We've had over seven inches of rain here in about the past three weeks, and with each additional monsoon, we've watched the tomato vines slowly melting back into the earth.  It was a good run, but I'm sad to report that our tomato season is over.  All good things eventually come to an end.  We're very grateful for what was a tremendously beautiful bountiful crop this summer, and we hope you enjoyed every last delicious bite!

The peppers are slowly recovering from such unusually cool and wet summer weather in recent weeks; the plants are looking much better now that we're heating back up to normal, and we expect to have our full array of peppers in a few more weeks at the most.  The eggplants are picking back up again as well...a few of your favorite pink speckled butterbeans have begun to appear...and the okra is really cranking!  Hot and humid is okra's favorite weather.  Even though we pick the okra every other day, some of the pods quickly get a little large-ish under ideal growing conditions.  This week we have both small 'baby' okra that are good for stews, sautes, or pickles, as well as larger okra that are great for grilling or roasting.

Late August is typically a slow harvest period for us.  You may find we have a bit less at our market displays for the next few weeks, and now's when we always start to hear a lot of mournful-sounding "it's all over" talk at the farmers markets.  Or as I once heard a fellow local farmer quip, "all the sexy vegetables are done."  It's not the end -  it never ends on a year-round produce farm - it's just a transitional period.  Just like March tends to show a gap between the last of the winter crops and the new spring crops, late August bridges a gap between the peak summer produce and the earliest fall crops.  We've been racing through rain showers in recent weeks getting the fall crops sown and transplanted, it's almost time to dig the sweet potatoes, and before you know it we'll be up to our ears in a mountain of fresh greens again!

Another week of mostly cool, wet weather...anyone else out there starting to feel like you've been mysteriously transported to Seattle?  It's been great weather for getting our cool-season fall crops off and running, but our tomato vines are starting to suffer badly for want of sun and heat.  Looks more and more like our tomato-picking days are numbered.  With the exception of the Sungold cherry tomatoes (safely tucked away out of the rain in the greenhouse), we're probably only looking at a few more weeks of tomatoes before this would-be "summer" weather cuts the season short.  August's tomatoes are not the huge, glossy, giant beauties we had when they were at their peak in July, but they are still just as tasty.  Fill up while you can!

The peppers and eggplant are still ripening much slower than they should be, and so we have fairly limited quantities, and not all varieties we grow may be available every week.  Keep hoping with us for drier, sunnier weather, and it should turn right around.  The okra and basil are both at their peak for the next few weeks: see the recipe tips to the right for some 'un-slimy' ways to prepare okra for less enthusiastic okra-eaters, as well as the perfect pesto recipe. 

Pesto is very easy to freeze, and we have large 10-ounce bags of fresh basil for just $5 for all you pesto fans!  Have you ever wondered why we scrunch little bits of basil into plastic sandwich baggies, instead of making those big beautiful bunches of cut basil you typically find at farmers markets?  We only harvest the new growing tips off the basil plants - those new tips are the most delicate leaves, with the best flavor.  Cutting basil can therefore end up feeling like trimming a 100-foot-long bonsai hedge several times per week, but it's worth it!  Those little bags also offer a much longer shelf life than bunched basil.  A large bunch of basil may only last a day or two, but if you store your basil tips in their bag, loosely sealed, at room temperature, it easily lasts four to five days.  We also hear from quite a few customers that it's just much easier to use - you can dump the entire contents of the bag into your recipe, and not have to spend half an hour stripping leaves off of woody stems.

Thank you all so much for your business, eat well, and somebody turn the sun and heat back on, please!