{"id":1377,"date":"2014-07-02T00:53:04","date_gmt":"2014-07-02T00:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenfreshveggies.com\/?p=1377"},"modified":"2014-07-02T00:53:04","modified_gmt":"2014-07-02T00:53:04","slug":"first-monday-of-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/?p=1377","title":{"rendered":"First Monday of Summer!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know that isn’t on the calendar. \u00a0But this is First Monday weekend (and 4th of July!) which means it is our first summer-time visit to the Athens, TX Farmer’s Market.<\/p>\n

And why would that be special, you may ask? \u00a0Because the overlapping of spring veggies that are just coming to an end and the beginnings of summer veggies equals abundance! \u00a0The garden may not look as lush and green as it did a little earlier, but the variety is awesome!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1576\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

New this week<\/strong><\/em>: \u00a0Heirloom tomatoes<\/span> (Cherokee Purple, Amana Orange and Mrs. Maxwell’s Big Italian Red)<\/span><\/strong>. \u00a0 We’ll have just a few of the San Marzano sauce tomatoes<\/span><\/strong> as they are just beginning to ripen. \u00a0 Red Austin Pears<\/span> <\/strong>and little Blue Berry tomatoes<\/span><\/strong> will round it out. \u00a0 Our tomatoes have struggled with cold weather, wind, pests and critters this year – so we won’t have a great many available. \u00a0Come early.<\/p>\n

Cantaloupe:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 The sweetest, best-tasting cantaloupe around grow in\u00a0East Texas sandy loam. \u00a0Here’s hoping the first of our crop will be ready!<\/p>\n

Watermelon<\/strong><\/span>: \u00a0Maybe a few Moon & Stars yellow meat<\/span><\/strong>, and Black Diamond<\/span><\/strong>. \u00a0The Crimson Sweet and Navajo Winter melons<\/strong><\/span> will be ready soon. \u00a0I’ll be posting to let you know when they are ready and where you can get them.<\/p>\n

Okra<\/span><\/strong> – Burgundy and Stewart’s Zeebest<\/span> <\/strong>– have just started producing this week and we hope to have a few quarts on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Bell peppers, Sweet Corno di Toro stuffing peppers, Poblano, a few Cayenne, Pimiento and mild “hatch” chili peppers.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Beautiful purple Fengyuan Japanese Eggplant<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

One gorgeous and unique \u00a0Lakota squash<\/strong><\/span>! \u00a0You just have to see it. \u00a0Others are still on the vine.<\/p>\n

Maybe a bag or two of Red Ripper<\/span> <\/strong>southern peas! \u00a0My mouth is already watering for peas and cornbread!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Still going strong:<\/em> \u00a0kale<\/span> <\/strong>(vates, lacinato and Dutch Curly), Swiss Chard, summer squash (lemon, patty pan and tatume), Chinese Red Noodle Beans.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We have some fresh leaf-lettuce<\/span><\/strong> (a variety of romaines and red lettuces) to add to a salad blend with New Zealand Spinach, Malabar spinach and Endive<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This will be our last week until fall<\/strong><\/em> for Chioggia be<\/span>ets, Multi-color carrots, parsnips, turnips and kohlrabi<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And we will still offer\u00a0a few fingerling potatoes; \u00a0Garlic; French Shallots; Red, White Bermuda, and Texas Sweet onions.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Come sample\u00a0the kohlrabi, melons and tomatoes. \u00a0 Find a new recipe to try. \u00a0We’ll bring some peppermint tea to share with you all! \u00a0A truly refreshing summer drink – right from the garden. \u00a0 \u00a0 We’ll also\u00a0have a couple of stevia plants we’ve grown out extra. \u00a0A fresh leaf or two brings a gentle sugar-free, calorie-free sweetness to teas and tastes much better than the processed stevia versions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Come share a cup of iced tea and bring along your favorite recipe for fresh eating! \u00a0We’re still working on a\u00a0cookbook we can share to help us all make better use of our garden fresh veggies, and it needs your contribution!<\/p>\n

See you Saturday!<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know that isn’t on the calendar. \u00a0But this is First Monday weekend (and 4th of July!) which means it is our first summer-time visit to the Athens, TX Farmer’s Market. And why would that…Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-random","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}