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The End of Summer

Although it’s still warm here in NYC, since Labor Day it’s really felt like summer has ended. Once the temperatures become more moderate, it will really feel like fall.  I am of mixed feelings about this – normally I don’t care much about or for fall, in my mind it’s just the transition season to The Dreaded Winter.  I am not big on the frigid weather of the Northeast.  However, this year’s summer was so terribly scorching hot, with multiple 90+ degree temperature days in a row, cooler weather can’t come soon enough.  I am eager for fall.

First tipoff to the transition out of summer – I received an acorn squash in my CSA share this past week.  I’ll save it for a cooler day, though – I absolutely love winter squash of all kinds, so this is an awesome score!

I expect I’ll have some green tomatoes to fry later in the season.  To my surprise, my paste and Prudens Purple tomatoes are still producing!  I really thought the Prudens Purple tomato was on its way out for sure, but there are a few little tomatoes on the plant, and none have blossom end rot so far.

I think the BER problem really was with me – I don’t believe I watered the tomatoes nearly enough this year, which would explain how nutrients couldn’t get to the fruit.  I’ve been watering more intensely this past few weeks, and all the tomatoes are doing much, much better.  I have close to a dozen little paste tomatoes hanging on, too!

The mystery plant – the one that looked like a cucumber plant – is not a cucumber at all.  I think it might be a melon or a winter squash – the fruit is small and hard, about the size of a large fig.  I have no idea where it came from, but I’m enjoying watching it grow and do its thing.

In general, the garden is looking quite rag-tag. The lemon cucumbers are at their end; the tomatillos did not fruit one whit; the tomato plants are looking scraggly.  It’s a little scary looking out there right now.

I’ll be in Portland OR for a few days and hope to enjoy some of the delicious food in the Pacific Northwest.  I’ll bring my camera and take pictures and share some of them here after I return.

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CSA Bounty – Weeks Twelve and Thirteen

I neglected to post about last week’s CSA share, so I’m including it here.  Last week was a bust, in part to being sick on and off and feeling great fatigue.  I am feeling better, though, after sleeping a lot.  Sometimes the body just wants to rest more than at other times.  These 90 degrees + weather doesn’t help, either.  Anyway, the shares!

Week Twelve:

Week 12 collage

Pictured, left to right, top to bottom: green beans, plums, cubanelle peppers, cucumbers, yellow paste tomatoes, nectarines, basil, summer squash, green bell peppers, apples, tomatoes.

So many yummy things.  The tomatoes were fantastic, I must say – nothing beats an August tomato. I made a tomato mozzarella salad with them.

We got an interesting pepper, the cubanelle, which is sweet.  The basil was fabulous.  Cucumbers and summer squash, all very good.  I made zucchini fritters which turned out great; however I didn’t take a picture.  Next time.

The fruit is almost all gone, except for the plums, of which we got a lot.   I think it was 2 pounds of little baby plums!  So cute, and so many.

Week Thirteen:

Week 13 collage

Pictured, left to right, top to bottom: prunes, nectarines, peppers, leeks, yellow wax beans, cherry tomatoes, apples, summer squash, eggplant.

Last night I used the peppers, leeks, zucchini, and tomatoes in a farro salad (recipe to come).  It was marvelous!  Some of the tomatoes were a little overripe, but it didn’t matter with the salad.  Didn’t matter when I popped them on their own in my mouth, either!  So sweet and delicious.

I’ll roast the eggplant this week, and probably parboil and freeze the beans.  I don’t know what I’ll do with all the prunes I received – 2.5 pounds, which is plenty.  Must search for a recipe.  The apples got rave reviews at my home, and I expect we’ll finish those and the nectarines by next week.

These summer fruits and vegetables are so amazing, I almost can’t stand it!  I am so very, very fortunate to have access to such excellent local produce.

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What’s New

Yellow Pear Tomato

So, what’s new:

As you can see from the picture above, my yellow pear tomatoes have started to ripen!  They are a little funny looking, kind of like bowling pins, and they are very tasty. My plant keeps producing them, even as most of my other tomato plants are on their way out.

My paste tomatoes suffered from a lot of blossom end rot, but not nearly as bad as the Prudens Purple.  The mystery volunteer tomato did fine, as did the Silver Fir.  Both of those plants produced small to medium sized fruit. Larger tomatoes just had problems this year.

I had a bumper crop of lemon cucumbers, too.  I will definitely grow those again next year.

Soon, it will be time to pull up the tomato plants and consider what to grow for the fall.  I like the idea of carrots especially, and some more tatsoi.

Apart from the garden, I’ve done a lot of canning.  I made 6 half pints of fig-orange-honey preserves, which turned out great, and keeps getting better as it ages.   The figs came from the backyard trees – can’t get more local than that!

