This week marks the half-way point of the summer CSA, and we’re very excited to finally have tomatoes for your share!  My absolute favorite are the Sun Gold orange cherry tomatoes, but there are about ten other different varieties growing in our greenhouses and hopefully you’ll get to sample many them over the coming weeks.  Remember not to store tomatoes in the fridge (it affects texture and flavor).  My fingers are crossed as I write about having tomatoes for the coming weeks, because Warren is the epicenter of this year’s outbreak of Late Blight.  Late Blight is the disease that caused the Irish potato famine, and to this day kills tomato and potato plants in a flash.  In the wet and cold summer of 2009 we were one of the few farms in the area that fended off the disease, since all our tomatoes are semi-protected in greenhouses.  Hopefully we’ll be able to do the same this year, and in the meantime, we’ll enjoy every possible bite of tomato!

If you would like to put pesto by for the winter, we now have bulk bags of basil available.  Later on in the season we will open the basil up for free pick-your-own, but it will be much more bug- and weather-battered at that point.  As for now, you’re welcome to order bulk basil at our wholesale rate (1 lb for $8.50).  Also, kale/chard/collards are still available for bulk purchase (10 bunches for $15).  Green Beans are also available in bulk (5 lbs for $10).  Just send me an email to order.

If you come by the farm this week, don’t be shocked by the huge excavator and bulldozer parked alongside the driveway.  We’re not tearing up the farm simply to give Eli the joy of seeing large earthmovers at work.  We received a grant from the USDA to build a manure/compost pad next to the barn and to reduce erosion by putting culverts and ditches in key spots around the farm.  It’s a bit of a shocking sight, but in the long run it will allow us to do a better job of protecting water and soil quality.

On one final note, one of our wonderful full-season apprentices, Neil Attfield, will be returning to interior painting this fall (his business is called Craft Fine Interiors).  He’s looking for new jobs throughout the mid-coast and points south, so feel free to contact him with any painting projects you’d like to have him look at!  His number is 650-8291 or   http://www.craft fineinteriors.wordpress.com.

Have a great week full of wonderful meals!

Reba and the HCF crew

Minna Latortue (HCF crew ‘09, ‘10, ‘11) with a handful of golden beets. Minna is our fabulous third-year WOOFing veteran (volunteering via World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). We’re lucky enough to have her with us for a full month this season.

Week 9 (of 18) veggies:  Green Peppers, Green Beans, Onion, Lacinato Kale, Cherry Tomatoes and/or  Slicing Tomatoes, Potatoes (Purple or Red), Basil, Golden and/or Red Beets, Zucchini and/or Zephyr Squash

This week’s recipes:  Farfalle with Golden Beets, Beet Greens and Pine Nuts, Roasted New Potato Salad, Tuscan Kale Caesar Slaw