I hope everyone is keeping warm and safe this Holiday season! I've not been posting lately but we have been busy. We went up to Grand Rapids, MI last week for the Great Lakes Fruit & Vegetable Expo. On Monday I went on a bus tour of 7 surrounding farms and farm markets while Greg stayed indoors and went to the North American Strawberry Growers meetings. I got to get out and tour farms and farm markets in a snow storm! There were four buses and two got stuck and one of those got stuck twice! But it was fun and always interesting to see how others set up their operations. The rest of the week we attended various workshops and meetings on everything from high tunnels, strawberries, green beans, carrots, soil health, pests in the greenhouse, farmers' market management and GAP certification! The trade show was like walking through a toy shop for produce farmers! Everything from processing machines, machines to plant, harvest, pick, package, and gadgets of every kind to make the farmers life easier. Packing, picking, storage and selling supplies, fertilizers, chemicals organic and non organic, potting supplies and seed companies galore...over 200 vendors in all!!!!!!

Greg is busy making himself a small sprayer to pull behind the new Yanmar tractor to use in the hoop houses and out in the fields. Today the 3 row seeder that Greg bought at the trade show last week arrived! It will be quicker to plant 3 rows at once instead of 1 and this new seeder should be more accurate in only planting one seed at a time instead of several, so less thinning!!

I bought myself a hand held tomato tier. You use it to tie up the tomato vines to the stakes or whatever type of cage or trellis you use. Hopefully it will work as slick as it looks like it should!

Well we survived the Thanksgiving Holiday and were truly blessed to be able to share it with all family members on both sides present and healthy! We had plenty of food to fill our bellies and everyone was blessed to have a job or be in school! So we have much to be thankful for, God is good!

We've been doing a few things to keep ourselves busy and out of trouble. We got our old hens rounded up and sold. We put the support posts up in our big hoop house. We put them up every winter to help support the arches against ice or snow load. We cleaned up some odd junk out of the old sow pasture next to the barn so Greg can plow that up and hopefully move the pumpkins and winter squash field there next year. Greg mowed off another area so he can hopefully get it also plowed and planted in a cover crop to get ready to use in another year for a new strawberry patch. We also got all the runners cut off the strawberry plants. We will be needing to get them covered in a couple of weeks and tucked in for the winter! So we keep plugging away!

Everyone keeps asking me what I'm doing with my spare time now that market is over with. Well for one market is not over with. We have one more Saturday and then they are having a trial winter market the first three Saturdays in December. So we will probably try to do those as we will have lots of eggs to sell, plus we can sell jams & jellies and dried tomatoes and apples. I won't bake for those markets as there will be baked goods people there and we're not sure how the customer response is going to be to this. So I've been busy making jam. I've made persimmon, blackberry, blackberry jalapeno and damson jam. I've packaged dried apples and tomatoes, but need to get more apples done.

Today we are catching and loading up all the 2 and 3 year old hens and hauling them to a small animal auction up at Kingsville which is about 2 hours away and is at 5:30 p.m. So I've been running around trying to find big boxes to use and last night we made wire tops for them. Today I have help coming and we will catch and box and load the truck. There's somewhere between 60-80, it's hard to count them between the guineas and ducks when they're all running around! Then Greg is coming home early and we will head off to the auction!

Since Thanksgiving is next week I thought I'd share with you a couple of recipes that I'm going to be making and taking to our families get together's.

HOLIDAY BROCCOLI SALAD
2 large bunches fresh broccoli (2 1/2-3 lbs.)
2 cups mayonnaise
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
2 (6oz.) pkgs. sweetened dried cranberries
1 (6oz.) pkg. dried apricots, diced
1 (8oz.) block extra sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 (2.25oz.) pkgs. slivered almonds
1 small red onion, diced
Cut flowers from broccoli; chop & set aside, cut broccoli stalks into 1" pieces; pulse in food processor 6-8 times or until finely chopped.
Whisk together mayonnaise & next 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Add flowerets & chopped stalk, cranberries & remaining ingredients, tossing to coat. Chill. This makes 18-20 servings.

INDIAN PUDDING

When chilled this pudding firms to the consistency of polenta.

1/4 cup butter
4 cups fat-free milk
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt
2 large egg yolks
cooking spray
9 Tbsps. frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed

Preheat oven to 275 degrees

Melt butter in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; cook 2 minutes or until browned. Add milk to pan; bring to a boil. Gradually add cornmeal, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook 5 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Combine sugar and the next 4 ingredients (through egg yolks), stirring well with a whisk. Gradually add half of hot milk mixture to sugar mixture, stirring constantly. Return milk mixture to pan; cook 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves.
Pour cornmeal mixture into a 9" square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 275 degrees for 1 hour & 15 minutes or until pudding barely moves when pan is touched. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Cover & chill 2 hours. Cut into 9 squares. Serve with whipped topping. Yield 9 servings.

This Indian pudding recipe is not my original recipe, I lost it and can't seem to find it in my thousands of cut out magazine recipes and 300 cookbooks!!! But it is the closest to it I can find. If anyone out there has a better one I'd love to see it!

Well we worked hard this weekend! Sunday and Wednesday we finished pulling up plastic and drip tape on the pumpkin & squash field and the garden next to the house. Greg then spread manure and compost and disced it into the fields while I dug up and potted my Rosemary, Oregano, French Tarragon, Stevia and mint plants to take into the greenhouse for the winter. I had about 20 big pots in all. We plant these out in the gardens in raised beds with everything else so they are on drip tape and get watered and we have found them to do really well this way, but the problem is that they are not in permanent locations and some of them do not over winter so we have to dig them up each Fall. This way I also have them in January to take cuttings off of and root and get more going for Spring!

Wow! What a beautiful day! If you didn't know better you would have thought it was the first of October instead of November! It was sunny and in the mid 70's with a light breeze! Market was pretty good, sold quite a few apples, eggs, radishes, pepers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and baked goods. We have two more weeks left and it sure would be nice if the weather stayed this nice!
This afternoon after we got home we went out and pulled up plastic mulch and drip tape off of 9 of the raised beds. Now if only all the rest of the beds were done!
Yesterday we went over to Columbia for a little bit to the Small Farm Show and attended the Missouri Vegetable Growers Association meeting. It's always interesting to go to these shows and meet other farmers and hear what they are doing and to get inspired and learn new things! Everyone always wants to know what will we do in the Winter with no farming and marketing to do, well we go to conferences and meetings to try to get new ideas and net work with others who do the same things we do! The first conference on our list is the Great Lakes Fruit & Vegetable Expo in Grand Rapids, Michigan, then either the Great Plains Vegetable Growers Conference in St. Joseph, Missouri or there's also one in Springfield, Illinois at the same time, we don't know yet which one we want to go to. Then there's the Small Fruit and Vegetable Growers Conference that is usually held in Springfield, Missouri, but this year has been moved to the Lake of the Ozarks. Plus the Missouri Farmers' Market Association of which I am on the board, will have their annual meeting and conference, but that has not all been worked out yet as to time and location. And then there's always various workshops around the State that can be attended!

Market last Saturday was pretty good. We got rid of almost all of our pumpkins and a lot of our winter squash and sweet potatoes! I noticed that with the last couple of warmer sunny days our radishes have finally decided to grow and maybe we will have some mizuna next week!

We have got all the tomato stakes and twine pulled up and Greg mowed off all the beds. Next we will have to put the mulch lifter on the tractor and take up all the plastic mulch and drip tape. That is not a fun job.

Today I rendered about 20 lbs. of beef suet. I will use it later to make my lye soap. I didn't get any made last winter so would really like to get a batch made this winter. I also got our chest freezer in the house cleaned out, sorted and organized! That was badly needed as I could never find anything that I knew was in there!!!!

GREEN TOMATOES

I am always looking for green tomato recipes at the end of the season, because I can't bear to see them go to waste. I've made the usual relish and pickles, eaten them fried and even put them in stir fry dishes. Last year I found the best recipe yet, (I think), it's green tomato cake. It's just like a spice cake and very moist. I made a powdered sugar glaze frosting and dribbled it over the top after it was baked, it was sooooo good! Here's the recipe for those of you lucky enough to have access to green tomatoes.

GREEN TOMATO CAKE

2 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil or melted shortening (I used canola oil)
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup pecans or walnuts
1 cup raisins (I used cran-raisins, I like the tartness of them)
2 1/2 cups diced green tomatoes
coconut optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In mixing bowl, beat sugar, oil, eggs & vanilla until smooth & creamy. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon & nutmeg; slowly beat into egg mixture. Blend well. Stir in nuts, raisins & tomatoes.
Pour into greased 9"x13" pan. Top with coconut if desired. (I just mixed into batter 1 cup). Bake for one hour or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean.

I also found this recipe in this months Southern Living Magazine that sounds very good, but I have not tried yet.

ARNOLD'S FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 whole green tomatoes
2 cups apple juice
5 eggs
1 dash Tabasco
2 cups cornmeal (seasoned with salt & pepper)
2 Tbsp. basil
Cut the tomatoes int 12-15 slices. Coat slices in flour. Dip in mixture of apple juice, egg whites & Tabasco. Dip into mixture of cornmeal & basil.
Fry in oil until brown

We've been making applesauce and digging sweet potatoes. Finally got all the sweet potatoes dug, but I think we'll have more applesauce to make! We are going to go Persimmon hunting this evening and see what they look like. I'm not sure there's very many this year like there was last year, we'll just have to see!

Market was pretty good today, and the best part was the sun was shining and it wasn't raining!!!! We weren't sure how it would be as it started out cold and it is MU Homecoming weekend. We got rid of a lot of pumpkins which is good because loading and unloading them gets very tiresome! Plus after Halloween no one is interested in them any more! We sold quite a few apples, sweet potatoes and winter squash. We also had dried apples, dried peppers, jams, baked goods, eggs, peppers, radishes, swiss chard. tomatoes and parsley.

