When CSAs started a group of people would buy a farm and hire the farmer who would then grow the crops, which the CSA members would share.  Since then, CSAs have evolved into what we consider a CSA today.  A farmer; who owns or leases ground, grows the crops for subscribers.  Farmers use this as a way to market their product and it gives the subscribers super fresh produce and a connection with the farmer.  This can be nothing more than  picking up the weekly baskets or as involved as spending time working on the farm with the farmer.  What CSAs offer varies greatly too.  Some are only vegetables, but most usually include some fruit, flowers, herbs.  Others include meat and poultry and other farm products.  There are even a few that run all year round and offer everything a person would normally buy at the grocery store.

Our farm kind of runs the middle of the gambit.  We offer mostly vegetables but have a bit of fruit thrown in and an occasional dozen eggs.  We try to get flowers and herbs into the baskets also.  We do include a Christmas tree in our CSA as that is the main income producer for our farm and it gives us a slight difference over most others in the area.  For purchase as an add-on to your subscription we offer egg shares, extra portions and a canning share (descriptions later).  We also offer firewood and this year we are adding pasture raised turkeys.  We are excited about the turkey project.  I am also checking into the possibility of being able to add value added products into the CSA.  Laws have recently changed on farmers selling products they make from what they produce.  This will take a bit of resaearch to get that all figured out.  But I hope that I can give everyone something a little extra this season.

We will be working on our delivery routes as we get subscribers.  If we get enough subscribers to cover the costs of a farther drive out we are happy to add more drops.  We are also willing to stop anywhere along our designated route to drop off a basket.  A good example would be pulling off at Mulino school on our way to Oregon City.

Add-ons;  Extra person -For people who have a bigger family than the half share and full share.  This is an extra portion of vegetables for an adult.  It also works for families who are vegetarian and might need more veggies.  Egg Share – A dozen eggs with every basket you get.  Will be a minimum of 20.  These are in addition to any other eggs that are in the weekly baskets.   Canning Share – This is 100-120lbs of vegetables for canning.  It usually breaks down to 50lbs tomatoes, 25lbs each of beans & cucumbers we add in tomatillos, beets and other vegetables.   Firewood- 1 cord split and seasoned firewood.  Can choose delivered or picked up at farm.   We’ll also email everyone when we know what is available for the week and give you the option of purchasing any of the extra produce we have.  We grow extra to sell off farm but give you 1st chance at purchasing it.  This year we will have additional apples and turkeys to sell.

Baskets will run from mid June through October.  During the U-cut season you come up and choose a Christmas tree (up to 6′ or that amount off a larger tree) and a 12″ wreath or 12′ of cedar garland.  If we can keep the greens going we will have some of the last of those and any other produce that we can keep available.  Most every basket will have greens of some sort, a salad blend of lettuce and then a variety of what is currently ready to harvest.  June tends to be greens, turnips, peas, cauliflower and other cool weather crops.  As we get into July the summer crops start to come on around mid month.  That will include summer squash, early tomatoes and beans.  As we get through August and then September we start to add cucumbers, peppers and other warm crops.  As things wind down in October we start going back to cooler crops but will have squash and pumpkins.

Our produce is all grown naturally.  We are not organic but grow things that way.  To become certified organic is a huge expensive hassle that I don’t have the time or patience to deal with.  We use organic fertilizers, soil amendments and soils (in our raised beds).  We try organic methods to conrol outbreks of pests and disease.  But note; this means you will have occasional holes or blemishes on your produce.   We also live at a higher elevation and run behind farms down in the valley.  On average we are 2 weeks behind valley farms.  So some of your stuff will be a bit slower to come than what you would get from other places.

But being up in the hills has other advantages.  The farm is a part of the Molalla Farm Loop.  During the summer we open up the farm to the public, they can come take hay rides through the farm (94acres), we have picnic areas, paths through the woods for  walks and fresh produce for sale.  As a subscriber to our CSA this access is included with your subscription.  Again, we are checking into the county regulations but are working on a couple of camping spots where you can come up and spend the night on the farm.  In the summer when it is sweltering hot down in town, we often have some nice shady areas to relax in.

Our main goal is to be able to offer you fresh produce throughout the summer.  And do it in a manner that is sustainable on a farm that you have access to in order to enjoy this beautiful place that our family has been blessed with.  We like to keep things transparent so that you really kow what we do and how we are doing it.  So we encourage you to come up for visits; take a look around and see what’s going on.  Pack a picnic and go down to our ponds, its a great place to chill and listen to all the birds singing.  As subscribers to our CSA you are welcome to come up as often as you would like.  We do on occasion close the farm so that we can take a day or two for family.  My kids are growing up awful fast and I want to be able to spend a few days throwing a line in the water with them here and there.

Well I think I am about hitting book status with this.  I hope its a fairly good explanation.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like to join our CSA.

