Autumn at our doorstep...

Sometimes I want everything to go according to my plans, and sometimes mother nature shows me that is impossible. But it's okay, sometimes it's even better.

I was all set on harvesting the first melons this week, but the sun refused to come out at all for our two harvesting days. Sunday was a drencher- we got an inch and a half of rain. The fields were mucky & we could hardly enter them. Monday was just overcast. We try not to harvest certain crops when the foliage is wet-- tomatoes, squash, peppers, eggplants, melons. What happens is you spread disease-- fungal & bacterial diseases of those plant families, which travel easily in the moist environment. On a sunny afternoon (the dew burns off around 11am), the UV light kills a lot of plant pathogens. That's when we harvest those crops. So we waited for the sun. And waited, and waited.

Until it was 2 hours before distribution, and the plants still had droplets of rain on them! So I made a quick change of plans, and thankfully we had a lot of hands to help us in this last-minute harvesting. We dug up an entire 200' row of potatoes, and pulled & cleaned up 200 leeks. Enjoy some potato-leek soup tonight! Perfect for the cooler weather.

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/potato_leek_soup/

Summer crops not done yet, but fall definitely seems right around the corner.
Another tip on good recipes: Marthastewart.com
Enter a vegetable into the recipe search & get a bunch of really great ideas. A quick look & I found recipes for Swiss Chard Pie, Zucchini Lasagna, & Green Bean Salad. Happy eating!