2nd week of August

What a day!
Powerful thunderstorms succeeded a sweltering, thick-aired morning. (So this is what summer feels like?)
A couple hours of heavy rain and thunder and lightning surrounding us sent us inside for a couple of damp breaks from harvesting. At least no hail!

Liz mowed the rest of our late blight infected potatoes today. Unfortunately that was this morning right before the thunderstorms struck. We hope the infection doesn't wash down into the soil to infect the tubers.
The infection is evident by the brown splotches on the potato leaves in the pictures. As you can see its not too bad, yet. Maybe we have a less virulent strain.





this is the big picture of that spot.



a little friend got washed out in the storms, seen here taking a break with liz.




You are all invited to join us this Saturday night for a campout to watch the Perseid meteors. We'll have a campfire and some treats to eat and breakfast in the morning (homemade granola and blue berries). Feel free to sleep out overnight or just join us for a few hours Saturday night. We'll be starting at 8 Pm with a dessert potluck, bring your favorite and try some one else's favorite while you are at it! Bring a tent or don't last year just about everyone slept out without the tent as the stars are so spectacular that way. The moon will be quite dark, so it should be a great night! Come on out!



Vegetables you're likely to see this week:
tomatoes
eggplant
peppers
squash
zucchini
celery
*edamame soybeans
lettuce
potatoes
onions
cucumbers
herbs
garlic
beans
kale
chard
carrots
tomatillos

Edamame Soybeans are served in Japan and China both as a vegetable in meals and as a snack food. Edamame soybeans are easy to prepare. Just remove them from the stems and place in salted, boiling water for about ten minutes. They are delicious and nutty as well as being extremely nutritious, with all of the much celebrated health benefits of soy beans. Edamame is traditionally drained and salted with coarse salt then removed from the pods as they are enjoyed at the table or bar, just slip them out of their shells and pop them in your mouth. (When boiled, the beans easily slip out their shells.) To skip adding the salt, you can boil them in salted water instead or just forgo the salt all together.


grilled tomatillo salsa
you need: fresh tomatillos
garlic cloves, unpeeled 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
onion, coarsely chopped lemon or lime juice
Hot Pepper 2 teaspoons coarse salt

Preheat broiler.
Broil chiles, garlic, and tomatillos on rack of a broiler pan 1 to 2 inches from heat, turning once, until tomatillos are softened and slightly charred, about 7 minutes. Peel garlic and tomatillos pull off tops of chiles. Purée all ingredients in a blender. • Salsa can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Makes about 3 cups.

hope to see you this weekend, have a great week!
matthew (and liz)