STANDARD REMINDER

Please be sure to wash your weekly share thoroughly before serving. To preserve freshness, it is NOT ‘table ready’ (i.e., pre-washed). We deliver your Olin-Fox Farms’ produce right from the fields to ensure highest quality.

Special Note: The 2007 Fall Program is filling up fast and we have limited space in Alexandria. If you are planning on signing up for the Fall Program do it as soon as possible so as we may release any available shares to the general public.

Sunday and Monday's rain has brought real relief to the sun-scorched earth and has lessened the stress on the creatures of the forest. Not mention, it has made it more tolerable for working outdoors, but we are not out of the woods yet. We are still several inches below our annual rainfall for the year and we could use several more days of soaking rain in order to soften the soil enough to work and sow our fall crops.

Now as we move into the dog days of August, we only hope and pray for mild temperatures and significant rainfall and hopefully no hurricanes. All in all, the summer harvests have been good and have produced some mighty tasty varieties of produce this year due to the lack of rain. Sure, some of the crops were short-lived this season, such as the squash and some of the cucumbers, but they were good while they lasted.

Our hearts go out for many of the farmers that will lose the majority of their feed corn this year, but being a farmer you learn to expect what grows well one year may not the next or vice versa. So, you just do your best and hope and pray that Mother Nature will be kind and bless you with a good harvest.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, September 15th. Locusville Plantation will be holding their 5th Annual Music Festival. Admission is free but donations will be much appreciated. More details will follow.

Also mark your calendars for the First Annual Olin-Fox Farms Garlic Roast, tentatively scheduled for Saturday October 13th. More details will follow.

This week's rain will be a big help for many crops as well as trees, grasses, flowers, and hopefully the second planting of sweet corn which we hope to harvest this week. The potato harvest has begun and indications are from poor to good. Canning Farm has lost all of their Yukon Gold potatoes for the season. Olin-Fox Farms has had a very poor harvest of Russian Fingerlings. Grateful House Farm has done well with Yukon Gold potatoes, and Garner's have also done well with their Yukon Gold, Red Pontiac and White Kennebecs. The tomato harvest continues to do well, although some varieties have been lost such as Green Zebras and Cherokee Purple. The Sun Gold are running later than usual this year. It has been a blessing that the Fine Family of Farms is spread out through our growing area of Zone 7.

Tomatoes, Peppers, Roasting Garlic, Yukon Gold Potatoes, Ambrosia Cantaloupe, Sweet Corn.

Please Note: With elements beyond our control such as the start or the end of a harvest, or extreme weather conditions that may limit the quantity of produce coming in, we systematically address each delivery and pick up group each week and do our very best to see that everyone receives some of everything.

Recipe

Roasted Garlic

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut off top of garlic so the tops of the cloves are showing. Cut off the bottom of the garlic so it is flat. Place garlic in foil or a small dish. Drizzle virgin olive oil over the top of the garlic and sprinkle salt & seasonings such as rosemary & oregano. Enclose the garlic in the foil or cover the dish. Cook for 40 minutes - until a fork easily pierces the bulb. The garlic achieves a buttery consistency that can be spread on French bread. Add left-overs to vegetables, spaghetti sauce, etc.

Ethan Brent, Official Newsletter Focalizer, is on vacation this week.

Bon Appetit!