Kretschmann Farm Aug. 22, 2006
don@kretschmannfarm.com www.kretschmannfarm.com
Greetings from the Kretschmanns,
Each
morning it becomes harder to rise because the sun no longer calls quite so
early. Our home is in a grove of mature
trees and Becky pointed out how the birds in May and June wake us with their
chatter, but now are much quieter.
Babies must be raised by now. Very
soon we’ll slide back our starting time in the field another half hour—to
7:00. The college and other school-aged
helpers have already or will soon start back to school, so we are experiencing
a little shift in our work crew. It
always seems a little odd at this time of the season to see these signs of the
coming of fall, and yet it’s just the middle of our veggie season. We feel like it’s all just really coming in
now. But there is also the excitement
and relief that the harvest is in full swing and the days of fretting over
planting, the weeds, and the moisture level are ending.
It’s
the start of fair season as well, and although we don’t any more have children with animals they have raised for
show and sale with the 4-H clubs, several of our helpers have them. If anyone or a group of your friends would be
interested in purchasing an animal or even a part of one, you could call the
Jenny’s (724-452-9949) or the Frederick’s (724-452-0849) to get more
information. They have pigs and steers
at the Big Knob Fair. It’s a great
little fair only 45 min from
You
see now that the new patch of zucchini is in full swing. You can bless that person who said a few
years ago, “We don’t think we got enough zucchini in our share.” No, it’s just an unusually good second
planting—we always plant about the same amount.
The moist ground and the warm temps a few weeks ago got it off and
running and it hasn’t slowed down a bit. The same seems to have happened to the
winter squashes.
The nice rain we got on Saturday came at just
a perfect time for our green beans. In
about a week we should have a lot of really nice pods. Tomatoes and peppers are in full swing.
We’ll be getting the “bills” for the second half of the season out to
you very soon. We will try a
personalized e-mail version for those who have e-mail, to cut the mailing costs.
Hoping the waning summer days are good to you, we are, sincerely,
Becky, Don, & The Kretschmann Crew
Note: We
don’t grow our own sweet corn because we are surrounded by woods in which there
are so many deer that we have found it’s fruitless to attempt to grow
corn. We get our corn from a good friend
and neighbor, Tom Brenkle, who does not grow
organically, but is very responsible and minimalist in his spraying. He said to pass on that he had only sprayed
his corn one time this year. If you’d
prefer not to receive any future sweet corn, just let us know and we’ll
substitute something else.
Fire Roasted Corn Salsa: Peel back husks of 2 ears of corn, remove silk, close back husks, tie ends with string, and soak in water 15 min. Place on charcoal grill over med. heat until corn is tender. Grill 2 lg. tomatoes whole, 2 peppers halved, and white portion of green onion over low heat. Dry roast 3 cloves garlic wrapped in tinfoil until cloves are soft. Cut corn kernels off ears, dice veggies, mince garlic. Mix all ingredients with juice of 1 large lime, chipotle powder/hot sauce and salt to taste. (If you like it spicy, one can also roast a Jalepeno pepper or two and dice these up to add—discard the seeds.)
Zucchini Pizza: Oil cookie sheet. Slice zucchini lengthwise in strips about 1/3” thick and arrange on sheet. Top with tomato sauce and shredded cheese. Bake until tender and just becoming leathery.
Zucchini Mediterranean Style: In
3 Tbs. olive oil saute 1 finely chopped onion or
equivalent chopped green onions and 3 cloves crushed garlic. (1 chopped pepper
can also be added.) Add 1 c. cooked navy or cantolini
beans, 3 c. finely sliced zucchini, 1 tsp. oregano, and 1 pint stewed tomatoes,
or 1# fresh tomatoes. Stir and then cook
slowly for 30 min. Serve over rice or
pasta.
Special Order Items: Hungarian hot Wax Peppers—1/2bu. $18 Bell Peppers—bu. $20 Tomatoes—20# box (half bushel +-)--$10
Beef Note: Our neighbors, the Lewis’s, have just butchered a few grass fed beef. If you are interested in buying any, contact them at 724-452-7735 or gorge@zbzoom.net