Abbe Hills Farm CSA

Greetings shareholders,

This week, we have potatoes, Super Star onions, kale, collards, beans, small eggplants, cucumber, squash, cilantro, basil, tomatoes, and peppers.  We have four kinds of potatoes dug, including Red Norland (red outside, white inside), Superior (white all over), Adirondack Red (red inside and out), and Yukon Gold (yellow inside).  You could make a very interesting potato salad with the mix.  We're trying out the Adirondacks, so let me know what you think of them.

Super Star are the white onions that are so sweet.  They look terrible, but taste great.  We're now picking the first time from the next crop of beans.  I think we'll be able to offer you beans of some sort from now on for a few weeks, not tons of them, but a nice taste every week.  Cucumbers are nearly dead, tomatoes and peppers are starting to look alive. 

We're planting the fall crops as fast as I can get the ground ready, and digging potatoes every chance we have, but it's tough when the rains are so frequent.  We could go a week now without rain without hurting my feelings.  The heat last week was good for many things in the garden, especially the squash.  I kind of like it, too.  I lived in the Everglades for several years and the kind of weather we had last week always makes me think of my time there.  And it's way better than the alternative, something I am sure I will reflect upon next January when there are five-foot snow drifts between me and where I want to be.

There was an interesting development at the Sauerkraut Festival Biggest Cabbage contest on Saturday.  No one entered!  Apparently, there are no big cabbages anywhere around here.  I'm always hoping to win that contest.  I love the big flathead cabbages that are more than a foot in diameter and weigh 10 or 15 pounds, although I resist the urge to plant them and grow the little softball sized ones for you.  But this year, even that was a problem since almost every cabbage on this place started dying about the end of June as a result of leaf disease brought on by so much dampness.  I was relieved to find out that we aren't the only ones with the problem with the cabbages.

Here's a link to the latest edition of the Utne Reader that's all about food.  I haven't had a chance to read it, but it looks like there could be some interesting articles in it.

Monday people:  I'm going to set out the nomination petitions for my friend, Robert Broulik, at the check in table.  Robert is running for re-election to the Linn Soil and Water Conservation District. where he and I have been commissioners together for years.  He's a great guy and an excellent farmer, and makes a huge contribution to the work of the District.   If you are from Linn County, you can sign the papers.  He needs only 25 signatures to get his name on the ballot in November.

This is the 11th week of the CSA season, the start of the "good half".  Hope that turns out to be true.

See you this week,

Laura