Week 17: Indian Summer

Heyo!  Here it is September 1^st and here we are with our 17^th box!  Well, 2 of us are moving, but last week we got 2 new sign-ups!  New folks:  please visit the blogspot for our Intro to the CSA letter, the first of each season.  The main point of it is:  please return boxes!  Everybody:  we are out of the medium size green boxes!!!  Where have they gone?  I bought 500 of them ($77.) 2 months ago and they're gone!  Please return all little and medium green boxes to me! Thanks!  So many of you are awesome about returning all the boxes, thank you!   Also, cheese folks,  please return the ThermaFreeze coolers.  They are re-usable.  If it's punctured, I will notice and quit using it or cut out the bad spot. Thanks to those of you who have been returning them.

This week's box:  looks super yummy in my mind's eye:  1/3 pound original blend salad from 8^th Street, some of you get cherry tomatoes (Bing Cherry, Black Cherry and Sun Golds) from 8^th Street and some of you get Ozette Potatoes from Sky's Field.  Next week, we'll reverse who gets potatoes and tomatoes.  The carrots and Walla Walla onions are from Yonder Farm.  The sweet corn is from Bunny Laine.  The Santa Rosa plums are from Bartella's Orchard, #2s, certified organic.

Cheese share gets Larkhaven Farm's "Grate Tomme," an amazing grated hard cheese.

Fruit Share:  2 lbs of Santa Rosa Plums, 2 lbs of Summer Red summer apples from Filaree Fruit and a melon from Art Heinemann who's fields are in Tonasket, certified organic.  I've heard the legend of his melon crop for years but have never eaten any.  Looking forward to receiving them this Wednesday, it'll be a surprise to see which varieties he provides.  Hoping to get 50 melons from him for everybody next week.  The weather's about to cool, though.  The melon crops are not fond of cooler nights.  But we're all planning on an Indian Summer, yes?! 

Traditional Native American 'three sisters' crop: corn, beans, and squash.

Gorgeous yellow squash flowers! Photo by Painted Sky Warrior

Speaking of an Indian Summer, our friend Sky has planted a beautiful field of the traditional Native American 3 sisters crop. . . corn, beans and squash.  Maize, for drying, storage and grinding, will be forming its gorgeous colors soon, as I've been watching their tassels dance in the breeze.  Painted Sky Warrior planted Painted Mountain corn and Mandan Bride corn.  He also planted Garbanzo, Adzuki, Pinto and Black Turtle Beans, from the four corners area of the Southwest. The field is bordered by winter squash plants. 

Garbanzo beans!

The north part of the field houses delicious potatoes:  All-Blue, All-Red and Ozette.  The Ozette are a slow-food seed-save crop.  The Makah people of Western Washington had the potato land in their territory about 200 years ago and they loved it and preserved its seed in their gardens each year since.  I told Sky about the Ozette seed being more readily available now, as Slow-Food International had encouraged it's widespread preservation, and Sky found some to plant from Dave's Potato Seed in Washington.  I'm so excited to eat some!  Michael Pilarski has been growing them in small quantities, but never enough to put in the CSA.  Now we get to! 

Painted Sky Warrior grows 3 varieties of potatoes and 9 different beans.

So, I'm glad Sky presented the opportunity for me to loan field space to a beginner farmer.  He's built the soil up nicely, using all organic amendments and peat from Bonaparte and fish emulsion for the nitrogen-demanding corn and beans.  He's also mulched the potatoes with hay from Albert Roberts.  So, I didn't have to cover-crop and water, and he's had the opportunity to experiment and learn about growing his own crops!    And thanks to Jim and Sherry, 8^th Street Green's neighbors, for the use of their field for a 3^rd year! 

Sky shows the inside of seed pods from his Purple Peruvian Potatoes. He wants his potatoes to cross polinate in order to create a new variety that will be climatized to this area.

Most folks snip off the flowering buds from their potato plants. If you don't, these seed pods may develop.

(Wow!  Those green beans from Yonder Farm were amazing.  We ate them pan-steamed with a little salt, then sprinkled shredded parmesan on them.  Yum!  I want more!)

~~A prune is a dried plum;   Prunes used to be dried on the tree and in the sun like raisins, but nowadays they are dried in forced air tunnels heated by gas, this gives a more uniform product.       ~~The Japanese plum should be called the Chinese plum because the Japanese imported the fruit 200 to 300 years ago from the Chinese that had cultivated the fruit for thousands of years. The Japanese spread the fruit allover the world and so it became the Japanese plum.      ~~Plums stimulate the bowel movement. Its skin contains a substance that is responsible for that effect. If you peel the fruit you won't be bothered with the well known side effects of this lovely fruit.  ~~Plums are high in carbohydrates, low in fat and low in calories. Plums are an excellent source of vitamin A, calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium and fiber. Plums are free of sodium and cholesterol. Like all fruit plums contain a substantial amount of vitamin C.                                                                                          And here we are, school is back, the season begins to change, and so does the food. . . best!  ~~sh.