BABY CHICKS HAVE ARRIVED!!!

This morning I recieved a telephone call from the Post Office at 7:00 a.m. to tell me that our chicks had arrived, so away I went to pick them up. Such a dreary cool day, I didn't want them to set around and get chilled. We ordered 150 chicks and they sent 155. They always send a few extra in case some don't make it in shipping. Chick like it warm, around 95 degrees, like me! As I took them out of the box I had to dip each one's beak in water to get them to learn to drink, and then tucked them under the brooder.

It's fun to watch them once they get their bearings and start to run around. They go full speed for a few minutes then suddenly stop and take a nap!

APPLE FIGURES & TIPS

Since it's apple season I thought you might enjoy some of these apple statistics.
The six top apple-producing states in the United States are Washington, New York, Michigan, California, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

The 2000 U.S. apple crop was estimated to be 254.217 million 42-pound cartons.

The largest U.S. apple crop on record is 277.3 million cartons, harvested in 1998.

In 1997, there were 9,000 U.S. apple growers and 453,200 acres of commercial orchards.

Apples trailed only oranges and grapes in the amount of U.S. acreage committed to fruit production in 1997.

In 1999, the average U.S. consumer ate an estimated 18.7 pounds of fresh apples and 29.7 pounds of processed apples.

In 1999, the People's Republic of China produced the world's larges crop of apples. The United States was the world's second largest producer, with Turkey, Italy, and France completing the list of the world's top five apple-producing countries.

The United States, New Zealand, and Japan are the leaders in apple breeding.

APPLE TIPS WHEN COOKING WITH APPLES

1 pound of apples yields 4 cups when chopped or sliced, and 1 1/2 cups of applesauce.
1 pound of apples may contain 4 small, 3 medium, or 2 large apples.
Apple juice and apple cider can be used interchangeably in recipes.
2-2 1/2 pounds of apples will suffice for a 9" or 10" pie. That means 9-10 small apples, 7-8 medium or 5 large apples.
Overripe apples, once the bruises have been removed, make good applesauce or cider.
Under ripe apples can be chopped, diced, sliced, and grated for sauteing with vegetables or for putting into cakes, muffins, pies, and other cooked dishes.
Sliced or cut apples will stay white longer if dropped into a bowl of water containing 2 Tbsps. of lemon juice. (Cortland & Golden Delicious do not discolor as quickly as other varieties.)

APPLE VARIETIES & THEIR BEST USES - (These are just a few of them, there are lots more!)

ALL-PURPOSE: Braeburn, tart-sweet; Cortland, pleasing tartness; Empire tart-sweet; Fuji, sweet, slightly spicy; Golden Delicious, sweet; Granny Smith, tart; Ida-Red, tangy-winey;
Jonathan, slightly tart; Jonagold, sweet-tangy; McIntosh, tart-sweet; Mutsu or Crispin, sweet; Winesap, tangy-winey.

COOKING: Rome Beauty, tart-sweet



EATING: Gala, sweet; Red Delicious, sweet

The above information came from "Apple Cookbook" by Olwen Woodier.

The CSA season may be over but we are still selling at the Columbia Farmers' Market. Today I need to see if any tomatoes in the hoop house are ripe. There are lots of green ones and we can keep them from freezing, but as cool as it's been it takes forever for them to ripen! Then I will have to uncover the peppers and see if there's anything ready to pick and cover them back up as it's supposed to be cold again tonight and tomorrow night. But then Sunday it's supposed to start warming up into the 60's so hopefully that will help ripen what's left a bit! We are still digging sweet potatoes, have several bucket fulls that need to be washed today. That's always fun to do in the cold and rain! We still have some apples to pick, and of course the winter squash and pumpkins. But as cold as it is supposed to be tomorrow (mid 40's) I don't know how many people will brave the weather to come out and shop. I'm already trying to plan on how to layer what to wear so I can stand out there for 5 1/2 hours and not turn into an ice cube!!!!!!

We have had plenty of rain. We don't have a rain gauge up, but the weather man has said we have had at least 6" if not more! We would like for it to dry up so we can get the potato beds made for next year. That way next Spring maybe we can get a jump on planting them, and not have to wait for it to dry out to make beds. Same thing for the lettuce beds. We plant most everything in raised beds as our ground is pretty flat and drainage can be a problem. We've found that planting on raised beds sure has helped that problem, but if it's too wet in the Spring we can't get the beds made, so if we can do a few the Fall before we are that much ahead.

Yesterday Greg's folks came down for a visit and as it was baking day I decided to put a pork loin roast in the crock pot. I took a jar of the onion jam I made last week and dumped that on top and added cubed up sweet potatoes and let that cook all day. Boy was that good! Even Greg thought it was pretty good and he made fun of my making onion jam!

LAST CSA BOX DAY FOR THE 2009 SEASON!

Today the full shares are getting applesauce bread, eggs, eggplant, radishes, apples, peppers, onion, winter squash, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. The half shares are getting applesauce bread, eggs, apples, eggplant, onions, peppers, winter squash, sweet potatoes and radishes. I hope you enjoy the last produce of the season, savor every bite because it will be 27 weeks before you can receive another box of fresh produce from us again!

Please remember to bring back all the CSA boxes you may have and any egg cartons that you have. I will have plastic sacks with me today to transfer your produce from the boxes to take home with you so you don't have to worry about getting boxes back to us after the season. Also please remember to bring your survey or mail it back to us so that we can better plan for next year. Thank you for being such great customers and we look forward to seeing you again next year. Keep checking the blog as I will continue to post through out the winter as farming never ends and we will be working to make our operation more efficient for us and more sufficient for our customers!

Well frost has hit! We got a touch of frost on Friday night. It got our eggplant and some of the peppers. So Saturday we covered the rest of the peppers to try to save them as there are lots of green peppers out there yet. We closed up the hoop house with tomatoes in it so they are fine. I have to check the peppers today to see if they are all right.

Saturday Greg had a decent day, but the Hatton Fall Craft Festival was the same day and that always affects that weekend! I went over and helped him set up, but then I came back as there was an auction I wanted to go to. We went to another auction Sunday looking for a walk-in cooler, but they told people that they had to get it out of there that day, and there was no way to get it tore down and hauled off that quick! It really killed Greg, because it went very very cheap!!

We've been working on chicken houses! We have baby chicks coming in a few days, so we have to move chickens around and empty out one of the little chicken houses and get the brooder set up with lights and heaters. We got the window panes put back in the big chicken house, fans unplugged and put away, getting it ready for winter. Still need to close up the top windows in the attic, but will wait a little bit on that, that makes the guineas upset as they like to get up there and look out and watch everything and be protected!

Well it's still raining this morning. We picked a few tomatoes in the hoop house, but there wasn't much, lots of green ones though! I can always make green tomato relish! It's supposed to quit raining around noon, then we can go out and pick peppers and see what else is out there.

Yesterday I packaged up dried apples and dried tomatoes to take to market. This morning I packaged up some dried sweet peppers and made onion jam! I only made one batch and it only made 4 half pint jars! Not nearly enough! It is good stuff!!!! I definitely want to make more of it! Greg does not agree, as he hates onions!

Well the weatherman sure didn't miss the prediction of heavy, heavy rain for today! They've been predicting this one all week! Just hope the house doesn't float away and the roof holds! Not much you can do outside when it's like this, good thing today is baking day again!

I made corn cob jelly and persimmon jam yesterday and ground up some monster zucchini for bread. We emptied the dehydrator of apples and put in some more tomatoes.

Greg has been helping a neighbor who had back surgery dig holes to bury a couple of his old dogs that died. He raises them and shows them. So they are glad to have gotten that all done before the rain hit!

I got up early this morning to get some house work done before I start baking, as Greg's folks may come down for a visit if the rain lets up this afternoon. So I'd better go finish the bathroom and get chores done so I can hit the kitchen!

CSA BOX DAY!!!
Today the full shares will be getting eggs, applesauce bread, potatoes, tomatoes, apples, eggplant, cucumbers, summer squash, cushaw (winter squash), radishes, mini cabbage, peppers and onions. The half shares will be getting eggs, applesauce bread, tomatoes, apples, eggplant, acorn squash (winter squash), radishes, peppers, sweet potatoes and onions.

This is the 24th week of the CSA, only one more week to go. Today there will be a survey in your box, we'd appreciate it if you would take time to fill it out and return it in your box next week, or you can mail it to us if you like. We would like to have every one's input so that we can plan better for next year and make any changes if necessary! We would like to expand the program next year so if you know of anyone that might be interested you can jot their name and number on the survey, that way when we have our winter meeting we can call them and include them.

Yesterday we put another bushel of apples in the dehydrator and dug some more sweet potatoes. We have another row and a half left to dig.

We've been busy picking the winter squash and pumpkins, finally got it all done on Thursday. We went to market on Sat. and it turned out to be a pretty good day. We weren't sure how it was going to go as there weren't too many people there at the start, it was so cold and windy! But that also put people in the mood to buy pumpkins so we were happy with what we sold!

We've been cutting up apples and putting them in the dehydrator. Our dehydrator holds a little over a bushel and they'll be dry in 24 hours, then we can fill it up again!

We also need to check on the Persimmons and see how they are coming along. I've got a little bit of Persimmons left in the freezer, and I need to get that made up into jam this next week. We also made Elderberry jelly on Friday, got about 24 half pints! Still have lots of Elderberries in the freezer, too.

Always plenty to do, we still have two rows of sweet potatoes to dig, then will need to dig up my stevia, rosemary and oregano plants and re-pot them to take into the greenhouse for the winter. I would like to dry more peppers, too. Greg wants to freeze all the hot ones, as he wants to make deer repellent spray for next year out of them!

