Good morning! I very much missed writing to you!
Please note changes in this week’s delivery schedule:
All those who usually receive their orders on Monday will receive their orders today (Sunday, Sep 20).
All those who usually receive their orders on Tuesday or on Wednesday (except for Jerusalem) will receive their orders tomorrow (Monday, Sep 21).
All those who usually receive their orders on Thursdays, and the Jerusalem people who usually receive on Wednesdays, will receive their orders on Thursday (Sep 24). Orders must be made by tomorrow (Monday) at 14:00.
You can see the schedule for all the holidays (ignore the part about the coconuts, we expect to receive more only after Sukkot):
The recent and upcoming weeks are filled with changes: the end of summer and the holidays, together with difficult and unusual weather…
Most of summer’s produce is fruit (for how to recognize fruits). An easy way to recognize fruit is by its seeds. Tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes, pumpkins, eggplants, zuccini…all these are fruits produced by plants that spend a long time in the garden. In contrast to produce such as lettuce, green onions, or root vegetables in which the entire plant is harvested, making room in the garden for new young plants, summer plants remain in the garden for a longer period and their fruits are picked throught the season as they ripen.
Think what such a plant undergoes in the summer!! For months the plant absorbed constant radiation, heat, dryness, more heat, dust, more heat…the summer plants are already tired…wouldn’t you be if you were out in the garden all day? They gave their best and most are already tough and ready to retire; with the new year and the new season – they also feel the changes. J Soon we will be able prepare the garden beds, and plant shoots and seeds of winter plants or fast-growing summer plants.
The days are growing shorter (tomorrow is the autumn equinox when the length of the day will equal the length of the night), here and there we feel humidity in the air, some days are not so hot as in mid-summer…summer is exiting and the squills are blooming.
The current star of the garden is the garlic chive. Its beautiful flowers are also edible. Don’t leave this special healthy culinary treat for expensive restaurants! Last week, my daughter Sirenne, who is helping in the garden between the end of her year of service and her enlistment into the army, picked lots of garlic chives for you and for Rama’s Kitchen.
Garlic chives are more delicate than garlic or onions and can be identified by their leaves which are not hollow like the leaves of green onions but are flat like those of leeks, though much smaller. Chopped finely, it is a tasty addition to almost any dish. Use it as a garnish and add it to sandwiches, salads, omlets, cooked recipes…
Everyone loves garlic chives. Records show that the Chinese have used garlic chives for 3000 years. The English claim it is an English plant that was distributed throughout the world by Roman soldiers. The Roma use garlic chives for predicting the future, and you should know that garlic chives repel bad spirits just as does its big brother, the garlic.
May you have a healthful and meaningful week,
Maggie, Tal, and the Garden Staff
Expected contents of this week’s vegetable baskets:
Sweet potatoes
Onions
Tomatoes
Peppers
String beans
Corn
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Butternut squash
In the large baskets, also:
Parsley
Leeks
Beets
Cherry tomatoes
In the fruit baskets:
Pears
Mango
Pomegranates
In the large fruit basket, also:
A second kind of mango
Grapes
