Greetings!

How did it get to be August so quickly? What the heck happened to July? Doesn't it seem like summer is flying past? 

You'll have more zucchini and cucumbers this week, and something new you may never have seen: Brocolli Romanesco, also known as "Fractal Broccoli." This vegetable is actually more like cauliflower. Cut it up and roast or steam or stir fry it. It's amazingly delicious. We love it so much we're sorry we didn't plant more. We definitely plan to grow much more of it next year!

We're finally picking a few red greenhouse tomatoes and it won't be too much longer before the outdoor crop ripens too. This week we hope to give you a tomato teaser: at least one, with the promise of much more to come. If you happen to get a tomato that's not quite ready, leave it on your windowsill a few days and let it ripen. Remember, never refrigerate a tomato! If the numbers of green tomatoes on the vine are any indication, we'll going to have a flood of our favorite vegetable/fruit (we won't get into that debate...) Soon we'll be making salsa, slicing them up with buffalo mozzarella and basil, and throwing them in sandwiches and salads.

U-Pick Green beans are available: Bush beans and pole beans are still growing in the first bean row, and the newer crop in the second row is close behind. Availability of the U-Pick crops will depend on when you come to pick. We're going to go ahead and pick anything that needs to be picked, rather than letting the beans get too big and overgrown, as this will cause the plants to stop producing. Between the first and second crops, if you don't find enough to pick, please let me know. We may have some all picked in the barn for you. We're starting to find a few ripe Sun Gold cherry tomatoes. U-Pickers, see if you can find some! We will provide small boxes in the barn to put your cherries in! The red grape tomatoes and orange ones further down the row will be ready before long, and at the end of the row, are Husk Cherries. These ripen later, and are sweet like candy!

Any shareholder is welcome to help themselves to fresh basil in the U-Pick area. Rather than cut the basil, it will stay much fresher if you snip some off on your way home.

Mehaffey Farm sure seems to be getting its 15 minutes of fame recently. We filmed another three cooking videos in the barn last week. (A recipe for Caesar Salad will be showing up this week on The Newburyport Daily News website: http://food.newburyportnews.com) Our farm is also the subject of Heather Atwood's "Food For Thought" column in this week's paper.

Maggie, Bill, Ross, Richie, Ryan, Mike and Desi (Suchi and Charger too!) 

Mehaffey Farm