CSA Week 7 and Garden News

Joey says hello!

And the rain poureth.
When you are outside working everyday as I do, you try to keep track of the weather forecasts, but this year it seems to me the prognosticators have been a little less than accurate.
I could swear that yesterday when I looked at the forecast the chance of rain last night and today was around 30%. When I want rain, 30% never means rain. But this rain I could have done without....a harvest day rain is never that pleasant.
But at least the weed pulling will be easy tomorrow, and with all the rain this year the weeds have germinated like crazy.
I am glad I got around to a late planting of tomatoes in one of the hoop houses. They've been growing like weeds, surviving the days of crazy heat without much water at all. The tomatoes outside are growing well, but I think it's important this year with all the rain, to get the bottom leaves off, as lots of diseases start lower down on the plant and are made worse by the rain. That won't be a problem in the hoophouse.

I'm seeing a few yellow leaves on the bottom of some of the tomatoes, and I know rain is the problem, as well as weeds, which have been inhibiting good air circulation. Yesterday I started going through the tomatoes, weeding and stripping all the lower leaves off the plants and I am hoping for a dose of good dry warm weather to make them jump. I'll finish that job tomorrow.
We have had tomatoes already though. The first tomato to produce was "House", a dwarf plant which is absolutely loaded with nice and good tasting little cherry sized fruit.  The nice thing about these little plants is that they can be potted up in the fall and brought inside to winter in the house. Hence the name.  You'll get a taste of tomato over the winter if you do that. Tomatoes in February? Sure. But this year because the plants are so compact and tightly formed, the damp conditions are being tough on them. Lots of leaf stripping to try to keep them healthy.
Some of the Stupice are producing too, and those first Stupice are just the best tasting of the whole year. They truly are summer to me.
The baskets today contained beets, baby carrots, chard, basil, lettuce, rat tailed radishes, a sampling of tomatoes, dandelion (yes-domesticated), mint and likely something else.

This time of year when the greens are so plentiful, I eat lots of them, but also drink them for lunch most days. The formula I use is based on the "Green Monster" smoothie recipe from the "Oh She Glows" cookbook.
I do vary the ingredients to add interest, but the basic recipe involved a green (kale or chard), a cup of non-dairy milk (I use soy), 1 Tbsp or so of chia seeds, I Tbsp of nut butter,  a banana and ice cubes.
I blend it in my Vitamix, maybe add a bit of cinnamon and lunch is served. I usually use way too much kale, and end up spooning a lot of it out of the glass. But no matter. It still tastes good and gives me a good feeling. I know I'm doing something good and it keeps me going till supper. Which is really something, because I'm working very hard.
And will be tomorrow too.