This week your basket contains: broccoli (full shares), tomatoes (half shares),  zucchini, cucumber,  beans, onions, basil, lettuce, and carrots.

BLACKBERRIES are starting to ripen!  The blackberries set a large amount of fruit this year, and it looks like August will be a great time for you to come and enjoy your fill of great blackberries that grow free from roadside contamination!  We welcome you to come out to the farm on your schedule (please email to let us know your plans so we can greet you and point you in the right direction).  You are welcome to pick as many berries as you like free of charge. 

I like to pass the recipe below along to subscribers as soon as the summer squash really gets rolling because I know that once you try it you will want to make it over and over again! .  It sounds odd at first, but it is amazing! 

LONNIE’S CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE

½ cup soft butter

½ cup cooking oil

2 eggs

1 ½ cup sugar (can be reduced)

1 tsp. vanilla

2 ½ cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

½ cup chocolate chips

½ cup buttermilk

4 Tbs. cocoa

2 cups grated zucchini

¼ cup chopped nuts

1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix oil, butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and milk together.  Add cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Mix well. Add flour and mix well.  Add zucchini, chocolate chips and nuts and mix. Divide the batter into 2 well-greased loaf pans or one well-greased 13 x 9 in baking dish. Bake at 350⁰ for 45 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Below is another recipe you may want to go back to time and again over the summer.

CUCUMBER AGUA FRESCA

This recipe was passed along to us by a subscriber.  She said “When life gives you cucumbers . . ., make cucumber agua fresca! One recipe didn’t require straining, but notably it required peeling the cucumbers (presumably to keep the bitter out or you can leave skin on – makes it more green).  This is a delicious cooling beverage as is, but obviously it presents itself as a great mixer for vodka, gin, rum, or tequila cocktails. Might try that later this evening. . . . .”

2 medium cucumbers cut into chunks
4 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
juice from 2 limes
mint sprigs (optional)

Blend cucumber chunks and 2 cups water in blender until smooth. Add sugar and lime juice and blend again. Strain through metal mesh strainer into bowl or pitcher. Push down on solids to get all liquid through. Add the remaining 2 cups water (to taste) and any other flavor adjustments you like. Refrigerate until cold. Optional: drink with spearmint garnish, muddled mint, or if you know you want it all minty, blend spearmint into the original mix in the blender.

The recipe below is for a very large batch (full shares got about half the beans called for) so modification is called for!

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.