Rain, rain go away, come again someother day! At least it's baking day and I don't have to do much outside today! But first I have to go to the dentist at 8:00 a.m. and get a cavity in my wisdom tooth fixed.

Yesterday afternoon Greg came home a little early and we started picking the pumpkins, gourds and winter squash. We got it almost done, there wasn't a lot this year, but you will be getting some in your boxes next week.

I'm sure most of you have your favorite recipes for winter squash, but here is another one for those of you who don't or for those of you who want to try something new! This comes from Taste of Home cookbook "The Market Fresh Cookbook" It's calls for butternut squash, but most any winter squash can be used. Winter squash is a lot like summer squash and can be interchanged most of the time.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH CASSEROLE
5 cups shredded butternut suash
Juice & grated peel of 1 lemon
1 cup raisins
6-8 dried apricots, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
1 apple, cubed
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 Tbsp. plain yogurt, sour cream or buttermilk
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In a large owl, toss squash with lemon juice & peel. Place half in the bottom of a greased 1"x7"x2" baking dish. Combine the raisins, apricots & apple; sprinkle over squash. In a small bowl, combine the cheese, egg, yogurt, cinnamon & nutmeg; spread over fruit mixture. Cover with remaining squash. Sprinkle with nuts.

Cover with foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 min. or until heated through. Yield: 10-12 servings

Here's another one for those who are like me and don't like their squash sweetened up. It comes from "Red Hot Chilli Pepper" cookbook by Jenni Fleetwood.

Salad or Roasted shallots, chillies and butternut squash with feta

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar, plus a little extra if needed
1 Tbsp. sweet soy sauce
12 oz. shallots, peeled, but left whole
3 fresh red chillies
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
1 tsp. finely chopped fresh thyme
4 Tbsp. chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecan nuts, chopped
5 oz. feta cheese
salt & ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Beat the oil, vinegar & soy sauce together in a large bowl.

Toss the shallots & 2 of the chillies in the oil mixture and turn into a large shallow roasting pan or oven proof dish. Season with salt & pepper. Roast, uncovered, for 25 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Add the butternut squash & roast for a further 35-40 min. stirring once, until the squash is tender and browned. Remove from the oven, stir in the chopped thyme and set the vegetable mixture aside to cool.

Mix the parsley & garlic together & stir in the nuts. Seed & finely chop the remaining chilli.

Stir the parsley, garlic & nut mixture into the cooled vegetables. Add chopped chilli to taste & adjust the seasoning, adding a little extra balsamic vinegar if you like. Crumble the feta cheese & add it to the salad, tossing together lightly. Transfer to a serving dish & serve immediately, at room temperature rather than chilled.

Today is box day! Only two more weeks after this one. The tomatoes are falling way off. There are lots of green ones, but don't know if they will make in time for the rest of the CSA season. Today the full shares get, handful of tomatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, melon, peppers, eggplant, apples, herbs, eggs & bread. The half shares get a handful of tomatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, peppers, eggplant, apples, cucumbers, eggs & bread. Next week we will be looking at some winter squash!!! Enjoy!

We got a double batch of the Elderberry jelly made yesterday and then went out to dig sweet potatoes. Boy were we nicely surprised! They did a lot better than we had thought they would what with the pesky deer keeping the vines trimmed up early on. We dug two 5 gallon buckets so far, so you will have sweet potatoes in your boxes tomorrow. Plus I'm baking again for the boxes today. You will be getting applesauce bread.

This past week has been the usual for chores and work. This cooler wet weather has slowed down the tomatoes and okra. There are still quite a few peppers out there, but they need warm sunny weather to turn red. We have been working on making tomato jalapeno jam and we are finishing up that today. We picked some more elderberries and may try getting some of those worked up and make a couple batches of jam this afternoon. The rye that Greg sowed in the hoop houses has sprouted so he's been watering that. We need to dig on the sweet potatoes, so may work on that this afternoon if it isn't too muddy!!!

Today is box day. The full shares will be receiving apples, eggs, peaches, okra, eggplant, peppers, onions, leeks and herbs. The half shares will be getting eggs, apples, eggplant, peppers, onions, cucumber and a leek. Hopefully it won't rain during delivery!

The last two nights Greg has mowed the weeds down in the two hoop houses that we had spring greens in and tilled them up and sowed rye for a green manure cover crop.

Friday was picking day for market. Greg mowed between the rows and knocked down a lot of weeds while I picked. Things are slowing down, the okra is pretty much done. After we were finished picking we cut up peppers and put in the dehydrator. Our daughter came home for the weekend, so she fixed dinner while we finished up loading the trucks. She went to market for us in Fulton, she wanted some spending money!

Market Saturday was lousy in both Columbia and Fulton locations. It starts cooling off and people quit coming to market. I don't know if they think that there's nothing left or are just tired of the tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and zucchini?! But the Fall stuff is coming in. There are the winter squashes, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and some of the Spring things are again available in the Fall. So keep coming out to market!!!

Greg's brother-in-law commissioned me to make some corn cob jelly, tomato jalapeno jam and persimmon jam for his store that he and Greg's sister own in Glasgow, Missouri. They sell Missouri made art and crafts and Missouri made food products. It's called the Riverport Market. If you're ever in Glasgow check it out!

Yesterday was errand day and catch up day, but I didn't get any house work done or the lawn mowed, which needs it badly!!!! I worked on getting a trailer load of hay to a guy in Millersburg and he wanted some veggies. That pretty much took all morning. I had to air the tire up on the trailer, get it hooked up and to the barn under the hay mound door, which took several times of backing, which I can not do!!! So I never got it as close to the door as I wanted, so when I went to throw out the hay some of it missed the trailer! And the hay is 20 years old so all the twine on the bales was rotten and broke! But I finally got it all in the trailer and tramped down and the tarp put on and delievered!

By the time I got home it was noon so I got cleaned up (again) and went back to town to go to the bank and grocery store, back home to put groceries away.

Our little dog Sassy had a vet appointment at 2:15p.m. so I loaded her up to go back to town and while I was putting her in the van Shadow our big black dog decided he wanted to go and jumped in too! I could not get him out as he laid down and when he thinks you're mad at him he will not do anything you tell him to do! At the moment he's one big massive cockle bur as he's been out back chasing rabbits, so I didn't want to try to pick him up, so he rode to town with us!

After the vet visit I then had to go out to the feed store to get dog food, water softener salt, and a bag of oats. Get home and unload everything and put it away, by then it's about 3:40p.m. I still haven't cleaned yesterdays eggs and put them away, so I worked on that. Greg gets home at 4:00p.m and asks have you checked the tomatoes in the dehydrator? Shoot!!!! We look at them and most of them are now black!

Greg worked on spraying the tomatoes in the hoop house. They still have lots of little green tomatoes, so we are hoping there will be tomatoes late. Today is baking day, so I'd better hop to it. Maybe later I can get the yard mowed?!

We got all the strawberries planted!!!!!! YEAH! Today is box day. This is week 21, so after today there will be 4 weeks left, and things are petering down. We need a little rain to get the greens and radishes we planted going, most have sprouted but now need moisture. Today you will be getting apples, tomatoes, eggs, potatoes, onions, eggplant, cucumbers, summer squash and peppers. The full shares will also get a little bit of green beans and okra.

Well market Saturday was not good! This year I think more people are growing their own stuff, plus there are more vendors with produce this year at the market, so competition is stiff! That's where it's important to find a special niche that no one else is doing and work on that. It may not be as profitable as some, but then that's where you have to be diversified on top of everything else! We've been drying tomatoes, and I need to work on putting soup mixes together like I usually do for the fall, but my big enemy is TIME!!! Oh, well if I could bottle "TIME" and sell it I'd be rich, as no one has enough TIME! After market on Saturday we started planting strawberries, got one bed done. Then Sunday we worked all day and got four more done, so now we just have one bed left to do and Greg hopes to get that done tonight! YEAH!

Greg worked Tuesday evening on the electric fence around the strawberry patch and I helped him finish it up yesterday evening so now we are ready to start planting strawberries! The tips are looking good with nice roots so things are falling into place. I'm baking today and putting tomatoes in the dehydrator. Here is a recipe I got off Lane McConnell's blog for apple salad since apple season is here!

Honey Apple Salad from my mother's kitchen
3 1/2 diced red apples
2 T. lemon juice
2 c. grapes
1 c. sliced celery, thinly sliced
1/2 c. chopped dates
1/2 c. mayo
1/4 c. honey
2 T. sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
In a large bowl toss apples with lemon juice. Add grapes, celery and dates.In a small bowl combine mayo, honey, sour cream and salt, mix.Pour over apple mixture and toss; stir in walnuts.
Posted by Lane at 9/09/2009

Today is box day! You will be receiving tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, summer squash, apples, pears, okra, eggs, and maybe herbs! The peaches are pretty much done. There are about 3 more trees out there, but they are not ripe and don't look too good.

Saturdays market was so-so, but holiday weekends usually aren't too good. At least it didn't rain! Yesterday we went to a Sellmeyer family reunion up to Glasgow, so today it's back to work. We are making tomato jalapeno jam and jalapeno cayenne jam! This afternoon after it dries up we will go out and pick. I think the peaches are pretty much done, but there will be apples.

Yesterday Greg & I went on a farm tour that was sponsored by the Missouri Vegetable Growers association and MU Extension. It was fun, we went to a couple of big guys; Thies and Stuckmeyer's South of St. Louis which some of you may know and been to. They are gearing up for their Fall activities. We also went to a smaller operation more along the lines of our size. It's always fun and interesting to go on these and see how other's do things and the equipment they use and gadgets they have come up with to make things easier! It's also nice to know everyone has the same questions and problems we do; deer, coons, rabbits, weeds, labor, etc!!!

