Birdsfoot Farm

Dear All,
August has come and gone, where does the time go?  I just came in from the gardens ( it is getting dark earlier now).  I replanted spinach, very late, too late? in a spinach bed that had only 25% spinach in it.  My philosophy is that one can have a poor planting due to poor germination, not enough watering or seeds not enough covered and critters eat them, but one can replant and make it a decent planting a bit later.  Spinach will not go to seed anymore, because the days are too short to give it flowering impulse.  So it could be there for ever.  Even if I can't get a harvest out of it, it might overwinter if we get enough snow cover and be a good spring income.

It is very dry and you are getting full boxes because we have the ability to water.  We don't just water the lettuce greens and spinach.  Carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, kale all are on a rotating water schedule.  Today I saw that the parsnips laid down ready to give up, leaves not looking dark green any more and the beans are loosing leaves.  I have not checked the celeriac, a swamp plant yet.  It will be a watering weekend.

Seba is gone to Boston and I am feeling tired from the drive and driving in the city.  May be it is like grieving, letting go of a son to go to college.  He is very happy.
I also miss Phil, who made it all the way to Grand Teton National Park.  He and my nephew Kevin send us a postcard.

The guinea pigs are doing fine.  They love cucumbers, carrots and watermelon.  Talking of melons.  Our melons are staring to come on.  May be we can give some out next week.

So here are some new recipes for you to try.  The first one is from Elizabeth Boyd: 
Hi Dulli! Here is the Zucchini recipe i have. It is for 'chocolate zucchini cake' but i leave out choco and make muffins instead. I dont have exact time for baking but i think 25-30 mins

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 1/2c flour

1/2c cocoa

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2cps sugar

3/4 c oil

3 eggs

2tsp vanilla extract

2c pureed zucchini(or summer yellow squash)

1 tsp salt

1tsp ground cinnamon

1/2c milk

Mix dry ingredients

Mix wet ingredients 

In lg bowl alternate wet and dry

Bake at 350 for bundt 50-60 min

Makes 1 bundt or

25-30 mins for 24 muffins

Hope you like it, i freeze muffins they are very moist and freeze well.



We have a lot of basil.  If you want extra for pesto making, e-mail or call.  1lb for $14, 1/2 lb for $8.
Pesto recipe:
1[2 lb of basil -wash
7 cloves of garlic
1/2 to 1 cup of Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup of olive oil
1/3 cup of sunflower seeds, toasted in a frying pan
optional 1/8to1/4 lemon juice
Start with oil and basil in a blender than add other ingredients.  Freeze as ice cubes and than store in a bag in freezer for small portions or freeze in small plastic containers.

and here is a green bean salad recipe fro my mom
Nanni's Green Bean salad:
green beans
summer savory
salt
onions diced
cook beans with summer savory and salt for 20minutes,
marinade with :
1 part vinegar                           pepper
2 parts bean water                    soy sauce
1/8 cup oil                               2 cloves of garlic
salt                                          oregano




Enjoy these wonderful days of summer.
Dulli

Dear All,
I just transplanted the last of the lettuce for the year, 1100 of them.  Every year I try to plant all my fall lettuce timely, so that they will not go to seed anymore and just grow and sit there until I harvest them as late as late November.  I try to plant them not too early (going to seed) and not too late ( won't grow to size) and I think wow, I can sell these for $1.50-$2.50 each and make up for other losses of the year.  Often I have been on vacation at the critical week or the ground was not ready prepared and weedy, or they got eaten by deer or porcupines or I don't have water set up and hot weeks come along.  But I think this year might be the year.  We will see. 

One more planting of cilantro and we are done planting until garlic, except for cover crops.  The last cilantro planting went in late and did not do well next to the sunchokes which are allelopathic, that means they give off things through their root, so that other crops don't grow.   We don't ever have to weed sunchoke since nothing grows with them, but that seems to extend a few feet to the sides as well. So we have to buggy and weed the next planting to come on. 

Lettuce are back.  They did not grow well in the hot dry with the irrigation glitch.  We were eating head lettuce that Kira had grown in her garden the past week. ( She has a few lettuce, carrots, shell peas, tomatoes and a cucumber in her patch that gets mostly weeded by Steve.)

Cucumbers are coming in plentiful now.

Blueberries are coming on strong too for at least two more weeks.  They are from a friend in Dekalb organically grown for $5.50/quart.  Please reaffirm your order for this Friday and next if you want some.

 I got an interesting recipe from a customer at market for summer squash, a summer squash souffle.  I tried baking it.  I have never before made any souffles and had no clue that you are supposed to separate the egg whites and yolks and beat the whites fluffy.  So mine came out rather flat, about an inch high, but tasty. (I had put it in the oven while it was still heating up and not hot yet.)  I had expected a puffy, fluffy cake like thing, but we loved it anyways because it was so cheesy.  Patreesha who eats dairy and wheat free is bringing Brigid to college in Florida, so we try new recipes with dairy and flour while she is gone.  Here it is, let me know how it worked for you.
Summer squash souffle:
1lb of summer squash, boil until tender, drain and mash
3/4 cup of flour
1tsp. baking powder
1cup of milk
8oz of cheddar cheese
2 eggs separate, add egg yolks and whipp egg whites until hard and fold under
salt and pepper to taste

bake at 350F for 45 minutes

Phil who has been working in the gardens since April of 2011 has left to travel by car with my nephew Kevin form Germany to California.  He brought in Zack this spring so he could leave.  The car was not running for most of the summer and just got done last week.  And than it stopped running over 25mph after the battery had been drained.  It took the mechanic several days and he could not figure out the problem and Phil and Kevin had just resin to take the bus or hitch hike when Phil' s father came up with the answer how to reset the computer after battery drain and the car is running.  They left four days late and very antsy and I already miss them.

These are the news for now, remember to call first thing if you want blueberries this week if we did not talk about it at last pick up.
peace, Dulli