Riverbend Farm CSA Week 12

If this is week 12, then we only have 6 more weeks of CSA.  Bummer!  This week we have: watermelon, rapini, beans, BIG peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, broccoli, and those eat-all-parts french radishes.  We got quite a pile of potatoes at home now, but that's not a complaint.  Organic potatoes are much-much-much less chemical laden than the conventional ones.  I'm storing our stockpile in the basement workroom - kind of like a root cellar - so that they "keep" for a few months at least.

State fair finds for 2013. Crop art was so-so. Lots of craft beer creations; trendy trendy.

It seems like fall is the time of year when I stumble across the most interesting things when I'm out-and-about.

This guy was actually spewing a cloud of spores - nature in action!

Riverbend Farm CSA Week 11

Potatoes, eggplant, radishes, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, beans, and a muskmelon.

This is the weekend harvest of tomatoes from my garden. We are a little overrun with cheery tomatoes and ground cherries right now - which is OK because the chickens think they are candy.  The green leaves on the right are also for the chickens.  And on the left is some lettuce that has gone to seed which I'll be saving (the seed).

My pole bean tunnel at the school garden. Success!

Riverbend Farm CSA Week 10

New Kennebec potatoes, scallions, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers, mizuna red mustard mix, bell peppers, radishes, and Whitney crab apples.

Five fresh eggs from...

three new backyard chickens.

Monday past. A sprained foot.  Regular doctor said  "If it does not get better by next Monday, come back."

The following weekend, the sprained foot remains sore and unwalkable. We pushed Pete around in a wheelchair at the state fair.  Not as much fun as usual, but better than staying at home all day.

Monday (today). A trip to the foot doctor gets him a walking cast - which will make going to school much easier, and a correctly healed foot more promising.

Riverbend Farm CSA Week 9

Eggplant, zucchinis, onions, arugula, tomatoes, hot and green peppers, kale, radishes, and white potatoes.

I might try this on Peter. So far he is a "no" with raw zucchini.

Dust thin rounds of zucchini with flour.
Pan frying in olive oil until golden brown.
Sprinkle with grated lemon peel, salt and pepper. (From Cooking Out Of The Box)

Riverbend Farm CSA Week 8

Potatoes, kale (which I blanched and froze for winter soup), mizuna (which I have to admit, is not really working for me), cabbage, broccoli, onions, eggplant, fantastic cucumbers, a pepper, and zucchini.

I pledge allegiance...

...and Food Justice for all.
From the Hudson Valley Seed Library.

Today I harvested select items from the garden - kale, collard greens, kohlrabi, and cabbage to make room for some fall arugula and green onions.  Due to the wet & cool season, we've only been able to eat off of one orange cherry tomato plant.  All the rest are in some sort of green limbo.

This is a tender cabbage that is pointed vs ball shaped.  It was a seasonal food we ate DK.  I grew this one from seed ordered from Johnny's - Early Green, Carafex F1 hybrid.

Riverbend Farm CSA Week 7

Red kale, arugula, radishes, broccoli, eggplant, and sweet yellow peppers. Not visible are new potatoes (Red Norland) and two heads of early Jersey Wakefield cabbage.

Giant purple kohlrabi from our garden.

A day visit from Aitkin to Grand Rapids to visit Linda's girls (and others).

Grandma paddling Pete around the lake.

Deep concentration while untangling his line.

Riverbend Farm CSA Week 6

Onions, broccoli, arugula, coarse ground cornmeal, radishes, zucchini, eggplant, cucumber, and a HOT!!! pepper.

The newsletter from Greg (the farmer) commented on how the zucchinis and cukes are doing poorly this year due to a lack of pollinators. This - of course - is very worrisome.

Although caring about the environment can be so continually depressing two positives for the week were 1) numerous bumble bees on my bergamot blossoms, and 2) finding zucchinis at the school garden that are producing blossoms and fruit.