Today we've been busy picking for tomorrow's markets. Megan is coming home this weekend and wanting to take stuff to the Fulton market and earn some money! We are about done all that's left to do is wash tomatoes and peaches and then load the trucks!

Yesterday Greg tilled up four old greens beds and we replanted radishes, lettuce, kale, swiss chard, spinach, turnips, etc. So hopefully we will get some fall greens. The weather sure has been nice enough for them. Today I'm baking zucchini and persimmon bread for Columbia farmers' market. Greg is coming home at noon and we are going to take a road trip over South of St. Louis area and do three farm tours and see how and what other people are doing! I'm also trying to stick more tomatoes in the dehydrator between baking spells! So I'd better get to it!

I've had some people tell me they don't know what to do with eggplant, so here are a few recipes I found on the web that might be of interest to you. I also have, but can't seem to find it a recipe for slicing them like fries and deep fat frying them and then seems like there were some dipping sauces, but I can't find it. But you could use any kind of dipping sauce you like; ranch, blue cheese, or sprinkle them with salt, pepper, paprika or Cayenne pepper and have a snack! Anyway hope this helps give you some ideas and you use up your eggplant! Enjoy!

Delicious eggplant roll-ups with basil, spaghetti sauce, ground beef, and seasonings.
Cook Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, peeled
1 egg, beaten
3 tablespoons milk
1 cup soft bread crumbs
2 to 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon dried leaf basil, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/4 pounds lean ground beef
1 jar (16 ounces) spaghetti sauce
Preparation:In a Dutch oven or large, deep skillet, bring salted water to a boil for eggplant. Cut eggplant lengthwise into about 12 1/4-inch slices. Boil in salted water for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain well on paper towels.
In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, bread crumbs, cheese, and seasonings. Add 1 pound of the ground beef; mix well. Divide into 12 portions. Place a portion on each eggplant slice; roll up. Place in a large baking pan, seam side down. Brown remaining ground beef; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce. Spoon meat sauce over roll-ups. Cover pan and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 30 to 40 minutes longer. Serve over spaghetti or with a tossed salad.Eggplant rolls serve 6.
Cook Time: 30 minutes

EGGPLANT CASSEROLE
Ingredients:
2 large eggplants, about 1 pound each
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup chopped onion
4 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
8 ounces minced or ground cooked ham
2 cups fresh bread crumbs
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
Preparation:Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise and remove pulp to make a scooped-out shell, 1/2 inch thick. Chop the eggplant pulp coarsely and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat; cook the eggplant shells, cut side down, for 5 minutes. Remove shells to a shallow baking dish. Add butter to skillet; sauté onions and garlic for 2 minutes. Add reserved eggplant pulp, tomatoes, thyme, cayenne and pepper and cook over brisk heat until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is thick. Remove from heat and mix in ham, bread crumbs and coriander. Fill the eggplant shells with the stuffing mixture; bake in a preheated 400° oven for 15 minutes, until slightly browned.
Serves 4.

EGGPLANT CREOLE
Ingredients:
1 eggplant
1 can (10 1/2 ounce) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 small onion, diced
1/4 cup diced green or red bell pepper pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 medium tomato, diced
Preparation:Peel, slice and cook eggplant; drain and mash. Add remaining ingredients and place in buttered casserole. Sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake eggplant casserole at 350° for 20 to 30 minutes.Eggplant casserole serves 4.

BOX DAY!

Today you will be getting the usual, tomatoes, peppers, onions, summer squash, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, peaches, apples and pears! Enjoy!!!

The Saturday Columbia Farmers' Market was very good. We were very busy, and people were actually doing some buying. Sometimes I think people come just for something to do as there is always food and entertainment and socializing! Anyway we got rid of all our peaches, eggs, okra and quiet a few tomatoes, but still have lots of those. Only brought home one loaf of bread and it was chocolate chocolate chip zucchini bread, so that was the best one to be bringing home as far as I'm concerned!

Greg started tilling up the strawberry field yesterday evening and this morning we started making the beds and laying the drip tape and plastic. We've got five beds made and are now ready to plant as soon as the strawberry tips have good roots on them! Won't be too long, as they are looking pretty good!

We picked about 10 gallons of okra this morning in the drizzling rain! Oh that was so much fun! Then we picked 15 gallons of red peppers, then we went in for lunch and waited for the rain to quit. After lunch we picked at least 300 lbs. of heirloom tomatoes! So I sure hope everyone comes to the farmers' market tomorrow and is in a buying mood!!!!!! We also picked peaches and have some more white ones this week! Can't believe the temperature is to be down in the 50's tonight with the high tomorrow only in the 70's! That's winter to me. Greg laughed at me today because I wore my hooded sweatshirt all day!!!

Here's a recipe that was in today's Glasgow Missourian paper for those of you looking for more ideas for zucchini. Also remember that you can substitute any summer squash or mix them.

ZUCCHINI CORNBREAD CASSEROLE
4 cups shredded zucchini
1 onion, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
1 (8.5 oz.) pkg. dry corn muffin mix
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
8 oz. Cheddar cheese, shredded
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 2 quart casserole dish. In a large bowl mix together the zucchini, onion, eggs, muffin mix, salt & pepper. Stir in 4 oz. of the cheese. Spread this mixture into a greased 2 quart casserole dish; top with remaining 4 oz. of cheese. Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes.

I've been putting tomatoes in the dehydrator and peaches in the freezer! I did the Fulton Farmers' Market Wed. afternoon and this morning I'm baking for the Columbia Farmers' Market on Sat. This afternoon I'm going to Sedalia to drop off some things our daughter forgot and try to get her into the chiropractor. I've been trying to keep up with all the watering while Greg is gone this week. I think I got it all done and remembered to turn everything off! The air conditioner went off in the cooler, but I think I got that back on and going, so hopefully everything will be running fine when he gets home and there won't be any problems he has to take care of! Maybe this weekend we can get the new air conditioner put in the cooler! Need to go out and pick Elderberries before the birds get them all, hopefully I can get that done before I go to Sedalia and after I get the baking done?!!!

Here's another tomato recipe from Lane McConnell's blog for heirloom tomatoes. She's our Marketing & Local Foods Program Manager for Missouri Department of Agriculture. She was in charge of setting up the Farmers' Market at the Missouri State Fair and gave some of the cooking demonstrations during the fair. I hope everyone had a chance to go and visit the fair. We did not get to go this year as this past week was busy spent getting 3 kids off to colleges in different directions and at different times, but Lane and the crew at the Missouri Department of Agriculture do a lot of hard work to help us farmers and promote local produce! They make our jobs a little easier and have lots of programs and information to help us! Thanks Lane, Sarah, Tony and crew!!!!

Dress-Up Tomatoes
By Lane
3-4 different heirloom tomatoes, sliced
feta cheese, herb flavored
balsamic vinegar
basil leaves, chopped
kosher salt
On a tray, plate your tomato slices. Sprinkle with a little kosher salt, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with feta cheese and fresh basil.
* This is a very easy way to add some zing to a simple plate of tomatoes.
Posted by Lane at 8/24/2009

Wow can you believe this weather?! Hard to believe it's the end of August when the temperature is 62 degrees outside this morning! Needless to say our garden is not doing as good as it should be. The okra is only about 3 foot high and normally this time of year it is over 6 foot tall. The eggplant and peppers are not growing very tall either, but they are setting fruit pretty well. The deer are keeping the cucumbers and green beans trimmed down. Greg has sprayed hot pepper repellent on things and that has slowed them down some, but the rain washes it off and then he has to re spray and that stuff is not cheap! I guess this winter we will have to work on a deer fence around the entire property! UGH!!!! Tomorrows boxes are getting more of the same. This week there will be eggplant and potatoes and maybe not okra. There will be plenty of heirloom tomatoes and some summer squash. Not sure about peaches as we are in between trees ripening, but maybe some more apples. We will look at those this evening when Greg gets home and see what there is. Then of course there's always onions and eggs! Add a little cheese & salsa and you've got the makings for a great omelet!

We got our daughter off to college yesterday, so all the kids are now gone! Now to get their rooms all cleaned and straightened up! I will miss my daughter as her job was everything pertaining to the house; laundry, vacuuming, mopping, bathroom, burning trash, recycle, cooking, doing dishes, running errands, grocery shopping, cleaning the cat litter boxes, etc.!!!!! Well guess I'd better get off here and get some laundry done! YUCK!!!

Well I hope you all are enjoying your heirloom tomatoes! We picked all day yesterday and had tons of tomatoes! We also picked zucchini, cucumbers, peppers and okra. We did pretty good today at Columbia Farmers' Market, Fulton's wasn't to great. Here are a couple of tomato recipes to help you get rid of all your tomatoes!

