Farm Share Week 13 Adds to Garden Harvest
It’s time for sauce in Farm Share Week 13 from Fresh Fork Market, which brings us some lovely Roma Tomatoes along with Garlic, Peppers and some Pizza Dough to add to the Garden Harvest. The Melons are also plentiful and so very sweet! Of course, you won’t hear me complaining about getting more peaches as they are my favorite, with the Canary Yellow Melon running a close second.
The above is the perfect amount of produce to compliment our Garden Harvest. We are now picking Zucchini, Peppers, small Tomatoes, Basil and Cucumbers. We ate the peppers and tomatoes, with the lovely Sebring Zucchini and Pickling Cucumber leftover. I picked another cucumber today so hopefully I’ll have enough in a few days for some Refrigerator Dills for Mr. Carnivore who loves his dill pickles.
Most of the peppers from the farm share were chopped up and put in the freezer because I really prefer the Gypsy Peppers from my own garden for eating fresh. I use peppers almost daily so I can never have too many. I like some fresh for salads but I use frozen for cooking just so I don’t have to ever throw any away.
We’re back to enjoying our favorite summer treat – fresh Tomato and Cucumber Salad. I get tired of greens about this time of year and a bit lazy, so the Tomato and Cucumber Salad is quick and easy, plus it stores well until the next day so we get two meals out of our chopping time. Easy recipe coming soon!
This week our small Vegetarian farm share included (top featured photo)…
Yellow Melon – Canary – 1
Watermelon – Yellow Doll – 1
Peaches – 6
Kale – 1 bunch
Eggplant – 2
Green Beans – 1 lb
Garlic – 1 bulb
Hungarian Hot Peppers – 3
Green Peppers – 3
Roma Tomatoes – 3 lbs
Pizza Dough – 2
Missing: (we forgot to check our bag and didn’t get these items. Oops. Luckily they’ll replace with something else this week.)
Radishes – 1 bunch
Tomatoes – 1 pint Cherry
My half of the Vegetarian small share this week (above photo) and what’s left since Friday, August 28…
Yellow Melon – Canary – 1/2 – Enjoyed in a Mixed Melon Salad which had Watermelon, Cantaloupe and this Canary Melon in it.
Watermelon – Yellow Doll – 1 -we got the whole melon this time! Thanks mom! I think we’ll share this at a picnic because we’re invited to two!
Peaches – 3 – believe it or not, these are still in the fridge — maybe they’ll land in fruit salad for the picnic!
Kale – 1/2 bunch – we ate one or two leaves in a salad this week so we need to use the rest.
Eggplant – 1 – I really have to get to this, keep putting it off because I have to think. LOL
Green Beans – 1/2 lb – these were lovely in a recipe inspired by my mom — recipe will be shared soon with Sauteed Turkey Cutlets.
Garlic – 1/2 bulb – I want to use this in pesto
Hungarian Hot Peppers – 2 – into the freezer for later or will use them in my Salsa Bean Salad recipe for a picnic.
Green Peppers – 1 – will go into the freezer.
Roma Tomatoes – 1.5 lbs (equal to 5 tomatoes) – I think some sauce or roasted tomatoes sounds good!
Pizza Dough – 1 – I didn’t read directions very well this week and didn’t get this in the freezer so it’s a loss – mom used hers in time! Yay mom!
RESULTS…
I don’t know about anyone else, but in late August it’s almost like my body wants to go into hibernation mode. Everything slows down and I’m overly tired some days during the week. That’s how I was on the day I discovered that I had to fix my pizza or it was going to be a loss. I looked at the directions, realized I should have froze it 3 days before, thought about it, whined about it a bit, called mom and whined some more, and then finally decided I was calling it a loss and not going to feel guilty! I still feel a bit guilty for tossing it, but I just couldn’t convince myself to put in the effort of rolling, flipping, poking and pressing at 8pm. I was done for the day and had to admit defeat and just not worry about it. We’re all imperfect, even when we don’t want to admit it. 🙂
On a positive note, it felt good to get the peppers into the freezer and to eat up most of our leftover melons. I’m not a huge Melon fan because normally they’re not ripe enough when we get them at the store, so I just don’t buy them. These in the farm share were amazing. They were picked ripe as the only way to get a tasty Melon and I really enjoyed them.
The only items we have left from Week 12 are 3 apples which will store a bit longer if needed, the Eggplant, and the 1/2 of the Spaghetti Squash which split super easy following this instructional video from TheClothesMakeTheGirl.com. I followed the video exactly and I didn’t cut off a single finger or stab myself in the process! With no thanks to my father who kept getting in the way as I was trying to cut it. Too many bosses in the kitchen! LOL
I’m sure the volume will start slowing down now so I can concentrate on some preserving. I want to put up some green beans, roasted tomatoes and pesto this week or next. I’ll let you know how it goes.
How’s your fresh eating going at summer’s end?
September 4, 2015 at 5:08 pm
I have finally gotten a few runner beans. Hopefully my ‘greasy’ beans will be ready in a few days. I don’t know why they took all summer to start flowering. WEIRD. My cucumber plants died from ‘wilt’. I got lots of cucumbers before it happened. Lots of ‘maters and squash. Don’t ya just love going out to the yard and picking your own?
All of the veggies/fruit looks so good…my mouth is watering.
What are you going to do with your eggplant?
September 4, 2015 at 6:57 pm
It’s the strangest gardening year, Mel. My green zucchini plants are flowering their hearts out but not producing a single zucchini. The yellow Zucchini “Sebring” is the only one producing. This happened last year too. I guess I’m going to have to self-pollinate to see if I can get a couple before winter. I got the wilt last year with the interesting squash I wanted to try on the south side of the house, so I didn’t plant any in that area this year. So far all my squash in the back are not wilting. I love being able to pick what I’ve grown myself. So fun! As for the eggplants, I have a bunch of recipes I’ve bookmarked on my Pinterest that I want to try as soon as my ambition is willing. 🙂 It’s like being a kid in a candy store with all these choices each week.