Hi there!   Welcome back to your Share Week, everyone! It's time for Week 12 and we're into the heart of August-- beautiful sunny days and Fall is just beginning to appear on the horizon. The kids are headed back to school, family vacations are wrapping up, and the evenings are getting darker earlier-- you can almost feel a chill in the air when the sun goes down! However, we still have an abundance of summery-produce in your bags this week: berries, tomatoes, sweet corn and much more. Let's keep enjoying summer while it's here, so keep your grills fired up and your countertops cleaned off and ready for another big round of veggies!

37 Weeks and counting! Sarah sent in this fun picture matching her baby bump to last week's watermelon-- congratulations and best wishes with the new arrival! And to all our Instagram & Facebook posters this week: thank you for tagging us in your delicious creations! Keep posting your beautiful peach pies and jams, homemade pasta sauces and backyard dinners-- you're inspiring us and all your fellow Forkers :)

A BIT ABOUT DRAGON TONGUE BEANS

The dragon tongue bean is a flat, romano- style bean that can be eaten either as a "green" bean or dried bean. As a green bean, it is the young, fresh bean of summer time (what you'll be getting in your bags this week.) This bean has a thick wall and good crunch to it. It can be used in any recipe calling for green beans, snap peas, or snow peas. You can blanch it, char it on the grill, serve it in a gratin, and even pickle it.   This bean is a good fit for Fresh Fork because in the fall, the beans that aren't sold fresh in the summer are allowed to mature. A mature bean dries up on the vine and the plant dies off. Around frost, the farmer harvests the bean plant and piles them in the barn to dry further. When moisture is around 13%, the beans are ready for thrashing.  Thrashing today is most commonly done with a combine. The combine harvests and thrash in one motion. This is a big, expensive machine typical of row cropping.  For these beans, our growers - brothers Harvey and Reuben Kempf - will cut the plants and allow them to dry further. They will then feed the plants into their antique thrasher, powered on a leather belt attached to a tractor. The thrasher will use a combination of wooden "fingers" to knock the beans out of the pods and a fanning mill to blow the straw and debris away from the beans as they fall into a collection bucket.   In the winter, we will enjoy these beans much like a pinto or kidney bean. They will need soaked first then cooked slowly - the perfect compliment to a ham hock.

Trevor piling harvested beans in the antique Thrasher at the Kempf's farm.

Some reminders from our office

PLEASE BRING BACK YOUR BAGS We have had 11 share weeks so far, and some of you might have 11 of our CSA bags stored at your house. We know they're cute, but we really need them back, so please return them to your stops this week! CREDITS: 411 Many of you have credits in your account-- either from Full Access or the Mini Share, Vacations or some combination-- and if you still have questions about how to use them, here is a little refresher: For all Full Access & Mini Share Credits-- the full value is available at the start of your subscription, and you do not need to spend a certain amount each week. So blow it all in one week for your summer party, or spend a little each week to whittle them down. Vacation Credits must be used (at least $1) within 4 weeks of your return to maintain their full value. After 4 weeks, they reduce by half. Vacation credits cannot be used to pay off an existing balance or make your monthly subscription payment. They can be used for buying extras once you're back, either by Special Order or at the back of the truck. Credits cannot be used at Ohio City Provisions or Wholesome Valley Farm, or for Thanksgiving Pre-Order (cash, check or Credit Card only-- more T'day details coming soon!) All credits expire at the end of the season.

BLANCHING TOMATOES 'Tis the season for more and more and more tomatoes! If your garden is already bursting with tomatoes and you are getting overwhelmed with the bounty coming in your shares each week, it's best to make a plan to use them all up. One quick tip for making sauces, preserving in jars or before freezing is to blanch & remove the skins. Especially when you cook tomatoes over a long time, the skins become tough and stringy. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cut a small "x" in the bottom of the tomato with a sharp knife, and then drop the tomatoes into the boiling water. Keep submerged for only a few minutes, then drop into ice water to cool for the same amount of time (about 2 min.) Peel off the skin, and then continue with your recipe! For more thoughts on what to do with all these 'maters, check out our Tomato Guide online . And to get the kids in the tomato-mood too, check out Eric Ode's Too Many Tomatoes!