Have a great day

First of all I have to say thanks for a great U-Cut season.  We had a pretty good year. Beat last years numbers which is always a good thing and for the most part everything went pretty smooth.  Our new boys worked out well, one is showing great potential for being a salesman.  I think he beat all the other boys in tips every weekend.  He is a good talker and has a baby face which helps him out greatly.  The rest of the boys teased him and said he got tips because everyone felt sorry for him since he looks like he is just a little kid.  He just smiled and said “Hey it works”.  Its good when my harvest boys all get along well.

But on to other things.  Now is the time for seed catalogs and planning.  I’ve got my main seed list made out and now have to go through what is left from last year so I can come up with the final list of what to buy for the coming season.  We finally cleared out the last of the trees that were in the way for the gardening spot so I now have the area available to up my CSA registrations to 20 families.  That should keep me busy or at least out of trouble this summer.

I’m hoping I am able to do it right where you can get a link to the CSA registration for this year.  If not email me (denise@snowlinetreefarm.com) and I will send one out to you.  CSAs this year are $475 for a full share and $275 for a half share.  Currently we are delivering down into Molalla and Oregon City.  As we get registrtions I will add new stops as I can.  Don’t forget that by being a CSA member you have access to the farm in the summertime.  That means you can bring the kids up for visits, go on hay rides, have a picnic and just enjoy the farm during the nice weather.

Last year legislation was passed that is supposed to make it easier for family farms to sell product made from what they produce so we are hoping it means we can add some canned goods to our CSA’s.  We’ll find out more about that at a small farms conference in February.  I am excited about the possibility of being able to expand a bit that way.  We also will be selling heritage breed turkeys this year around Thanksgiving and Christmas.  They have meat that has a much better flavor than the store bought turkeys.  This is in part because they will be pasture raised; translate that into I will be doing some fence building soon.   We are also checking into being able to have people camp overnight in a couple of spots.  We are not sure how the county regulates that, but if we can get the okay we’d like to be able to set up a couple of camping spots for our subscribers if they want to get out of town for the night.

If you’re interested in our CSA be sure to sign up soon.  Spots are limited and on a first come first served basis.  If you were with us last year we save your place for you until April 15th. I just finished transplanting some lettuce, kale, and spinach into the hoop house so we will hopefully have some greens for subscribers by mid March – early April.

Well it is off to look at boxes of seeds.  Just went looking for my seed list and cannot find it anywhere.  That is a whole days worth of paperwork gone if it can’t be found.  Maybe when the kids come home from school they will know where it is……I hope.

The perfect tree

U-cuts are going fairly well this season.  We’re seeing some familiar faces and lots of new ones too.  I love seeing all the kids, some were just little tiny things when they first came here and are getting big.  It is kind of cool watching them all grow up.  I think the biggest surprise for me this year has been the mail order trees.  I just put a little blurb on my web page and one one of the places that I have a link on.  I’ve gotten lots of inquiries and will probably send out 8 or 9 trees this year.  Not too bad for not working on it much.  Maybe I’ll keep the fed ex guy really busy next year.

Tomorrow is the begining of the last truck.  We load it in the morning and then again on Friday and we’ll be done with the commercial harvest for the year.  That went fast actually I think everything is going fast this season.  I’m still decorating and thinking of things I want to do for U-cuts but they are over half done already.  Am afraid if I close my eyes it will already be Christmas and I won’t have any of my shopping done.  I actually haven’t even started yet.  But I am not so worried about it this year.  I plan on cutting back and doing some focusing on the real reason for this season.  In all the hustle and work we have going it is very easy to lose track of the true reason we celebrate this time of year.  And it’s a good thing for the kids to be reminded that it’s not really about us, it’s about Him.

But that is another day and now it is time for me to hit the rack so I can get started early tomorrow.  Lost of work to get done.

My daughter is on the Molalla OHSET (Or. High School Equestrian Team) and for a fundraiser they sell wreaths.  It works out pretty good, I give them a killer deal, they don’t have to pre order wreaths like you do from other places and I have all the stuff they need to decorate the wreaths in our U-cut area.  Well Monday night was wreath decorating night.  I had just finished putting up a good portion of my bows on the bow wall so U-cut customers could choose one for their wreaths, and I left a big basket of them for the girls.  They had more wreaths to decorate than I realized, when everything was said and done, the wall was empty and there wasn’t that many left in the basket.  So now I am on a bow making bend every night when I finish the regular work and when customers are and having coffee in the u-cut room.  This weekend should be our busiest this year and I want the wall full of them again.  It takes awhile to get them all made and makes my hands ache at night which wakes me up and then my mind goes to making lists again.  Oh boy, the things I can plan for me to do.

