Week 12 Garlic Braids and Potatoes

Our purple stripe soft neck garlic braids are hanging in a prominent place in our kitchen and we hope they'll be happy in yours too. We washed the french fingerlings and blue adirondack potatoes so keep them refrigerated. And the heirloom tomatoes are starting to show their true colors. We thought we'd have to pull all of them Saturday before the freeze. The weather changed it's forecast thursday to no chance of freeze and not even frost to an abrupt turn this evening for clear starry skies - perfect for meteors dropping into the big dipper, a clear view of a northeast southwest oriented milky way and.....frosty temps. So down to the garden we go to harvest flowers, tender herbs, ripe tomatoes, mustard greens and chard. Hoping the cold doesn't settle to hard "down" in the garden. The cold air likes to ride right over our hillside and settle in the garden. In fall I've watched, with hose in hand, frost clouds start pumping to the edge of our only slightly elevated sight compared to the wetland.

The beauty in all these weather patterns taking ups and really low downs is the flower arrangements in the house. There's not much we can do other than cut the blooms and enjoy the fragrant sweet peas inside and prepare to start watering before dawn.

Next week, we'll get back into mixing in some greens, hopefully a cucumber or two and more tomatoes. If you want extra garlic or tomatoes let us know and we can add them to your remaining weeks. There is just 6 more extra large shares that might downsize to 4 even larger shares if the weather dives down too much in the evenings.

Week 11

Sun Days

Lady Friends

Garlic Farmer

This weeks share includes some leeks which is great in soup with potatoes and garlic, what might be the last off shoots of watham broccoli, arugula, basil, living up to it's name "slo-bolt" lettuce, purple top turnips-throw the tops into the leek soup, another round of beautiful bok choy, mustard greens, kale and mix of onions.

As usual, keeping track of my labeling on paper and on the trays after several transplants before the sprouts meet their destiny in the earth sometimes leads to lost letters. Every season I'm so determined to stay organized but with my tendency to try lots and lots of different heirloom varieties things get a little mixed up sometimes. So not surprisingly, in all the flip flopping my bunching onions ended up singly planted and larger than normal but my single onions ended up bunched and confined. I've thinned them out and added them to the share so the remainders are now reaching a more accurate size. The flavor is unaffected but the there should be more of it in one place.

In other delightful dining news, the tomatoes are starting to turn and the squashes are coming along. The cucumbers are looking a little larger and the garlic is curing nicely. We're braiding garlic this weekend that you can hang in the kitchen next week to cure out this fall.

Week 10

We're over half way through the share. The last week will be October 14th-just 8 weeks away. We've been bumping up the share modestly the last few weeks but you can expect extra garlic and tomatoes as they ripen and mature. This years garlic will be woven hanging soft necks and plenty of hard necks(my favorite for their rich oils). We found last year that they kept for about 7 months when kept in a cool dry area all winter. We're also repeating our experiment of leaving the scapes on half the crop as the sage wisdom says they store longer. The size of the bulbs were not to dissimilar from scape and non scape garlics. To our surprise some of the scape garlics were the largest bulbs. This years soft necks are looking immense and they usually run smaller than the hard necks. We'll see what we dig up this weekend.

This weeks share includes 2 bags of Arugula, Chard, Broccoli a Bag of Flowers ( nasturtium makes your hair grow so feel pretty eating flowers ladies and gentleman), Basil-we've been eating tomato basil sandwiches toasted with avocado, Mustard greens, Pablo Lettuce(probably the last before they bolt), Tomatoes-not sure of the heirloom variety as the permanent marker labels did not survive watering, 3 types of onions and Squash Blossoms.

Hope you've enjoyed sampling new foods and recreating old favorites.

We had stir fried chives and bok choy, purple beans, purple onions, shredded carrots and minced garlic, broccoli and mustard greens. Vegetables were added in that order to lightly cook and meld the flavors on low heat in coconut oil. This was over a bed of quinoa.

Below is a squash blossom recipe from the "Raw" cookbook.

Raw Squash Blossoms

4-5 squash blossoms

3/4 cup soaked cashews

1/3 cup ground sunflower meal

2 cups shredded carrots or parsnips

1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk

3 tblsps sunflower oil

1 tsp sea salt

2tsp minced onions

4 tsps Indian Spice Mix

**Indian Spice Mix 2 tablespoons each of cinnamon, cardamon powder, coriander and cumin

Blend cashews, sunflower meal and shredded carrots with the oil and milk incorporate salt, onions and spice. Transfer mixture to pastry tube and squeeze into blossoms

If that seems too time consuming. Simply mix about 1 cup cheese or pre-soaked ground cashews with a little parsley, basil, salt and pepper and 3 cloves of garlic. Gingerly Spoon into blossoms.

Have one raw egg beaten in a bowl next to a bowl of flour. Dip the Stuffed Blossom into the egg batter coating all sides, then drop into flour bowl till covered. Fry in olive oil or coconut oil for a sweeter taste.

Week 9

Radicchio is in the share this week and ideally oiled and grilled for optimum flavor. We've started harvesting the soft neck garlic that you'll need to keep refrigerated. The rest will arrive dry and cured in about a month but we couldn't resist sampling some early. Braiding is so much fun and looks beautiful hanging in the kitchen. A garlic butter makes a great addition to leafy greens, casserole crusts and baked potatoes. You'll also find some of the regulars this week like Pablo lettuce, Nasturtium Flowers, Radishes, Kale and Mustard Greens. There is also some Royal Burgundy Bush Beans that change from purple to green when you cook them. Finally, you'll find a bag of True Arugula. The previous seed packs were mystifying me as I kept getting mustard greens. Rest assured you're eating Arugula this week! Tomatoes are in the forecast next week with Squash Blossoms.

Happy Huckleberry Days