Thursday 30 July 2009

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!

Monday 27 July 2009

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!

Saturday 25 July 2009

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"!

Wednesday 22 July 2009

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!

Thursday 16 July 2009

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!

Wednesday 15 July 2009

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!

Saturday 11 July 2009

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.

Thursday 9 July 2009

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.

Monday 6 July 2009

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!