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Tomatoes, Zucchini, and...Drought

We have tomatoes in our garden!  I picked the first Early Girl tomato and some basil on July 9th to make this caprese salad. I try not to buy tomatoes from the grocery store throughout most of the year, which makes the first tomato of the summer SO much better!

These are the tomatoes we've picked just this weekend (minus the four I used today for salsa and all the cherry tomatoes we've eaten straight from the garden).  So, I'll have to start freezing some this week.  I love seeing the shapes and colors of the different varieties.  Caya has enjoyed picking them with me and putting them in her bucket, while Kili picks and tries to eat green cherry tomatoes.

This is a great idea I received from my CSA farmers on how to keep basil fresh.  Not only does it keep really well, but its a pretty center-piece, smells great, and reminds me daily to use it, plus Caya likes to pluck a leaf off every once in awhile to chew on.

It is also zucchini season, I picked my first one on July 4th.  Here are the kids enjoying zucchini brownies (a nice treat, and way to sneak some zucchini into their snack).  I already had a brownie mix, so I just modified the ingredient a little and added a whole grated zucchini.

We've been getting a bunch of zucchini in our CSA boxes the last couple of weeks as well, so I've been trying to find different ways to use them (and giving them away to neighbors).  Here are some other things I've tried:
Zucchini Quiche - used 2 sliced zucchini - a big hit with Kili and Ian (Caya would not try it).
Zucchini, Banana, Chocolate Chip, Pecan Muffins - Yum!
My plan this week is to try zucchini chips!  I've also been slicing zucchini and summer squash with a mandoline slicer and freezing them for winter.


Despite the horrible drought we have had this summer, we continue to get full, wonderful boxes from our CSA farm.  I am so thankful to our farmers, Cate and Mat, at Ridgeland Harvest for working so hard to keep the crops irrigated.  It is definitely a reminder of how precious of a resource water is and how risky of a business farming can be.
Great quote from 350.org


The University of Wisconsin, through reseach and Extension, has been educating farmers on climate change and what that means in terms of growing seasons, irrigation, crop rotations, etc.  While goverments jack around and do nothing, farmers continue to struggle and adapt to these extreme conditions.  Here is a great website with the most up to date information on Wisconsin's climate:  Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts.  This summer has also reminded me of why its so important to buy local food (less carbon footprint than trucking fruits and veggies across the country) and organic produce (again, so much carbon is released through the production and distribution of petrochemical fertilizers, not to mention ingesting it).

A little more on this topic from my man, Michael Pollan: "When we eat from the industrial food chain today, we are eating oil and spewing greenhouse gas. Not a very pretty image."(check out link for a quick video where Pollan discusses this further).


On a lighter note: Being a CSA member is a lot of fun and I have learned more about different vegetables and how to cook them this summer than ever before.  Many insurance companies in Madison (I don't know about other areas) give rebates for being a CSA member.  We have Unity and get to use our $200.00 "fitness first" money towards our CSA membership, which means a great deal for certified organic produce every week from June-Oct! I have not bought a vegetable from the grocery store in over a month.  See: CSA insurance rebates.

And obviously, the benefits of growing one's own food is numerous - convenience-wise, cost-wise, nutritionally, environmentally and ethically.  Looking forward to many more delicious, garden-based meals, and hoping for some more rain this week!!

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