Waiting...........

Waiting. Sometimes, it seems like a good portion of a farmer's time is spent waiting. Waiting to get in the field. Waiting for rain/the rain to stop. Waiting for a tractor part. Waiting for your crops to mature. You can't rush Mother Nature; you just need to be patient, because she's in charge.

We are still waiting on the sweet corn to mature. Bill keeps hoping that maybe, just maybe, on Friday it will magically be ready. But probably not. Keep checking with us! Right now, it looks like next Tuesday will be the soonest. So, we'll just all wait together.

If you don't get the Downtown Bloomington Farmer's market newsletter--why not? You can sign up on line, too. Caroline Fox, number 1 volunteer, writes about going to a "foreign" farmer's market and how good B-N folks have it here! I haven't figured out the link yet, but I will.

Not much changes at the farm. Bill did plant the fall hard squashes: butternut, acorn, and a few pumpkins. We have several varieties of pumpkin this year--not just the orange jack o' lanterns, either! More on those later. We will be pulling first garlic of the season this Sunday, but it will be a week or so before you start seeing it at the market. Garlic needs to dry & cure for a while after being in the ground. If you never have had fresh garlic, you are in for a treat!

The eggplant is finally starting to make an appearance. We will have several varieties over the summer; the oblong ones you see everywhere; long, skinny Asian varieties ranging from dark purple to lavender; round white ones; pale lavender and purple & white striped ones. We have yet to meet an eggplant that we don't like!

Eggplant are so misunderstood and feared for some reason. I don't know if some people they are too "exotic" and require extensive preparation or if they had poorly cooked eggplant and the memory has never left them. I fall into the "had it as a child and didn't like it" camp. Eggplant lasagne--ick. Taste change and now I think I would probably like it. I've started a series of posts on some veggie preparation basics, based on questions we get weekly at the market. My goal is to have our verbal instructions written out with pictures. I've done eggplant; just need to get the pictures in order and posted.

This is the thick of summer: post-July 4 and we are hitting the ground running! We currently have 3 mid-week markets and one on Saturday; by next week, we will be upping the total to 5 mid-week markets and two Saturday ones. If you are unable to hit your regular market day, we're out there somewhere with your veggies. We are very fortunate in B-N to have built up such quality farmer's markets.

What will be ready this week?

• Cucumbers--regular and mini salad size
• Zucchini
• Summer squash
• Sugar snap peas
• Green beans
• Cherry & grape tomatoes (we've picked 3 regular tomatoes--they're coming soon!)
• Beets
• Eggplant
• Peppers-bell & sweet banana; hot ones take a little longer
• Sweet onions
• Leeks

I'll have most of this at State Farm market on Thursday (2-6 pm, SF Park), too. The weather should be lovely for the rest of this week, so put the market on your weekend to-do list. Bring your canvas bags, tell your friends (or just put them in the car and make them come) and join us in all the downtown fun!

See you Saturday!