In the share this week:
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 lb slicer tomatoes
1 lb mixed onions
1 bag salsa verde mix
1 bunch beets
2 bell peppers
Thoughts from Farmer Anna:
We survived as amazingly intense and wonderful week getting the straw bale walls installed in our new home. The people who attend straw bale building workshops are incredibly interesting and it was a joy to get to know each of them. It was 8 really full days from Saturday 7/23 - 7/30. Our primary job was to feed the 37 workshop participants 3 meals each day (no small feat!), while the workshop lead (Andrew Morrison from www.strawbale.com), instructed and led folks in the building of the straw bale walls. While each day was physically exhausting, we were filled up by the shared work and the new friendships we were fostering with these amazing people. We fed them lots and lots of farm veggies during the week and folks really seemed to appreciate the care and effort we put into the meals each day. It was empowering to find that we were able to pull off these meals for a large gathering. Now we are dreaming up future farm gatherings on the hilltop in the amazing space we are creating between the farm and this house. There is so much more to say about the week and I'm honestly still processing much of it, but I'll leave it at this: our parents are absolutely amazing. All four of them worked with us throughout the week to help prepare meals, wash dishes, keep the meal areas cleaned, keep our kids fed and shuttled to and from art camp, work on key parts of the build, and pretty much taking care of every little detail that came up. This week was a huge community effort in every sense :)
I'm happy to be back working on the farm this week. We are in the process of turning over a lot of beds in preparation for fall crops. Most of these crops will get planted over the next few weeks. It's a busy and exciting time on the farm as it starts to look a bit like spring again. We are also still in maintenance mode for our long term crops like tomatoes and peppers. Speaking of peppers, the first of the bell peppers are in the share this week. We are constantly using peppers and onions in burritos and tacos. If you want to try a nice side dish or a topping for a pasta dish, you can saute your peppers and onions with your cherry tomatoes and a few other ingredients in this classic italian peperonata:
We have some really beautiful beets for you this week! If you still haven't found a way that you like beets, give this chocolate cake recipe a try. I wouldn't say it's a health food dessert (there is a lot of butter and sugar involved), but the earthy, sweet beets do give it a rich flavor and a very moist texture. It's a winner in our house!
This is probably the last big week for the salsa verde bags. Remember you roast all of these ingredients together and then blend them into a salsa. It should keep in your fridge for about a week. It would be tasty with your tacos if you decide to use your peppers and onions that way :)
Have a great week everyone!