Bulk for Preserving

CANNING TOMATOES We have some half-bushels of canning tomatoes so you can enjoy the flavor of perfect summer tomatoes all year round! Need a recipe? Try Parker's Tomato Sauce from Scratch for freezing, or our Homemade Canned Tomato Sauce recipe online. Half-bushels (20#) for $18.

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Sorting through beans to pack into mixed 1-2# bags for winter.

Bag Contents

THE MINI Blueberries - 1 pt Broccoli Tomatoes - 1.5# Lettuce Red Onion

SMALL OMNIVORE Blueberries - 1 pt Broccoli Tomatoes - 1.5# Lettuce Red Onion Sweet Corn - 4 Dragon Tongue Beans Peaches - 4 or 5 Salt & Pepper Pork Sausage - 1#

LARGE OMNIVORE Blueberries - 1 pt Broccoli Tomatoes - 1.5# Lettuce Red Onion Sweet Corn - 4 Dragon Tongue Beans Peaches - 4 or 5 Salt & Pepper Pork Sausage - 1# Cherry Tomatoes - 1 pt Garlic - 1 head Blackberries - 1 pt Bacon - 1#

SMALL VEGETARIAN Blueberries - 1 pt Broccoli Tomatoes - 1.5# Lettuce Red Onion Sweet Corn - 4 Dragon Tongue Beans Peaches - 4 or 5 Watermelon Cherry Tomatoes - 1 pt

LARGE VEGETARIAN Blueberries - 1 pt Broccoli Tomatoes - 1.5# Lettuce Red Onion Sweet Corn - 4 Dragon Tongue Beans Peaches - 4 or 5 Watermelon Cherry Tomatoes - 1 pt Garlic - 1 head Blackberries - 1 pt Cheese Choice Hot & Bell Pepper Mix - 3 to 4

VEGAN Blueberries - 1 pt Broccoli Tomatoes - 1.5# Lettuce Red Onion Sweet Corn - 4 Dragon Tongue Beans Peaches - 4 or 5 Watermelon Cherry Tomatoes - 1 pt

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Recipes featuring this week's share ingredients

Spaghetti Squash with Rustic Broccoli Pesto Ingredients from share: Broccoli

Tomatoes Provencale Ingredients from share: Tomatoes

Melon & Tomato Gazpacho Ingredients from share: Tomatoes, Watermelon, Peaches, Red Onion, Cherry Tomatoes

Pesto Pasta with Sweet Corn & Bacon Ingredients from share: Sweet Corn, Bacon, Cherry Tomatoes

For more of our recipes, click here .

More recipes online

FFM's Slow Roasted Tomatoes Meatloaf, Plain & Simple Roasted Pork Sausage with Broccoli & . Fennel Corn & Tomato Galette with Herb-Roasted Garlic Goat Cheese Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli with Balsamic Drizzle Peach-Pecan Crumble Pie Spicy Sweet Corn Gazpacho FFM on Pinterest, "All Things Tomatoes" Fresh Corn Grits with Oil-Poached Cherry Tomatoes Dragon Tongue Bean Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette Watermelon Granita Peach Butter Sweet Corn Pancakes Grain Salad with Lentils, Corn, Tomatoes & Feta Grilled Cheese with Tomatoes & Bacon Watermelon Gazpacho Herbed Tomato & Roasted Garlic Tart Corn & Leek Bisque

Heirloom Tomato, Peach & Corn Salad with Creamy Basil Dressing FFM on Pinterest, "Summer Recipes" Grilled Corn with Herb Butter FFM on Pinterest "All Things Tomatoes" BLT & Grilled Peach Pizza Wild Rice Salad with Corn & Blueberries Tomato & Sausage Risotto My Best Blueberry Pancakes Chilled Tomato & Peach Soup Peach & Roasted Vegetable Salad Grilled Peaches with Vanilla Ice Cream Frozen Rosemary Watermelon-Ade Sweet Corn & Tomato Panzanella Stir Fried Rice Noodles with Broccoli, Pork & Black Beans Cherry Tomato & Sweet Corn Salad with Pinto Beans & Quinoa Broccoli-Cheddar Melts Peach-Bacon-Brie Grilled Cheese Gluten-Free Peach Pancakes Popo's Pork Pot Stickers Peach Crisp Buttermilk Cake Spiced Tomato & Yukon Gold Gratin

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