I dined off-farm this weekend, attending my niece Barbara’s wedding in Evanston, Ill. This 3 day convergence of family was a splendid time. It included some deep dish pizza and other excellent food.

Woody, Barbara and my sister Fran

We are in the last stage of that time of year when summer and fall crops are available together. Your stir fry can include eggplant, or you can cook cherry tomatoes with your broccoli. It is also the time to stock up, even if for just a short time, on any excess produce.

You may find yourself with a lot of peppers this week. Take any extra and clean them, cut ’em into chunks and put in a freezer bag. They are now a convenience food. They fry up well, and are perfect in fajitas, eggs, or over pasta.

We hope that you have made good use of the herb selections this year. While the basil never recovered from the damp coolness of June, our stores of dried herbs have provided for the shares. We enjoy the hot peppers. Much of their heat is in the seeds. You can snap the stem off and shake out the seeds before crushing it, to cut down on the heat. Or just leave it whole and drop it into a slow cooking dish.

dried cayenne peppers