Week 6 Showers of Blessing

Showers of Blessings!

Your Share Contains:

Tomatoes
Sugar Snap Peas
Lettuce
New Potatoes
Yellow Squash
Zucchini
Beets
Radishes

Another week has flown by and we've been blessed

with several showers this week! God was good to hear our cries and answer! Our home farm pond was at "mud level" and the main pond that irrigates the main farm was inching lower and lower. This week we've felt the refreshment that                                          God's blessings brings!

Water is an essential to our farm. The hogs and chickens take over 350 gallons a day! The

Our family enjoyed an Independence Day
picnic and swim in our farm pond.
Grass is growing now above the normal
water line.

greenhouses take more to keep the upcoming transplants thriving. So when our pond and creek went dry, we were at the mercy of the weather, and ultimately God himself.

The Next Day...

 As I was reading in Psalm 23 this morning...yes, I am reading through Psalms.  I began to study David's life in Greg Laurie's book, The Greatest Stories Ever Told a door was opened in my mind. I've always thought David and I were "kindred spirits", and now I know we are! A question that has nagged my mind for years is answered. And now I have a peace and direction for the future. Then the Lord led me to the still waters mentioned in verse 2. "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters." Suffice it to say I'm sitting quietly by the Living Water and reallllly enjoying the peace it is bringing. PRAISE HIS NAME!

Are you seeking God's peace? Sit by the Still Waters (Jesus) and seek His heart...His truth...and wait until He answers. Remember though that His timing is not our own. There are probably MANY lessons to learn along the way, but the journey is WORTH IT in the "end". 

News from the Farm

One constant in most gardeners summers is zucchini. With us, we've either had toooo much or none. There doesn't seem to a middle ground. I see tub after tubs of zucchini on my porch, so I know this is a good year. 

There is sooo much you can do with the squash! I've

made a mock apple pie with it, grilled it, roasted it, made "noodles" with it, I've hid it in a green smoothie for the children, (they never knew it was there!). I've stir fried it, pickled it like mustard pickles, and made mock crab cakes with it! People sure have been creative over the years!

Here's one way I've used this bounty this summer.

You don't have to use the same vegetables I used. I want this to inspire you to use whatever that is in your refrigerator. I made this before the bounty of the season overflowed into my kitchen, so I used what I had at the time...avocados.

Zoodle Stir Fry

Serves 1

1 small zucchini

Olive Oil

1 T. minced garlic

1 boneless Chicken Thigh or 1/2 Chicken Breast, cut into bite-sized chunks

1/2 onion, diced

1/2- 1 Avocado

Salt & Pepper to taste

 Turn your zucchini into zoodles. 
If you don't have a cutter, try making narrow noodles with a vegetable peeler.

 Heat a skillet and drizzle some olive oil on to it. I added a big spoon of the convenient minced garlic I keep in my refrigerator. I stirred it until it was just wilted. Then I removed it to my plate, and covered it with a bowl to keep it warm.

  In the same hot skillet, add a bit more olive oil and add your cut up chicken. Stir until color begins to disappear. 

Add your diced onion, and stir continually until the onion begins to look caramelized. 

 Cut the avocodo while still in the skin by drawing a paring knife through the fruit in this way.

 Add the avocado by scooping it out with a small spoon into the frying pan.

Gently stir once or twice until the avocado is heated through. (This doesn't take long, so be prepared.)

Top your zoodles with your stir fry and enjoy!

Gluten-Free, Low Carb, YUMMY & QUICK!

Another Colvin family favorite!

Oven Zucchini Chips

2 medium zucchini (about 1 pound)

3 T. milk

1/4 C. grated Parmesan Cheese

1/4 C. plain dry bread crumbs

1/8 t. salt

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Either spray the cookie sheet with cooking spray or line it with parchment (recommended). First mix the bread crumbs with all dry seasonings. Next wash the zucchini, and slice it in 1/8" slices. Dip each zucchini round into  the milk, then into the seasoned bread crumb mixture, coating both sides. (It is best to move most of the bread crumbs to one side of your dish and only dip the wet zucchini into a small portion or you will have a hard time getting the crumbs to stick. If this happens, just press the crumbs into the slices as you coat them. Working with a small portion at a time helps prevent this.) Place them on your prepared cookie sheet. Spray with olive oil or canola cooking spray. Bake 25 -30 minutes until browned and crisp. Serve immediately.

Another market favorite that REALLY hides the zucchini!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

3 Eggs

1 C. Honey

1/2 C. Oil

1 t. Vanilla

3 T. Butter

6 T. Cocoa powder

2 C. Grated zucchini

2 C.  Flour 

1 t. Salt

1 1/2 t. Cinnamon

2/3 C. Chocolate Chips

In mixing bowl combine eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla. In saucepan or microwave, melt butter and add cocoa powder. Set aside to cool. Grate zucchini. Mix zucchini, with cocoa powder/butter mixture and when cooled combine with egg mixture. Add flour, soda, salt, cinnamon. Mix only enough to blend. Dampen chocolate chips slightly in a small bowl. Coat with a few pinches of flour to keep them from sinking to the bottom of your bread. Fold into batter. Pour into 2 greased 8" pans. (I use bread pans or muffin pans.) Bake at 350 degrees until cake tester inserted comes out clean, depending on pan size.

" Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
John 14:27



Have a Great Week!

Abundant Blessings,
The Farmer's Wife,
Val