LETTUCE: We’ve been looking forward to the return of the lettuce harvest. This week’s varieties are crisp and crunchy. 

KALE: Such a versatile vegetable.  This week we have been enjoying kale as a green addition to vegetable stew of potatoes and carrots. 

SPROUTING BROCCOLI: The crop is looking great, so expect broccoli in the shares for the rest of the CSA season. 

SWEET PEPPERS: We grilled out this past weekend and were reminded of how great these are off of the grill. 

EGGPLANT OR OKRA: The okra is waning with the recent cool down. Eggplant is also great on the grill. Marinate an hour or more with salt, vinegar and oil. Cook until charred and soft.  

CARROTS: Out of cold storage from the July harvest, they are sweet and were great on our fresh lettuce salad tonight. 

GARLIC: Chop it and add to some roasted eggplant or peppers. 

DAIKON RADISH: The CSA is getting the more petite variety we grow, not the foot long ones we use in the fermenting kitchen.  To temper the heat of fresh daikon chop it up, add salt and let it set a bit.  We like to cut the daikon into matchstick shape for raw snacking or as part of a stir fry. 

Today there was haze in the sky from the cataclysmic wildfires in the west, almost 2,000 miles away. I guess some of us needed a reminder of how interconnected we all are on this small planet. No wall can keep out the impact of global climate change. The longer we delay and deny in the face of overwhelming evidence, the more we will all suffer. 

Farmers have a front row seat to the changing climate as we work long hours in the open air. Extreme weather is an occupational hazard.  When we see photos of farm workers harvesting under orange skies we feel that the debate should be over, it is time to get to work fixing the problem. 

One way we combat climate change on the farm is by growing cover crops that increase the carbon stored in our soil’s organic matter. Pictured above is the beautiful crop of sorghum Sudan grass and Crotelaria that we incorporated into the soil this week. As it breaks down it will feed the garlic crop that we will plant in a month’s time. 

Our monarch nursery continues. Right now we have five caterpillars still growing, with twice that having transformed into chrysallis. It is amazing to watch the transformation which we have had the good fortune to catch twice. It is over in just a few minutes.

One managed to escape the nursery and set up shop under one of our chairs!  I guess when the time comes, the chair will have to move to the porch for awhile.

By next writing, we should have had several emerging as butterflies.  Fingers crossed!