It was easy to talk about coexisting with the weeds and the rodents until they decided this was a sign of weakness, and pushed their advantage and tried to drive us into the soil. It keeps things exciting. And it’s always nice to be reminded how little real control we have over, well, anything at all. And then realize anew how much wonderful stuff goes down because of it. Would any of us be with the people we love, doing the things that we do if we’d had any chance at calling the shots about how exactly everything should go?
Which isn’t to say I’m not gonna try to bring closure to any brassica burping rodents that I can, or that I’m not going to try to deter the deer. I mean, that’s what you pay me for. But I’m gonna do it with a smile, or at least without a frown.
Anyway, what else happened this week? Remember how the cicadas song meant lobsters were coming? That wasn’t bullshit I guess; on Wednesday Otis and I went out and found several pounds to bring to the market, and more on Sunday. We’ve pivoted from Early Season to Mid Season now. Foraging and canning and harvesting fill our daylight, and bats and lightning bugs fill the evening air.
Jasper has woken up in his car seat and he insists that I have written enough.
Inside Box 8
- Beans – every year some plants do mysteriously well, while others do oddly poorly. This year it seems that the beans are in the latter category … sad news for you, perhaps (although I know there have been years when you’ve been buried in pounds of beans week after week), but happy news for those of us who harvest for you. Sorry not sorry. Although Kristin is pretty perturbed, and finds the poor bean showing very stressful. So don’t tell her if it makes you sad so she doesn’t quit doing the CSA.
- Beets – we almost forgot to harvest these today! The Underground Rodent Army has found the beet row and been tunneling right through the middle of every large beet in there. You may have received one of the lucky ones, merely grazed by their barrage.
- Cabbage – a regular green strikes again. I warned you we were the Cult of Cabbage.
- Cucumbers – slicers & picklers.
- Zucchini – Well, shit; we would have given you quite a bit more if we had realized before hitting the road that this week includes Sneak Some Zucchini Into Your Neighbor’s Porch Day on August 8th
- Broccoli – enjoy it … the fall broccoli crop seems to be a favorite of the Underground Army. Both the voles and the ground squirrels are devouring the young broccoli plants we have started for the last half of the season, and they’re not cooperating with my traps.
- Onions
- a Jalepeno – Slice it up thinly and add some zip to anything.
- Sunflower Shoots – between sunflower seeds and sunflowers, a farmers market favorite. I spent an unseemly amount of time picking the seeds out of these so I’ll come to your house after I die and haunt you if you don’t enjoy them.