... and five (plus some live jive ;)

Howdy folks! Here's what was good in the garden for the week of the 4th of July:

(Possibly the last of the) lettuces

Beets

Curly kale

Coupla squarshes

Cucumber (mostly pickling, but some are garden slicers)

Green beans

Onion

Basil

A mostly-sweet pepper

Thanks for coming out to Doc Brown's BBQ for the share, and for helping my funk/groove band Funkgettaboutit have a decidedly awesome audience!!! =) You all are the best, truly.

Farmer-assistant Matt

Basket number four...

(Sorry, I dont know how this escaped my posting it two weeks ago... oh wait, yes I do, that was when I was on the beach, while Doro was here keeping the garden tame and putting together the share, among other things)

Share basket number four:

In the words of Doro's text to me: "This is the basket: kale, beets, lettuces, green beans, cucumbers, squash, a pepper, onion and basil"

See yall next week for...

(Basket #5, w/ a lil rockin BBQ on the side ;)

Its basket number three... its soooo yum-my. Goooooooo threebie!

 

And a couple random herbs not pictured (basil, dill)

Some new participants in the season now! Cucumbers and yellow squash join two heads of lettuce, a tatsoi rosette, one (or if you opt for it, two) tufts of spinach, green beans, a green or red onion, and milkweed florets

Here's some great tips on cooking the milkweed florets via a chat thread the group just had:

And, in the comments below, you can see the recipe that Kimberly Mason (one of our lovely sharemembers, and an all-around awesome person) used to make this lovely spinach frittata with sauce and milkweed and fresh salad accompaniment. So rad of you to share this wonderful incorporation of some of the stuff we grow for all of us, Kimberly! =)

"Holy amazing silicone rubber easy-remove spinach frittata-cakes, batman!" 

The only thing missing... a wine refill and a smile a mile wide from a job well done! =)

All your weekly vitamins and minerals, tended and plucked with love!

I present... (overflowing, juicy) basket #2 of the 2025 season. Booo to a daily multivitamin... yay to nutrimenting thyself the old-fashioned way (and with all manner of natural fiber to boot) ! =)

Got yer work cut out for yer!

Today's stars are: two different types / colors of lettuce greens, two different varieties of kale greens, baby bok choi in a bag, green beans in a bag (omg, amazing!), milkweed florets in a bag (omg omg), dandelion greens, onions w/green shoots, radishes, garlic scapes, and a BABY....

...CUC ("doo doo, doo doo doo-doo doo-doo"), BABY... CUC ("doo doo, doo doo doo-doo doo-doo")... (repeat until you outlast your children or any other younger-gen human present)

No excuse not to get your daily allowance of locally-grown awesomeness, this week!!! =)

Coburn Cove basket #1...yum!

We have for your enjoyment: dandelion greens, lemon balm, spinach, two lettuces, one bok choi head, and some green beans!

The two main tips or extra info I had was...

#1 I threw a bunch of ice in the trunk as I unfortunately didn't have my usual cooling setup, and some of the ice ended up directly touching and cold-burning spots here and there on a couple lettuces. I would just rinse blast or finger away under trickling water that dark tissue, and be gone with it... I am sorry for that, and will be smarter about how I use frozen water to help keep things fresh moving forward

#2 -- you may have some thicker stems together with your leaves, in the arugula bag... best thing to do with that is just go through your arugula and give it the tear test so that you can remove the hard parts

Looking forward to next week!

It is time! Are you as excited (and nervous, LOL) as we are?

Wanted to give everyone an update on how the Coburn Cove veggie plot is going. So much... fence-building... mowing... inlet hose repair... outlet hose repair... weeding... digging... greenhouse temperature and moisture management... planting... watering... de-bugging (well, the potato beetles have been the only so far, knock on wood)... fertilizing... that it has been difficult to rationalize taking moments away, to both take pictures and then write about them. But, once we feel ALMOST done with the planting (now), IT IS TIME! =)

Trying out longleaf pine straw this year, as our mulch (as weed suppressant but moreso to reduce the sun and wind drying out of the very clay-like soil we have)

Beans! One of Doro's favorites... hopefully they won't mysteriously die off like they did last year =O

Growing a lot of food is exhausting!

A little preview, of what sort of low-food-miles sustenance you all will be getting =)

...and a more closer-up preview...

Tasty tatsois taking their time 

Our primary guardian goose, enjoying a nice bath in the mini-pond that they share with the ducks

A perfectly-affixed butt-feather! A sign of good luck in my book!

A nice sunset over the garden w/mini soccer / Goalti field beside it

In terms of the first share basket delivery date, it is looking quite like we will be able to meet our target of Wednesday, June 4th, after all (the first Wednesday in June is what we've been doing). Location will be at the old Wedge (one big plus will be, we can go back to doing 'shady' deals under the highway bridge if we want to... LOL). The beer there is fantastic and I can already imagine enjoying the great company and conversation with you all at one of their oversized, Oktoberfest-beer-hall-esque tables there =)

Timing will be the same as last year = we'll run the pickup + hangout from 4 to 6. Also similar to last year, I will aim to make a blog post for every basket, naming the goodies and sharing a few basic tips. You all should automatically get this first-one-in-a-while in your email inboxes, for example -- at least, as long as you 'Accepted' the invitation to get Blog post notifications from blogger, that it sent out. Check your spam folder for it, they sometimes go there. If no luck, you can always manually check the latest and greatest, simply by pulling up our blog in a web browser: coburncove.blogspot.com

Most members pre-paid for ten weeks of chicken-duck egg half-dozens, but for those that didn't but still want to possibly get in on the egg action here and there I'll be bringing some extras. And Laura's pastry share is back, for those who bought into that... yay!

Looking forward to sharing the bounty from our land and hard work with you all, in just one and a half weeks' time!!!

your local big-time gardeners Matt, Doro, Josie and Yanusz

10th and final sharebasket of the season... hooray, we did it!!!

Folks... it has been an absolute joy, growing food for you and your families this year. Got a special basket for you now:

Five of you lovely people are here right now and we're making great convo... so I'll be brief, and focus on special stuff:

-- apple cider vinegar (I made from hendersonville apples from last fall)

-- sumac tea (can warm on stove and drink hot, or add sugar and cool and pour over ice for an amazing lemonade-like beverage with a hint of tea flavor

-- mix of different peppers... these are all fun, and none super-hot (well, the small, elongated ones have a lil heat, and the jaleps are jaleps)

-- loads of basil. Literally loads. You can take a few handfuls more, when u grab your basket

And then the other friends you'll find in your basket, you should be familiar with by now. Kinda like us. So glad we did this awesome thing together; looking forward to seeing at least some if not all of you for potatoes and odds and ends next Wed. (21st)