Beauregards Farm-Market Newsletter July 2008

Oooooooh boys....it's hot!!!! From a song, in the seventies...you remember the 70's??? Oh, never mind...but it is hot! The lettuce is slowly wilting right in the field, requiring a plunge into some freshly drawn well water to bring it back to life- and the radishes are far too hot for most tastes. (Pithy too...) Tomatoes are swelling, their weight cracking some of the stems not made ready to support them yet. And the darn peppers...what is going on with the peppers???? Could it be that the wetness and coolness of June stunted their growth and they're still pouting? Yep, I think that may be the problem. I'll just have to spoil them a bit with extra heat loving mulch and clay field tiles around their middles so they'll warm up to me.
Even though it is mid-summer, and moist and humid and about the only thing we have to look forward too in this sweltering heat is the Illinois State Fair ('cause we all take it in stride, the "fair" weather is nothing but extreme)...we still like to grill, do we not? And it is something we do together, right??? Women are multi-taskers, by golly-- we can grill and cook and shuck the corn all at the same time....but, speaking for myself- usually something suffers in the meal and it's usually the grill cooked dish. Because, I do believe- grilling is for the single minded, the highly aware, the-stay-on-task-or-you'll-burn-it-kind of guy or gal. So- you grill conscious folks....here are a couple of recipes that you just might fall in love with...or maybe redeem yourself after that last episode of steaks burning and volunteer firefighters showing up.....
Take care!

Tarragon Shrimp
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1- 2 cloves fresh garlic(be bold, use 3-4...)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
pinch of salt and white pepper(black is fine...)
1 pound cooked shrimp, (41-50 per pound)
2 tablespoon French tarragon, chopped
In a large mixing bowl, combine olive oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and mix well. Add the shrimp and tarragon, mix well. Cover with plastic wrap, and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour. Place shrimp over a bed of mixed greens. Serves 4.
I start a bed of coals, wait till they're about medium in heat, put the shrimp on(using a mesh basket or small grated pan) just heat through with singe marks and oh my goodness...heaven on a bed of greens.

Thee Most Tantalizing Taste For The Grill...(You'll see)
Chicken, Pork or Lamb works well here...
1 Cup Honey (Local honey is the best and good for your immune system...)
1/2 Cup Mustard(any kind, reallly...use Plochmans or that fancy stuff someone gave you for Christmas....)***Add more to taste...
1 Stick of Butter
Garlic cloves(use about as much as you would if vampires were hovering....say- several cloves anyway)
and here is the secret ingredient....
1 Tablespoon good Curry(I know, I know- you're hubby won't eat it...try this, he will.)***Add more to taste...

Place your meat in a pan with sides so that morsels are laid side by side, mix up the above recipe, pour over meat. Let sit for 1 hour to overnight. Place on medium coals, basting meat with drippings from pan. Even teenagers like this and will say so...it's just something different and so delectable...truly.(If it rains...shove the whole thing in the oven for 1 hour at 375, or until juices run clear.)


Every so often, I will add a newsletter...'cause I only have time enough to think long and hard a little...the wheels are always turning about something. Thank you all for being so kind, so considerate, so eerily interested in truly the mundane...Ha.

Be well...and market-ply. Hmmmm....maybe I should sleep more....

...other things

Good morning crew, thanks for checking in...always something of a mishmash here, huh? My summer readership is down, my writing is taking a back seat to farming and I suspect that many are as busy as I. That's good! Being busy, productive and enjoying the summer as we all should. Even the humidity has it's perks- the flowers here at Beauregards are blooming as fast as fireworks lit up in the sky. Every corner I round here has an explosion of color and fragrance. And just this morning, a quail called from out under the honeysuckle hedge...my french intern loves to hear the bird songs. Even the starlings have him seduced by their chirps to their babies above the porch swing. He was saddened by the boot two little fledglings received from their mama upon the porch floor. He gathered them up and tried to save them, nestling the lone survivor in his palm, keeping it warm with a cloth and his breath. He was even more saddened to learn that mama bird knows when a little one might not survive, and kicks it out so the stronger, healthier ones might surmount the odds of life against them. It was a touching scene...this young man of twenty, from the city- innocent to the ways of the wild. Sadly, he acknowledged he could not save the little bird he fell in love with...but I explained that the little bird knew of his devotion, and upon it's passing at least knew of love and warmth...that he had made a difference, to this one little life.

Yesterday was our first really big adventure into farm marketing. We had a space at the Illinois Farmer's Product Market at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. People turned out in droves...how wonderful to see the interest in local food, we sold out...by 5:30, intending to hold out till 7:00. I had a smorgasbord of herbs on hand, mixed mesclun greens, onions, fresh garlic, spinach, chard...and recipes! That was the key to selling everything I think...people really want to converse with the producer, want to feel safe and knowledgeable these days, about their food. I felt triumphant and exhausted last evening. Our stand (I explained to my intern) must be beautiful and fragrant and interesting. We did not sit the whole time we were there, so many came and went- some walked away with flowers, some rolled away with fresh garlic sticking out of a bag I attached to the back of their wheel chair. Yes, one lady- one sweet heart of a soul rolled right up and smiled an everlasting smile, spoke of her love for cooking and freshness...so many reasons to cry- this one, but she smiled and carried on. You just never know what form inspiration might take in your daily toil. Smiles on wheels. Yep.

I held a "Farm EC" class it seemed last night- every one wanting to know how to use this herb and how to prepare a vinaigrette that brings a subtle discreet flavor to an already bold mix of greens. I felt like teacher, farmer, philosopher and check out queen. The tally was added up at the end of the market, I couldn't have been more pleased. Next market Thursday...more recipes, more garlic(seems everyone wanted garlic) and chard- a favorite vegetable of mine. So, very soon- I will post recipes here, get folks to try an unimaginable mix of flavors that just might make one's senses pop in such a way that makes dining as passionate as...other things.

Have a really good one, I mean it...no holds barred goodness. Go for it, take care-