As for the cookies, 5am after a really long night is NOT the time to make cookies.  Had planned on a triple batch for the day and was to the point of adding in the salt, baking powder and baking soda.  Grabbed the measuring spoons and put in three spoons of each, thinking I had the 1/2t measure.  Nope!  I had the teaspoon.  So what do I do?  I had all the expensive ingredients in and was only missing the flour so I went ahead and doubled all the eggs, butter and stuff.  Now I have a very large bowl of whipped fluff waiting for 12c of flour.  Oh my, I am going to have a lot of cookies.  Lucky for me a bunch of guys from church are coming up tommorrow morning to help me load a truck since my crew is all still in school.  They should eat a couple dozen, and if they like them they get to take more home.  Several are bachelors right now and that makes them good candidates for eating homemade leftovers. The rest I guess I will put in the food saver, freeze and keep for an emergency cookie.  Don’t make cookies at 5am with little sleep the night before.  Something is going to go wrong, and I knew it the whole time.  Sad thing is I was telling myself don’t mess this up, pay attention to what you’re doing.

But that is tonight’s job.  Right now I need to make bottles for Meatball and Spaghetti (the calves) and go brave the turkeys to feed everyone.  The turkeys have become awnry.  Tom has a new habit of grabbing my knuckles when I am bending into the feed bin to get his grain and while he is doing that hen is grabbing hold of my pant leg.  There is nothing gentle about the way they grab.  Oh and can’t forget the goats trying to climb on top of me and the ducks hollering the whole time.  It’s a zoo out there.

Its raining, and it looks like the rain is on the thick side (meaning mixed with snow)  Yuck

1st weekend of u-cuts are done, well almost.  As I”m typing I have a tree out drying in the flocking room, it should be getting picked up in another half hour or so.  The flocking is an interesting thing.  I kind of like it, especially when I get it going right and it looks like there are snowflakes falling all over the tree.  But, there is always a but, the stuff gets up my nose and glues my hair together.  Will take a good soaking tonight to get it all out.

We had perfect weather the first 2 days but boy did it rain this afternoon.  But we had a few brave people who came out and found their trees.  Tomorrow we head off-farm to bale some trees, leaving grandpa to run the u-cuts till we get home.  Then we need to cut a couple big trees to go out.  We also have a huge 32′ tree that leaves tomorrow for the Salem Conference Center.  Could be interesting to see how we are going toget that thing over to the next trailer.  We want to try and tie it up a bit more.  That means we had best work fast tomorrow morning.  Its only 150 or so trees, shouldn’t take too long.

Thank you to everyone who came out this weekend, it was great to see some familiar faces, and some new ones too.  Hope to see lots more this next weekend.

Woke up this morning to about 3″ of snow, followed by a phone call from the school next door wanting me to come plow their parking lot which is no problem, but man I hadn’t had my coffee yet.  So off I go to plow and as we are working on that I find out they went ahead and cancelled school.  They will be canceling a lot of school this year if 3″ can stop them.

Got the plowing finished then I went and took a bunch of pictures of trees to email to people who are thinking about shipping trees.  This just might turn into something extra on the side.  Next year I will be better prepared and get lots of pictures in better weather.  I spent lots of time beating snow off of trees that looked really good but were really ugly once they lost the snow.  I didn’t know snow can cover flaws so well.  Think I’m gonna go lay in a snowbank for awhile.  By the way, if you know of someone who would like a fresh Christmas tree shipped to them drop me an email.

Finished up the day with a farm loop meeting in town and a trip to the gas station to fillup all our cans.  My wallet is still trying to recover from that one.  And then cut down one really big tree.  It is about 15′ tall with a butt that is a bit bigger than a big dinner plate.  Think it will take my whole crew to lift that tree.  Ended the day with a blowout, litterally, I think I have backed up to a fire one to many times and my rain gear ripped all the way across and down the leg.  It will take much duct tape to fix this mess.

But the main thing is harvest really starts tomorrow.  I’ve got a few of the boys up here spending the night, we’ll see how well they listen and go to sleep when they are told to.  I’m betting tomorrow they will be asleep as soon as they get some dinner in their bellies.  We’re working on character building up here.   It always amazes me how the longer I look at the trees the more they change in my mind.  I started out thinking I had lots of really pretty trees this year but they seem to be less pretty the more I look at them.  Everyone else says they look really good, but I’m not seeing it.  Guess that is why I always say I don’t like to pick trees out for people.

But for now, its over to the office to hunt up my postcards taht need to get addressed and mailed out to all the u-cutters from previous years.  I didn’t get it done last year and had several tell me they weren’t sure I was still open.  Maybe this will help numbers go up this year.  That would be a good thing.  But before that happens, I have promised a couple someones some squash soup and chocolate chip cookie dough.  Best get that done first.

