Just another beautiful August farm scene — late summer winter squash and lettuce (to be harvested soonish!)
When I reflect on this last week, pretty much one event comes to mind: the Yamhill County Fair! Our family has participated in this local event for the last three years. I don’t think I realized ahead of time just how much of a time commitment it would be (and I’m sure the animal entries require even more time!), but it’s become a wonderful part of our summer schedule of activities.
Dottie with her blue ribbon basil
This year, Rusty entered some of his artwork and both children entered items from their garden. Have I mentioned yet in a newsletter how much ownership they have taken over their garden this year? Casey and I still help out with the heavier work of weeding and things, but they were completely in charge of planting — both deciding what and when to plant and doing the actual work. Rusty planted zucchini, sweet corn, cosmos, cabbage, beans, sunflowers, potatoes, calendula flowers, peppers, tomatoes, sweet onions, basil, and a Rhododendron (I tried to convince him that evergreen flower bushes belong in garden beds, not in vegetable gardens, but he would have none of that). Dottie planted sweet pea flowers, tomatoes, sweet corn, basil, fennel, zucchini, cosmos, celery root, and peppers. I’m sure I’m forgetting things!
What fun it was last Tuesday morning to visit their garden and decide which items would be fair worthy. Dottie entered enough vegetables and herbs that she won the “sweepstakes” award, meaning that she entered the most items in that category!
Locals will know that our fair is pretty small. In some ways, I think it’s amazing that we still have a fair at all, when bigger and fancier fairs have been abandoned as old fashioned and money drains in other counties. But our little fair persists, in spite of the relatively small space it takes up (in town, no less! Which feels unique!) and the relatively small number of entries.
Rusty with his blue ribbon waterfall painting
But the smallness of it has endeared it to me over the years. When the kids enter anything at all, they bump up the display on fair day significantly, and of course they end up winning quite a lot of ribbons for lack of competition. They enjoy the affirmation of the ribbons, and it’s a fun way for our homeschooling family to organize some of our endeavors and “present” them formally to the world. I think this is an important skill to have — to be able to put together a “finished” product for presentation (not to mention the necessary skills of jumping through hoops and filling out paperwork — both of which also occur with fair participation!).
And, the smallness of the fair also means that we can pretty much “do” the entire fair in the morning. We can check out our entries (to see what ribbons have been won!), look at our friends’ entries, see all the animals in the barns, watch the horse events in the arena, and ride a ride or two — all before lunch! This year, I especially appreciate the novelty of enjoying 75° weather on our fair morning. What a wonderful change from the normal hot, hot, hot temperatures we endure! (Last year, the temperature topped 100° on our fair day!)
Now that the fair is behind us, it feels like summer is quickly coming to the beginning of its end. How quickly will the weeks pass before school begins again? So quickly, I am sure. Earlier this week, the unseasonably cool temperatures gave us a foretaste of the fall to come, and it was quite lovely but also too soon! We have more summer to savor! We have crops for fall that still need to grow and mature! August is here, and we are relishing it!
And, summer is so very present in this week’s share too. There are so many good summer fruits to choose from. Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Asian pears — Already? Oh man, these are early Asian pears! As with everything on the trees this year … it’s been a bizarre summer with unseasonably mild weather and yet early perennial crops! If you are not yet familiar with Asian pears, they could be described as a cross between an apple and a pear. That’s not really botanically accurate, but it describes the eating experience well. They are eaten firm, like an apple, but they are much juicier and have a flavor akin to a European pear. So, you don’t need to wait for these to ripen (as you might a firm European pear) — they are ready to eat, even though they are firm and crisp still.
- Imperial Epineuse plums — This is the earliest of our “prune” type plums. It is a European plum and is “freestone” (meaning that the pit comes out easily from the flesh). They are of course wonderful for making dried prunes, but they’re also delicious for eating fresh. I think our family is quite possibly consuming a few too many plums every day as they are hard to resist!
- Chehalis apples
- Cherry tomatoes
- Slicer tomatoes
- Green peppers
- Broccoli
- Cucumbers
- Kale
- Zucchini
- German butterball potatoes — We’ve been enjoying how tender the skin is on this variety of potatoes. They’re great for roasting or baking whole with the skin still on. We hosted two different groups of people for dinner this week (a gathering of Yamhill County farmers on Monday night and families from our church tonight), and both nights we filled a pan with potatoes and roasted it. Great, delicious food to feed a crowd!
- Garlic
And this week’s extra goodies from the farm:
- Eggs — $6/dozen
- Lamb! — The lamb is in! Chops are $14/lb; roasts are $10/lb; ground lamb is $10/lb; and organs/bones are $6/lb. Get it while it lasts!
- Goat — Goat chops are $14/lb. Organs and bones are $6/lb.
- Beef cuts — Roasting type meats are $10/lb, and steaks are $14/lb. Organs and bones are $6/lb.
- Ground beef — The best ever — $10/lb
- Beef stew meat — $10/lb
- Pork organs, fat & bones — $4/lb
