 Over the last few weeks I have been pleased to see the pollinator populations expand on our property. Early in the season, there was a dearth honeybees and other pollinators due partly to the loss of our hives and partly to unknown reasons. But slowly over the last little while I have seen honeybees, bumblebees, and other wild bees. To help replace our lost hives, Rob purchased 3 queen cells and 1 nuc. These, combined with our one surviving hive, are all doing well so we now have 5 hives. We have many plantings just for the bees but they are also enjoying the winter squash flowers and holy basil flowers in particular. Hopefully the rest of the season is good for the pollinators and they can go into the winter healthy and with sufficient resources. Our garlic is looking fantastic and we will have some bulk quantities available for sale shortly. Share members will receive garlic in their shares periodically for the last half of the season but those who are dedicated garlic lovers may want to purchase some extra for use now or winter storage. Our garlic is $2/bulb or $25 per kg (approximately 16 bulbs per kilogram). If you are interested in extra quantities, please submit your order to me. Orders will be available starting the beginning of September. We also have a few Fall Boxes still available for purchase. The Fall Box is delivered on the last week of our regular shares and includes a selection of winter storage vegetables such as winter squash, carrots, beets, onions, garlic, rhutabaga, and more. Boxes are $45 and can be reserved by emailing me or chatting with me at pickup. The tomatoes are plentiful and delicious so we'd better enjoy them while we can! My favourite way to enjoy summer fresh tomatoes are in a sandwich, on top of salad, or straight from the vine. But I also freeze many tomatoes for winter use. If you have extra tomatoes you can't use up in a given week, just throw them in the freezer. I freeze in two ways. In large ziploc bags I toss halved and cored full-size tomatoes (no need to peel or seed). These full bags are the perfect quantity for making tomato sauce in the winter. Simply thaw and use straight from the bag. I also dice tomatoes (again, unpeeled/unseeded) and put them into medium ziploc bags. These I use in any recipe that calls for a can of diced or crushed tomatoes. For other tomato ideas, check out these recipes:
Tasty Marinated Tomatoes Roasted Tomato Soup Gazpacho Tomato Tarte Comments are closed.
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