2010 Season, Week Nineteen

September 18, 2010 newsletter

This week's harvest:
Tomatoes
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Okra
Green Beans
Eggplant
Onions
Garlic
Cilantro
Sweet Potato Greens

This week's farm news:

There was something both intensely exhilerating and profoundly intimidating about holding down the fort while the Smith family took their much-deserved vacation. But once we cancelled all of the parties and concerts we had planned, our nerves calmed immensely! This gave us the chance to concentrate on the one idea that brought us all here in the first place: running a farm.

Beth kicked off our solo run with a spectacular Sunday dinner of deviled eggs and fried green tomatoes which was, unbeknownst to everyone else, the envy of the world.

On Monday, it was discovered that the grasshoppers have yet to relent on their campaign to devour everything we plant. Beth noticed that they'd been feasting on our recently uncovered brassicae patch, and immediate action was required! So the crew and I set forth fortifying our maturing patch with row cover and metal hoops in a way that kept the insatiable grasshopper population out, while maintaining the integrity of our beautiful, yet fragile, cabbages & bok choy. After that, we're unsure what they feasted upon, but we ate a fresh salad with tomatoes & pickled squash, washing it all down with a nice, sweet glass of accomplishment.

Our good friends at Bell's Bend recommended that we try our sweet potato greens, and try we did - they found their way into nearly every meal we ate. In the spirit of that, we've decided (as your stand-in farmers) to offer these wonderful greens to our shareholders this week, along with a recipe we all found rather compelling. In general, treat them like you would spinach, though the stems might need a little extra cooking time. Don't feel the need to be gentle however, they are tough and can stand a good amount of heat!

On behalf of your Bugtussle interns, we would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for supporting this farm, as it has provided an irreplaceable education and experience that would not be possible if it weren't for you! Thank you again, and have a great week!