This week’s newsletter with this week’s news. But first this announcement.
EggShare. I’ve tried quite a few ways to figure out how to get a hold of the Amish farmers now that our main contact is no longer involved. I have been unsuccessful. I also have not been able to find an alternative egg supplier. So I will soon out an email to all EggShare purchasers with possible options. Maybe the next rainy day. Sorry for the difficulty.
Farm News
Well, we have the typical good news bad news situation you find frequently in the farming world. The good news is the summer squash/zucchini are going gang-busters (where did this expression come from?) The bad news is the summer squash/zucchini are going gang-busters (where did this expression come from?) I have a great theory why they are doing so well compared to last season but I don’t know if I want to write it out loud. That might just jinx it and all heck would break loose. Because the cause of the great zucchini onslaught could also be a cause for the future great watermelon onslaught or the great winter squash onslaught or the great cucumber onslaught which would be right around the corner (today?) So for now I will keep it to myself but the last sentence was a clue for those who want to know the theory.
Of course if the deer have any say in it we will soon be all out of food. I’m a bit frustrated having to write this week after week but they are really getting our of hand. Even though we are having a banner year for zucchini there have been quite a few that were eaten by deer. We estimated over 100 squash were eaten between Saturday evening and Monday morning. I don’t mind if they eat a few here and there but they are so inconsiderate about the plants. They just step all over them breaking the stems and killing the plant. Have they no shame? Plus they are still eating the okra plants — the okra plants! Who eats okra plants?
Anyway, to have any chance of getting beans this season we had to fence off the area where we plant beans and other tasty treats for the deer — which this year seems to be everything! Two of us spent the better part of a day setting up a temporary fence surrounding the field. We had to make it so we could “easily” enter the area with the tractor. We have another bean planting to go as well as fall salad mix and carrot harvesting — which also uses the tractor. We accomplished the goal but unfortunately the temporariness of the fence was too temporary. When I went out the next day, one side of the bottom layer of fence was torn down and dragged a few feet away from where we had left it the prior day. I surmise that a deer tried to get through for some reason, got tangled in the netting, then panicked and pulled away. I suspect since they no longer felt welcome in the bean/pea field they got a hankerin’ for zucchini. It seems if we plug one hole the deer just go to another crop. It never used to be this way. This country is going in the wrong direction.
What will we have this week?
Zucchini/summer squash — lots and lots of zucchini/summer squash. An abundance of cucumbers as well. Plus some lettuce, snow peas, snap peas, green onions, some beets, some radishes (the hot weather makes them hotter by the way), a few eggplants, bok choy (yes, more bok choy), some kohlrabi, maybe chard (we haven’t harvested it yet so I’m not sure), pickling cucumbers, some garlic scapes, and very few tomatoes. There most likely are a few other things I just don’t recall.
CoffeeShare and FlowerShare this week.
Recipes of the Week
This recipe was recommended by one of our members. It is an egg roll in a bowl recipe. I have not tried it but want to — I just haven’t found the time. She uses the bok choy in place of the cabbage.
For all the cucumbers I recommend this recipe. It is a cucumber salad recipe but kind of like a fast pickling recipe. I thought is was quite tasty when I used the pickling cukes. I’m sure other cukes will work equally well since that is what the recipe calls for.
For all the zucchinis I recommend the recipe below. I’ve included it in other newsletters but for the few of you who don’t print out each newsletter, three-hole punch the printouts and store them in a binder indexed with the contents of each newsletter I thought I would include it again below:
Summer Squash Salad
A pile of summer squash/zucchini
Olive oil or other oil (but not motor oil or gear oil)
Feta Cheese
Your favorite Italian salad dressing
Cut the stem off the squash then in half length wise and coat with a small amount of oil. Grill cut side down until soft, about 20 minutes. Cut cooked squash into bite sized pieces and place in serving bowl. Crumble feta cheese over the squash. Pour on dressing to taste. Toss. This is delicious either hot or cold. We frequently make it when we have leftover grilled squash.
So there you go. A few recipes to use up those items in abundance this week!
And now I will leave you with this picture of a cabbage. Why? I don’t know.
What is a zucchini’s favorite sport?
Squash.
As always, feel free to contact me with questions, comments, suggestions, jokes, etc. If you don’t send in questions I will continue to rant about the deer. And if you don’t send in jokes you’ll keep getting the same lame ones I find using google.