I might have to rely on pictures to tell about this week – Otis is quite unhappy to be stuck in his car seat, and he wants to make sure we are very, very aware of it. This makes it hard to think, let alone communicate in coherent written sentences. As usual, of course, que sera, sera …

In short – this week, it was very dry. We are having to run the irrigation, but the rascally rodents have really made Swiss cheese out of many of the drip lines, and our efforts are severely handicapped by the myriad leaks this leaves, even after we’ve attempted to repair them with electrical tape (did you know that standard electrical tape sticks to itself even when wet – or under water? very handy stuff.)

 

Not only has it been hot and dry, but there is no rain at all in our forecast, which is going to make the fall seeds that we just planted slow to take off – we’ll nurture them with irrigation and hose sprayers as much as we can, but there isn’t much that can work the magic of mother nature’s rainfall.

UPDATE: We got home from our trip into the city to discover that we got an inch and a half of rain that was not in the forecast! Happy dance!

We did some foraging – hauling home a good bounty of coral mushrooms, chanterelles, and lobster mushrooms (a strange symbiosis between a not-very-tasty mushroom and a mold which transforms its host into something with a far superior flavor and texture).

We also created several batches of refreshing sumac-ade, and picking the small yellow apples from a tree Kristin’s grandpa planted decades ago, and making them into jelly with hints of minty anise flavor by combining them with our favorite local native plant, Anise Hyssop.

 

All in all, once again, it was a good week. Hope you all agree!

 

the Week 10 Box

• Sweet Corn – hopefully

For some reason, some of our dent corn (grown to make into corn meal) tasselled at the same time as our sweet corn – even though it shouldn’t have been possible. So some of it cross pollinated, resulting in sweet corn that isnt’ sweet at all … but most of it seems ok. But see the pictures below so you’ll be warned if you have a bad one:

 

 

• Tomatoes – a nice mix of salad tomatoes and slicers! Enjoy the softer ripe ones first, while the firmer ones finish ripening up on your counter.

• Carrots – An assortment of this year’s varieties … although for some reason we didn’t see any of the yellow ones today. Hmmm …
• Purple Basil –  it’s like regular basil, but purple!
• Sweet Peppers
• Okra or Broccoli –  If you got a broccoli box, you’re probably in safe and comfortable territory – but if you got okra, you might be a bit scared. Don’t be. It’s delicious and much more versatile than we Northerners usually realize! It’s simple just to sautee the whole pods and enjoy the tasty, crunchy (and not slimy!) pods in a creative dish …
• Cucumbers

• Eggplant
• Zucchini
• Beans –  we thought they were almost done … nope! SO MANY BEANS TO PICK TODAY