I am going to miss Summer

[Stinky The Clown]

The late summer vegetables are still coming in here. And the later in the season, the sweeter they are.

We had corn tonight, grilled. Easily the best we've had all season. The farmer said it came from the last field he planted. It was amazing. So sweet. We just grilled it and ate it. No salt, no butter, nothing.

Same with the tomatoes. We've been buying them three times a week. Each day they get sweeter and richer. The rest of the srops are starting to peter out, but the corn and tomatoes are amazing.

[grasswire]

1. the worst part is that the peaches are gone

....and no matter how great an apple or pear is (and I had some really good fujis today) they don't have the bone-satisfying goodness of a peach. IMO.

I haven't had any really great corn this year, but I am eating as many vine-ripened orange cherry toms as I can stuff in my face every day. Can there be an overdose of tomatoes?

[hippywife]

2. Amen, sista!

The peaches this year were fabulous! I wish I could find some that are both local and organic since peaches are on the top of the list for holding pesticides. I had to resort to buying CA and WA peaches but they sure were incredible. :9

Was a bad year for tomatoes and corn around here, although we did get a decent amount of tomatoes from our garden. They were pretty tough skinned and split but made the best out of it.

I'm picturing you with seeds and tomato snot running down your chin. :rofl:

[Warpy]

3. We are still locked in drought here in NM

so our "summer" veggies come mostly from Mexico with one exception: green chile. The roasters are out in front of every market now and going full blast as people get their bushels of green chile to freeze for the year. Once roasted and put into a black trash bag, the chiles steam while people cart them home and are easy to peel and put into baggies. The whole family will get into the act since a bushel of chile is a lot of chile.

The smell of roasting chiles is one we start getting in late August, that tells us the oppressive desert heat will soon be over. It's taken the place for me of that smell of burning leaves, something people in most areas can no longer do thanks to pollution regulations.

New Mexicans put green chile into everything, and once you get used to the idea, you realize why. Green chile here tastes radically different from the same plants grown elsewhere. It's a combination of sun, altitude, desert, soil, and heat and if a market tries to pull a fast one, people know and complain vociferously. I've seen veggie stands go under because they tried to substitute something from California or Mexico.

The roasters will be gone in another couple of weeks and we'll settle into winter, and our winters are hard winters because of the altitude.

However, most of us will have freezers of green chile to put in soups, stews, gravies, baked goods, and everything else to keep us going.

[Lugnut]

4. I hit the local famer's market this afternoon.

My tomato plants were over early last month and the ones I bought last week at the market are almost gone. The woman at one stand said they're taking longer to ripen on the plants so maybe that has something to do with the flavor. All I know is they are delicious.

I came home with a head of cabbage the size of a basketball and cauliflower that was slightly smaller. I also picked up green beans, eggplant and broccoli. Too bad it will all end here in a few weeks.