CSA Newsletter #8
/One of the most exciting times of the year…corn is ready! Something we wait for all season! We planted seed in mid May and hold our breath until little shoots appear. Then we diligently work on keeping the weeds out and giving the best conditions for it to grow. In July we begin to see little tassels peaking out and we know we are within 3-5 weeks of harvesting. In early August, we begin testing the ears of corn to see how ready they are. It’s like when you are traveling to the lake and everyone in the car has a race to see who sees the lake first. We have the same race except with the first ripe ear of corn. This year it was our son Ethan who texted me at the fair and said, “The Corn is ready!” Music to our ears!
This ear of corn in the picture was my first taste of corn this season. I always eat my corn raw for the first time each season. It allows me to truly taste it and evaluate it. Folks, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Standing on a beautiful cool morning in the middle of our corn field and tasting some of the best, if not the best, sweet corn we have grown! I hope you all enjoy it this week! Just a heads up too…since our corn is organic, other critters love it as much as we do! So, you may want to husk it outside and leave the earwigs out there instead of in your kitchen!
We got home Sunday night from the fair! Exhausted in a good way! Now it’ll take us this week to recuperated and clean up everything. Our son took his first steer and did amazing for his first year. His steer, Delta, took 3rd place in class and was given a blue ribbon. Gus also earned a blue ribbon in showmanship. Delta sold at auction on Saturday to TrailWest Bank who is donating to the FoodBank! How cool is that?!
Gus also won purple ribbons and special awards for his Communications project and his Self-Determined project about his Farm-to-Table Benefit Dinner on Valentines’ Day this past year. He organized a dinner at the farm with the proceeds going to the Montana Farm Bureau to help with farmer and rancher mental health and suicide prevention. His awards were well earned and it’s nice he was recognized for the effort.
What’s in the Bags this week…..
Corn: Yum!
Tomatoes: We barely can keep up with the tomatoes! They are ripening so fast! Jon is making a batch of fresh pico de gallo everyday!
Garlic: With tomatoes and basil, you’ve got to have garlic! You can never have enough, in my opinion!
Basil: The plants this year, just keep on giving abundantly. If you need a big bunch to make pesto to freeze, let me know and we’ll harvest some for you!
Beans: Here’s a recipe to try since you have the garlic….https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/230103/buttery-garlic-green-beans/
Cucumbers: I’m making Cucumbers and Cream with onions tonight for our send off dinner for our son Logan who is heading back to college tomorrow! This dish is a family favorite! This recipe is very close to our family recipe: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/sour-cream-cucumbers/
Onions: These are still sweet onions. We are harvesting them madly and will be moving on to the reds and the whites soon. Followed by the yellow storage onions.
Beets: Here is a great link with some fun and different ideas for beets: https://insanelygoodrecipes.com/beet-recipes/
We gave you a week off of zucchini! LOL! Figured the bags were full enough and you might need extra time to find some more fun ways to use them! Don’t worry though, we’ve got a huge harvest coming in from the gardens today, so there is plenty!