SOUTHWESTERN HEIRLOOM TOMATO SALAD
This heirloom tomato salad won the People's Choice Award at the 2003 Kendall-Jackson Heirloom tomato Festival. Serve it warm or chilled, as an accompaniment to grilled chicken, meat, or fish. - Chef Fred Langley's on the Green
1tsp. cumin seeds
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 large heirloom tomato, seeded and diced
2 1/2 cups corn kernels (about 4 lg. ears)
2 cups cooked black beans, or 1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained
Kosher salt & freshly ground pepper to taste.
In a dry, medium nonreactive saute' pan over high heat, toast the cumin seeds, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Let cool and grind in a spice grinder or in a mortar.
In the same pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute' for 1 minute. Add the tomato and corn kernels and saute' for another minute. Add the black beans and ground cumin and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm, or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Serves 4

HEIRLOOM TOMATO BLOODY MARY SHRIMP SALSA
Zesty homemade roasted-tomato Bloody Mary mix is added to a fresh tomato salsa with shrimp to create a dish reminiscent of the Mexican Shrimp cocktails served in tall glasses. Regardless of its provenance, it will have you guests hovering around it. Chef Michael Dunn, Yankee Pier restaurant
2 large heirloom tomatoes, finely diced
12 oz. bay (cocktail) shrimp
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 pasilla chili, seeded and finely diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp. sliced green onion
1/2 cup Roasted Tomato Bloody Mary Mix (see recipe below)
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp. fresh lime juice
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
Fresh tortilla chips for serving
In a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes, shrimp, onion, chili, cilantro, green onions, Bloody Mary mix, and lemon & lime juices; toss well with a spoon. Season with salt & pepper. Serve with tortilla chips. Serves 4-6

ROASTED HEIRLOOM TOMATO BLOODY MARY
Making your own roasted-tomato Bloody Mary mix is easy, and the flavor is beyond comparison with store-bough mixes. - Chef Michael Dunn, Yankee Pier restaurant
2 red heirloom tomatoes, quartered
1/2 onion, cut into large dice
1 jalapeno chili, stemmed
1/4 cup vodka
1/4 cup tomato water
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
fresh lemon juice to taste
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the tomatoes, onion, and chili in a non-reactive roasting pan in one layer and roast for about 25 minutes, or until lightly browned. Add the vodka and tomato water to the pan and roast for another 15 minutes. Transfer the roasted vegetables to a blender, add the cilantro, and puree until smooth. Season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days. Makes 2 cups.

TOMATO WATER
This pure, clear tomato juice is the distillation of the tomato taste. Use it to intensify the tomato flavor in any recipe.
1 lb. ripe tomatoes, chopped
Place the tomatoes in a sieve set over a bowl and let drain for about 2 hours, or until the tomatoes stop dripping. To further clarify the tomato water, strain it through cheesecloth or a coffee filter. Use the drained tomatoes in another recipe; a sauce made with them will be less watery than if made with un-drained tomatoes. Makes about 1/2 cup.

The above recipes came from "The Heirloom Tomato Cookbook" by Mimi Luebbermann

Got our son home so put him to work this morning running waters and putting straw in chicken nests. I'm baking zucchini, chocolate zucchini and persimmon bread for market. I did get blackberry jam and jalapeno blackberry jam made on Monday. So now I have to get that labeled. I need to get the dried tomatoes out of the dehydrator and get something else going in there. Have quite a few peppers that need something done with them, guess they'll be next!

Yesterday was box day. The half shares got heirloom tomatoes, peaches, apples, okra, peppers, eggs, onions , cucumber and summer squash. The full shares got the same, only more of each!

Our help is abandoning us, so we are going to have to start picking on Mondays and doing the packaging and boxing on Tues. in order for it to get done on time! Greg came home early from work yesterday intending to get the airconditioner replaced in the cooler, but he ended up helping me finish boxing and didn't get to the airconditioner till later and therefor didn't get it finished!

Today we sliced up some second tomatoes and filled up our dehydrator and sliced up some second peaches and put in the freezer. I have to go later to pick up our son at the Kansas City airport and of course our daughter wants to stop by the Independence Mall to go shopping! Not sure that one is going to happen!

Here is another Okra recipe that I found for those of you who are looking for something new to do with all that okra! I also dehydrate it and use it in the winter in soups and gumbo and of course you can also pickle it if you like pickled okra!

STIR FRIED OKRA WITH SPICES

1lb. fresh okra, trimmed and sliced in 1/2" thick rounds
1 cup thinly sliced onion
2 Tbsp. canola or olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground fennel
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. kosher salt

The following recipe is from cookbook author Julie Sahni. Serve over scrambled eggs, a rice pilaf or American-style, in pita bread with lots of sliced tomatoes.

Fry okra & onion in oil, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. If okra looks dry, add 3 Tbsp. water &/or cover the pan during cooking.
When vegetables are soft, stir in lemon juice. Lower heat and sprinkle on cumin, fennel, cayenne and salt. Stir fry mixture for 2 minutes or until flavors are blended.

Both markets were a little slow today. Seems to be a buying week every other week and this was the off week! Greg is busy spraying this evening. He sprayed the squash and pumpkins and is now working on the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and okra. They are calling for rain most of next week. We could use some, but hopefully not every day!

This is our last week to have the kids at home and helping and now everything is really coming in and producing up a storm! It's been good to have them home and I know they will be glad to get out of here and back to school and air conditioning!

Yesterday we finished planting the strawberry tips, now to keep them misted and not wilting! We picked today for market and just finished making a batch each of peach jam and goumi berry jam. Would like to get a batch of onion jam made or blackberry jalapeno jam made yet tonight, but we'll have to see. Still have a little picking to do and sorting and loading of trucks yet, plus chores!

RECIPES FOR SUMMER PRODUCE!

Here are a few recipes I've found that sound interesting and fairly simple. I've not tried them, but hope to get to one of them tonight!

BAKED EGGPLANT WITH TWO CHEESES
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 green bell pepper diced
2 lbs. eggplant
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cup whipping cream
8 slices mozzarella cheese 1/4" thick
1/2 yellow onion diced
1/2 red bell pepper diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup Parmesan cheese grated
Melt butter in heavy large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion & bell peppers and saute until tender, about 10 minutes. Add eggplants & bay leaf and saute until eggplant is almost tender, about 10 minutes. Add wine & chicken stock and cook until liquid evaporates, about 5 minutes. Add cream and cook until eggplant is tender & mixture is thick, stirring frequently, about 25 minutes. Mix in Parmesan. Season to taste with salt & pepper. Divide mixture amount 8 large ramekins. Top each with slice of mozzarella cheese. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Pre heat oven to 350F. Bake eggplant until heated through, about 15 minutes. Preheat broiler. Broil until cheese bubbles. Serve hot. Recipe from The Pomodoro Restaurant, Dallas, Texas. Recipe courtesy of Bon Appetit, January 1992

CHEESE AND SQUASH RELLENOS
Relleno is Spanish for "stuffed," but these chiles are actually "unstuffed." The dish is a layered casserole made of the ingredients that are often used for chiles rellenos. For convenience and to go easy on folks who might not like hot foods, this casserole is made with canned mild chiles. But feel free to substitute the chiles of your choice.
3 medium sized summer squash, sliced
1 1/2 cup cook rice
1 can (7oz.) mild chiles, chopped
6 1/2 cups grated Monterey Jack Cheese
1 tomato, sliced
2 cups sour cream
1/3 cup diced green bell pepper
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
2 Tbsp. chopped scallion, white and tender green parts
1 tsp. dried oregano
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
Bring a medium sized pot of salted water to a boil. Add the summer squash and blanch for 3 minutes, until just barely tender. Drain well.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly butter a 9x13" baking dish or a 2 quart casserole.
Spread the rice in the bottom of the baking dish. Layer the chiles, 5 1/2 cups of the cheese, the squash, and the tomato on top of the rice.
Combine the sour cream, bell pepper, cilantro, scallion, and oregano in a small bowl. Add salt & pepper to taste. Spoon this mixture over the tomato. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes, until the casserole is heated through and serve hot.
Serves 6

ZUCCHINI PANCAKES
2 medium sized zucchini, grated
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups milk or more as needed
2 Tbsp. canola oil
2 cups pancake mix
1-2 tsp. butter
Maple syrup for serving
Combine the zucchini and salt in a colander. Toss to mix and set aside to drain for 30 minutes.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk, and oil. Beat well. Stir in the pancake mix and set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
Squeeze the zucchini to eliminate any excess moisture. Fold the zucchini into the pancake mixture. If necessary, add a little more milk to thin the batter.
Preheat a griddle or large skillet over medium-low heat. Preheat the oven to 200F.
On the griddel, melt a tsp. or two of butter. When the foam subsides, ladle the batter onto the griddle. Adjust the heat as needed so that the pancakes brown on the bottoms in 2-4 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook on the second side for 1-2 minutes. Place on an ovenproof plate & keep warm in the oven while you use the remaining batter to make more pancakes. Continue until all the batter is used.
Serves 4-6
Variation To make savory zucchini pancakes, add 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese to the batter and proceed as above.

The above 2 recipes I got out of my cookbook called "The Classic Zucchini Cookbook" by Nancy C Ralston, Marynor Jordan & Andrea Chesman.

We found an air conditioner at Sears! But it was not at our Sears store it was in Sedalia! We went to Sedalia in our daughter's car and we liked to never got it in there! We finally had to take it out of the box and then we were able to get it in the back seat. Have yet to get it out of the car, that could be interesting!

Greg got the strawberry tips, so I imagine we will start on those tonight. They have to be put in pots to start rooting.
We picked zucchini last night. Some of you may be getting some big size ones. I hope to put up a couple of recipes later on things to do with them. You can grate them up and make bread of course, but I've got recipes for other things to use the grated zucchini for, too.

It's Monday again, a new week and it's starting out with a bang! Our son is flying out to Denver today, our daughter has college orientation and our strawberry tips are being delivered to Eckerts in Illinois! So my parents are taking our son to the airport, I'm going with our daughter to orientation and Greg is going to Illinois to get strawberry tips.

We are donating some produce to the Missouri State Fair's Farmers' Market that they are doing this year and they are picking it up tomorrow, plus tomorrow is box day so it is going to be a busy day tomorrow getting everything picked and ready to go.

On top of all that our air conditioning unit in our cooler is on the fritz and we are trying to locate a new one. It has to be 110 volts but we want it to be 15 to 18 BTU! So I'd better get moving!

Tuesday was box day. Full shares got summer squash, potatoes, onions, peppers, peaches, blackberries, eggs, eggplant, okra and tomatoes. Half shares got summer squash, eggplant, peppers potatoes, tomatoes, eggs, onions and peaches. It was Tuesday and box day so of course it had to rain! It rained on us while picking and washing tomatoes!

