The Little Greenhouse has been emptied. Which is to say, the final seedlings have been transplanted out into the field.

It’s kind of odd, putting these tender babies out even as our calendar is reminding us of looming potential first frost dates … but this is the nature of our short growing season, and the nature of life itself. 

Winter is coming, yup, but it sure isn’t around these parts just yet.

Turns out that highs in the upper 80’s don’t feel all that much more awesome to work in than the upper 90s did. But at least it finally rained a decent amount – on Saturday (during the farmer’s market, natch) – a whopping 0.98″! Was the first one-incher since the hailstorm back in June.  We’re still 50 or 60 percent below the average rain for the year.

It’s dry, but we have been specializing in moisture maximization. all along … so we have a tool set to work with, as things get drier and hotter more often.

The High Tunnel Horror has been exposed as a particular hen.

We could put her in chicken jail, but her depredations to date have remained minimal; she’s not a voracious tomato-pecker, and seems to have specialized in small watermelons now … which works out as the ones she has hollowed have been of the variety we plant just to pollinate the yummy kind.  So we’ll wait and see.

Here’s some stuff Bandit didn’t eat, and you can:

Inside Box 13

• Edamame – You can’t eat the pods. Don’t. Instead you boil them and salt them and enjoy popping them out of their pods with your mouth. Or if there are too many to eat soon, you can freeze them, make hummus, toss them in stir fries, You probably have ideas.
• Cabbage – This is the final cabbage of the year. (Unless you consider Brussels Sprouts to he miniature cabbages, as we do).
• Broccoli – the fall crop arrives!
• Onions
• Garlic
• Carrots
• Radishes
• Zucchini
• Tomatoes
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Not Hot Peppers – Loose in the box. Everyone is getting different kinds, and I don’t know what yours is. Also, we can’t remember all these things.
• Hot Peppers – Jalepenos or Cherry Bombs. In a bag, not loose in the box with the not-hots.)

Summer’s peak continued to fade this week, with noticeably shorter days, less humidity, and at least one morning of temps in the 40s.

It also continued to not rain – only a total of 1.02″ for August. The grass is crispy again, and the crops require us to run the drip irrigation daily just to keep them alive. I was hoping I was wrong about this being our new normal, but it increasingly seems that I was right. Our sandy soil had us trained in moisture management, fortunately.

We ran the smokers and made our first batch of salsa, and tried to gather some chokecherries (but the drought meant our search was … fruitless.)

In other news, a mysterious tomato pecker is raiding the high tunnel. A chicken is suspected but we don’t know who … hopefully just one, so we can catch it and stop the reign of terror … a live trap baited with pecked tomatoes and a game cam are set. Updates pending. On Friday I was convinced to attend a punk concert in Minneapolis to see some old friends play … and it was quite lovely. An all-out reunion more than merely a show, which made it worthwhile getting less than 4 hours of sleep before the farmer’s market Saturday morning! Not something I’ll be making a habit of, but quite pleased to have made it happen.

Inside Box 11

Bird-Damaged Sweet Corn – Our field was assaulted by avians this week, and they pecked the ends of the second round of sweet corn … but it’s still delicious! Seems like this always happens to our later corn crops … I’m gonna have to invent some kind of awesome scarecrow with the boys next year. Anyway just cut off the damaged tips and use as normal.

Tomatoes – ripe and ready to enjoy! Store on the counter upside down for best results, as the shoulders are more firm. 

Shallots & Onions

Cherry Tomatoes – a medley of various types we grow

Cucumbers – we thought these were done, but there were some lovely survivors for the box.

Zucchini

Eggplants – maybe this is your week to make ratatouille?

assorted sweet Peppers 

Beets – we tried to group them by size, so some of you got a few big oners, others got a load of littles. But everyone got over a pound of whichever type! 

Spaghetti Squash 

Basil

Radish Microgreens – add some zippy to any dish! we love them on tacos.

a Watermelion i- f you hadn’t had one yet

This is the week that the garden started to flex. It does that, on the heels of summer’s passing peak. This is the week that people started to make winter plans. The bracken ferns all browned. I thought about woodpiles. And corn and melons joined the tomato party and here we are.

The first half of the week was one of those deepening drought arcs. Anything not deeply rooter or irrigated became crunchy.

One day, the radar finally showed an oncoming raincloud zooming right for us. We battened hatches and stared at the rumbling western sky as the humidity spiked, the breeze died, then picked up sharply as the rumbling came nearer and those clouds darkened and began to flash.

And then we all let the rain come down on us and I think maybe we were feeling how those dry plants were feeling as that brief , beautiful deluge washed over the Farm.

It was another good week.

Inside Box 10

• Sweet Corn – sooner the sweeter. Please eat one raw, right now, where you are, with your hands and face. As one does.

• No seriously go get one.

• Cherry Tomatoes
• Tomatoes
• Cherry Bomb Peppers <spicy>
• Not Spicy Peppers – either Shisito roasting peppers, or Purple Island bell peppers, or ancho or maybe poblano
• Zucchini
• Carrots – hard fought
• Arugula Microgreens
• Thai Basil
• Cukes
• Mystery Mix Melons – if you don’t get a watermelon today, you will next week.
• Onions
• Shallots
  “The fanciest of cultivated alliums. Leeks are special for sure but they got that wackado top going on… it’s hard to take them so seriously. And if you want to challenge me on this with ramps… I will ask to to reread the qualifier I included in the first sentence.

So yes. Shallots. They cast a spell over your meal. They increase the chance of you opening a bottle of white wine by 80%. You will zest your citrus and include some obscure herb in the dish like chervil. You will feel weirdly compelled to find chervil even though you don’t have a clue what it taste like. You will curse your CSA for NEVER giving to chervil even though you suspect they grow it (they do not). When you finally find it, you will chiffonade it. The shallots will shine in perfect harmony.

Also totally possible that some other member of your household will grab those “weird shaped little onions” and just slap-dash throw them into any old thing. That’s how you get haunted by the ghost of Jacque Pepin. ” – K