Our last delivery will be Tuesday, October 28. I’m telling you early what we expect to have so you can reply early. I will be doing the last farmer’s market of the year this coming Saturday, the 25th. I need your orders before Saturday so I can hold back what you want and not take it to the market to sell.

There will still be some tomatoes. I’m finding that, although they look nice, their flavor is not as good as when they were getting warmer days.

We will have scallop squash and another globular summer squash that tastes the same as the scallop ones. If you’d like a larger one for soup, let me know. There should still be plenty of smaller ones, too.

Sweet peppers are maturing to their red, gold, and chocolate colors, so you can order colors as well as regular green peppers. There are still a few jalapeños and anaheims.

I will be digging horseradish and sunchokes. See our website for ways to prepare them. I have read that horseradish can be frozen after it’s prepared but haven’t tried it yet. Sunchokes do not freeze well but they will keep in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several weeks.

There will be green beans. These are a new variety and I haven’t tasted them yet. They are slender and only about 4 inches long. Very gourmet looking!

And we will have ching chiang, a dwarf type bok choi. Also mizuna, a Japanese cabbage I like in salads, stir fry, and soup.

We’ll still have cutting celery and sorrel.

I had hoped to have Brussels sprouts, but they are still only pea sized.

Eggs are scarce as hen’s teeth as the saying goes so, regretfully, you will not be getting eggs.

We have lots of tomatoes. However it’s forecasted to turn cool later in the week so this may be our last abundance of tomatoes. I’m listing what we have in case you want to tell me your preferences: sugar daddy cherry, blushing yellow salad, white currant, yellow pear, orange banana, better boy (red), lemon boy (yellow), and heirloom pinks.

We have red Anaheim peppers. Consider drying one to crush for red pepper flakes.
We have jalapeños and garlic.
We have a few medium sized zucchini and some small scallop squashes.
And we have a few of my first crop of pears! I think they are Bartletts.

Egg production continues to be diminished and probably no one will receive more than a half dozen.

Although the tomatoes may be limited this week, we will have some. I just can’t say which varieties. I do have peppers: red bells, large long green bell types, and jalapeños. We continue to have tomatillos and garlic. I’m pretty sure you can get Armenian cucumbers this week. There are plenty on the vines if the sun will just appear on Monday to help them finish growing. We have smaller (6 inch) scallop squash. Egg production is definitely decreasing now, so you may receive only half an order.

On the brighter side, fall greens, bok choi, etc. and fall green beans are looking good. I hope to get some lettuce in this week, too.

We have lots of different veggies to offer this week, none of them in large supply, so it will be first requested, first to receive.

Blackberries are still producing, though not in large numbers.
Peppers include Anaheim’s (mildly hot), jalapeños, and a few colored sweet bell types (red, yellow, chocolate).
Garlic.
Armenian cucumbers.
Burpless cucumbers.
Tomatoes – request what type you’d like.
Tomatillos – actually there are plenty of these. Would you like the ingredients for Dean’s salsa with them?
Scallop summer squash – there are plenty of these, too. We have smaller sized ones, 5 or 6 inches across, and larger ones, good for any style cooking including stuffing.

We continue to have eggs.

The garden looks a little sparse this week. The “cool” weather seems to have slowed down tomato ripening, and it just got going! We will have some; I’m just not sure how many.

We will have burpless cucumbers and Armenian cucumbers, but no pickling cucumbers.

We have “cabbage sprouts”, small loose cabbages, good for braising or adding to salads. There are a few bags of red cabbage sprouts, too. There’s a recipe for braised cabbage in the recipe section.

We have about one order of tomatillos.

There are fewer blackberries now but you can still order some.

I won’t have time to dig potatoes this week because we are putting hay in the barn.

We are still getting eggs.

I hope you are enjoying this wonderful weather! I’m so thankful we’re not having a drought this year. I still have pasture for the sheep. This time last year I was already feeding hay.

I think we’ll have plenty of TOMAOTES this week. Tell me if you want more or less than you had last week. And I’ll try to give you choices on variety. There are big, meaty pink ones, lemon boy, orange banana (orange paste type), green zebra, small yellow pear, persimmon (yellow and red oxheart type), and some beefsteak type red ones.

Your CUCUMBERS this week can be the burpless ones you had last week or the blocky pickling type. I think the pickling type have more flavor. If no one requests the pickling type, there are probably enough for one batch of bread and butter pickles for someone.

