Thursday, August 2, 2012

Tasty and Healthy - August 2, 2012

Greetings! We're already in August! Today's photo features even more creative ideas in making fresh fruits and produce appetizing during our hot, humid days. Any type of cold fruit and vegetable salads can cool down parched throats, and provide electrolytes to our bodies, especially for children playing outside, or anyone who finds themselves outdoors during Florida's summers. I just couldn't pass up sharing this beautiful photo - it sparks the imagination for creative ideas in making produce more appealing. Try making popsicles in orange rind halves for something a little different.

Many roads in our end of town have remained flooded from heavy downpours since Tropical Storm Debby. The clay-rich fields at Beasley Farm are still extremely soggy. This means a few of our summer crops are not maturing in the way we had hoped. Still, we keep our fingers crossed that our pesticide-free harvest will come to fruition soon. In the meantime, welcome to this week's newsletter! We hope your summer has been enjoyable, healthy and safe.

Pesticide-free Okra is still slowly trickling in. See recipe below.

If interested in SHELLED black-eye peas, conk peas, or zipper peas, please phone the farm to place an order. Peas are in our standard two pound bag. $8 per bag.

As always, please feel free to phone the farm for special requests or special orders. We'll do everything we can to accommodate you. If you need something from the Farmers Market in Plant City, it is best to phone by Wednesday afternoon.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services visits to our farm to test our soil and plants. For more information about our farming techniques, and the testing we undergo, please click here.

Gran'ma Angie thanks you for the bags! She hopes you will keep on bringing 'em. Thanks for "recycling" your plastic bags with us! It helps us keep prices down.

From the Farmers Market:

Tomatoes

Eggplant

Cucumbers
Green and Red Bell Peppers
Green Jalapenos (be sure to remove the seeds!)

Sweet Cubanella Peppers

Carrots

Sweet Potatoes

Baking Potatoes

Red Skin Potatoes
White Skin Potatoes

Zucchini
Yellow Squash
Acorn Squash
Butternut Squash

Yellow Onions
Scallion Onions
Red Radish

Celery
Cabbage
Romaine

Head Lettuce
FLORIDA Avocados
Lemons

Limes

Bananas
ASPARAGUS
Shelled Zipper Peas 2lb bags $8 (phone to order)

Shelled Black-eye Peas 2lb bags $8 (phone to order)
Shelled Conk Peas 2lb bags $8 (phone to order)

From the Farm:

Reservations being taken for our specialty Traditional Southern Field Peas (phone to order please)
Pesticide-free Okra

Where we will be this week:

Friday - Rolo will be at the Spring Hill location. Please note: Rolo will be out of town on Friday, August 10, so we will not be at our Spring Hill Drive location on that one day. Thanks for understanding.

Saturday - Rolo and Joann will be at the Hernando County Farmers Market on Hwy 19 with 40 other vendors! Come browse, shop, and visit with your neighbors - it's an all 'round enjoyable time. You'll also be supporting local businesses by visiting their booths.

Saturday and everyday - Gran'ma Angie, Nana Phyllis, Joann and Rolo will be at the Produce Barn until 6PM.

For our Calendar of Locations, and special times and dates for August, please click here, or click on the Calendar Tab at the top of this page.

Recipes for the Week:

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Roasted Okra

Quotes for this week:

"Sometimes when we are generous in small,

barely detectable ways it can change

someone else's life forever."

-Margaret Cho

In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.
- Deitrich Bonhoeffer -