green bell peppers

Boxing Day, August 8

planorcanLeave a comment

Dear John,

Our next home project is on the horizon. (Pun intended.) As I finish brainstorming meals, you’re reaching out to different contractors to see about getting quotes for solar panel installation. As a child of the 90s who read and re-read 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save the Earth, as an adult who now attends climate action protests, hopefully as an elderly adult far in the future, it feels really exciting to be able to make this visible step toward taking care of the planet.

It’s weird to enter the pricing process with a clear favorite, but part of me hopes that the bid through our community’s Solar Switch group is the clear winner. I really like the idea of group purchasing! I like feeling like part of a bigger effort, even if I’m not meeting with the other neighbors buying this year. It’s the type of action that gives me hope. And as I keep being reminded, the way through this is hope-fueled work.

Today’s Box

  • Orange Seedless Watermelon
  • Plums
  • Yellow Peaches
  • Banana Peppers
  • Collards
  • Green Bell Peppers
  • Italian Eggplant
  • Red Grape Tomatoes

Things in the fridge

  • Cinnamon Basil
  • Plums
  • Donut Peaches
  • Nectarines
  • Peppers: Green bell, banana
  • Bottom halves of Centercut Squash
  • Celery
  • Cucumber and lemon cucumber
  • Fennel bulb
  • Greens: Cabbage, kale
  • Red Potatoes
  • Green plums
  • Green tomatoes (starting to pink)

In the Garden

  • Early peppers. Another couple Cochiti and fallen Habanero.
  • Tomatillos
  • Tomatoes are here!
  • A few ground cherries
  • Rainbow chard
  • Dill seed
  • Parsley
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos and gomphrena for the table
  • Communal figs

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled kale stems
  • Pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Tomatillo salsa
  • Cran-kin kraut
  • Cranapple chutney
  • Watermelon rind dill pickles
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Garden glimpse

Tomatoes are here!

Team Tomato

  • If this keeps up, we’re going to need to make some tomato sauce/paste to can/freeze. But for this, the first week of tomato bounty, we are savoring them. The classic tomato sandwiches. The spiced tomato salads. Panzella made with cornbread so you can enjoy too. In tacos. With eggs. On sunchoke burgers pulled from the freezer.
  • Speaking of the freezer….tomato ice cream? This feels like the time in high school when we were thing to figure out how to use up a bunch of cushaw. Turns out pumpkin ice cream is really a thing. Why not tomato?
  • The cherry tomatoes are tempting to go ahead and pickle. Copy the copycats of a restaurant dish that I still dream of?
  • Two weeks worth of bell peppers getting stuffed. (Adding extra tomatoes and chickpeas to the Greek filling mix from Help! My Apartment Has a Dining Room.)
  • Banana peppers finally getting pickled. If there are extra, stuff them with cheese?
  • The cinnamon basil-lime cookies were good. Make more and freeze the dough.
  • I think there’s a good chance we’ll pick some zucchini from our neighbor’s plot while they’re out of town this week. If we do, I want to use the eggplant for ratatouille. If we don’t, the eggplant tomato cheddar stacks from Simply in Season.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, August 1

planorcanLeave a comment

Dear John,

It’s counterintuitive that after having all the guests over the past week we have more lingering produce than usual. But between buying extra veggies for lunch nibbles and pre-preparing dinners, there wasn’t as much focus on using up the CSA and garden food. Some chard stems and green tomatoes made a chutney that was offered on the potato bar. Cooked chard leaves were offered with the pasta sauce. Tomatillos were chopped with lime juice and a pepper to top tacos. That was about it for three days?

Now I’m having the post-visit energy collapse. It feels entirely possible that we’ll order takeout an extra day this week. Possibly pull out a freezer meal without freezing a new one. All to say, watch out. Next week may get to overwhelming amounts of produce needing to be used if we’re not intentional.

Today’s Box

  • Donut Peaches
  • Nectarines
  • Centercut Squash
  • Green Beans
  • Green Bell Peppers
  • Mixed Heirloom Tomatoes
  • Sweet Onions
  • Cinnamon Basil

Things in the fridge

  • Plums
  • Watermelon
  • Sweet corn
  • Banana peppers
  • Celery
  • Cucumber and lemon cucumber
  • Red Spring Onions
  • Fennel bulb
  • Greens: Cabbage
  • Turnips?
  • Red Potatoes
  • Green plums
  • Green tomatoes (starting to pink)

In the Garden

  • The first cucumber!
  • Early peppers. Think Cochiti but maybe Fish.
  • A couple tomatillos
  • More tomatoes. Both ours and from the neighbors.
  • A few ground cherries
  • Rainbow chard (but gave half to the neighbors)
  • All the Genovese basil
  • Flowering dill if inspired
  • Rosemary
  • Oregano
  • Calendula and cosmos and gomphrena if we want another bouquet
  • Communal blackberries and figs

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled kale stems
  • Pickled fennel stems
  • Radish kimchi
  • Green tomato chutney
  • Tomatillo salsa
  • Cran-kin kraut
  • Cranapple chutney
  • Watermelon rind dill pickles
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Garden glimpse

Sad news this week. Our basil looks not great. I’m not sure if the browning is due to stress from heat and lack of hydration or a fungus.

I fear the fungus.

One plant was totally dead. I pulled it and another two that were browning. One last batch of pesto for us. And not planting basil in the same section next year out of an abundance of caution.

Team Empty The Fridge

  • Chop tomatillos + tomatos + pepper + salt + lime for the tacos that were dinner.
  • The potato green bean pesto salad
  • Cinnamon basil and lime cookies.
  • Need to pickle the banana peppers. (Just as we finished off last year’s batch.)
  • These bell peppers look good for making stuffed bell peppers. I’ve had this tab open for long enough that I forgot it existed. Calls for lamb, so we might not go that direction though!
  • I want panzanella and the spot that I picked up lunch from today didn’t have any. So expect to make that one of these days while you’re at the office.
  • I want pizza. Can we pizza? It’s hot, but not as hot as it’s been. (These are the weeks I miss apartment complexes gas grills.) Squash and red sauce and cheese and garlic. Corn and tomatoes and pesto and feta.

Love,

Sarah