Frog Holler Farm

  Billy King built bat houses this week and he and bro Kenny installed them.  Bats eat a lot of mosquitoes and mosquito-sized insects and are said to be beneficial to have around. We are happy to provide them with a spot to roost, but we don't want them in our belfry!   NOTES FROM THE FARM:  A lot of kitchen time was spent preserving this week. Twenty quarts of tomatoes, three big batches of pesto, frozen green beans, and spaghetti sauce in progress. After a long day in the kitchen, it was very gratifying to slather some pesto on pita bread, add a slice of cheese and fresh tomato, and sit down! Sometimes simple is the best. Note about  Cilantro:  if Cilantro is relatively new to you, you might not know to  use the stems . They are just as tasty as the leaves and almost as tender; they can also add a slight crunch to a salad. You don't have to take the leaves off the stems - just chop it all together and enjoy the unique cilantro flavor. Years ago we ha...

RECIPES: We had  Minestrone  this week and it worked fine on a breezy late summer day. The linked recipe calls for two cups of mixed seasonal veggies so you have lots of options from your share. Only the Pak Choi seems like it might not sync with Minestrone - but then again, why not? Fusion soup! Apparently Minestrone was traditionally made to use up leftover vegetables, so feel free to use any seasonal vegetables and greens you have on hand. It might sound strange but we had  Arugula Peach salad  this week and it was delicious! The recipe calls for feta, which would be delicious, but we didn't have it so we added chopped sweet peppers along with the arugula, peaches and walnuts. Also delicious! We dressed it with a classic balsamic vinaigrette. Peaches are in season in Michigan now so don't miss a chance to pair their luscious juicy sweetness with our assertive peppery arugula (so much more flavorful than "baby arugula"!). NOTES FROM THE FARM: We have been feeling s...

  Our first tractor: 1954 Ford Golden Jubilee Now in retirement among the flowers (No we didn't purchase in 1954! Thanks to neighbor Tom for the photo tip) RECIPE TIPS: Now that you are past the half-way mark in the CSA, you're ready for some advanced items in your share. Although some of you will no doubt welcome that large white root veggie thing reclining in your share box, many of you will no doubt be scratching your heads. How can  this  be a  radish! ?  Daikon Radish  is a widely used root vegetable in Japanese cooking. It has a crunchy texture along with a light peppery flavor with sweet undertones. It is much milder than the small round radishes we are more familiar with. Daikon is popular in many types of Asian cooking and grated or pickled Daikon is often served with deep-fried dishes and heavier meals. It is believed to help eliminate fats and excess toxins, as well containing enzymes that stimulate digestion and improve blood circulation. Low in...

Our view from the packing area NOTES FROM THE FARM - WEEDS! From Adrian Higgins, Home & Garden writer for the Washington Post: If   you had to define the purpose of gardening, the answer might be that it is the act of crafting beauty from nature. That would be the poetic response. At its base, gardening is about holding back the immense, ravaging forces of weeds. A garden is, metaphorically, a quivering bunny rabbit surrounded by snarling wolves. This sounds like hyperbole. It is not. In the Mid-Atlantic, and surely in many other regions of the country, the weed pressure is unrelenting in every month of the year. In the heat and humidity of summer, the pace is supersonic. Well, it sounds like Mr. Higgins has been weeding a lot - or maybe too much :-)! But here's another expert chiming in  - from Timothy Tilghman, the head gardener at Untermyer Park and Gardens in Yonkers, N.Y., a 43-acre former estate on the Hudson. “If you can’t enjoy weeding, you won’t be a happy gardene...