csa summer: twelfth and thirteenth boxes

 As we near the end of our run of farm boxes, we are definitely transitioning to late summer/fall produce.  The twelfth box had a spaghetti squash, two ears of corn, cucumbers, a red cabbage, apples, nectarines, a peach, some pears, some plums, an ivory pepper and a couple of wax peppers (which were way spicier than I expected).

Probably the last of the corn for the year

I gave away the cucumbers at work.  We ate the corn immediately (decent for the season) and the stone fruit.  The pears went into morning green smoothies.  We sauteed some of the peppers with onions for vegan sausages, and the rest of the peppers went on homemade pizzas.

That's autumnal

Box #13 had a butternut squash, a white acorn squash, onions, plums, a past-its-prime peach, lots of apples, a tomato, jalapeno peppers, a green pepper, some red potatoes and a couple of pears.  The squashes - along with the prior week's spaghetti squash - got roasted and mashed and frozen (8.5 cups!) for Milton, who looooooooves roasted winter squash.  Green pepper, onion, jalapeno peppers and some red cabbage went in a tikka masala curry; and that same combination of vegetables also went into burrito bowls (with kidney beans and fake ground beef) later in the week.  That red cabbage was DELICIOUS, by the way: sweet and not at all cabbage-y.  The tomato and fruit got snacked on.  And all the apples were cooked down into 2.5 quarts of apple pie filling for the freezer.

Never have I liked a cabbage so much

milton appreciation post

Technically, this is an appreciation post for the amazing photographs our friend K took of Milton when we three went to E and K's house a couple of Saturdays ago.  We were all somehow available last minute (that is unusual for them, quite a bit less so for us) so we hung out in their lovely backyard for several hours, drinking beer, eating cherry tomatoes straight out of their garden, catching up and watching the dogs - E and K have four: three elderly mini-daschshunds and a terrier mix M's age - sniffing around the yard.  Milton hates having his picture taken ... except when it's K doing it.  I thought I'd share some of the photos because they're just so good.

His eyebrows are getting gray

I love this one

Strike a pose

Bonus: H and Oliver

 

csa summer: eleventh box

 Holy moly only four more boxes!  That went quickly.  I do sort of feel like some of the boxes have not been as strong as prior years but I also have heard that it was a tough year for Utah farmers, with everything coming in all at once.  Plus, it is still a good deal: the boxes of berries alone make it worthwhile.

Speaking of boxes of berries, we got more this week!  We got two cartons of raspberries (different varieties), a pasilla pepper, some wax peppers, a purple pepper, tomatoes, a delicata squash, some pears, some nectarines (really good), some huge peaches (less good), a cucumber, two ears of corn and a canary melon.

This box was so heavy

The corn on the cob (better than last week) and the melon (a bit over-ripe, unfortunately) were eaten right away.  The raspberries, being delicate, went in our oatmeal and were delicious.  A bunch of peppers went into a gnocchi sheet pan bake.  The peaches got chunked up and made into a ginger-peach jam (which I may have scorched just a bit, sigh).  The delicata squash, well, that was roasted whole and then mashed up for Milton.  The boy loves his squash.

alta with a side of cecret lake

After a nice Salt Lake Valley Saturday (trail run and road ride for H, Dimple Dell walk for A and M, evening backyard beers for H, A and M with friends in Sugarhouse), it was time for a little hike.  I have my usual "exercise loop" at Alta: park above Albion Base, walk up the Summer Road, go up the Albion Meadows trail through the ... Albion meadows to the Catherine's Pass trailhead parking, up to Catherine's Pass and across the top to Supreme, down Supreme via the access road to the campground, back to car through the meadows.

Looks like fall

It's a good loop and I like it, decent mileage (over seven), usually not too many people other than up at Catherine's Pass.  But for years I've seen but never tried a side trail that leaves the access road just before the road gets to all the residential cabins.  This time I tried it.

Heading towards Devil's Castle

After turning onto the trail, I found myself below the [winter] gates at the bottom of the Rock N Roll ski trail.  It was really pretty with all the jumble of rocks and earlier in the summer, when the flowers are full throttle, it must be spectacular.

Looking up towards the Apron

There were old mine tailings below the Apron and I could hear pikas chirping at me.  Just beyond that, the trail forked.  I took the high line, which ended up just above and to looker's left of Cecret Lake; I did notice some MTBers on the lower trail and I will try that next time.

Looking into the valley from below the Apron

I can't even tell you how long it's been since I was at Cecret Lake other than during ski season (possibly since 2016).  For good reason too, because there were lots of people hiking in, out and around that little lake - certainly more than I wanted to deal with.  I cannot imagine what hordes there must be when the wildflowers are good.

Looking back at Devil's Castle

I didn't spend any time at the lake but instead got down from there as fast as I could.  On my way out, along the Homerun Trail (Sunnyside area, below Alf's), I paused to watch a big hawk snatch something small and delicious out of the meadown, then continued on my way.

