Summer CSA Week 2

This week's CSA share doesn't come with a photo... but head over to Mid South Moma's blog to see her photos. She's one of our new shareholders this summer!

We're still struggling to get back on track after our weeks without rain, so our boxes aren't quite as full as we'd like. If the trend continues, we'll add a seventh week to the summer series to make sure that our customers get their money's worth.

Here's what our shareholders received this week:

• Tomatoes: We have three tomato varieties this year: Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, and Mortgage Lifters. The ones in your box this week are a mix of Mortgage Lifters and Brandywines. Some of the Mortgage Lifters are ours, some were supplemented by our friends at Oleo Acres. 
• Hot Peppers: These are a mix of jalapenos (the red ones this week are the mature version of the green jalapenos you saw last week--with more kick, too!) and cayenne peppers. Both can be dried in a food dehydrator, the oven, or the sun and saved for crushed red pepper, or added fresh to a variety of dishes. 
• Garlic: Our cured garlic should last into the winter months if you hang it in a cool, dry place. Use a clove at a time, or amp things up and create a dish that lets the flavor of our garlic sing for the GARMACY Festival Garlic Cookoff on August 25!
• Basil: Hands down, our favorite thing to do with a bunch of basil is making pesto. To preserve whole fresh basil leaves without drying, try this recipe for freezing herbs in oil, and enjoy fresh basil all winter long.
• Figs: Our fig trees seemed to love the spell of dry heat and are producing so. many. figs. They're wonderful fresh, as a complement to pork, roasted with honey and served over ice cream, or even canned (whole, as preserves, or jellied).
• Okra: This reliable summer favorite is coming along so prodigiously we literally have to harvest every day. You can almost watch them grow. Roast them, fry them, stick them in a stew... or freeze them. Cut them cross-wise or in long, green bean style strips, lay them out on a cookie sheet, and pop it in the freezer. Once the individual pieces are frozen, they can be consolidated into a freezer bag without resulting in a slimy mess.
• Eggs: Even the chickens are on strike in the heat... egg production has gone down. We've given each of our CSA members six eggs in addition to the vegetable share to supplement our offerings this week.
• Canned Goods: Your free gift this week is twofold--a jar of fig jelly and a half-size jelly jar of our famous fig preserves. Let us know what you think! We'll have more for sale as long as the figs hold out!

Thanks to our shareholders for sticking with us during an unpredictable summer. We have more variety ripening on the vine within the next few weeks if the weather is with us. We'll get by with a little help from our friends!