Share #8 July 23rd & 25th

Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Snow Peas, Sugar Snap Peas, Turnips, Tomatoes,  Basil, Sage, maybe Summer Squash and Sunflowers
The garden turned the corner on summer this week! Summer squash, cucumbers and tomatoes are the pinnacle of summer eating for me. The cukes need a bit more time, but they are growing. We have some more weeding to accomplish, but we are entering the time of year when the garden likes to see how fast and how much we can harvest, eat and put-up. Yum.
My kids turned a bit of a corner on me too. Somehow they are all old enough that I can wake up early (after actually sleeping all night!) and get out of the house to do some farm work. I return when they are ready for breakfast. I've missed the early mornings at the farm and the quiet of showing up solo. I have also missed the canyon breezes. 
We get lots of wind at the farm. The wind tries my patience and stamina. It tests our ability to lay row cover. It once blew over a refrigerator full of about 550 #'s of carrots shattering the glass and making the carrots unusable. It is so consistent,  Jed put it in our wedding vows. He assured me his love would be as sure as the spring winds. The wind is also one of reasons the snow melts faster in Victor then in Wilson and Jackson. It is also the reason our soil is so deep, much of it has been wind deposited. Eastern Idaho may not have been the best place to land for a lover of gentle breezes. The prevailing winds come out of the Southwest, and sometimes the North...on those special days.
But the canyon breezes. These are magical. They happen as the mountains cool and heat. In the morning as the sun creeps across the valley, the warming air stirs the mountain air and we get a cool mountain breeze that comes across the farm from the Southeast. This gift keeps the farm from frosting on some early fall nights when elsewhere in the valley all is still. We live a mile from the farm. The air at the house will be still, but once I hit the farm road on my bike I remember the canyon breeze. 
In the evening after the sun sets the mountains drain of the warm air and we get these tropical breezes coming out of the canyon again. Right about the time you reach for an extra layer, the warm breezes pick up. Being close to the foothills for these breezes was one of the reasons the farmland we are on was so appealing. The microclimate of the farm is nothing short of miraculous. A large part of that is the air currents. 
I've been noticing air more, making myself pay attention to it. The element of it. I've noticed how when we are close to the summer solstice I feel light, airy, fast and energized. The veggies are light, and don't last long.  A million things are happening, I'm in my head, skipping from to-do item to to-do item, getting the farm going. I've rarely taken time to notice air before, because I've been too busy thinking, doing and moving through it. (The feeling of winter solstice, I get...I have time to think about it, feel it.)
​We've crossed the threshold of deep summer. A surprising number of people have been telling me they are tired. We are all trying to get the most summer we can. But it does not take much to re-energize this time of year. A cold swim, an afternoon nap, a hike or a big salad and we are back at it. Soaking summer up, feeling the warm breezes.
Biodynamics links the air element to the flowering part of the plant. At this time of year most of our crops have flowered (turned the corner) and we are harvesting the fruits or they are still growing for a fall harvest. The fruit/seed time of the year is the fall, which is linked to fire.
We are moving away from the lightest time of year, the veggies are getting heavier but don't taste anything like fall yet! I've said this before...this is the time of year I dream about in the middle of winter when I am looking at seed catalogs. It is a good time of year to be an eater! I like that we have passed the solstice. The eating is good and the canyon breezes are amazing.

Workshare Lunch this week: Burritos with zucchini and Kale, topped with Idaho salsa (Tomato, cilantro, garlic and cucumber)
Farm family dinner: Tomato, Garlic and Summer Squash (recipe on Tomato page) and Cosmic Burgers with a pile of Cosmic Mix on top.
Salad Dressing of the Week: Sage Tahini

Recipes

The coolers at your site are stocked with a selection of the beef and pork listed below. If you know you want something, please email me or tell your site host and I will make sure it is in the cooler, reserved for you. I don't send every cut every week, they simply won't all fit!
Beef Available: Tenderloin, New York Steak, Rib Eye Steak, Sirloin Steak, Sirloin Tip Roast, Pastrami, Bottom Round Roast, Liver, Ground Beef, Patties and Heart
​Pork Available: Bacon, Pork Chops, Shoulder Roast, Shank, Spare Ribs, Chorizo, Breakfast Sausage, Grandpa Restuccia's Sausage, Neck Bones, Fat and Heads

WASH YOUR VEGGIES!!
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Bring Bags to pick-ups!

If you can't make it to pick up your veggies, send a friend!
Missed shares are forfeited for the week. 
Members get 20% off at the Farmer's Markets!
The People's Market: Wednesdays 4-7
The Driggs Market: Fridays 9-1
Jackson Saturday Market: Saturdays 8-12
Questions? Comments? recipes to share? [email protected]