Wednesday we went to Fulton Farmers' Market and got rid of a little bit of stuff. Today I'm baking, but have cut back on it as people have backed off buying baked goods some, and we need the space for produce! Greg took off early yesterday to do some spraying and then went to the hospital in Columbia to see his mom. Megan & I went to Columbia yesterday to get Greg's tractor tire and also saw his mom while we were there.

Yesterday was a beautiful day! Greg mowed off the old strawberry beds with his flail mower and just as he was finishing up something on it broke, we have yet to determine what happened there! Then we ripped up the plastic mulch and drip tape with the mulch lifter and gathered it all up. Now it is ready for plowing. Our strawberry tips may be coming in on Friday and Greg will have to go get them on the Illinois side of St. Louis. Then we get to pot them in pots to get them rooted. He usually gets 3,000, I don't think he upped the order, at least I hope not! After we get them potted we have to keep them in the shade under misters which are on timers to keep them moist and hydrated till they root. Then after they are rooted we plant them out in the field. So we will also have to remake the beds and lay plastic and drip tape and get that all ready to go in the next couple of weeks!

Lucas & I went yesterday evening to the Kansas City airport to pick up Joe from his mission trip to Kenya. We got back shortly after midnight. While I was gone Greg blew a tire on the new tractor, so now we are running one of those down and getting it repaired!

I've got cucumbers sliced and salted and ready to be made into bread and butter pickles tonight. I've just got to get the onions sliced and ready to go, so I'd better get to it. I had a vendor in Columbia give me 2 big crates full of cucumbers in exchange for a blackberry pie, so you will probably be getting some cucumbers this week in your boxes, since the deer are eating ours and there is way more than I want to make into pickles!!!!!

Yesterday we picked peaches, tomatoes, okra, peppers and basil to take to the Columbia Farmers' market today. I baked 2 blackberry pies to take, too!

Today's market experience was so much fun in the rain!!! (Not!) We didn't do too bad considering, but would have been nice to get rid of more tomatoes! We did sell out of eggs, over 70 dozen!

When we got home we cut up the second tomatoes and put in the dehydrator, and the 2nd peaches we put in the freezer to make jam later! I really need to get some more jam made, but have to do bread and butter pickles for a lady first. I traded a blackberry pie for 2 bushels of cucumbers at market today since we don't have any cucumbers thanks to the deer! I have had requests to make jalapeno jam, and I would also like to make Blackberry jalapeno jam and sweet onion jam. I know you're all going yuck, why would you make that and what would you eat that on?! Well these kinds of jams are good to put on roasts in the crock pot or to make sauces to use when you grill, etc. They are also good on crackers with cream cheese! Any way time will tell if I get these things done or not! I always have lots of plans, but the time is another issue!!!

Here's another recipe, just in case you don't know what to do with all those peaches you've been getting or are getting tired of eating them out of hand! I don't know where it came from, I clipped it from a magazine years ago. It's probably either from Taste of Home or Southern Living, but not sure, any ways here it is.

GRILLED TO PERFECTION PEACHES
Preheat grill to medium-high. Mix 1/4 cup Kraft Special Collection Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing and 2 Tbsp. honey in small bowl. Add 4 halved & pitted fresh ripe peaches; toss to coat.
Remove peaches from dressing, reserving dressing. Grill peaches 6-8 min. or until softened, turning occasionally and brushing with reserved dressing. Place 2 peach halves on each of 4 dessert plates.
Top each serving with 2 Tbsp. thawed Cool Whip topping and a mint leaf, if desired.
Makes 4 servings
Using 2 skewers makes it easy to tun fruit on the grill. You can also substitute fresh pineapple wedges or mango slices for the peach halves.

I hope everyone is enjoying their boxes of produce! For those of you who got okra here is a new recipe I found.

OKRA PILAF
4 bacon strips, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup sliced fresh or frozen okra
2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded & chopped
1/2 tsp. salt, optional
3 cups cooked rice
In a skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove to paper towel to drain; reserve drippings. Saute onion and green pepper in reserved drippings for 6-8 minutes or until tender.
Stir in the okra, tomatoes, salt if desired and pepper; cook for 10-15 minutes or until okra is tender and liquid is absorbed. Crumble bacon; stir into rice mixture and serve immediately.
Yield 8 cups.

Here is another recipe for stuffed tomatoes

STUFFED GARDEN TOMATOES
4 medium fresh tomatoes
1 medium carrot, coarsely chopped
8 radishes, coarsely chopped
2 green onions with tops, thinly sliced
1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. butter, divided
4 tsp. grated Parmesan cheese
4 tsp. seasoned dry bread crumbs
1 tsp. sugar
Cut a thin slice from the top of each tomato. Leaving a 1/2" thick shell, scoop out pulp and discard. Invert tomatoes onto paper towels to drain.
Meanwhile, in a skillet, saute the carrot, radishes, green onions, cucumber, peas, parsley, oregano, garlic and salt in 4 Tbsp. butter until the vegetables are tender.
Stuff tomatoes and place in a greased shallow baking dish. Melt remaining butter; stir in the Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs and sugar. Sprinkle over tomatoes. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until crumbs are lightly browned.
Yield: 4 servings

Both the above recipes came from a new cookbook I got called Taste of Home The Market Fresh Cookbook.
Yesterday we went to the Fulton Farmers Market. It has really grown vendor wise. There were 15 vendors there yesterday! Now we need the customer count to grow, too! There was everything from peaches, blackberries, sweet corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, okra,potatoes, peppers, greenbeans, eggplant, onions, baked goods, jams & jellies to eggs. So if you're craving something you're not getting in your boxes be sure to check it out!

Well we got all the potatoes dug!!! Lucas worked on getting them washed and put in the cooler today. It is good to have that job done. Then he mowed the yard.

I picked okra today, and then we worked on stringing up the tomatoes. That's a job we all hate, and we always get behind on. After we strung them up Greg sprayed as there were quite a few white flies! Then Lucas & I picked blackberries while Greg picked peaches. Then there's the boxing and putting in the cooler and cleaning 12 dozen eggs and boxing and putting in the cooler...

Tomorrow we will be picking tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. Then cleaning, boxing and putting in the cooler... Ah the little jobs never end!

Wow, this weather has been amazing! It's hard to believe it's mid July and the temperatures are in the mid 80's to 60's at night!

We've had a good week. We had box day on Tuesday, and picked eggplant, okra, tomatoes, peppers, peaches and blackberries for that. We also had onions and potatoes to put in the boxes. We took excess produce to the Fulton Farmers' market on Wednesday, then I baked on Thursday and we picked again on Friday for today's markets. Greg & I went to Columbia and Lucas & Megan went to Fulton. But unfortunately blackberries didn't go well today, so I need to freeze about 16 quarts and use for jam and pies to sell later!

We've been digging on the potatoes. We have 3 rows done, and 2 and half yet to go. So far we've dug the Red Norlands, Yukon Gold's and the Nor Valley's, which are a white potato.

We've used the new tractor a couple of times to pull wagons, and it seems to work very well and easy, so I think it will be a welcome addition to the "family"!

Well yesterday was box day. It was nice and cool for picking, but the rain I could have done without! At least it didn't rain at delivery time! The full shares got okra, eggs, peaches, blackberries, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and onions. The half shares got eggs, peaches, blackberries, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and onion. I only had one person forget to pick up their box!

Sunday Greg & I went to Tennessee to get a tractor and hauled it home on Monday. So that was a long trip, but hopefully the tractor will come in very handy and put to lots of good use!

Today I'm going to the Fulton farmers' market at 3:30p.m. I have extra tomatoes, onions, eggs, peaches, eggplant and peppers to get rid of. Things are starting to pick up, but I'm not sure how this cool weather is going to effect things. The okra, eggplant and peppers like it hot and sunny!

We are one hand short now as Joe has left on his mission trip to Africa for a couple of weeks. Our son says we should get used to it, when Joe gets back our son plans to go to Colorado for a week. Then school will start the next week and we will be kiddless again! Just as things are picking up!!

Yesterday evening we started pulling onions. We have about half done and got eight buckets! I worked on getting the okra weeded and cut!

Today is baking day, so I'd better get to it!

Yesterday was box day. I hope everyone is enjoying. If you have any questions please ask as we want everyone to have a good experience and for their produce not to go to waste. We try to pick everything ripe and ready to eat, but sometimes we have to pick a little under ripe because if we wait a couple of days till it's ripe we don't have a market for it.
The tomatoes are starting to come on and we raise the regular hybrid red tomatoes, but we also raise heirloom tomatoes. Now for those of you who don't know what heirloom tomatoes are they are the original old fashioned open pollinated varieties. They come in all shapes (oblong, fluted, pear, etc.) and colors. And by colors I mean everything from red to dark burgundy, reddish brown to yellow, orange, white, multi colored (yellow with red, red with green, etc.) to neon green and also pinks! The heirlooms are sometime referred to as the ugly tomato. This refers to the fact that they don't ripen uniformally and that they tend to crack and split and are more prone to diseases. You may be asking then why raise them and the answer is TASTE!!! Over the years breeders have bred tomatoes to ripen uni formally and have the same uniform shape and color, be disease resistant and firmer for shipping purposes. This is what the grocery stores want perfect uniform fruit! But in the breeding process for these traits one has been left behind and that is the one of taste. Now that being said, again we sometimes pick them a little under ripe, so the main way to tell if they are ripe is by feel. One of the best tasting heirlooms we have is the Ananas Noir. Now if you wait for it to look ripe you will miss out on it. It will come to you looking like an unripe tomato that is starting to go rotten! It is a brownish red with sickly green coloring (hence the "Ugly Tomato" description!), but it is ripe, and when you cut into it the green part is almost a neon green color, but the taste is unbelievable! Now that I've got you all excited about that one it will be a little later before you get it but there are other heirlooms that are starting to come on, so just have an open mind about them and close your eyes if you have to and take a bite!

