This Week’s Harvest
Red Cabbage
Green Cabbage
Sweet Onions
Summer Squash and Zucchini
Fairytale Eggplant
Garlic
Salad Mix
Cucumbers
Celery
Red Beets
Tomatoes
Fruit share:
Blueberries from Berryhill Farm in Xenia and Shiro plums from Downing Fruit Farm in New Madison
Farm News
Running a vegetable farm means we are tied to the farm during the summer and don’t partake in typical summer activities. But the past two weekends Ben and I took turns taking 24 hour vacations. 2 weekends ago, Ben and the kids made it to central Illinois for a family reunion that purposely coincided with the small town’s big event of the summer: the ice cream social where one can eat ice cream all day long and cheer on slow tractor race participants.
Then this past weekend I spent time with half of my family members in central Ohio. My mom lives minutes from a state park and we enjoyed an afternoon of boating.
It was a nice break from the daily grind of summer. But we kind of love the daily grind. We are so grateful we have parents who gladly take our kids on summer adventures to see cousins and fireworks and take trips to the pool for swimming so that they don’t miss out on a typical summer. But Ben and I are happy to experience summer in a different, more intimate way. Being outside everyday we experience the morning dew on our bare calves, feel the sun rays when the clouds break, track the nesting indigo bunting pair and see the first garden spiders of the season.
When I got back from my mini vacation I unloaded the kids and went right back to work. It truly was a beautiful evening to be out and I felt lucky to be able to do what I do. We are so grateful to our family, customers and the land for making this life possible!
Recipes
Summer Borscht (use candy onions in place of scallions)
Onion Rings (This was the first recipe we ever used. After several batches, we have tweaked it some. We use the larger amount cayenne pepper, slice the onion rings larger, and bake in the oven on a lightly oiled baking sheet at 425. We bake for 10 minutes then flip and bake another 10 minutes)
Zucchini Bread (mix of zucchini and summer squash is fine)