Full Shares:  Salad mix, radishes, green beans, onions, Yukon Gem potatoes, Sungold tomatoes, Slicing tomato, zucchini, yellow squash, Eggplant, jalapeño peppers, basil, and cucumber

Partial Shares:  Salad mix, green beans, onions, Yukon Gem potatoes, Sungold tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber, and basil

Hello CSA members!

It seems that digging potatoes and breathing wildfire smoking is becoming a trend.  It was around this time last year that I was driving around in a respirator making stupid “Darth Tater” jokes, and here we are again.

Smoky potato harvest this morning!

The heavy smoke certainly makes the summer feel shorter than it already is, and I just came in from closing down the greenhouses and there is already a chill in the air.  And the Going-to-the-Sun road is closed due to fires again……ughhh!

August is traditionally a butt kicker here at the farm, as we are in peak season, both from a harvest and a sales standpoint, and we are also bringing in lots of our fall storage crops.  Every week, in addition to our normal harvest, we are harvesting a crop to store for fall, whether it be onions, carrots, garlic, shallots, or winter squash.  And the markets are all pretty hectic at this time of year as well.   Some mornings when I walk into our daily meeting in the pack house and I look at the five faces staring back at me, I wonder how we even manage to get it all done.

At the farm, we are seeing the first of the late-summer crops mature.  The eggplant are looking great, and are in full shares this week.  The peppers look good, but are not quite ready.  The green beans hit their peak this week, and will be in all shares.  And the sweet corn….ahh, the sweet corn…..it’s taking it’s sweet time maturing.   I was confident it would be ready this week, but I think the smoke and the cold mornings have slowed it down a little bit.   The tomatoes are having one of their best years ever, and we have endless salad mix.   Even the fall storage cabbage is ready.  Our goal at this point is to harvest crops as soon as they are ready, before the aphids that are over-running the farm can do much damage. But aside from the aphids, the long hours, and my potato harvester that wants to peel your potatoes for you, things are going really well.  If anyone missed out on the beautiful basil special last week, fear not, I think we will offer up another one next week.  The basil is at it’s peak, and I personally believe one can never have too much basil going into the winter.

I was surprised by how much of a response I got regarding my “smothered” style of cooking, and I think it really resonated with some folks.  Which is great.  I may sound like a broken record, but with food this fresh, there is often no need for lots of spices or complex recipes.  This time of year, my spice rack contains two items….olive oil and Maldon sea salt.   As I look at this weeks share, I see all the components of ratatouille.  Or how about some eggplant humus?  Need a simple crostini for your eggplant, tomatoes, and basil?  How about 17 more eggplant recipes, just to peruse to spark some creativity.

Hopefully the smoke is only temporary…..we’ll see you at CSA pickup!

Todd