Taking Stock

At the end of August, it is time to take stock. Our window for planting new crops outside is rapidly closing so it's a good time to look around to see what the farm will give us for the rest of the season. It's a farmer's obsession to constantly evaluate her crops, so here is a slight indulgence. Our summer crops are leaving us more quickly than usual. Even though the eggplant and peppers look like they might produce forever, our first planting of tomatoes is pretty much finished and although our second planting doesn't look as good as it could, it is starting to ripen and we will definitely have tomatoes for a few weeks to come. The cucumbers and summer squash had the earliest death ever this summer due to disease. However, the winter squash and pumpkin crop looks like it will be stellar if we can store it well enough. Fall roots were seeded a couple weeks late but have germinated well, now it's a matter of keeping up with weeds and hoping for a later frost. The same goes for fall greens and brassicas, the plants are looking as healthy as ever. We have lots of potatoes to dig, onions to clean and garlic to clip. Overall, this challenging season may provide with a fairly bountiful fall. Here's to optimism!

Scenes from the farm: harvest crew, hot peppers, potatoes, Duma barking in the beans, Duma napping in the beans, harvest crew.

The Share:

head lettuce

swiss chard

kale

italian dandelion

celery

parsley

cilantro

dill

beans

potatoes

sweet peppers

hot peppers

eggplant

cherry tomatoes

heirloom tomatoes

onions

Recipe of the Week:

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 spring onions, finely sliced

  • 4 tomatoes (about 650g), seeds removed, finely diced

  • 1 red hot pepper, seeds removed, finely diced

  • 1 yellow hot pepper, seeds removed, finely diced

  • 1 green hot pepper, seeds removed, finely diced

  • 4 tablespoons (1/3 cup) roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus extra to sprinkle

  • 1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil

  • 1 lime, juiced

  • 230g packet corn chips

  • 1 cup (150g) grated mozzarella

METHOD

  • Step 1

    To make the fresh salsa, combine the spring onion, tomato, capsicum, parsley, olive oil and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper.

  • Step 2

    Preheat a grill to medium. Spread the corn chips over a large ovenproof plate. Spoon over the fresh salsa and sprinkle with the grated mozzarella. Grill the nachos for 1-2 minutes until the mozzarella is golden and bubbling. Sprinkle with the extra chopped parsley and serve.

 

 

Malaika SpencerComment