Since I’ve already spent well over two hours today struggling with technology this week’s newsletter will be a repeat from July 27, 2009. I must say if tractors were as reliable as computers and cell phones, food would be prohibitively expensive and we’d all be starving to death. Luckily tractors don’t have error messages that say “Cannot copy file. Invalid parameter” or I guess it would say “Cannot till soil. Invalid plot” or some such thing. All the parameters I was aware of are very valid so I don’t know what the computer is complaining about. Anyway, enjoy this repeat from 2009 followed by a few important announcements…
Farm Update
Ask a physicist what the universe is made of and he or she will respond, “Matter and anti-matter”. Seems pretty simplistic. If you ask me what the universe is made of I would respond “matter and doesn’t-matter”. There is also of-course-it-matters and why-shouldn’t-it-matter as well as it-really-doesn’t-matter, which is just a bigger doesn’t-matter. In the physicist’s universe, matter and anti-matter annihilate each other. In my universe all the matters can co-exist. In a physicists universe matter is matter and anti-matter is anti-matter. In my universe matter can change to doesn’t-matter quite easily and doesn’t-matter can change to matter just as easily. For example, if you have a pimple on your nose and you are getting ready for a big date it is a big-matter, which is a subclass of matter. If your date doesn’t show up, the pimple suddenly doesn’t-matter, as does the former date.
In the physicist’s universe matter comes in three states: gas, liquid or solid. In my world gases, liquids or solids can fall into either category – matter or doesn’t-matter. Let’s look at an example from Friday. (This might be a good place to remind everyone of the fine print on the order form. The part that talks about how farming is a risky business and that by joining the farm you are sharing the risk).
On Friday we had rain. We’ve had enough rain lately so the rain on Friday, which was an inch or so, doesn’t-matter. On the other hand, we received a solid precipitation – hail – and it matters. It rarely is doesn’t-matter. Hail is pretty much in the matters category. And Friday’s hail is no exception. The amount of hail wasn’t enormous. The size of the hail hardly reached pea-size so it wasn’t a big-matter. But it must have been moving pretty fast. As we all know from our high school physics class, the amount of energy in a moving object is one half the mass times the acceleration squared. So acceleration has a far more dramatic affect on the energy of the object than the mass. In our example, though the hail was pea-sized but it was moving fast so it had a lot of energy. And it became matter.
What did it do with all that energy? It transferred it to the plants it hit (surprisingly it missed every squash bug and cucumber beetle out there). The effect of all that energy transfer is dependent on the plant trying to absorb it. Here are a few examples:
Nothing happened to the carrots. They grow underground.
The broccoli now has a few holes in the heads. It tastes the same but there might be damage where no damage appeared before.
The squash leaves are torn. The squash have dimples. Neither should impact greatly the production of summer squash, though they may not store as long. I’m not sure if there will be an impact on the winter squash.
The tomato fruits and plants look like they have measles. I’ve been told that the fruits will ripen normally but will always have spots. Let’s hope that is true.
All the corn has torn leaves. The first planting of corn – the tallest – fell down. It is now standing upright. We shall see what the result will be. The second and third planting seem fine.
So to summarize, for the most part the effect on the vegetables doesn’t-matter. But be aware that there may be spots, dents, holes, etc. on the veggies for the next few weeks. And as we all know, at the end of the day it really-doesn’t-matter.
This week we will have tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, beans, sweet corn, onions, cabbage, bell peppers, hot peppers, some broccoli and garlic. The cauliflower is done for the summer though we have more planted for the fall. Summer squash is also done for the season. Eggplants have slowed to a crawl and unless they start flowering again will be done for the season. We’ll dig more potatoes and carrots for next week. This will be the last week for corn but I suspect you will get about as much as last week (maybe a little less).
Speaking of corn, here are a couple corn recipes from member Sue Manning (http://www.whatsyourhealthy.com):
Baja Black Bean & Corn
Ingredients
6 cups cooked brown rice
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 ears corn, blanched and cut from cob
4 fresh tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
2 dashes hot sauce
Directions
Cook brown rice. In a medium bowl, combine black beans, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice, salt, pepper and hot sauce. To serve, place a scoot of hot rice in a bowl or on a plate, top with a generous scoop of the corn/bean mixture. Stir together before eating.
Fresh Corn Salad
1999, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Ingredients
5 ears of corn, shucked
1/2 cup small-diced red onion (1 small onion)
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup julienned fresh basil leaves
Directions
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the corn for 3 minutes until the starchiness is just gone. Drain and immerse it in ice water to stop the cooking and to set the color. When the corn is cool, cut the kernels off the cob, cutting close to the cob.
Toss the kernels in a large bowl with the red onions, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Just before serving, toss in the fresh basil. Taste for seasonings and serve cold or at room temperature.
FruitShare: We will be getting more peaches with our next FruitShare. If you would like to order peaches a la carte please let me know by Monday.
CheeseShare: We received this week’s cheese last Friday. You are either enjoying it now or will get it by the end of this week.
CoffeeShare came on Monday.
As always, do not hesitate sending in questions, comments or ways to fix the computer or cell phone!