Market went pretty well today. We sold all our peaches and sold out of eggs! We sold a few potatoes, but dropped the price as we thought they were way to high compared to a box of peaches! We sold most of the baked goods, too. Joe went to market with us and he really got into selling!

I hope everyone is enjoying their peaches. Here is a recipe that a friend had posted on her blog, in case you're wondering what to do with your peaches! Also there's another recipe from her blog for banana peppers that sounds good! I can't wait to try it out. This next week you should be getting banana peppers and/or bell peppers, but I think it would work well with any kind of pepper.

Just Peachy Breakfast Shake
1 medium banana, frozen and sliced
1 cup frozen unsweetened peach slices
¾ cup vanilla yogurt
½ cup calcium-fortified cranberry juice
Soy protein powder (optional)
Place all ingredients in blender or food processor and process until pureed. Pour into a tall glass and serve.

Feta Stuffed Banana Peppers Adapted from www.chowhound.chow.com
5 large banana peppers, tops off and seeded
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
Feta Cheese or Goat Cheese
In a zip lock bag add salt, pepper and a little olive oil. Place cleaned peppers in bag and seal. Coat the peppers with mixture and remove from bag. Grill peppers on medium-high heat (with cover shut) for about 5 minutes on each side. Take off the grill and stuff with feta cheese (we used garlic feta) and place peppers back on grill and grill for another 2 minutes until cheese is melted.

Well I hope everyone is enjoying their boxes this week. There were peaches, blueberries or blackberries, eggs, bread, potatoes, tomatoes, kohlrabi, eggplant, peppers and herbs. The blackberries are beginning and the blueberries are on the way out.

I've been doing a little bit of repair on our strawberry row cover. It has 3 major tears in it. I hand sewed one, but I went and got some fabric glue I'm going to try to use on the rest!!!

We worked on digging potatoes yesterday. We got one row dug and got about fifteen five gallon buckets off it total! We only have four more rows to dig!

Yesterday was errand day, and as always we were busy watering. It takes a while to get it all done, and then when you finish it's time to start all over again!

Today I'm baking. I have added peach bread to the list today and am leaving out sweet potato.

What a nice week this past week was! You couldn't have asked for nicer weather to transplant plants. We got all our pumpkins, gourds, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers and melons out. We just have a few more melons to go, but they were a little on the small side. We baked on Thursday, but I cut back since market was going to be on the 4th and that's typically not a good market day. Friday we picked a couple hundred pounds of peaches to take, was a little worried about getting rid of them all at market, but we did as the big peach people were not at the market on Saturday. But as we thought, the market was slow. Even though I cut back on baking we still didn't get rid of all the baked goods, didn't sell any swiss chard or much herbs! But it was also rainy! I'm not sure how much rain we got as we haven't ever put up our rain gauge, but I've heard from people around us that we got anywhere from 5" to 7" of rain Saturday morning! We were needing some, but not that much or that fast! Yesterday Greg got some brush mowed out back so we could find some of our blackberry bushes, and the guys and I took down the electric fence around the strawberry patch. Then we gathered up the row cover and brought it in and spread it out all around the yard and drive way to dry out so we can fold it up and put it away. Today while I'm baking, I'm going to have them go out and pick up all the rocks we used to hold the row cover down and get them put out of the way. I can't decide whether to bake applesauce or persimmon bread today! Have to go to the freezer and see how the persimmon supply is doing, I know I have plenty of applesauce!

TODAY IS CSA BOX DAY!!!

We worked on planting out more pumpkins and winter squash plants. We now have three rows of about 250 plants each planted and at least another row to go!

Here's a picture that Joe took of our peach trees!

Today we are picking for the CSA boxes. The full shares are getting peaches, blueberries, eggs, sweet potato bread, green beans or yellow wax beans, egg plant and a banana pepper. The half shares are getting peaches, blueberries, eggs, kohlrabi and a small tomato, (sample of what's to come). So now I know what the next question is going to be, what is kohlrabi and what do you do with it?! Well just click on the word kohlrabi and it will take you to a web site with all the information you need! Also I know you are wondering why everyone isn't getting the same things, and that is because we are still in between the Spring and Summer crops and there isn't enough of things yet for everyone to all get some of everything. Also with the wet weather some of our plantings came up spotty so there aren't enough green beans for everyone right now, but we have another planting and will just have to wait and see how that goes. Same thing with the cucumbers and zucchini, the first planting didn't go so well, and so we have to wait on the second planting! The joys of farming, but we are trying to make sure everyone gets their dollar amount worth in their boxes that's why the half shares aren't getting bread this week. The peaches and blueberries are high dollar items so it doesn't take much to get to the ten dollar mark, but next week there probably won't be blueberries for the half shares so depending how the peppers and eggplant do you may get bread again! I hope this make sense to everyone and explains how this all works.

Well I screwed up the watering again! I forgot to turn off the potatoes and it ran all day & evening! So they flooded and the other watering I did didn't get enough because there wasn't enough water pressure! So Greg had to re-water on Friday! Then I forgot to check the greenhouse Friday morning and things in there wilted. Greg was able to get water going on them and revived them. I'm not making his life very easy so after market on Saturday I left for the rest of the weekend to go up to Iowa to a family reunion! While I was gone he and the guys started planting the winter squash and pumpkins (that I almost killed in the greenhouse) out in the field! Hopefully Monday will go better!

Today I baked for market. Since blueberries are going now I added blueberry muffins. I also made a peach cobbler to take to the Callaway Food Circle pot luck tonight. I have also worked on running waters. We got the potatoes done then worked on the tomatoes, okra, peppers and eggplant. I picked an eggplant yesterday and noticed that there were several banana peppers coming along!! Also saw that the yellow wax beans need to be picked and there is some kohlrabi, too! I picked two red tomatoes out of the hoophouse, so things are coming along. You may not like this hot humid weather, but the veggies sure do!!

Wow yesterday was a scorcher! My clothes were soaked through and through picking lettuce in the hoop house! Oh well my own personal sweat lodge/sauna! No expensive high-falutent spas for me! Works just as well to sweat out all those impurities and melt all that excess body fat, (should have lost at least 20 pounds!!!). At least that's what I tell myself to make me feel better about the whole ordeal!

TODAY IS CSA BOX DAY!!!

It's going to be a hot one again today! Got to get out there early this morning to pick lettuce. Don't know how much of that there will be. The radishes are pretty much done, there won't be any potatoes today or turnips, so you might be asking "well what will there be?". There's going to be bread, eggs, lettuce, blueberries and PEACHES!!! That's right the peaches are starting! Today's will be a white variety, and they are good! So hope you enjoy and see you this afternoon!

Friday was picking day for Columbia farmers' market, but we are kind of in between plantings and there wasn't much but some lettuce mix to pick. So after that was done Greg & I made jam. We made cherry, raspberry strawberry, strawberry rhubarb, blackberry and persimmon! That made the kitchen nice and steamy!

Saturday we went to market. There wasn't anything for the guys to take to Fulton except eggs and since it was the Street Fair and that market would be in a different location we didn't send them. They instead came over to Columbia with us. Then stayed afterwards and went swimming at the ARC!

Today Lucas & I had to take his girlfriend to the Kansas City airport to catch her flight home. So this next week should be loads of fun while he adjusts to being "single" again! Hopefully he will handle it well, we'll just have to work him extra hard so he has no time to think about her! Ha-Ha-Ha!

Wow, I realized I haven't posted anything all week! So I thought I'd better post or you all might think we've been slacking off!!

Monday was baking day for market, and I had Lucas & his girlfriend who is visiting for the week from Colorado, do the baking. My foot was very sore and standing on it was not fun. Then I got an appointment to get it x-rayed and to see the doctor so they took me, since it was my right toe and I didn't know if I could drive! Joe finished up the baking and wrapped all the bread for me. The x-ray showed nothing broke, cracked or chipped, so that was good!

Tuesday was picking day for the CSA delivery boxes. That was fun in the rain! But at least my foot felt better and I could walk on it. The full shares got big loaf of bread, eggs, blueberries, swiss chard, lettuce, radishes, turnips and potatoes. The half shares got little loaf of bread, swiss chard, lettuce, blueberries, eggs & potatoes.

Wednesday was errand day. Joe & I planted 11 more flats of tomatoes for fall. I put straw in the chicken nests, and got 2 of the fans cleaned and running in there. Then about 2:30p.m we left to go up to Glasgow to see Greg's family and were up there all evening. So we missed the big storm that went through last night. Doesn't look like we got any damage, a few little branches down, but nothing major. We couldn't tell up there watching the news, they kept talking about Ham's Prairie having a tornado! So that was exciting!

Today I had Lucas' girlfriend helping me bake, while the guys were outside weeding and they put another fan up in the attic window of the chicken house and opened up a couple more windows!

Well I worked a little bit yesterday afternoon weeding some more on one of the lettuce beds, not going very fast! Greg worked on mowing and spraying the weeds between the broccoli and onion beds out back.

Our son's girlfriend from Denver arrived for a visit this morning. She'll be here for a week! (another hired hand?!) Which I may need this week. When I went out this morning to the barn to feed the cats and do chores I somehow caught my foot and fell taking my boot completely off my foot! I caught my big toe and wrenched it, I don't know if it's dislocated, Greg thinks it's broke, but it is swelled up nice, and very, very painful!