In  This Weeks Basket    Beans – Tomato –Green Tomatoes –  Tomatillo - Cucumbers – Greens – Peppers –Asian Pear

Recipe  for the week………………Green Tomato Pickle    

Truth time, I am trying this one out, they are made, not eaten.  They need to sit but
by then it will be too late to give you the recipe & the tomatoes. Be sure your brine covers the tomatoes.  Your spice bag should still be good for a little more brine if you need to make a
partial batch.  You can also add a few more onions if you like pickled onions.

10  small green tomatoes, sliced thinly
1  cup onions, sliced thinly
salt
1    cups sugar
1    cups white vinegar
2t   celery seed
¼   bay leaf
½t  ground mustard
1t   ounce mustard seed
3    whole cloves
2    allspice seeds

• Alternate layers of tomatoes and onions in a bowl. Salt each layer, as if salting a meal.
• Cover with plastic wrap and store overnight in refrigerator.  Make sure bowl is large enough to hold  the liquid the salt will draw out from the tomatoes and onions.
• The next day, drain tomatoes and onions in a colander.
• In a large pot, add the tomatoes, onions, sugar, white vinegar, celery seed,  bay leaf, ground mustard, and mustard seed.  Place cloves and allspice in a cloth bag, and add to the pot.
• Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour.
• Spoon into sterilized canning jars and seal

 Veggie Tips & Notes
Beans  - Are getting few and far between.  I think after this week they will be no more.        

Peppers – Rinse off, store in fridge.   This week you have bell, sweet banana, and  a pimento pepper (round, yellow).  These are all in the sweet pepper family and go great with most everything.     

Tomatoes – Rinse off, pat dry.  Tomatoes don’t store well in the fridge, keep on a counter in a bowl.  Again you have some green ones.  (There are a lot left on the vines).  Watch the cherries, they split very easily.  If you put much pressure on them they will explode in your hand.  Thank the rain for that.

Cucumbers –  There are few of these, and this is probably the last week we will have them.  I am bummed.

Asian Pear– These are not from our farm.  They come from a tree in my brothers horse field (no spray on them).  They produced well this year and there are more than any of us can eat so I thought I would share them with you.  They are not the prettiest of fruits, but they taste good.

Greens  - Most everyone will have the regular kale or collards.  As it is coming ready however, some of you will have a different green.  They are probably a mustard or an aisian green.  I’ll label the different ones and hopefully the tags will stay on during transport. 

What’s not listed –  Everyone will have something in their tote this week that is not listed.  I’m just putting the things that everyone gets on the list.  I have a list that I’m working off of to make sure everybody gets some of everything.  So what you get this week, you won’t get next week (the unlisted things).  I guess you can consider it a bonus. 

What’s Growing   I can say at this point, the garden is done.  Spent time Wednesday hanging some tomato plants up in the greenhouse hoping to get some of them to ripen and quit splitting, especially the cherry tomatoes, they got huge really fast, then they split wide open.  It makes the chickens happy.  All of the warm weather crops have quit producing.   The peas are up, but not growing as fast as I would like them to, I am not sure we will get some before the end of the month.   Kiwis are still hard as a rock.  On a normal year we should be expecting to eat a few about now, but I am not sure what to expect this year.   Still checking on the corn, it is not over for it yet.  The plants look okay so I am waiting for the silks to turn and the kernals to fill out.  Hoping we’ll get some yet.

What’s up on the farm   Been busy working on the Christmas trees getting tagging done and working over in my brain just how  harvest will work this season.  My oldest kids friends are all finding real jobs and may not be able to work for me like they used to.  I guess it is time to bring on the next set.  The youngest boy has some of his friends from football who are asking me if they can work.  I think we’ll try a couple of the bigger ones out.   It is hard to hire them, the state puts lots of regulations on me for what kids can and can’t (more can’t than can) do at their age and then makes me pay them a wage that they are not worth.  I have to hire two of them to equal the work of one of my big boys yet they make almost the same wage.  It is a broken system that discourages teaching our youngsters the value of and how to do some actual physical work.  I think a big portion of what I did for work when I was growing up is now prohibited.  And we wonder why kids these days have no work ethic and are lazy;  who can afford almost $9 per hour to teach a kid who knows nothing and can’t work very well.  OK, off my political rant.  It is just very frustrating I really want to help these kids but they break my budget when it comes to wages if I hire them.    It’s beginning to smell like Christmas around here.  The smell from working on the  trees tends to linger everywhere.  It gets old after a bit.  The only place I can’t get the smell (and I want it) is in my pickup.  It smells like a locker room.  I am afraid I am stuck with that smell till the end of football season.  The other football moms and I just laugh (if we didn’t we’d cry), our rigs are all muddy and smelly.   4 more weeks, only 4 more weeks.

