This week at the farm

Hello Eaters,

How's it going? Well I hope. The crop mob here at the farm this past Saturday was, contrary to how it must sound, very enjoyable. A mob of about 20 people showed up on Saturday morning and we all spent the morning yakking about farming and food while weeding the strawberries, leeks, celeriac, and thinning some fall beets. It's fun to have a mob because those arduous tasks flew by with all the conversation and many hands. Katie Church, a most selfless lady, made a somewhat unbelievably diverse spread for our shared lunch. We chatted some more, and then the mobbers went on their way. If you are interested in being in the crop mob visit http://groups.google.com/group/ithaca-crop-mob?pli=1 for details. The group mobs about once a month, with mini-mobs sprinkled here and there.

On a reminiscent note, it was in this week's email last year that we announced that late blight had reached the farm and that we were going to rip out all of our tomato and potato crops. Whew, I'm glad I'm not writing that email today. There has been some cases of late blight found around the country, but so far we're fine. I hope that it is not fool-hardiness that makes me say that I think we're going to be ok this year. We'll see.

Here's the veggies:

chard, kale, summer squash, zucchini, field and Euro-cukes, beets, carrots, cabbage, fennel, peppers, tomatoes, onions, escarole, endive

We are in a salad mix and head lettuce hiatus. The salad mix was shredded by the hail a couple of weeks ago and we are in-between head lettuce generations. Incidentally, the chard that we've been giving out these past few weeks was also shredded by the same hail storm, resulting in some pretty rough looking leaves. The chard will grow through it and be nice again soon.

u-pick: all unlimited:

flowers, chard, kale, dill, basil, and beans. This bean generation is waning. There will probably be another little wave of beans on the plants in a week or so. There are 2 more generations coming down the line, so fear not all of you dilly bean fiends.

Here is a recipe sent along by a member: (Please feel inspired and send me some more and I'll post them)

I wanted to share this delicious zucchini brownie recipe- it's from Simply in Season, and can be found online here: http://thelocalcook.com/2010/07/25/zucchini-brownies/. Delicious and chocolaty! And an entire giant zucchini disappeared into them!

See you at the farm,

Evangeline