Hello farm-ily!
Oh sweet summertime how we love everything about you! Of course our favorite thing about this magical season is the plethora of yummy food that fills our farmers market table. So many beautiful colors and unique flavors, we wake up everyday excited about what treats await us in the garden. During this prolific season it is important to start to think about ways to preserve some of the summer magic to last as long as possible. Here are a couple simple tricks…
Cut the tops off of carrots/beets to keep them crisp longer. Do this to stop the greens from taking water and nutrients from the vegetable.
Store basil just like you would a flower on the counter in a vase of water. It also helps to put a plastic bag over the basil, but we never end up doing that because basil is just so pretty.
Soak soft cucumbers in cold water to make them crisp again.
Place a dry paper towel in a sealed bag with your clean fresh greens to absorb extra moisture and help them last longer.
Or course freezing and canning are also excellent choices for preserving summer’s bounty, but don’t get overwhelmed with fancy recipes. My best advise is to keep it nice and simple and let the fresh produce shine. Refrigerator pickles using our delicious pickling cucumbers are a great introduction to pickling without all the waiting. Here is a simple recipe:
We hope you all are enjoying all these summer veggies as much as we are!
Have a beautiful week.
With kindest regards,
Shanon and Michael
***Our farm stand is open every Wednesday evening over summer from 4:00pm-7:00pm***
Hillview Farms 7/20 Farm Stand Bounty:
Classic Red Tomatoes (We have some BEAUTIFUL slicer tomatoes coming in!)
Summer Squash (green/costata romanesco/golden zucchini and straight neck squash)
Lemon Cucumbers
Slicing Cucumbers
Pickling Cucumbers
Mountain Fresh Arugula
Shishito Peppers
Green Bell Peppers
Lettuce Bags
Baby Kale
Basil
Walla Walla Onions
Chives
Beets/Beet Greens
Carrots
Swiss Chard
Fresh Flowers
Our tomatoes are really coming in right now! We have enough to fill “tomato flat” orders for the Saturday Auburn farmer’s market!!! E-mail us by Thursday night to order a flat of tomatoes to be picked up at the Saturday Old Town Auburn market. Flats are just $20.00 for 10# of tomatoes! Order through e-mail: hillviewfarms.ca@gmail.com or text Shanon: (619)246-0507
To order tomato flats for next Wed's farm stand (7/27) please order by Tuesday at noon.