July 27th, 2011 by Margie

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

This week the stars are definitely your beautiful heirloom tomatoes. Each of you might have different varieties so I will try to go over a few to identify. The solid yellow medium-size ones are called taxi tomatoes, small green are green zebras, there are also red zebras, which are small red striped tomatoes. Do not wait for these green zebras to turn red – they won’t. You might also have Read the rest of this entry »

July 20th, 2011 by Margie

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

Well it is time for CORN and I don’t mean my sense of humor! All of your Vegetable Husband crew has been knee-deep in corn silk and worms to bring you the good stuff today BEFORE the worms get it! PLEASE know that a worm in your ear of corn means it is indeed organic and super sweet. Kick him out of the prime real estate and take over! We have done our very best to make sure you get less pests and more food! We will be grilling the ugly stuff over here! It’s all good eating, though and I am privileged to be part of it. We also have the very beginning of our eggplant crops. I know you did not get much this week but please know…you will be getting MORE!

Jenny had some more delish onions for us as well as the green beans. I go thru these as soon as we get them. I hope you are enjoying them too. We have some carrots from Walker Farms and although these are babies, they are beautiful. I think these are the last of her crop though. The blueberries are still coming in like crazy but the fruit will change again soon. I think we will have a different melon next week as well. Let me know how yours were last week.  Below is your list of goodies:

Japanese eggplant – Bryce Farm

Rainbow baby carrots – Walker Farm

Sweet corn – Riverview Farms

Tomatoes – Turtle Bend Farm

Cucumbers – Turtle Bend Farm

Green Beans – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Mixed sweet onions – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Blueberries – Evie’s Country Garden

The okra season has indeed started but they could not harvest enough for us this week. I think next week we should see okra so get ready. If you have a favorite summer crop that you are not seeing yet in your basket or something you are getting way too many weeks, let me know. We try our best to be a friend to the farmers but they need guidance from us on what to plant from season to season and row to row. For now, stay well fed and remember, I am always happy to TALK FOOD!

Gratefully,

Margie Thorpe

July 13th, 2011 by Margie

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

Well, as I drove to the farms this morning I realized how much common sense we leave behind at times in our urban environment. It is a record-breaking hot summer day but our farmers, and their animals (like Mary’s beautiful goats) all seem to be managing the heat fine. It is a good day to linger in the shade, move extra slow and drink plenty of water when it comes your way. Which brings me to our harvest this week. We have mint and if you do not know this already, mint when ingested creates an internal cooling. Use it in a tea and then notice 20 minutes later the way your skin feels. It will be cooling as if rubbed with peppermint. There is the reason that vintage cookbooks used mint in every punch or beverage recipe. Before air-conditioning this was as good as it got! Try it!

We also have the luxury of enjoying not only melon again this week but blueberries as well. In this heat, your body will thank you for feeding it tasty cool fruit. I added a simple recipe idea to use both fruits with your mint if you check out the website. You also have a new recipe for the green beans this week too. I made this one last night and it was quite a treat! Braised Green beans with summer veggies and the wine added such a great flavor. I am thrilled to have the goodness of the potato in our baskets this week again. We not only have small potatoes, but several bulbs of garlic, so be sure to care for these well. It should keep you in garlic for a while unless you eat it like I do. We left the cucumbers in the field this week because I thought we might all need a one-week break. Don’t get used to it, though. They will be back! Get ready for eggplant and okra in coming weeks…  Below is your list of goodies:

Potatoes (mixed red and golden) – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Green Beans – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Garlic – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Mixed squash – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Slicing Tomatoes – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Blueberries – Evie’s Country Garden

Melon – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Mint – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

I have been requested to give more information on how to care for our food as it comes in. I will post a long list of tips on the website and send you a note to let you know it is up. For now, be sure to refrigerate this melon. It is not a grocery store fruit, picked long before its time. It is vine-ripened and will not do well left on a counter. Of course your tomatoes can be left out unless they are fully ripened and you are not ready to use them. Use your basket in good health this week and remember, I am always happy to TALK FOOD!

Gratefully,

Margie Thorpe

July 7th, 2011 by Lynn

Gardening can be a hard endeavor for those of us who live in apartment buildings, dorms, and small houses. We usually give up completely and like everyone else, just purchase all our produce at the grocery store.

However, there is a solution!

Square foot gardening.   This method of planting allows the gardener to grow more plants in a smaller amount of space.  The seed placement is actually based on a series of one by one foot squares, and it allows the grower to get the most out of their space. Which can allow you to have a thriving garden even on your patio table!

I have a very small amount of garden space, I actually use the wall of my driveway.  I have basically adjusted the method into pots and gallon sized buckets that line the brick wall.  If you are lucky enough to have space in ground then you could really try the technique when fall gets a little closer.

I am including a few links that can help you start your own square foot garden. Good luck gardeners!

Square foot gardening and tips for organic growing.

Here is a great blog for the advanced or beginner gardener.

July 6th, 2011 by Margie

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

I trust you all had a great holiday weekend and now we have plunged forward into July.  This week we have such variety coming in from the fields that we were able to harvest our entire basket with one farm!  Jenny and Chris worked into the late morning today grabbing a variety of melons for us.  Each of us has one melon in the bottom of our basket, if you are wondering where the fruit is for this week.  You might have a small French melon or a more familiar looking cantaloupe.  We harvested a variety.  If your melon is smaller and smooth on the outside, this is the French variety called Chantarais.  Enjoy the sweetness.  We also have beautiful sun gold tomatoes for each of us this week.  I am thinking sun golds, basil, and cucumber salad this evening.  Yes, I said basil!

Once again, we have a variety of cucumbers and if you have the long thin ones that are striped, these are Armenian cucumbers and should be eaten first, before the darker more common varieties.  They tend to only stay firm and crisp a few days.  They are still prefect for eating but not at that “just-picked” prime.  Each basket also has a bag filled with one lb of beets and a lb of green beans.  We always take any opportunity to save on plastic consumption around here.  The beets of course no longer have the tasty greens.  The 95-degree days took care of that for us.

Below is your list of goodies:

Beets – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Rattlesnake Green Beans – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Mixed cucumbers – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Sweet yellow onions – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Mixed squash – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Sun Gold Tomatoes – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Melon – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Basil – Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Please remember as we go through these extra hot days to hydrate.  Our bodies are made up of mostly water and in this heat we need to replenish often.  If you notice, Mother Nature already knows this about us.  The crops that naturally grow in the summer are the more watery items like melons, cucumbers and tomatoes.  If we would stop thinking FOR Mother earth, we might be a lot better off some time down the road.  For now, let’s eat, drink and be happy and healthy, and as usual remember, I am always happy to TALK FOOD!