Week 11 AND 12

Late August/Early September Haiku:

Time flies. Newsletters
/ forgotten- crops must be picked.
/ Cucumbers in charge.


Last week AND the week before were full of summer bounty- all the heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, and the very beginning of melons, peppers, eggplants....
You got many of these things plus kale, chard, beets, carrots, sweet onions, herbs like thyme, dill, or chives, elephant-head amaranth (ornamental flowers) for drying, sweet little celery and cabbages, the last of the summer kohlrabi (more to come for fall!), and garlic.
Perhaps I'm forgetting something, but it's comfort food season- things most of us grew up with and know how to use. i.e. no radicchio, no daikon, no tatsoi. (If you grew up with these, I'm jealous!) August and September are the "heart of the season" around here, hence the name of our 6-week summer share. I trust you know how to use kale and chard by now (if those were exotic at first)- at the very least, you can blanch and freeze them to use in soups, lasagne, calzones, etc. in the winter, if you can't eat them all now. If you're at a loss as to what to do with all those cucumbers, try simple refrigerator pickles (if not full-on canned, brined pickles) (note: there are lots of variations on dill pickles out there; I have not used this recipe yet, but it looks promising. I have also added grape leaves to cucumber pickles to help maintain crispness- check that out before you embark on a pickle project- no one wants soggy pickles!).