Cecret Lake with no people in the shot amazingly

Hike stats: 8.5 miles, 3 hours 11 minutes.  Next time we take the low road.

second half

 Those lovely cool temperatures didn't stick around through the whole weekend, unfortunately, and it steadily got warmer as time went on - although it never got out of the low 90s, so we were grateful for that.  Cooler weather is on its way and I'm sure we'll be bitching about how dang cold it is in January.  But for now, I feel like I can't even remember what being cold feels like.

Mile 6: Pipe Dream and Hidden Valley done

After H's big Saturday, it was time for A's big Sunday: another Pipe Dream/Hidden Valley/Moab Rim trek.  It was still pretty quiet out there.  There were three cars in the Hidden Valley trailhead parking lot and only a couple of people on the trails with me.  

Mile 8

I went just a smidgen longer than last time, opting to stay on the rock/Moab Rim trail proper, rather than going down Sand Hill to the wash.  I didn't want to have to dump sand out of my shoes after Sand Hill.  And funnily enough, it turned out to only be two-tenths of a mile longer, although it sure seemed like more than that.  Hike stats: 10.3 miles, 3:48:56.

Mile 10

While A was tromping around in the desert, H did a "recovery" road ride of 24+ miles.  He and Milton came to pick A up at the Moab Rim trailhead parking lot (with beers) and we stayed there a little while, watching some jeeps and other rigs make their way up the gnarly trail.

Needing a bit of a trim

After a nap for A that afternoon, we humans walked to our friends C and F's house for yard beers.  Which turned out to be kitchen beers because we all thought the A/C felt nice, despite the lovely shade in their backyard.

Skulls and sunflowers

And then it was Monday.  We did a bunch of chores around the house: weeding, trimming back trees, re-caulking some door frames.  Then we got back on the road bikes for the now traditional H 24/A 21 mile ride on the bike path.  Drinks at Woody's seemed to be in order for late afternoon, and then it was early to bed.  We're not stupid enough to drive back north through Spanish Fork Canyon on the evening of the last day of a long weekend; we did that once, getting stuck in traffic for over an hour, and now we wait and get up wicked early Tuesday morning for the drive back to SLC.

first half

 As is our wont, we skeddadled out of SLC and went to Moab for the long Labor Day holiday weekend, rolling into an unexpectedly quiet Main Street a little after 7 p.m.  Later, when we asked some friends in hospitality if things were slow, they said no, hotels were pretty well booked; I dunno, it sure seemed quiet.  And that's okay.

Oh

We got really lucky with the weather for the first two days especially.  A cold front rolled in and it was in the 70s (!!!!!!!) on Friday.  Delightful!  While H did a three mile trail run that morning, A and M did a 3.5 mile hike on Pipe Dream.  It was quiet out there too: we saw one dude on a MTB with his dog.  Late morning, A and H got on their road bikes for a ride on the bike path.  A did 21 miles (it had been about a month since I'd been on the bike and I could feel that fact in my sit bones) while H stretched a little further to make it 24.

Lawd

On Saturday, H had planned to do a long run and strung together 13.1 on Pipe Dream, up to Hidden Valley, through Hidden Valley and over the pass a little ways towards the Moab Rim trail.  He ended up with just barely under 2,000 feet of elevation gain too, and finished in 2:46:47, so it was not an insignificant run.  

He

While he was doing all that, Milton and A went to Millcreek.  We went a little longer than we usually do (5.7 miles) and found ourselves a preying mantis.

Comin'

Amazingly, H had not done quite enough by late Saturday morning.  We decided to take advantage of the still fairly cool temperatures (slightly warmer than Friday but it still did not get out of the 80s) and did a road ride.  This time he "just" did 21 miles.  That's plenty of miles for one day.

Mantis

Except that we did walk to Woody's and back for cocktails and that's another 1.75 miles roundtrip.  Not that we're weirdos who count everything.

csa summer: tenth box

 Wicked nice variety in this week's box - bravo, Tagge's!  We got two cartons of raspberries, a couple of corns, green beans, green peppers, shishito peppers, peaches, tomatoes, pluots, nectarines, onions, a cucumber and, for squashes: zucchini, summer and a pattypan.

Can't wait for those pluots

As we do, we had the corn and half of the green beans the first night.  I must say, both veggies are past their prime by September: the corn was a bit starchy and the beans were tough.  I think I may blanch the rest of the beans and stick them in the freezer for soups.  We had onion, pepper and the pattypan squash in a chickpea curry; put the very delicate and squishy raspberries in our oatmeal; had more peppers and onions with vegan sausages; gave away the zucchini, cucumber and summer squash*; and ate a bunch of stonefruits just as soon as they ripened.  The massive amount of plums from last week are just getting ripe now and their flesh is the most amazing, vibrant purple-red I've ever seen.  I am planning to turn most of them into a cinnamon-plum sauce (for desserts and oatmeal) to freeze because try as we might, we will never be able to eat all of them in time.

* And I don't even feel guilty about it.  We have so much shredded squash in the freezer - I ate 1.5 cups in my morning green smoothies this week.