First, some sad news must be shared. Since we started this farm, we have been supported by our amazing neighbors – you’ve heard me write about Neighbors Dave & Marcia over and over through the years, and they’ve been in our CSA since the beginning. At the end of August, Neighbor Dave traded in his tractor for his wings. It seemed impossible to adequately summarize his influence on Que Sehra Farm, but I had to try – pulling together photos and anecdotes from years of this blog.

It hasn’t all been sadness, which is good because Dave wouldn’t have wanted it that way. For one thing, we got almost an inch of rain – for once, WE got the rain while everyplace to our north and south just had the dreaded thundersun. And that came on Saturday, just before the summer’s last gasp heatwave turned the broiler on.

Looks like this is the last day of that, before we’re reminded of sweatshirts and bonfires and all that autumnal wonderful. The last two farmer’s markets have been record breakers for us, providing objective and measureable verification that in spite of the drought, in spite of trials and tribulations of 2023 … things are, indeed, OK. I remember feeling optimistic earlier this year, when there was very little rationale for such optimism … that was around when I got to looking up the etymology of the word “pollyanna,” as I recall. But I was right! The boxes are bursting, the vegetables are lovely, and my recurring angsts are rooted in problems of abundance (OMG tomatoes stawwwp) (no, don’t please).

The foraging has been an abundance too, with hefty hauls of pristine lobster mushrooms and radiant chicken of the woods, while at home we smoked tomatoes and peppers, and roasted onions, and picked and juiced perhaps thousands of tart tiny wild grapes for jelly.

Hey foraging is a great transition into the part where we talk about what’s

inside Box 13

No, there aren’t mushrooms in the boxes, those were just why your box has that apple in it …

• One Wild Apple – So I was out in our woods with the boys, enjoying our surroundings and picking lobster mushrooms to sell at the market. As we picked the last in our patch, Otis spied a big beautiful chicken of the woods mushroom on a dead tree, in the distance. And then, as we finished harvesting the clumps of that, I looked up and was … baffled. Apples? Big pretty reddish apples? Yes. We found a wild apple tree, and the apples turned out to be quite tasty (wild apples often aren’t, as their genetics are basically randomized)! Where had it come from and why had we never noticed it before and how was it thriving in the sandy shadows? The mystery apples tasted like a little bit of magic, so we are going to cut some branches this winter and try to graft them to rootstock so that we can plant our own … and we thought it would be fun to share one with you. (The boys made quick work of the biggest reddest ones.)
• Summer squash/zucchini
• Beets – might not be many, but honestly we’re lucky that we got any at all

• Sweet Peppers
• Tomatoes – if you want a bunch of flawed ones for sauce, let us know because the high tunnel is producing them at Henry Ford production levels and it’s freaking me out.
• Cherry tomatoes

• Curly Kale
• French Breakfast Radishes
• Kohlrabi
• Italian Basil
• Sunflower micro greens

Creature Report:

Otis saw a blue jay. Sandhill cranes are being heard. Krisin saw a couple of day-walking deer looking at her from the edge of the woods. The 12 baby chickens look a lot like adults, and rays of sunshine on metallic-greening  tailfeathers are an ongoing gender reveal party  There are always more roosters than you dare let yourself hope. 

It seems the grasshoppers never got that bad this year, despite The Dry, and wonder if it’s because of all the blister beetles we’ve been seeing about the place – what with their grasshopper-egg-munching habit.

Garden Report:

It’s still happening. Pumpkins are emerging into the open. The last sweet corn was brought in to be canned as corn relish and vacuum-sealed and frozen.

Sehr Report:

We’re trying to preserve more stuff. It’s that time. We could be only a month out from the first freeze, they say. This week we brought home wild grapes, mostly Chokecherry season is on. So are the lobster and chicken mushrooms, and our apples.

The bugs have been barely noticable even down by the creeks and rivers, which really makes foraging so much easier to enjoy. (In related news, this is the week I finally got into some poison ivy.)

Jasper is wanting to know “why?” a lot for a one year old.

Inside Box 12

• Edamame – boil them in salted water for 4-5 minutes, pop the pods out with your teeth and snack! Or hand shell and use in a stir fry or something.
• Bok Choi
• Eggplant – we’ve been smoking ours and making awesome baba ganoush
• Sweet Peppers
• Tomatoes – the tomatoes are ON! This week was likely peak mater time.
• Summer squash/zucchini
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Microgreen Mix – (sunflower, radish, broccoli, amaranth, kale, red cabbage)
• Shallots
• Potatoes (mix of red, white, and purples)

It was the week in which we prepared for another round of baking heatwave while simultaneously beginning to ponder the cutting of firewood, as the season teeter-tottered atop the tipping point. Warm-blooded creatures of all types consider scouting for winter havens.

In the garden, “we are just mowing shit down, at this point,” Farmer Kristin reports, referring to utilizing Farmhand Gabe atop a riding blade machine, turning rows of towering weed forests into a finely-minced green mulch.

The weight of the dinosaurian tomato and pepper plants in the high tunnel has made us realize we will need to up our trellising game, if we’re going to keep spoiling our plants with amenities like consistent soil moisture and Munch Bunch goat manure. Which is to say; they’;re falling over and exploding a little bit, because they’re humongous. (Another one for the list of good problems to have.)

WWOOFer Laura has returned for another couple weeks in paradise, on her arc back toward Northern California, blackberries are still out there and wild grapes aren’t quite ripe but we still get them for crazytart juice. Lobster mushrooms emerge, grasshoppers are rather rude, sanhill cranes bugle and we assume they too are thinking about the coming of winter, a bit.

