What’s in the box?

Blackberries, tomatoes, green beans or edamame, carrots or beets, sweet peppers, something green, garlic.

Fruit share – mixed basket of peaches, nectarines & blue plums.

• The blackberries are beautiful! We are harvesting large amounts of quality berries that taste amazing.

We took sooooo many to market on Saturday – and sold almost everything!

Some rain on the weekend was very beneficial for the blackberries but the dry weather has already taken it’s toll on them. The berries are ripening smaller & canes are drying up. I’m predicting they will last only a few weeks and then be finished – but hopefully I am wrong and they continue to produce well into September.

• It is the peak of tomato season. This year we are growing more than 60 varieties of all sizes & colours. Here’s what some of them look like …

• Edamame are fresh green soybeans with a history of 2000+ years, originally grown in China and then in Japan. There, it is a traditional bar snack eaten lightly steamed and sprinkled with salt. Edamame are full of protein, fibre and loaded with vitamins & minerals – a very healthy vegetable. And they are easy to prepare! Simply boil the pods in salted water for 3-5 minutes. Remove from the water & drain. Then squeeze the pods to pop out the beans and enjoy as a healthy snack. Delicious! We like them sprinkled with lime juice and salt. Or they can be added to soups, stews, salads, noodle dishe. We continue to deal with the affects of the hot & dry weather – our edamame crop is down considerably. So there will be a choice of edamame or green beans.
• Another choice will be carrots or beets.
• A sweet pepper, garlic bulb and a green complete the box this week.

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Around the farm this week …

We were so happy & thankful to receive 1 inch of rain this past weekend. It came down slowly and the thirsty ground soaked it all in. The whole farm looks refreshed this morning! And the cooler temperatures and lower humidity raised our spirits as well.

There are a lot of empty areas on the farm now – where vegetables have been grown & harvested. We will grow a second crop there if needed, but for now they are resting.

This will be one of the first weeks that the CSA box will not have lettuce. The heat finally caught up to this crop. Our lettuce mix or leaf lettuce has already been in short supply, but now all the romaine & summer crisp has been picked – or spoiled by the sun. The next harvest is a week or two away. But there are many trays of lettuce to plant this week, and with cooler temperatures forecast it has a much better chance of growing!

The weather cools and suddenly it’s soup time. Plus we had some blemished sweet peppers and tomatoes to use up. Lorie made roasted red pepper soup (left) and Chef Kyle prepared tomato & red pepper soup (right). Both delicious! Some we will eat now, some will be tucked away in the freezer for fall.