (Japanese & Italian), JJOregano (Keep in paper bag on counter to dry for future use or keep in fridge sealed for use this week), JJComfrey, JJLavender leaf, JJLemon Balm
JJ Triple Crown Blackberries: I washed them lightly this week with vinegar-water. They are very ripe and fragile. Eat them this weekend or today as they will spoil very quickly! Or, put them in the freezer or fridge.
J = grown in my garden in the country at Grandma (organic as much as possible) –had to use 7 on squash plants this year.
JJ = 100% organically grown in my 4-H Garden in my Cedar St. home.