Mer Folk CSA 7/24/2013

Now that's an onion.  Mill Creek Onions!  Bigger than softballs!

What's in the box?
Purple Majesty Potatoes, Rossa Lunga di Firenze Torpedo Onions, Garlic of Kazakhstan,  Zukes and cukes, Sweet Corn - White Out.    Eat the corn FIRST!  First of the tomatoes,   (More on these later) NZ Spinach, Beets, First of the Bell Peppers, and either French Filet Beans or Tomatillos.

If you got a box - you got tomatillos and Green Beans

Living Food
And this week by special request, we have LIVE cucumbers.  Yes, fermented Deli Dills, just like Grandma used to make.  These MUST be refrigerated.  They are at their best now and for a month or so.  They are alive and will continue to ferment.  So they can be lively when opening the lid.  Let me know what you think.

And one more special gift:

Corn!

If you have been with our CSA for longer than this season, you also received Elderberry Syrup.

Black elderberry has been used medicinally for hundreds of years for  treating the flu, alleviating allergies, and boosting overall respiratory health.  That said, we put ours on pancakes, because who does not love pancakes on Sunday?   Leo of course did give us all elderberry last year when the cold season started.  It's the year of the elderberry and everyone will get elderberry jam sometime in the coming weeks.    And for the record, Elderberry Jam is fantastic on Saltines!


Jars
Thanks to those of you who have sent me jars.  I'm out again.  All 10 cases of jars are full, so scope around and send me your empties, raid the attic for jars you don't use.  Keep me in mind if you see a box of pints or half pints at a garage sale.

In the field
On Sunday, Leo and I harvested storage onions, both Mill Creek and Cream Gold.  Cream Gold is a

favorite onion in NZ, and can really store a long time.  We'll have one more round of torpedo onions, before any of these go out.  The giant onions shown above, will not be going out, I'm cutting them and putting them in the dehydrator for fall.

Squash and melons are coming right along, no thanks to squash bugs.  I don't think we'll have many more zukes after this week.  They are taking out a vine a week.  Somewhere I know an 8 year old is thanking me.  It's still a long ways away from hot peppers and eggplant (and salsa), but the bells are just starting to trickle in.

Planting for fall, yes it's time to start new seeds.  I'm really ticked off at the gopher who ate ALL of the Swiss Chard, so I'm going to plant more.  This Saturday I'll start more seeds to trays for the fall season.  

Tomatoes
This year, we have Dar Jones of Alabama to thank for tomatoes.  This week we have the first of the Picardy and Lynnwood.  Dar recommended all kinds of tomatoes to me and I planted 19 kinds.  As more start to come in, I'll take some photos so you can figure out which ones you like (and let me know!)  Thank you Dar!  If you got a bag, you got Sungold Cherry Tomatoes.

Have a great week.  Eat pickles.