Final  Notes   It’s cold.  I am thinking it is time to bring in firewood and start a fire in the evening occasionally.   I’ve already dug out a few extra blankets to wrap up in at night, but the thought of standing next to the wood stove is kind of appealing, especially since I was just outside this morning.  But I’ll hold off for a bit yet.  I’ve been making cookie dough at night and then baking it off in the morning.  By the time dark rolls around I’ve usually got a few extra kids coming in who are cold and hungry after hunting in the wet.  They make quick work of the cookies and a big pot of cocoa/coffee.  So that just means I get to make more and turn on the oven again in the morning.  The difference in temperature is very curious.  When it was hot out I would have loved it if I could get my house down to 62 degrees.  Now that it is getting cold outside I am thinking that 62 is not warm enough.  Want more heat.  Kind of the same way with the temp outside.  Springtime 50 is much warmer than fall 50.  In one I’m putting on a coat in the other I am taking it off.

An update, since I wrote most of this on Wednesday.  Came home from a wet football practice and youth group last night to find a fire going in the wood stove.   I have to admit it felt pretty darn good to back up to it and get warm.  Could really use one this morning, it is flat out cold.  No nippy about it, just cold.  Came back in put on a sweatshirt and a jacket.  It’s now noon and I still haven’t taken it off and I’m grabbing hot beverages to take with me to drink while I work.  Its misty up here today.

In This Weeks Basket     Beans – Tomato – Tomatillo – Summer Squash/Eggplant- Cabbage  - Cucumbers – Celery – Peppers –Salad Mix??

Recipe for the week………………  Tomatillo and Corn Soup

Giving you one more way to eat the tomatillos.   I really like this chowder, would be good for the cool day we are
supposed to have on Sunday

• 1½ cup tomatillos
• 1½ cup onion, chopped
• 2 garlic gloves, diced
•  1 tsp butter
• 3¾ cup whole kernel corn
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1Tbs cilantro, chopped
• 4 oz diced green chilies
• ¼  cup spinach, chopped
• 1 tsp sugar

Sautè tomatillos, onion and garlic in with butter for five minutes. Remove to food processor and add peas and cilantro. Puree to chunky, Pour in pan and add chicken stock, diced green chilies, chopped spinach, corn, and sugar. Heat and serve.   I like to eat it with a splash of lime and some crispy tortilla strips.

 Veggie Tips & Notes    

Beans –There are several varieties this week.   Rattlesnake, blue lake, three colored & the flat ones are a romano.   

Cabbage –  A small head this week.  Would be good braised or added into a stir fry.  I think most everyone has red, I might be short a couple if I was then you’ll have a green one.

Peppers – Rinse off, store in fridge.   This week, chocolate bell, poblano & Sweet Banana . 

Tomatoes Rinse off, pat dry.  Tomatoes don’t store well in the fridge, keep on a counter in a bowl.  I am pushing the ripeness this week, you may want to let them set out a day or two before eating.  You’ve also got a few green ones.

Cucumbers This time of year the skins on lemon cucumbers turn bitter.  No amount of water seems to cure it, be sure to peel before you eat.

Eggplant–  You either had summer squash or eggplant.  Next week hopefully you will have the other.

Salad Mix–  As I’ve been walking around I’m seeing some, when I go out to really get stuff picked I hope to scrounge up enough to make a small bag for everyone.  Darn ducks, they’re hard on lettuce and have eaten at least two beds worth.  We can’t figure out where they get in at.  But we know where they eat.

What’s Growing    WOAH!!!  That’s what happened this week, not a general slow down, just a quit on production.  Went out today (Wednesday) to check on stuff and see what is ready to go for tomorrow, cucumbers, beans and squash have just up and quit.  I found a few and only a few baby veggies growing.  If it doesn’t get too cold hopefully we will have one more week of them.  Eggplants got covered, tomatoes are covered, and melons are covered.  Keep your fingers crossed that will provide enough warmth to get them to ripen.  There are lots of tomatoes on the vine, they are just all green.   Still waiting on corn.  The wind we had this last week blew everything over but it looks as if the roots are still in the ground.  If that is the case it will still grow and we can get a little bit in a week or so off the stalks.  Radishes look like they are doing good I might be able to get a small bunch together.

