Independence Day greetings from Dancing Hen Farm! We hope everyone is enjoying their Week 3
boxes.
As seems to be the trend this summer, I am a bit late
getting the newsletter out. That means
ordering for Week 4 is well under way.
Just a reminder ordering opens at 6 pm Thursday and closes at 6 pm
Sunday for the next week’s box.
July already! Where
did those cold winter days go? It seems
just recently we were huddle in the house waiting patiently, well maybe not too
patiently, for the ice and snow to melt so we could get planting. Now here we are ready to celebrate the
fourth. Tomorrow looks to be a bit rainy
and cool, but I am thinking the rain will stop before evening picnics and
fireworks.
Rain! We have really
been getting soaked by rain recently.
The yard is a swamp and our road is washed out again. We now get to sleep to the sounds of running
water as the usually dry ditch across from the house is still running
freely. May was so dry we had problems
getting plants growing, now all the rain is causing disease to move into our
crops and our plants to stress from too much water. One of my sisters has predicted July will be
hot and dry and we will have more flooding towards the end of August. We could use a bit of hot dry weather right
now, the flooding, I am not so sure about.
This past week on farm, Rosie, our border collie, added
another saga to her life story. Many of
you have met Rose and most of you have read stories about her in the past. She is a bit accident prone and maybe a bit
too curious for her own good. This past
Monday, Farmer Don was done with packing boxes fairly early. He decided to take the dogs for a walk around
our fields, as he does most evenings.
Rose likes to nose around in the fence rows looking for what we always
assume are the farm’s resident groundhogs.
She ran up the farm road a bit in front of the farmer and our other
dog. She was not gone long when she came
sprinting back, running through the high grass and rubbing her face on the
ground! Farmer Don got a strong smell of
skunk and that quickly Rose was gone. I
then began smelling really strong skunk at the backdoor and immediately knew
someone was skunked! Yep, Rose, had her
second encounter, with a skunk. Needless
to say, no one, animal or human, was too happy Monday night. Shady, our other dog, kept a wide distance
from her sister. Rose got several
special baths and was forced to sleep the night in our workshop in the
cellar. Currently, she doesn’t smell too
bad, but, from past experience she will be stinky for months, especially if she
gets wet. Let’s hope the predicted hot
and dry July comes true!!
Well, it seems to be the year of the skunk. I had this newsletter all ready to send out
and was waiting for Farmer Don to read it over lunch when I learned of another
skunk encounter. Shady, our other dog,
met up with the skunk this morning! I
guess she was nosing around in the same hedge row where Rosie got sprayed. At least we now have a pretty good idea where
the skunk lives! And thankfully, it
seems Shady did not get as a direct hit as Rose. Looks like baths for all at Dancing Hen Farm
tonight! I am thinking as long as we are
bathing Shady, we might as well put the de-skunk solution on Rose again, as she
is still fairly stinky.
Speaking of pets. This week we said a sad farewell to
Tigger. Tigger was a large orange Tabby
which had belonged to my parents. He was
older and his health had been failing for several years. I already miss his loud motoring purr and his
constant demands for attention and food.
He felt it was his job to be sure the food and water bowls were kept
full and if either was lower than he liked, he was sure to track someone down
and let them know. Rest in Peace Tigger
and thank you for sharing your life with us.
In the fields, we continue to plant, plant and plant some
more. Most of our major plantings are
complete for the season, including winter squash. This week we will finish up with some late
peppers, eggplant and okra. This does
not mean planting is complete for the season.
We will continue to plant, on 1 or two week rotation, many of our
cooking greens, salad greens, snap beans, as well as some other crops. Our herbs are doing well and our field
planted basil has sized up nicely and appears on Week Four’s choice list. Our summer squash, zucchini, yellow squash,
and eight ball zucchini are really starting to produce. We also have patty pan squash planted with
this same rotation, but they take a bit longer to mature. Patty pan squash should appear on the choice
list soon. My most recent trip through
the greenhouse revealed many tomatoes on our sungold plants. Get your cherry tomato recipes ready, as it
will not be long before sungolds appear in your boxes. Of course, what I hear from many members is
that the sungolds barely make it home!
There are two crops we grow which I cannot resist right off the vine,
sungolds are one and peas are the other!
How about the size of some of the Chinese cabbage going out
last week! Wow! I often take Monday off as a vacation day
from my off farm job to help on farm with harvest and pack. Last Monday, I was working our field rinse
station and when these cabbage came in I was amazed. They looked beautiful. This morning I see
Farmer Don has his kimchi recipes and notes out on our kitchen table, so I am
thinking the fermentation crocks will again be getting some use over the
weekend. When you see Don at market, be
sure to ask him about kimchi and good bacteria.
He may even have some kimchi with him for sampling.
In the kitchen, we made a nice rolled flank steak this week. The recipe called for stuffing it with a
spinach, cilantro and peanut pesto.
Since I didn’t have spinach or peanuts, I substituted kale and walnuts. I should have taken a picture to post on
facebook and our blog, as the pesto stayed bright green and contrasted
beautifully with the meat. Farmer Don
declared the recipe a keeper, so if I make it again, I will be sure to take a
picture. Another favorite and quick
dinner for us consists of eggs and greens over polenta. I saute the greens, whatever is harvested, in
a pan with a bit of olive oil and garlic.
When the greens are just about done, I make several holes in the greens,
crack an egg in each hole, add a couple of tablespoons of water, put the lid on
the pan and allow the eggs to steam/poach.
Serve the greens and eggs over some fresh soft polenta. For me, keeping the egg yolks on the
soft/runny side is perfect to mix with the polenta. Farmer Don, however, prefers the yolks cooked
more firmly.
With grill season in full swing, I thought I will continue
on the food and cooking theme and talk a bit about veggies on the grill. Any of the summer squash are really great on
the grill. We usually marinate them in a
bit of oil and vinegar based Italian salad dressing, grill them briefly on both
sides and then top with a bit of fresh grated parmesan cheese. Eight-ball zucchini, the small round
zucchini, going out in our summer squash melody are nice to grill. Cut them cross-wise to make coins. I like to make zucchini pizzas out of the
eight balls. Cook each slice on one
side, flip over and top each slice with a tablespoon or so of red sauce and a
sprinkle of cheese. Close the lid to the
grill to allow the squash to finish cooking and the cheese to melt. For the meat eaters in your family, top each
slice with a piece of pepperoni before you add the sauce and cheese. Another veggie good on the grill are garlic
scapes. Brush the scapes with a bit of
oil and grill, flipping once. Scapes can
even be used at skewers for grilled veggies.
For squash, cut your squash in cubes and carefully thread onto the
scape. The non-flower end of the scape
will be stiffer, so start your veggies at this end. All this talk of grilling veggies, I can’t wait
for tomatoes and eggplant and okra!! The
grill will be busy here at the farm!
Let’s see. I talked
about ordering, the farm, the pets, cooking, and the weather, of course. I am thinking it is time to wrap up this
week’s rambles with my weekly box reminder.
Please remember to return your boxes so we can re-use them.
Have a great holiday.
And as Farmer Don always says:
“be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies”
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