Hellgate CSA

Hello Everyone,

Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday. See below for tomorrow's share menu. Please remember to bring your bags to distribution and if you have spares, we always appreciate donations of extra bags to help out fellow members in a pinch!

The summer is at an end soon but we'll be enjoying summer crops for a few more weeks. Summer squash has been abundant but it will be gone before you know it. Take some time to freeze a little for a late fall treat. Zucchini bread and muffins freeze well and squash casseroles, as well as lightly sauteed onion and summer squash mixture. The same goes for your sweet peppers. I cleaned and chopped our sweet pepper share and separated small amounts into freezer bags to use in stews this fall and winter. Banana pepper is wonderful added to chili and bell pepper gives a kick to bolognese sauce.

Here is this week's Share Menu:

We are very lucky to have Green Thumb farm as our vegetable supplier in that Farmer Bill grows over 400 varieties of herbs, vegetables and fruits, many of which are heirloom varieties and therefore, rare.

This week we have several items you may not be familiar with including roumanian wax peppers, dragon tongue beans and sorrel, but do not fear as all of them are very tasty.

Vegetable Share
- Large tomatoes (mixed types)
- Basil
- cucumbers
- summer squash
- sweet peppers (choice of roumanian wax, cubanero or sweet green)
- green beans (choice of "dragon tongue" or "green"; 1 lb. bags)

Fruit Share
- TBD

Herb Share
- thyme
- sorrel

Mid August and Summer is in full swing! The heat is on and dry weather continues. Tomatoes of all types are looking very good- maybe the best of this century if not longer. Last year no large tomatoes were brought in to any of our CSA groups. This year is so different. The dry heat conditions are ideal for tomatoes!

Vegetable Share
- mini tomatoes (one pint)
- cantaloupe
- cucumbers
- summer squash
- eggplants
- green string beans

Fruit Share
- TBD

Basil Shares for those who purchased one for August 17, 2010 will also be at the pick-up. Please be sure that you name is on the list for this date before collecting a share, as there are several other Basil Share delivery dates this season.

Hello all,

I just received a call from Farmer Bill this morning and tomato shares in a very limited quantity will be available for the next 4 weeks.

The tomatoes are Italian Red "Paste" or "Plum" tomatoes and are perfect for tomato sauce and canning. They are being sold in 20 lb. boxes for $35 a box. Please follow the directions below for your orders. Please note that if you want a delivery for TOMORROW, you MUST order by noon today.

Directions for Tomato share orders:

Veggie Share
- Large tomatoes
- basil
- cucumbers
- summer squash
- sweet peppers
- okra
- cantaloupe (one small per share)

Herb Share
- oregano
- sage

Fruit Share
- TBD, probably stone fruit

Additionally, Bean and Grain shares and Meat/Dairy pick-up is this week.

Vegetable Share

- tomatoes (large. There will be yellow, orange and red varieties.)
- summer squash
- cucumbers
- sweet peppers
- eggplant
- choice of cilantro or mint

Fruit Share

- TBD, but probably stone fruit and early apples

In June the shares were somewhat smaller with often 5 or 6 items but as the summer progresses we are coming away every Tuesday with 7 different items, not to mention fruit, herbs, grains, meat, dairy, etc. While so much produce is a beautiful thing, it is also sometimes overwhelming. Thus, there are always things within your share you may be under utilizing, thinking you don't have time to make something with the item and even if you did, you couldn't possibly eat it this week.