What’s up on the farm   Went out to work today and it was cold.  Not just chilly, but cold.  Came back in and grabbed a jacket.   I’ve noticed that even when the sun is out it is still slightly cold.  The evenings spent down at the football field turn chilly really quick when the sun goes down.   Which leaves me with a problem, it is still warm enough that the kids are really sweaty ….and really stinky so I would like to drive home with the windows down, but it is getting a might bit cold for that.  So do I suffer for 20 minutes or breathe fresh air?  When he has a buddy riding with him, I freeze and breathe, it is just too much.   What would I do without 14 year old  boys???    I’ve given up on waiting for a shearing crew this year.  We are small enough that we end up on the bottom of the list for a crew to come shear our dougs and grands.  This year it is looking like it will be really late, this weird summer weather has caused the crews to run way behind.   So I am finally going out with a knife and doing it myself.  It’s a tough job and I am not very good at it. I am, however very slow, it’s going to take me a long time.  First day out I worked at it for 3 hours.  Next morning I couldn’t even lift my arm above my head.  This will be a long few weeks.  I’m thinking that I will only do trees I know will be for harvest and have the crew come in after harvest to finish and repair what I did.  They can go through the entire farm in a day.  It is amazing to watch them work.  Drives the horses crazy they can hear the noise of the knives but can’t see the shearers.   They line up along the fences ears forward and all tensed up.  If something makes a loud noise somewhere else they start kicking and running (not that we would make loud noises to spook them or anything).  It is rather amusing to watch.  So when I’m not fretting over ripening tomatoes or get tired of exercising one arm I get to ride around on the tractor.  It is getting into cleanup mode to get ready for u-cuts.  The other day we spent some quality time moving rocks and lining the duck pond so the sides won’t cave in.  I need to get a few more rocks on the bottom of it to hold down the plastic, it is floating around right now.  Will probably have to pump it out again first.  It filled up pretty quick with the rain we have had.

Final Notes If you have given me a check in the last few weeks, or maybe even a month it will get deposited tomorrow.  I had everything ready to go and then the pickup it was in left.  Pickup will be home tonight so it will go into the bank tomorrow afternoon.  If there is any problem with this please let me know.  I apologize for not being prompt with the bookwork (I really dislike bookwork and procrastinate).    Canning shares are done.  I would have liked to get everyone a few more pickling cucumbers, but the plants just aren’t putting anything out.  I found enough the other day for one quart.  I’m glad my recipe lets me do them a quart at a time.  I am able to throw it in the water bath as I do tomatoes.   There are still lots of tomatillos, if you want some more of those let me know.

A final Final note.  As I was proofing this I noticed that there are things on the side saying something about making money from home.  or great opportunities.  I am working to try and get rid of that garbage.  Please know that it is not from me and I do not even want that junk on there so do not click on that stuff.  I only write about waht is happening on the farm on this blog.  I would never use it as a tool to sell something from someone else.  Thanks – Denise

In This Weeks Basket

    Beans – Tomato – Summer Squash – Cabbage  - Cucumbers – Greens – Peppers –

Recipe for the week………………  Green Tomato Salsa

2      Green Tomatoes
2      Smaller Peppers, your choice for color andheat.   
¼     Medium Onion (chopped finely)
2      Cloves Garlic (crushed)
2T   Cilantro (chopped)
2T   Lime juice
2T  Red Wine Vinegar
Salt & Pepper to taste
Pinch of sugar (to taste)

Finely chop and mix all ingredients.  Let sit for at least an  hour before eating. 

 Veggie Tips & Notes    

Beans –The plain green ones this week are blue lakes, or what I hope is blue lake.  It has been hard to find a seed source for the true blue lakes that I grew up with.   Mottled are still rattlesnake.  I really like these.   Some of you are back to the three colored beans again.   These are good blanched, mixed with a bit of fine chopped onion and tossed with Italian dressing, add some drained canned beans for more color and flavor.

Cabbage –  Just your plain green cabbage.   Rinse well and store in the fridge.  If  you want to store for a long time wrap in newspaper, they seem to keep better that way.  They will also keep in a cool place like that.  Should they be a bit wilted when it is time to use just slice and soak in cold water and it will crisp up.

Peppers – Rinse off, store in fridge.   We have Sweet Banana, Jalapeno, poblano and an Anaheim variety. 

Tomatoes–Rinse off, pat dry.  Tomatoes don’t store well in the fridge, keep on a counter in a bowl.

Cucumbers–This time of year the skins on lemon cucumbers turn bitter.  No amount of water seems to cure it, be sure to peel before you eat.

Herbs–  A few stems to go with the vegetables you got this week.

What’s Growing   Tomatoes are on, finally.  This week I am able to take care of a good part of the canning shares.  I  pick those tomatoes while they are still firm.  When they ripen completely before canning they may not have enough acid in them for canning.  I gave everyone a pass on tomatillos this week.  I’m doing some canning with them and plan to try a new recipe for using them.  Next week they’ll be back.  They are doing very well this year.  Still fighting deer, ducks and rabbits.  Next year I need to do a major reworking of the garden fence.  I’m thinking we’ll have to bury chicken wire to keep the ducks and rabbits out and maybe use… I don’t know 12’ reinforced concrete to keep the deer out?  The bucks have been putting their horns into the net fence and shredding it.   finally had some good heads of lettuce going but they were eaten by something or multiple things.  I find we are right on the edge for the size of the garden plot.  I need every bit of room to grow enough to give out and don’t have quite enough space to grow extra to keep all the critters fed as well as people.  Next year expand more than what was planned.  Just finished up with the final seed planting for fall, got some aisian greens, broccoli raab, radish and salad turnips in.  Am trying a small shorter time pea but it is pushing it day wise to get them grown before November.   It looks like we have a good set of kiwis this season, now they just have to get ripe.   Peppers are doing well, I see color starting to come on.  But we need everything to turn the corner for ripening within the next few days.   Weather doesn’t look in my favor for warm crops after this weekend.  Need to get those darn pvc hoops done.

