Rising River Farm
13208 201st Ave SW Rochester, WA 98579 360-273-5368
info@risingriverfarm.com www.risingriverfarm.com

August 20 *** Box 10

I am writing this Tuesday night because I know the morning will be crazy with Jim still gone. Hopefully there will not be any surprises in the final hour and you will all get in your box whatever I happen to mention in this letter! Normally Jim runs the crew Wednesday mornings while I frantically type the newsletter then go pack boxes. We are a few crew members short as well. Rita is due to have a baby next month so she is done for the season. (Honestly I don’t know how she worked this long. Eight months pregnant she could still work circles around the others. We are all in awe of her.) Taylor, who worked here a few years ago, stopped in for a few weeks to help us out but is now on her way to the islands. Isaac may be down for the count- he was pretty run down today with a summer cold. He toughed it out, though. Fortunately, most of the harvest was done today. Only carrots remain. I think it’ll be raining cats and dogs anyway, so it may be a shorter day of work.
The weather continues to ping pong. Hotter than blazes one week, wet and muddy the next. I must say I am thankful for the irrigation catch up, especially after all the transplanting we just did: lettuce, basil, cabbage & kale.
Speaking of irrigation, we have a resident pair of swallows in our pump house with a nest full of babies. They built their nest on the blade of a hoe that is hanging on a board- curious choice. If Jim didn’t have the camera with him in Maine, I’d post a picture. Anyway, each time I turn on a line I try to keep a respectful distance while I wait for the pressure to build. Regardless, the mom and dad fly wide swift circles around me- first trying to lure me away and then trying to scare me off by dive-bombing me. I hope I am there to witness the flying lessons.
Encouraged by last week’s heat wave, I had Jonathon and Isaac knock back the shallots, Walla Wallas, and Candy onions. We knock the tops over when they achieve the size we like, which causes them to stop growing and start setting their papery skins. I am a little nervous about them sitting in the rain, but what can I do? If our summer pattern holds it’ll be hot again next week and all will be fine.
We harvested a ridiculous amount of pickling cucumbers today. Sadly they are mostly big ones. You will be getting some…. Much like last week and the mountains of zucchini, I will have to show restraint. If any of you want medium cukes for dill spears or bread and butters, now is the time!!!!! We can bring them to the market Thursday or Friday. A less than thorough picking on Friday AND a heat wave made for hundreds and hundreds of pounds of mediums.
How will you possibly use all the cucumbers you will be getting this week? Think Middle Eastern cuisine. Keep some hummus handy. It goes great with cucumbers. Or try falafel with a creamy dill yogurt dressing. My neighbor had me over for the most delightful dinner the other night. She cooked up some falafel patties nice and brown (the co-op has an easy instant falafel mix in bulk), then crumbled them over a leaf lettuce salad. She made a creamy dill dressing mixed with chopped cucumbers. We drizzled that over the salad as well. Yummy….

CREAMY DILL & YOGURT DRESSING:
6 oz plain yogurt
1Tmayonnaise
dill weed-dry or fresh
diced cucumber (peeled and somewhat de-seeded)
salt and pepper to taste.

Tabouli is another great use for cucumbers. There is a recipe in the farm cookbook on page 43. We also enjoy cubed cukes and tomatoes with cottage cheese. Add them to salads, sandwiches, juice them, the possibilities are endless-almost as endless as the pickle picking and sorting seemed to be today!
Alright-it is late. I must go make my lists and head to bed. We do get a bonus half hour of sleep now. It is too dark at 6:00 to really see the crops and ensure good quality control. We will now start at 6:30. I think I like this lessening daylight thing….

Wednesday morning P.S. (there always is)
The carrots are without their green because the tops in this particular batch are weak and keep breaking off. We thought we’d save ourselves a lot of time and frustration and just give them to you without tops.