Oh, deer.

Hey it finally rained!  Excellent amount, not too heavy, no major washouts.  A day or two later you can really see the plants perk up.  The ram pump down in the creek was back in action and the reservoir tanks are now full.  Relief!  Running a farm with just a cistern really makes me conscious of my water usage around the farm and at home.  Watching the tap run at home, now I think "hey I could have watered 10 flats of seedlings with that water!"  or drank it... You don't miss your water till the well runs dry.  Sounds like blues song I think.

  

I had been blissfully free of herbivorous megafauna pests, until now.  The deer found my beans and a few weeks worth of head lettuce.  Blame the deer when we don't have head lettuce for a week or two.  They started in on the brussels sprouts too so I'm working on a fencing/row cover scheme to keep them out.  Or if anyone likes harvesting venison...

  

A different view from the bottom of the field.  I never seem to be at this end with my camera, unless I'm photographing deer damage.  From left to right: some weedy leeks a fine row of peppers, the pumpkin and melon vines, then the zuke, and cuke vines.  Earlier in the day I borrowed Green Spark's rototiller, so at least the paths look nice and weed free.

I stopped to admire the tendrils on a cucumber.

And the sunset!

Whatcha Eatin?

Pesto

Yeah, I know we did pesto with parsley, and garlic scapes, but pestro is really versatile stuff!  And you can freeze it in freezer jars for the long dark winter.  Also try freezing it in ice cube trays, then once frozen, pop the cubes out into a plastic bag.  Easy to thaw out just one cube, or 20 for dinner. 

Courtesy of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

1-2 garlic cloves
salt
3T pine nuts (we use walnuts b/c they are cheaper and easier to find)
3C loosely packed basil leaves, stems removed, washed, dried.
1/2 C freshly grated parmesan
2-3 T pecorino romano to taste (we never have this on hand)
2T soft butter (optional)
1/2C extra virgin olive oil.

by hand: smash the garlic with 1/2 tsp salt and the pine nuts to break them up, then add the basil leaves a handful at a time.  If you're impatient you can speed things up by tearing the leaves into smaller pieces first.  Grind them using a circular motion, until you have a fairly fine paste with very small flecks of leaves.  Briefly work in the cheese and butter, then stir in the olive oil.  Taste for salt.

in a food processor: use the same ingredients but in the following order: Process the garlic, slt and pine nuts until fairly finely chopped, then add the basil and olive oil.  When smooth add the cheeses and butter and process just to combine.

Pesto Pizza!  Cracker dip!  Pasta sauce!  If you CSA folks want a huge amount of basil just let me know.  For reference those were 0.18lb - 0.20lb bags in this past week's box.

Cucumber Salad 

see last week.  yep, still eating that.

Zucchini
This is mostly getting sliced up on salads.  But also in some stir frys.
I have been hoping to make a marinade with lots of herbs, slice the zuke the long way and grill them, but have not had access to a grill recently.

If you're feeling adventurous, check out these 75 zucchini recipes on Martha Stewart.
She recommends refrigerating zukes in a plastic bag.  I agree, but only if the fridge is not super cold!