We still have WAX BEANS. They’ve produced a long time this year. The green ones are not doing so well.

There are a handful of JALEPENO PEPPERS and some BIG GREEN SWEET PEPPERS. Some of the sweet peppers are bells, some are a new variety, about as wide as a bell, but very long. You would need to slice them in half lengthwise to stuff.

There are enough TOMATILLOS for one or two of you. With the good rain they’ve gotten to be a nice size. Dean like a salsa made with tomatillos, jalapeños, onion, tomato (especially the green zebra), and cutting celery. If you want to try it, I can make sure you receive those ingredients.

Earlier this year some of you requested BEETS and I didn’t have enough. But I don’t remember who didn’t receive them. I have a few more if you’ll remind me who you are.

And the BLACKBERRIES just won’t quit! Order as much as you’d like. I can put them in pints or quarts.

EGG production is down a bit again so you probably won’t receive all you’d like.

Blackberries are in full production now so order as many pints as you’d like.

The green beans seem to have taken a vacation week but we still have plenty of yellow wax beans.

I should be able to give everyone at least one or two tomatoes this week.

Also, everyone should be able to have at least one burpless type cucumber. By the following week we should have plenty. Years ago I spent the summer in Gaza and our lunch every day included tomato wedges and cucumber slices, no dressing; very refreshing!

I will dig some new yellow potatoes if you want them. I imagine they will be small since the plants didn’t grow very large.

There’s a small amount of broccoli, so we’ll see how far it goes.

And we still have sorrel, garlic, chives, cutting celery, and new this week, some lemon basil.

Egg production is holding steady.

This week I think we’ll have summer squash. There’s some yellow straight neck, bennings green tint (scallop), and yellow scallop. However this evening the straightneck vine looks like it’s succumbing to a borer but I can’t see for sure. Today for lunch I cut up a summer squash into chunks along with onion and sweet pepper and sautéed it in olive oil and butter with garlic. I had one slice of ham so I chopped that in, too. When all was cooked to my liking I stirred in 2 beaten eggs and cooked it on medium heat until the eggs were set. It was fresh and summery and satisfying.

We might have small new potatoes. I haven’t actually dug any yet to see if they are ready but I think they are.

I thought we might have some tomatoes but they are agonizingly slow to ripen. I’ve talked to other producers who say the same thing. So far the yellow varieties are the first to ripen, lemon boy and yellow pear and a few green zebra. I’m not sure whether there will actually be any ready yet!

However, here are lots more blackberries now.

Also, we still have yellow wax beans and the green rattlesnake beans. Last week some of you asked for the green beans and I didn’t have enough to go around. I think there will be more this week.

There’s a small amount of broccoli, so we’ll see how far it goes.

And we still have sorrel, garlic, chives, cutting celery, and red cabbage.

Eggs are about the same as last week. I’ll distribute them as far as they go. I wish you could see the young chicks we hatched this spring. Instead of roosting in the shelter I provided for them, they are flying up into the trees to roost! What a sight!

Here’s an interesting article I found:

Consumers who want to know where their apple or bunch of broccoli might have been grown can check out a new online resource that tracks the origins of 95 different fresh fruits and vegetables typically sold in U.S. supermarkets. Besides showing product origins, the tool allows the user to see which state is the leading domestic producer of these crops.

http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/resources/fruitveg/fruitveg.php

We continue to have the yellow wax beans to offer but now we can add a few rattlesnake pole beans (green). They are just coming in so I don’t know how many there will be. The rattlesnake beans have a stronger green bean flavor. Tell me your choice and I’ll try to accommodate.

Also, the blackberries are coming in so I will distribute them as far as they will go. Let me know if you want them. We should continue to have them for at least 3 weeks and they will be more plentiful.

We continue to have garlic, cutting celery, and sorrel. The oregano and Greek oregano are getting a little leggy but still tasty and we still have chives.

Egg production has decreased a little with the combination of heat and shorter day length, but there should be at least a partial order for everyone who wants them.

Next week we may have some scallop summer squash and the first new potatoes.

This week we have golden wax beans, cabbage, red cabbage, sorrel, and garlic. What would you like?

There may be a small amount of broccoli and a few peppers.

We still have herbs: oregano, Greek oregano, chives, apple mint, and savory (good with the beans.)

We’re still getting eggs.