But it’s still early and hey it’s a bona-fried heat wave this week. But we probably do need to pick a date for the end of the year party. Think that it’ll be a potluck this time around, a few weekends into October ….

Inside box 11

Getting everything to fit into the box gets increasingly comedic this time of the season. Only the big 3/4 bushel boxes had a chance of closing. The clouds and cool 83 degree air held for the whole harvest – we got it done just as the sun broke through to turn up the broiler.

• Russ Hanson Plums – eat soon, they’re ripe and ready!
• Bree Broccoli 
• Red or Green Cabbage
• Shallots – the return of the fancy onions
• Italian Eggplant of one kind or another
• Thai basil – hopefully using it as packing material didn’t bruise it too badly.
• Cucumbers – the plants report that they aren’t dead yet
• Zucchini
• Cherry tomatoes
• Tomatoes – we water them twice a day and it shows
• Radish microgreens – zippy dish elevator

We had rain. Like a bunch of times. It’s weird but we’re getting used to it, again.

The melons split some, and the field tomatoes.

But overall … hallelujah. Those April-transplanted baby trees that survived are reveling in it, and the wild mushrooms have sprung into action.

RAIN ALSO was perfectly timed for the future salad row.

Of course the weeds are also rejoicing. We have had to remember the arts of mower and weed whacker, in holding our own along the weed battlefronts at each point of the compass. The lambs quarter leaps to offer its bounty, an abundance of lambsquarter microgreens for years beyond reckoning. There are weeds far more noxious than these.

This is probably the last week for melons, and corn, and cucumbers. But there are fall crops coming that are looking good: broccoli, cabbage, and kale oh my.

The winter squash is mostly looking good too – other than the Cinderella pumpkins grown for jack o lanterning. It has taken the assault of the vine borers and gave up its life, valiantly, so that the butters and the Tetasuko might live. Thanks, Jack!

The garden pathways are softly green, no longer pokey brown crispies.

Otis news report:

Sarah and Darren were nice when they let him have a rice krispie bar, “And it was nice of them last time they were at our place that they let me have a juice box.”

And so, one might surmise, despite intentions a pure as granulated sugar, the love/ addiction K and I share has blessed another generation in our lineage.

Que sera, sera – there are many vices less sweet.

Speaking of sweet – the melons have been perfect this week, and there’s one

Inside Box 10

• Ussurian Pears – eat these soon, as they can ripen quickly and then go soft (although they are still tasty even when mushy and the inside starts to brown!). We make pear butter and pear juice – and then have a bunch out in broad bowls (so we can see them all) and pick out the most yellow-colored ones each day to devour – the kids love them. This is the first year our pear tree really produced prolifically so we could share!
• Cucumbers 
• Zucchini 
• Melon
• Sweet corn – the sooner you eat it the sweeter it will be! Picked this morning, you won’t get it fresher anywhere but straight from a field.
• Tomatoes 
• Cherry tomatoes 
• Sweet Peppers
• Broccoli Microgreens

It was my birthday this week, and I got to spend a day in our magic waterfall and a day beneath downtown Saint Paul with Otis in my old stomping grounds.

The ripe chokecherries are on in the barrens, but scarce, and the blackberries are putting out the plumpest fruits I’ve seen yet this year (likely the echo of that one 2.5″ soaking we had).

San Fran George & Jude wanted to find and eat Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms their entire stay here, but with the drought nothing ever came up. But on their last day, Otis spotted a beautiful specimen growing right behind our bedroom – so they got to have it with their last dinner here on the farm, serendipity do-dah

Kristin Reports on the Box Contents Thusly:

• Cucumbers 

• Zucchini/Summer Squash 

• Beans

• Tomatoes – have you ever heard of panzanella? I haven’t actually made it but someone described it to me at the farmers market and I am excited to try it. 

• Cherry tomatoes  two recipes I enjoy making each year:
  • Roasted Cherry Tomatoes recipe
  • Burst Cherry Tomato Sauce

• Sweet corn 

• Melons – cantaloupes most likely 
• Tomatillos here’s a recipe to work from for making salsa verde. Sometimes I cook the veggies in a cast iron pan on the stove top instead of oven roasting.
  • Tomatillo Salsa Verde

• Hot peppers – Serrano and jalapeño for salsa making 
• Red onions
• Basil – it loves growing in the high tunnel! Great for pesto, or pair with tomatoes.
• Arugula micro greens 

A.I.deas

1. **Cucumber Melon Salsa:**

   Dice cucumbers, cantaloupe, and cherry tomatoes. Mix with finely chopped hot peppers and a squeeze of lime juice for a unique salsa that pairs well with grilled proteins or tortilla chips.

2. **Tomatillo Chicken Tacos:**

   Use tomatillos to create a tangy salsa verde to drizzle over shredded chicken, diced tomatoes, and sliced hot peppers inside soft tortillas. Garnish with arugula microgreens for added freshness.

3. **Grilled Veggie Skewers:**

   Thread zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and chunks of sweet corn onto skewers. Grill until vegetables are tender and slightly charred. Serve over a bed of arugula microgreens for a delightful presentation.

These recipes offer a combination of fresh flavors and creative pairings that are likely to be both delicious and satisfying. Enjoy trying them out!

From and for humans

Earlier this week Neighbor Marcia dropped this off at our place, and I’m going to share it with you: