Yesterday in the squash field we were cooled by a breeze that felt and smelled, suddenly, like fall. Though my body felt relieved and refreshed, my stomach tightened into an involuntary panic. Obviously my feelings are quite mixed on the incipient end of summer.

On the one hand, I’ve been longing, desperately, for a break from the heat since June. On the other hand, the cooler weather has given me energy to plan and plant lots of autumn crops that will need a gradual temperature change to mature nicely. When last night dipped into the 50s I feared for the basil and the melons on the vine. I worried about the peppers and eggplants shutting down just as they finally approach the fruiting stage that has been delayed by the heat. I dread the shorter days that mean less hours to work outside. I imagine the loss of all our beautiful lettuces in an early frost.

How silly! Today couldn’t be more gorgeous and perfect for farm work. And tonight will be another great night for sleep. These are the kind of days that make the hot humid ones and the frigid windy ones worth it! One of the sticky parts about farming for a profession is that the need to plan ahead and nurture plants over a long season toward a final harvest makes it easy to get in a habit of worry. But this morning I resolve to live in this absolutely gorgeous moment – enjoying the pretty rows of baby plants in my fields, the noisy herd of baby pigs in my next-spring garden and the fabulous food sitting on my kitchen counter. And what about those little yellow butterflies everywhere? My wish for you today is that you’ll have some time to relish this first taste of fall wherever you are at, too. Here’s what’s in the box:

Baby Beets – This is such a perfect week to be enjoying these thinnings from the dense rows of fall beets. By all means, try these baby beets roasted and don’t forget to use the nutritious greens as well. Here is a link to a great recipe – you’ll need to heat up the oven to roast, but it will be a treat to do that on a cool night. Don’t worry about the little spots on the greens, you’ll cook them and they’ll disappear.

Edamame – This is just a fancy word for soybeans. But this variety isn’t the sort you dry for animal feed, this are meant to be enjoyed raw or cooked in their shells. This is a popular bar food in Japan, and a favorite snack with my kids. Simply pull the pods off the vines, wash, and then boil in very salty water for about 6 minutes. Rinse, cool slightly and then pop right out of the pods into your mouth. Addictive!

String Beans – These are a mix of our last bush beans and the beginning of the Italian pole beans. The pole beans are old-fashioned string beans, so you’ll need to pull the string off when you wash them. Grasp the stem end and snap, zipping down to remove the string from one side. We grow these labor-intensive beans because their flavor is just beyond compare. We think you’ll agree!

Herbs: Sage, Parsley – The herbs are starting to slow down, though they’ll perk back up in the cool weather. This week you have a little bag with parsley and sage. Maybe we’ll send rosemary and thyme along next week!

Basil – At summer’s end we start to get creative with basil. Farm Member Pat brought us the amazing recipe for Basil Chocolate Cake and Members Emily and Francis brought us some terrific basil ice cream last weekend. See both recipes below.

Cucumbers – So crisp and wonderful this year! Farm Member Becky brought us some amazing pickles to try, and my daughter Emma said they are the best pickles she ever had. I agree – delicious and just a 15 minute project. We’ve included the recipe below for you.

Sweet Corn – This Silver Queen heirloom sweet corn is small, but very sweet. Enjoy immediately for best flavor.

Tomatoes – We are still trying to find a good way to get these amazing tender heirlooms to you in good shape. This week it worked to simply cover the whole top of the box with them. Don’t they look pretty all together? We are so pleased. The vines are starting to look fatigued and will soon start slowing down – so enjoy while you can!

Summer Squash – You all have a white or green zucchini and some lovely scallops. If you are getting tired of fresh squash, now is a good time to shred and freeze so you can make moist cakes all winter long. All summer squash can be used in Zucchini Bread recipes.

Garlic

Arugula – This arugula is more mature and spicy than what we harvested early in the season. Use to spice up a potato soup or a pasta dish.

New Potatoes – These truly are the last of the uncured “new” potatoes. Enjoy these All Blue and French Fingerlings with their tender skins and cook briefly to experience all the flavor. We’ll be sending winter Russets and Pontiacs along soon – and those will be for baking and mashing.

Flower Bouquet: Sunflowers and Broom Corn – The sunflowers will wilt in a few days, but you can probably use the broom corn all through fall. Dry it and use in harvest arrangements, too. If you look carefully, you can see it’s the very stuff used to make old-fashioned corn brooms – only for that use it would be left in the field until the little corn on the end of the top falls off.

Zucchini Chips
Our dehydrator runs non-stop this time of year, full of plum tomatoes and summer squash. But a neighbor friend gave me the great idea this week to season zucchini rounds with salt, pepper and garlic before dehydrating – creating awesome chips to eat on the go! Thanks, Sheela “Party in an Apron” Robertson!

Basil Ice Cream
This unusual treat is a bit of work, but soooo worth it if you like basil. From The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. Farm Members Emily and Francis made this and brought some out to the farm last weekend – I LOVED it! Been thinking of it ever since. Let me know what you think…

1 C packed basil leaves
3/4 C sugar
2 C heavy cream
1 C whole milk
Pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
1 lemon

Using a blender or food processor, grind the basil leaves with the sugar and 1 c of the cream until the leaves are ground as fine as possible. Pour about half the basil mixture into a large bowl and add the remaining cream. Set a mesh strainer on top. Warm the other half of the basil mixture in a medium saucepan along with the milk and salt. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream Zest the lemon directly into the custard, then stir until cool over an ice bath. Chill thoroughly, then freeze in an ice cream maker. Goes great with strawberry shortcake or strawberries in lemon syrup.

Strawberries in Lemon Syrup
Combine 1 C water with 1/4 C sugar with the grated zest of 1 lemon in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, pour into a bowl, and chill. Hull and quarter 1 lb strawberries (or use frozen). Add them to the lemon syrup and let macerate in the fridge for 1 to 4 hours. To serve, spoon the strawberries and some lemon syrup into shallow bowls and float a scoop of basil ice cream in the center.

Basil Chocolate Cake
Thanks for Farm Member Pat for passing along this intriguing recipe. From forkfulofnews.com.

1 C sugar
1 C packed fresh basil leaves
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 C flour
1/2 C hot water

Preheat oven to 350. Spray and flour a 9-inch round cake pan. Place the sugar and basil in a food processor and chop until fine and moist-looking. In a large bowl whisk the melted butter, cocoa powder and basil until well-blended. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until blended and smooth. Stir in the baking soda, vanilla and salt. Gradually add flour to the bowl, stirring just until blended (don’t over-stir). Add hot water to the mixture, stirring just until blended. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool before frosting.

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tablespoons sour cream
1 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl whisk the powdered sugar and cocoa powder, set aside. In a separate medium bowl beat the sour cream and melted chocolate with an electric mixer on low until blended. Gradually add sugar mixture to sour cream mixture, beating at low speed until well-blended. Add vanilla and beat well for 1 minute until very smooth. Spread over cooled cake and garnish with extra basil leaves.

Sweet Corn and Bulgur Salad
Farm Member Pat made this for a Slow Food meeting and took a blue ribbon! Thanks to her for passing along this recipe from Terese Allen.

Sauce:
2 C plain yogurt
1 medium cucumber
1-2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1-2 tsp minced garlic, mashed to a paste

Salad:
1 pkg (60z) tabouli/bulgur wheat mix
1 1/4 C water
1/4 C olive oil
4 plum tomatoes, diced
1 1/2 C cooked or raw corn kernels
3 green onions, chopped
3 TBSP chopped mint
1 TBSP lemon juice
2 tsp minced garlic, mashed
1 tsp ground cumin
Fresh ground pepper
Lettuce leaves
Mint leaves

For the sauce, place yogurt in a cheesecloth-lined sieve set over a bowl to drain. Refrigerate 3 to 24 hours (it will thicken with more time). Peel, seed and thinly slice the cucumber. Mix with salt, place in colander, and let stand 30 to 60 minutes. Lightly rinse and squeeze to remove liquid, then chop coarsely. Combine cukes, lemon juice, garlic and strained yogurt (drink the liquid that drained off – it’s yummy!). For the salad, combine tabouli and water in large bowl. Add olive oil and diced tomatoes. Mix and let stand 30 to 60 minutes at room temperature. Stir in corn, onions, mint, lemon juice, garlic, cumin and pepper to taste. To serve, mound on lettuce leaves and garnish with mint.

Look for Cucumber Pickle Recipe this afternoon.