What’s up on the farm   I can’t believe that it is fall already.  As I was cleaning up some rows of vegetables that were  done I grabbed some seed packets thinking I could get some more peas, cabbage broccoli and such planted to get you some extra vegetables. Then I looked at the packets and realized that by the time they get to their mature date it would be November.   So I had to put those away and plant more greens and fast growing things.  Hopefully we will have lots of greens and lettuces at the end of October.  I am just not sure where this season has gone.  There is only a few weeks till I really need to switch gears and start to think about tree harvest and getting ready for that.  I am not ready for Christmas yet.  Have you been to Costco lately?  They already have Christmas stuff out.  I couldn’t believe it!  We drained the duck pond the other day and I am hoping we can get it lined and rocked before rains come.  It is slowly caving in on the sides and we  need to get the banks stabilized.  Maybe once that is done it won’t be quite so muddy and nasty looking, although I doubt it, ducks make water filthy fast.   The part we have done looks really nice and it would be a pretty little pond if we could keep the water clean.  It’s actually all the runoff from the roofs.  It helps keep the field where the minis and Nahla live drier.  Our mamma duck who was sitting on the second batch of eggs abandoned them.  I think something was  bothering her.    Next year as soon as we see nests being built we’ll move them into a pen.  Way too many things to remember for next year, it makes my brain hurt.    We’re looking at putting a few beefs on the place next year so are trying to figure out fences for those guys.  We want to be able to run turkeys and chickens with them so the fences need to keep birds in and coyotes out or all we’ll be raising is coyote food.   We’ve recently acquired another rabbit so he needs a house built and it is time to think about breeding him to our female so we have baby bunnies for u-cut time.  I still haven’t made it to home depot for pvc to make more bed covers.  A stop tonight is shot as I have to rush back to Molalla for a meeting for our church’s women’s group.   Tomorrow however the kids are out of school so I have a whole day with them.  Our plan??? We’re moving rocks, weatherman just said it will rain on Sunday now in addition to Monday, Saturday is football day so that leaves us with Friday to get the pond lined and rocked.  There are just not enough hours in the day.

Final Notes Last week we had a computer malfunction so I couldn’t do the newsletter.  I did however write it by hand and then left the house without taking it with.  I planned on mailing it to everyone but somehow I blinked and it was already Tuesday of this week and I figured it would be just as easy to bring it to you today.  So… (in a long winded fashion) you have newsletters for last week and this week.  If you have a canning share and are interested, elderberries are ripe (wild purple ones).  Let me know if you would like some for juicing.  By itself they are not that great but it is a good addition to grape juice and elderberries are loaded with vitamin C.  We do have a limited amount and it is a rush to get them before the band tailed pigeons show up and wipe them out.  They are very effective eaters and can clear out all the trees in a couple of hours.  How do these guys know when stuff is ripe and where it is?   We lost the vast majority of the blueberries this year to a big swarm of cedar wax wings and robins.  They showed up, they ate, they left.  Haven’t seen them since.     Last note:  On the ducks, we have a herd of mad ones wandering everywhere squawking.  I am assuming it is because they don’t have their pond where they spend most of the day.  Guess I should drag out the kiddies pool for them.

In This Weeks Basket  Celery –  Beans – Tomato – Summer Squash – Cabbage – Tomatillo – Cucumbers – Greens – Herbs

Recipe for the week………………  Braised Cabbage

• 6 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch strips
• 1 small onion    sliced thinly
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large head cabbage, cored and thinly sliced or  shredded
• 1 bottle beer

Cook the bacon until crispy. Add the cabbage,  mix together.   Add the onion and bay leaves, season with salt and pepper. Pour beer over the cabbage, cover.   Braise until the cabbage is wilted (about 30 minutes), stir occasionally .  I have also occasionally added a hefty splash of vinegar to this recipe to make it more like sauerkraut.  Remove the bay leaves and serve immediately

 Veggie Tips & Notes   

Cucumbers –  The cucumbers are on.  Everyone has a bunch of them in several different kinds.
Beans –We have the normal mixture of 3 colors and  rattlesnake.    The 3 colored ones are getting toward the end of  eating size.   I would suggest they get cooked as opposed to eating raw.  We won’t see these again for a few weeks.