Most of the flats we planted the other day with winter squash, cucumbers and pumpkins and gourds are up! Today we did about 4 more with different melons. Greg worked at replanting some of the tomatoes that had died when we transplanted them outside last week. And he planted some rhubarb plants that we got yesterday at market. We'll see if we can get those going. We've tried for years to get rhubarb to grow and just haven't had any luck. We never had a problem with when we lived in Kansas, and it shouldn't be that difficult! I spent most of the day with my foot up and ice on it. The new bed worked really nice for that as it is one that you can raise the feet and head!!

Well another so-so day at market! We are a bit between plantings, so didn't have a lot to take to market. The guys only took eggs to Fulton. Greg & I had some onions, but brought most home, 6 bags of lettuce mix, 6 quarts pie cherries, baked goods, jams & jellies, eggs, dried apples and plants. But the exciting news for our CSA customers (who get first priority!) is that blueberries are starting to ripen! So hopefully by Tuesday everyone will get a little container of them!

We spent yesterday picking for market, and then did yard work; mowing, cutting weeds and tree suckers, and hauling off old dead branches. We still have ice storm damage to clean up from winter before last! I also started weeding some of the new lettuce beds in the garden. Have quite a ways to go there, but it is almost too wet to weed as the weeds come out with the mud clumped to the roots, which pulls out the lettuce, too!!!! Our wild purslane is going strong, as it likes wet conditions! I put some of it in our lettuce mixes. It is high in omega 3, protein, vitamins E & C. Click on the word purslane to find out all about it!

Yesterday was errand day, clean the house day, laundry day, etc. Greg & I got a new bed and that was delivered yesterday, so we played musical beds getting rid of an old twin bed that Greg had in collage, and moving our old bed into the spare bedroom, which meant a lot of vacuuming and rearranging! Then when Greg got home we did a lot of measuring from the barn to this hydrant, the hoop house to that field, this field to that field, etc. as we are looking at putting in a automatic water system. That way I won't have to remember to go out and turn this water on to that field and run only 1 hour (not all afternoon) and switching valves to water another area and forgetting to turn the hydrant back on! Or keeping track of which area was watered on which day, and whose turn is next, etc.!!!!!! Greg says it will all be on timers, and will switch valves and everything by itself! That way we can also water 24-7! It's the pits to wake up in the middle of the night and remember that you left a hydrant on somewhere and have to go out and turn it off!

Today was baking day for farmers market. So while I did that the guys cleaned house, delivered eggs, took the recycling to town, ran water in the hoop houses and one did his laundry! I filled up 10 more trays with dirt to start fall tomatoes and pulled and cut out weeds along the backyard fence. Found some poison ivy in there, so when I finished I took a good long shower! I sure hope I don't break out in that stuff! While I was outside working Joe wrapped and labeled all the baked goods for me. I hate that job!

I signed up another full share CSA member today. That puts us up to 25 half shares and 10 full shares for a total of 35 members! That really beat our expectations for our first year of this new venture! So I just want to thank all of our members for their support and enthusiasm, because a lot of this was by word of mouth from you to your friends and co workers, etc.!

Well we had a nice down pour of rain early this morning! Think I may have even heard a little bit of hail. But we were needing a little rain, just wish it hadn't come quite so fast and hard! Yesterday we worked on digging out and unclogging our driveway culvert that had gotten stopped up so the ditch water ran over the driveway and just sat in the ditch between both our drives! We then worked on getting those flats of dirt planted. We planted all kinds of winter squash, pumpkins, gourds, summer squash and cucumbers! Now to keep the mice from digging the seeds up and eating them!

Market today was slow at both Fulton and Columbia. We brought home onions, lettuce mix, and as always eggs! That's one thing that's nice about the CSA. We know how much to pick and know that it is sold, and we won't be bringing anything home! That is unless one of you forget to pick up your boxes! We had three this week forget, but one did call the next morning and we were able to deliver.

Thursday I had Lucas cleaning gutters, and all the branches off the roof of the house. Joe trimmed on our shrubs in front of the house. Looks so much better!!! Thursday and Friday evening we worked on getting all the tomato stakes pounded in. Greg did the pounding and wore out his post driver! The end came off while he was pounding in one post and hit him in the thigh! Nice little scrape and bruised area there! Then we got the first string on all the tomatoes put up. I think that is the earliest we've ever managed to get that job done! Course we have to keep on top of it as they grow, that's the hard part!

This evening Greg worked up a couple more beds, and we planted some more green beans! Greg went out to change some waterers, and saw a deer at the far end of our potato beds! I don't think we're going to have much broccoli, between the rabbits and the deer?!!!

Well it's Thursday, that means baking day! Today we are doing banana, coconut banana, sweet potato, persimmon, applesauce and rosemary flat bread. Probably some sort of cookie, maybe oatmeal cranraisin, since we did chocolate chip last week. I've run out of frozen zucchini, so everyone will just have to wait until zucchini season before they can have zucchini bread again!

Yesterday spent the morning doing errands. Then worked on getting 50 more flats filled with dirt and ready to seed again. We have to start the pumpkins, winter squash, gourds and probably more cucumbers & summer squash yet. Then there's the fall tomato plants to get started a little later.

Greg and I worked on thinning the peach trees. Got most done, have a few more trees in our little orchard yet to go.

TODAY IS CSA BOX DAY!!!

Today there will be no strawberries, they are pretty much done! The full shares are going to get lettuce, onion, radishes, swiss chard, turnips, peas, eggs, mizzuna & bread. The half shares are getting lettuce, onion, peas, bread & eggs. The cherries are starting to ripen, but not enough for today, maybe next week!

Yesterday after baking, the boys and I went out and thinned on the peach trees. That is a job that no one likes! We still have a ways to go. Greg sprayed the orchard when he got home from work. We also need to get the new tomatoes stakes in so we can start stringing them up, and might as well do the peppers and eggplants, too!

Saturday morning started out with a big rain storm and wind moving through. We got loaded up before it hit, but drove through it to Columbia. By the time we got there it had pretty much passed. But the morning was still chilly and drizzly for a while. We didn't do too good at market, but then it looked like a lot of people took home produce. Just wasn't a buying day. Seems like every other week is a buying week and last week we sold out mostly, so this was the off week?! The strawberries are on the down hill slide, getting fewer and smaller, but still good! Was too wet to plant yesterday after the morning rain storm, so we are working on it today. We've got most of it done, just have to get my stevia, oregano and rosemary plants that we dug up last fall and over wintered in the greenhouse out and planted. Oregano is a perennial and will over winter outside, but I like to have it in the greenhouse to take cuttings off of and start more to sell and set out in the Spring. The stevia and rosemary will not over winter here, and again I like to take cuttings in January & February to start new plants to sell. Years ago when I first started growing stevia it was very hard to get the seed, and then it cost about 50 cents a seed, and germination was about 40%! So I started taking cuttings and rooting them. Stevia works very well with this method. For those of you who don't know what stevia is it is a natural sweetener. It is good for diabetics, and it can be bought in powdered form in health food stores. It's about 5 times sweeter than sugar! You can google it and read all about it!

Thursday Joe & I baked for the Columbia Farmers' Market. We did banana, applesauce, sweet potato, persimmon and strawberry breads, chocolate chip cookies, and rosemary flat bread. Sure was nice to have help in the kitchen! While we did that Lucas cleaned house! Then when we finished all that we went out and finished stringing up the tomatoes in the hoop house. When Greg came home we finished planting the tomatoes and most of the okra out in the back field where we've been working. We have 1/2 flat of okra to finish planting and 3 flats of basil, and some other herbs to get in the ground yet.

Today the boys picked strawberries while Greg and I did the greens and radishes. We noticed the potatoes were infested with bugs as we walked past them to the strawberry field, so Greg got the back pack sprayer out and sprayed on them! Greg picked onions and the boys cleaned and bunched them. With the extra help we got done pretty early, so took the afternoon off. When it cools off a little later I think the plan is to finish planting the okra and basil!

I keep asking Joe if he's having fun yet, and he keeps telling me he is. I'd better quit asking him while I'm ahead, he may decide differently one of these days! I asked him what his favorite thing was so far and he said baking; I asked what his least favorite part was and he said the ants! He had picked up a tray of okra plants to carry out of the greenhouse that had an ant colony under it and they got all over him! He said it felt like he had ants crawling all over him for the next 2 hours!!

This morning was spent running errands; post office, bank, drug store, library, eye glass place (to get my glasses adjusted because the cat knocked them off the night stand Friday night and I stepped on them getting out of bed!), feed store, grocery store and good old Walmart! Sure was nice to have two guys at home to help unload everything and put it away! That is my least favorite part! I had the guys busy tearing off the Virgina Creeper off the back side of the house while I was in town. It has taken over the North end of the house completely covering everything, including windows! Then I worked for awhile in the hoop house with tomatoes, getting them strung up, still have three rows to go. Then Greg came home from work and we all planted tomatoes out in the newly made beds. Have two more trays to go, and then get to start on the okra! I had hung laundry up outside and it was still damp when I took it down at 8:00 p.m. tonight! But this cool moist weather is good for the transplants we are getting set out! Usually when we set them out it's hot and sunny and they wilt and get sun burned

We started planting our beds Monday. Greg and Lucas got the sweet potatoes planted, while I baked for CSA today. Then in the afternoon we worked on getting the peppers and eggplant planted, and started on the tomatoes. The rain ended it early for us.

Today is CSA box day! The full shares got 2 qt. strawberries, eggs, applesauce bread, radishes, turnips, peas, onions, swiss chard and mixed lettuce. The half shares got 1 qt. strawberries, eggs, bread, radishes, 1 turnip, onions & mixed lettuce. It rained most of the morning off and on, so picking was fun! Luckily the greens was in the hoop house and that's where we were when most of the rain occurred, but it showered on us a little while picking the strawberries!