bounty

We got our farm t-shirts this weekend...
...celebrating 10 years of bountiful food-growing!
The tomatoes have finally started rolling in. I love picking tomatoes. And eating tomatoes. And just looking at them.
What else says summer ripeness better than the tomato?
At Saturday's distribution included: peppers, eggplants, zucchini, squash, beans, carrots,
leeks, onions, potatoes,
tomatoes, watermelons, canteloupe,
potatoes! (We've started digging potatoes! More pics soon!)
Plus pick-your-own basil, cilantro, dill, parsley, scallions, more beans, and flowers! I love seeing all these people out in the field picking.
Here's Farmer Dave working on the tractor, talking to CSA member Johanna who's holding a bouquet she picked in the flower garden.
Another picture of the bounteous ears of corn in the 3 Sisters Garden! You can see the bean vines climbing up, and the large leaves of squash in the foreground.
The kernels are turning darker purple!
The broom corn (actually a sorghum) is a really good trellis for the bean vines.... 12' tall!
This weekend I attempted my first canning experiment! Getting the "putting food away for the winter" bug. This batch was 3 jars tomatillo salsa, 1 jar dilly beans, 2 jars okra & jalapeno. I used a whole quart of expensive organic vinegar, and the boiling process was a bit stressful. I much prefer lactofermentation as a process.
Fermenting things just requires lots of salt and time. The final product is healthier for you because of the beneficial probiotics, but it needs to be stored in a refrigerator or root cellar. These jars will keep indefinitely on the pantry shelf. (Hopefully!)

Next I will pickle beets.

I also started some lacto-fermented pickles this past weekend, and some spiced pickled onions. And a few jars of "dilly beans" -- I posted the recipe for those if anyone else wants to try it. I'll let you know in 2 weeks how they taste. Supposedly they taste just like dill pickles. Yum.