Hello everyone,

We did get a gentle 3/4" of rain last Tuesday and Wednesday. It was great to have the sun hidden by the clouds for a full 36 hours! We got lucky and it came down slowly, and the ground soaked up every little drop.

Which means the irrigation pond didn't recharge. The rain got the soil wet down about 3", but it surely wasn't a full soaking . . . so we're back where we were last week, but oh boy did that little bout of rain feel good. And I am so very, very grateful for what we did get.

I'm going to shorten the email this week. We had a bunch of staff head back to school this past weekend but we got some major projects done before they left. We'll be back up on staff hours in the next two weeks, it's just a tight moment.

So, I've got to go finish harvesting for today! It's a huge sweet pepper and tomato harvest this week - they just love the heat and we've got them on drip irrigation, so we're sending a LOT your way. I just eat the peppers like apples!

Also, I have a great picture from our pepper harvest yesterday, but I had to switch my number to a new phone because of a cracked screen and I can't get this phone to send me a picture via email . . . I'll get Kevin to put it on social media at some point.

Flower Share

This is week 10 of 11, wow, time flies! If you are enjoying the flowers, or wish you had signed up, we'll be offering a short, end of season flower share - stay tuned!

Fruit Share

Learn more about the fruit in your share this week: click here

So . . .What's in the (Vegetable) share?

Tomatoes: 3 pounds! Make fresh salsa! Make fresh sauce! Make a juicy sandwich and then put the rest in a freezer bag and make sauce int he winter!

Ripe Sweet Peppers: 2 pounds (mixed varieties)! We have a lot, which is amazing for an organic farmer. Great peppers two years in a row? Maybe we should be the 'Pepperell Pepper People!' I can't believe I'm worried about having too many ripe peppers (Kevin would tell you I worry too much). These peppers are so sweet - cut up and dip in veggie dip, saute with onions and garlic and swiss chard then toss in some cut up fresh tomatoes and herbs for an amazing fresh sauce, chop up with tomatoes, garlic onions and mix with a little dried oregano, salt, lime juice and olive oil for a delicious fresh salsa! Roast them all and cut, them up and freeze for use as a winter pizza topping! Put some on pizza this week!

Head of Lettuce: We got drip irrigation on our new planting, and the rain really, really helped so out lettuce is looking much more luscious than it has been!

Choose 3 more items:

I can make no guarantees about any of these items being available when you show up for your share! I promise I'm doing everything I can to have the greatest variety available. Please be flexible this week. Our swiss chard looks great, you should eat some!

Swiss chard

Carrots

Beets

Basil

Sweet Corn, 4 small ears

Cherry tomatoes

1 pound mix: onions, zucchini, eggplant, green peppers (very limited)

garlic, 1/3 pound

Melon

Tomatillos, hot peppers and shishito peppers (none early in the week, sorry, they need to size up!)

Recipes

Hi - Jess Girotti here. If you have a recipe that you love that you'd like to share with other members or if a recipe link isn't working for you, feel free to email me at jgirotti@live.com. (Please note that I can't re-print a recipe from a cookbook that isn't already online.) Don't forget to check out the recipe pages on the Upswing website if you need more ideas for your other veggies.

EGGPLANT ORZO WITH TOMATOES & PESTO

CSA member, Judy Salerno, made this over the weekend and said, "It was delicious. Great for those tomatoes and eggplant!"

CUMIN STEWED CHICKPEAS WITH GREENS

This one is CSA member Jen Faucon's favorite recipe. She says, "I first saw this on TikTok early in the pandemic and have now made it a regular part of my meat free dinner rotation. I’ve used a variety of greens in this recipe - beet greens, kale - but my favorite is chard (which stands up well to the spices) and I love to cut up the colorful stems into small pieces and sauté along with the greens. Or toss in the tops of green onions that are left over on Wednesdays before I pick up on Wednesday. Great way to use everything on your weekly share!"

CARROT SALAD WITH HARISSA FETA AND MINT

Mark Sivak (another CSA member) highly recommends this flavorful salad.

HOMEMADE TOMATO SOUP

With school starting up this week, I'm in school lunch mode. Tomato soup is great for thermoses (and for using up your tomatoes).

MUHAMMARA

Muhammara is a delicious roasted red pepper dip with walnuts. Serve this up with pita, tortilla chips, or veggies or smear it on sandwiches or wraps.

BELL PEPPER & TOMATO GRATIN

Here's another great way to use all of your tomatoes and peppers. you can easily scale this up to make a bigger batch too.