Availability for July 5

Welcome to July! We’re in the thick of the summer season now, with more new products than I can possibly name in this email. You can check the “New Products” carousel on the website to see them all, but here’s an overview:

Many more varieties of tomatoes, the first of the peppers, some okra, more corn, more eggplant, tomatilloes, more beans, more squash, and so on.

With all this produce, many of you have been looking for ways to use it all. I’m in the process of building a really nice recipe system that ties into the website, but in the meantime I’ve gotten a number of recipes from the largest CSA in the country, Angelic Organics. They’ve recently put out a cookbook that is equal parts reference library, user manual, and recipes that is very, very good. They’ve allowed me to share a number of recipes with you, and you’ll find them in the “Q’s and A’s” section of the website, along with a link to their own site where you can certainly order yourself the whole book. They’re also offering a bulk discount on their book, so if enough of you are interested I can order a case and pass the savings along to you.

We’ve got the next in our series of monthly “Farmer for a Day” events coming up on Saturday. This one is at Jim’s Farm, in Winterville, and will be the closest farm to Athens proper we’ll be featuring this summer. I believe there are a few slots still open, so be sure to add a reservation to your order (you’ll find them under the “Event Reservations” category).

My own small farm is coming along nicely. I’m growing far less than I have in previous years, and am taking the opportunity to try a few heirloom varieties that are new to me. I don’t have anywhere near the quantities of our other growers, but it’s been good to have things in the ground again, after taking last year off entirely. I always feel a bit off when there’s no garden to work in…

Thanks again for all your support of your local food producers. With your help, we’ve built a market here that rivals any in the southeast for variety of local foods. It really is a great thing we’ve all done together, and I regularly get phone calls and emails from people around the country who are moving to Athens and are so excited to see our market here. We’ll see you on Thursday from 4:30 to 8pm at Gosford Wine!