RGG Newsletter Week 14

Greetings!
Finally, some nice weather! After the last three-plus weeks of cool and wet, we are getting some warm and dry - a much needed change. I hope the dryness will remain for the remainder of the year. The warm temps should help everything mature a little faster, despite the rapid loss of daylight. There are numerous tiny heads of cauliflower and cabbage, as well as many green tomatoes, bell peppers (there are quite a few small ones yet), tomatillos and others, that should benefit from the warmer temperatures. I'd like to see many more days of highs in the 70s and lows above 40.


Box contents included: beets, potatoes, winter squash (acorn, delicata and/or buttercup), tomatoes, eggplant or summer squash, Napa cabbage or kale or collards, arugula, thyme, leeks (for some)
Comments on contents:
- Potatoes: we'll keep plugging away at them and hopefully get up to a large amount for the remaining weeks.
- Squash: acorn is the dark, ribbed one; delicata, the long pale yellow/green streaked one; buttercup, the round, blocky, dark green one. We just harvested them; you can eat the squash right away or cure them in a warm dry place for a week or two for improved flavor. There is more buttercup along with buttercup, pie pumpkins and others to come yet.
- Leeks: we simply did not have time to harvest enough of them for everyone. There are plenty out there so you will be seeing a lot of leeks in the coming weeks.

Goodbye: to the summer squash and eggplant. (We'll grow more of both next year.)

Next week we should have: more carrots and/or beets, potatoes, tomatoes, leeks, parsley, winter squash; possibly baby lettuce, beans (!), oregano,
In two-plus weeks: rutabaga, Brussels sprouts, parsnips, cabbage, cauliflower, raspberries (frozen),

How much longer? I think we'll have at least three more weeks, possibly four. Much depends on the weather, though, as you know.

With the all too frequent rains lately, movement of slugs knew no bounds; with no dryness to slow them down, they have been very active in the gardens, chewing on many crops such as peppers and eggplant. Of course they prefer the ripest ones, too, which is one reason for the smaller than normal peppers (better to get them to you a bit smaller than not at all). The slug bait would not have had much affect with all the rain as it dissolves too readily.

What to do with:
- leeks: check out http://www.simplebites.net/spotlight-ingredient-leeks/, http://www.ehow.com/how_5114707_use-leeks.html . I might add that you can use the green parts in soup stock.
- thyme: check out http://www.gardenguides.com/1430-cooking-thyme.html
- Napa: check out http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/809695/8-things-to-do-with-napa-cabbage


Chicken update:
It is getting close to laying time, seventeen weeks and counting now; they should start laying pretty darn soon. Construction of the mobile hen house is underway. After going over the several options, we settled on one built atop an old hay wagon frame. It should be rather palatial when completed. We'll keep you posted on progress.
  Over the past two months, acting as Mother Hen, I have been trying to train the ladies to be more resourceful as far as finding their own food. I take them on expeditions within their pen area, turning over logs, old boards, etc. to expose edible critters underneath. At first, none of them would accept slugs as food; I would put one on the tip of my finger, they would peck at it and sling it away, surely finding the slime too much to overcome. Now, there are several slug eaters who have learned to gulp them down and several more who like the sow bugs (aka, roly-polies, which are actually crustaceans). Today I actually witnessed a hen snatch a lacewing out of midair. I felt like giving her a gold star. They are learning to be what they are meant to be. Hopefully, this will translate into really nice eggs.

That's all for this week. Enjoy!