CSA Week 21!

Hi y'all! 

Oh boy oh boy!! This weather is making us soooooooo happy! It's finally cool! When you spend most of the daylight hours outdoors 7 days a week, this weather is such a relief! 

So! Woo! We got strawberry plants that we will be planting next week!!!! Watch out 2017 y'all are getting strawberries! We're so so excited. Other exciting news, we will be harvesting sweet potatoes next week! woo hoo! I don't know if you've had our sweet potatoes, but we grow a variety called the Tennessee Golden Nugget. It is hands down the best sweet potato you will ever taste!!!! 

Mel with chestnuts!

Ty digging up some sweet potatoes!

Ty harvesting basil! look he's wearing flannel! It's chilly!

Ty and the chestnuts

Ty putting row cover on our growing greens to protect it from hard rain and bugs.

Mel and Ty and the chestnuts.

Winnie and I working till sunset getting the row cover back on the cabbage, kale, lettuce, and broccoli after an early hoeing, then letting the sun kill the hoed weeds all afternoon.

We said goodbye to the beans this week! Thanks for some delicious beans, beans!

Sugar Camp Sunset

Using tarps to demolish weed seed for spring.

The house show last Sunday with Ed Masuga and The Weeping Willows from Australia was amazing! We had a nice turn out seeing lots of friends/neighbors. We even got an amazing puppet show by Nico and her mom, Julia. It was such a lovely time. Everyone was in good spirits and we even got a visit from Megan! Our first and returning WWOOFer! It was such an amazing surprise. 

Coincidentally it was our new WWOOFers first night! They walked into a grand ole house show! ha! They had a blast and have been such a nice addition to our little farm family. We've been very productive this week with their help! 

We're still collaborating with Christian, and he's providing radishes, green onions, kale and arugula for the CSA this week. Our own greens are coming along nicely! And some of our radishes too! 

Here's what's in the CSA this week! 

 A bunch of green onions, optional hot peppers, optional eggplant, arugula, basil, baby kale, 1 lb pears, one bunch radishes, 0.5-1 lb okra, 1 pint chestnuts!

 I imagine you all are a bit tired of eggplant. So it's optional this week. Just want to leave you with this great recipe for keeping eggplant over winter from our CSA member, Gail. 

Cut eggplant into 2” cubes

Salt heavily with kosher salt and place in colander over plate to draw for 8-12 hours.

Wipe dry removing salt.

Toss with red wine vinegar, drain off excess.

Pack tightly in canning jars and cover with olive oil.

You can add crushed garlic cloves, dried red peppers, basil and or mint in each jar.  I usually do only the first two—1 pepper and 2-3 garlics per pint. 

Refrigerate for at least two weeks before using.  Will keep for months.—plus use the oil for salads when it’s done. 

Thanks everyone! We love you!
 

Lizzie, Jesse, Ty, Mel, Tony, WInnie (had a bath finally and now it's cool enough that she actually dries and doesn't smell horrible!), Stormy (gifter of moles), ducks, sheep, cows.