I’ve also canned tomatoes and made salsa – 9 pints of crushed tomatoes, and 4 pints of salsa, 3 of which are lacto-fermented salsa. The tomatoes came from my CSA in the form of a 20 pound tomato share, and were fabulous – really healthy, firm, and meaty.  Not to mention tasty.

I have a lot of nectarines and peaches, so I may make preserves out of that as well.

My social life ramped up for a little while, and that meant dinners out, and less cooking at home.  I’ve also been sick, so little appetite.  This will all change soon.

This weekend I pick up my salmon share! Very exciting!!

More soon!

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CSA Bounty – Week Eleven

Well, almost the entire week has gone by without a post, which is in part because of a number of tasty dinners with friends that happened this week that has occupied my time, happily.  I’ve been able to eat my CSA veggies and fruit, though, and everything has been amazing.  My favorite so far has been the cantaloupe, followed by the excellent cherry tomatoes.  This week’s collage:

Week 11 collage

From top to bottom, left to right:

Apples, peaches, cantaloupes, nectarines, cucumbers, eggplant, summer squash, tomatoes.  Not shown: green beans.

Everything is gorgeous and bursting with flavor.   This really is my favorite time of the year for produce.  I wish it could continue for months!

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CSA Bounty – Week Ten

Week 10 Collage

This week was another winner – ultra-summery veggies and fruit.  From the top, left to right, row by row, starting at the top:

cucumbers, basil, green and purple peppers (we got one of each), blackberries, summer squash, tomatoes, donut peaches, cantaloupes, okra

We actually got melon in both the vegetable and fruit shares! So I have two lovely melons at home.  I think the last time we got melon in a veggie share was the first season as Hellgate CSA (so, in 2006), and we’ve never had melon in the fruit share.  It’s very exciting.

Donut peaches are amazing!  I love them.

Not sure what to do about the okra – maybe make lact-fermented okra?  Will explore some recipes.

As I write this, the tomatoes are gone.  I used most of them to make lacto-fermented salsa, and ate the other one in a tomato and basil salad.

Will make cucumber soup this week, most likely.  Would be good to use some raw yogurt in it.

Love the summer veggies and fruit!

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CSA Bounty – Week Nine

Well, this week we got a fantastic selection of summer vegetables.  I was really excited when I saw the share menu for the week!  I was so excited that I forgot to take pictures of my share before I dove in, d’oh.  It’s been a hectic week, too, so I haven’t had a chance to do a share photoshoot.  Still, I’ll tell you what we got this week:

tomatoes
cucumbers
bell peppers
summer squash
eggplant
parsley (mint was another option)
peaches
plums
blackberries

Fantastic!!!  You can’t ask for a more summery selection than that.

I took the tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers and stewed them all together and topped it with a little grated parmesan.  I have a lot to learn about cooking eggplant, I think.  It is one of the most challenging vegetables to cook well.  I have a white eggplant that I will work with over the weekend.

I also peeled the cucumber, sliced it, and combined it with the tomato, cut into wedges.  Add a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and perhaps some sherry vinegar, and that makes for a delicious summer salad.

As for the summer squash, not sure what I’ll do with them exactly.  I am overloaded with summer squashes of all kinds right now. One thing I could do with them is simply grate them and freeze them for use in zucchini bread or sprouted muffins over the winter.

As for the fruit, I’ve eaten most of the blackberries and am enjoying the yellow plums a lot.  I think I’ll make a peach crisp this weekend, too.  I would like to see if I can adjust the recipe for the crisp topping to accommodate rapadura/sucanat and coconut sugar. Yum!

Pictures next week, promise.

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CSA Bounty – Week Eight

week eight collage

So far this season, this week has been my favorite week with the CSA.  The share was quite varied, as you can see.  From the top left, clockwise:

Basil, cherry tomatoes, blackberries, peaches, yellow plums, radicchio, fennel, cucumbers, apples, and summer squash. Not pictured: lettuce.

Last night I made a salad of the tomatoes, cucumbers (from the CSA and the monster lemon cucumber from my garden), basil, scallions, all dressed with olive oil, salt & pepper.  I added sherry vinegar to my serving, as T does not like vinegar.  It was a fantastic salad.  I ate it with eggs and goat cheese for protein.  Such a lovely summer meal.

csa salad

The weather has calmed down some, and for the past couple of days it’s felt like a normal NYC July.  People seemed in a better mood, in general.

distribution week eight-2

I mentioned above including my lemon cucumber in the salad, and I just have to say, what a delicious cucumber!  It actually tasted a little lemony and not at all bitter.  The flesh is really tender, too.  These cucumbers are a winner in my book.  No wonder my grandfather grew them every year.