Cabbage –  Just your plain ole everyday green cabbage.  Would be good in a slaw in this heat.  My kids have loved a mix from Costco that is an Asian type of slaw.  I made it using lighthouses toasted sesame salad dressing and tossing in some chow mien noodles and toasted almond slices.  Turned out pretty good.  And much cheaper than the Costco mix.

Celery –  Was attacked in this last week or so by rust.  I’ve gone through and thinned them out hoping that this will save the rest of the plants from it.  You may see some spots on the leaves.

Tomatillos– Store these guys like you would a tomato, leave the husks on until you are ready to use them (they are not fond of the fridge).  Peel the husks off and rinse before using.   The more yellowish they are  the sweeter they will be.

Tomatoes –  After much anticipation…… Below is a quick list of some of the varieties you will be getting.

Sauce –            San Marzano…Elongated, meaty tomato.  They are good for salads & salsa.

Burbank Slicing…. Looks like a regular tomato, meatier than most.   Good for everything.

Cherry             Sweet 100 – Standard red cherry tomato

Sungold -  One of my favorites, super sweet and great on salads. Orangey color

Chocolate – brownish, has a flavor to it that is different, but good.  Not as sweet as Sungold.

Zebra  – Striped cherry, taste more like a regular cherry but with a bit of zip.

Salad               Red Alert – Good flavor, great size for quartering.

Beaver Lodge, Early Girl, Totem, –  These are all basic tomatoes, nothing spectacular about them except they were supposed to be early but still aren’t ripe.  They are a good all around  eating tomato.

 What’s Growing     Finally tomatoes!!  The heat we have had this week has really gotten them turning.  The peppers are doing good and I hope to have a few more for you next week.  I will see if I can at least hunt up a jalapeno or two to go with the tomatillos that are in this weeks basket.  We got one row of peas planted (shelling) and will plant another row of peas (sugar pod) in the next week.  The deer have been having a good time in the garden.  So lots of seedlings that I set out need to be replaced.  But at least I know where they are going and just have to put a seed in the right spot as opposed to starting them in the greenhouse and then moving them.  I find this year to be very odd in what is going good and what is not.  Cucumbers are producing like mad, my summer squash not so much, neither are my onions or
shallots this year.  I don’t know if it because they are in a new part of the garden that needs a lot more amendments to the soil or maybe a flaking out on my part because it is in the new part of the garden that is out there and I didn’t get all the hoses stretched and set up early.    Lettuce is having some real issues growing right now.  It is just too warm for it.  Tomorrow’s project is to work up the ground between the pole beans and plant some lettuce there.  It will get shade and some coolness from the beans.  About the time it gets cool the beans will be done to let in more sun.    As I was picking salad turnip today I noticed they had become even more worm infested.  I found a handful that looked okay, but when I cut into one it was already wormy.  The steers will love them.    I think I’ll put marigolds in the row when I plant the new batch and see if that helps.

What’s up on the farm  The temperature.  I seem to have spent most of the season complaining about the cold, now I am complaining about the heat.   All the cool season crops are growing poorly and the bugs seem to be proliferating.  I have been finding flea beetles everywhere.   But that will all soon change.  The extended outlook says by the end of next week we’ll be back into lower temps.   Ripen tomatoes ripen!  It is time to kick myself into gear and get started thinking about tree harvest.  I’ve already had one buyer come up and will
soon hopefully have another.  Which reminds me if you want to pretag your tree now is the time to do it.   Grands and dougs are still not sheared, but I can clip a tree while you tell me what you want taken off.   There is lots of cleanup work to get done, but I can’t mow now until the weather gets a little bit wetter, not feeling like a fine from the fire dept. for running equipment right now.    My clock is saying it is time to get busy loading up the pickup and get on my way.   Have a few extra errands to run tonight when I’m done.  The boy need a new set of cleats for his  cleats and I need some more vet wrap for the game on Saturday.  I am looking forward to the first game of the season.  Just wish it wasn’t going to be so hot.  He plays at 3:00pm.  According to the weatherman it should be a nice toasty 95+.

Final Notes On the tomatillos, it may be a bit hard to know what to do with them if you’re not into eating a lot of Mexican type food.  They can well, but you don’t really get enough to can.  I would suggest making up a batch of salsa verde with them.  It can get put in the freezer and then works great as an addition to chili or enchiladas later on.  Put it into a bigger plastic iplock bag and freeze flat.  Then you can break off chunks of it as you need it for recipes.  If you go to the farms blog on word press you  will find a good recipe for it from last year.   There was also another recipe for corn and tomatillo soup (Sept 10^th and 17^th of last year) but who wants to cook soup right now?   Tomatillos will also store for up to three weeks, just don’t put them in the fridge (but they need to be somewhere cool), the husks will turn brown and papery, but that doesn’t mean anything.