This week your basket contains: summer squash, cucumbers, sweet corn, sweet peppers, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, beans and basil.

It has been feeling a bit like fall lately, which means only one thing: THE PUMPKIN PICK UP PARTY IS COMING UP SOON!  Mark your calendars for October 17^th & 18^th as the day(s) to come out and pick your jack-o-lantern, eat pizza (including pumpkin pie pizza!), press cider and have fun with other subscribers.

Every year when we are buying seeds in December and January we pay close attention to the sweet corn with an eye to selecting varieties that not only taste great, but that have a good spread of days to maturity.  Careful selection means that we can plant all of our corn on the same day and have it ripen over a number of weeks with one type getting ready just as the previous one is finishing. Over the years we have had great luck and a good line up. For whatever reason, it seems all the varieties have come in at the same time, so your basket this week is heavy with corn (as problems go, this is a good one!).  We love this recipe, and with cooler weather this week it seems very appropriate.

SUMMER CORN CHOWDER

6 ears sweet corn

6 cups chicken broth

2 cloves of garlic, bruised

1 russet potato cut in ½ inch cubes

2 cups milk

salt and pepper

4 slices of bacon diced

4 medium tomatoes cubed

¼ cup chopped fresh basil

Strip corn from ears and set aside.  Simmer the cobs and garlic in the broth for 10 minutes.  Remove the cobs and garlic, stir in the potatoes and half of the corn kernels and simmer for 10-12 minutes.  Puree and set aside in a bowl after stirring in the milk, salt and pepper.  Cook the bacon in the original pot until fully cooked (approx 6 minutes).  Add the onion and sauté for 10 minutes.  Add the reserved pureed soup and the remaining corn then simmer for 8 minutes.  Stir in the tomatoes and basil and serve.  From Culinate.com

This is another great recipe.  While it calls for processing them, you can just store them in the fridge and eat them without processing.  Le longer you let them marinate, the better they will be.

TARRAGON or BASIL GREEN BEANS

6 cloves garlic, sliced

36 black peppercorns

3 lbs young, tender snap beans, trimmed, if necessary, to 4 inches

6 tarragon sprigs or 12 basil sprigs

3 ½ cups white wine vinegar

3 ½ cups water

2 Tbs. pickling salt

Into each of 6 sterile pint mason jars, put 1 sliced garlic and 6 peppercorns.  Pack the beans vertically into the jars, adding 1 tarragon sprig or 2 basil sprigs to each jar.  In a non-reactive saucepan, bring to a boil the vinegar, water and salt.  Pour the hot liquid over the beans, leaving ½ inch headspace.  Close the jars with hot two-piece caps.  Process the jars for 5 minutes in a boiling-water bath, or pasteurize them for 30 minutes in water heated to 180-185 degrees, F.  Store the cooled jars in a cool, dark place for at least 1 month before eating the beans.

ROASTED CARROTS WITH GARLIC AND THYME

1 ½  Lbs carrots, peeled

10 – 12 small garlic cloves

2 Tbs Olive oil

salt and pepper

thyme sprig

chopped parsley, for garnish