Recipe for your summer squash and zucchini

From Anne:

With Summer squash and Zucchini sometimes getting larger than we’d like before we get to harvesting them, I thought a recipe for stuffed Zucchini (or yellow squash) would be useful:

Sausage-Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Ingredients:

4 medium zucchini cut in half lengthwise (or 2 very large zucchini!)

1 TBS olive oil

8 oz sweet loose Italian sausage

8 ounces hot loose Italian sausage

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small onion, chopped

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

salt and pepper

1/2 cup Parmesean, finely grated

1/2 cup mozzarella, grated

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

2 TBS chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2.  With teaspoon, scoop out the flesh from the interior of the squash so they resemble boats.  Place the boats in a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.  Chop the zucchini flesh and set aside.

3.  In a medium saute pan over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and let heat through.  Add the sweet and hot sausages and cook for 4 minutes.  Add the garlic, onion, chopped zucchini flesh, tomatoes and some salt and pepper.  Cook until softened, about 4 minutes.

4.  In a medium bowl, add the Parmesean, breadcrumbs and parsley.  Add to sausage mixture.

5.  Spoon in and mound the sausage mixture into the zucchini boats.  Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over top.  Place in oven and bake for about 20 minutes.

Composted manure is available at the Garden

We just had a load of composted manure  IMG_1052consisting of cow, chicken, sheep, horse, and a little bit of pig delivered to us (free of charge except for the trucking fee),  Barry Standish, who is a descendant of the famous Miles Standish has a farm in Lakeville and has become a “friend of the garden” through his generous donation.

The manure has been composting for sixyears and is almost like soil at this point.  It is available for use in individual gardens as well as in our community compost bins.  We plan on getting another delivery of this “black gold” at end of summer for use next spring.

IMG_1054Remember that our community compost bins are available as well.

Link to Hanna’s document on composting

What to Plant in July

It’s now getting late in the year for sowing and planting, but there is still time for lettuces, chicory, endives, and other salad leaves as well as for fast-growing varieties of peas, beetroots, and carrots. If you’ve now harvested all your broad beans, garlic, onions, and shallots, there may be enough space to transplant any Brussels sprouts, cabbages, and cauliflowers that you’ve raised from seed in pots.

There are plenty of vegetable plants that like the heat and do well with a mid-summer planting in New England.

Here are some ideas:

    • Arugula
    • Basil (Transplants)
    • Beans
    • Beets
    • Brussels sprouts (Transplants)
    • Cabbage (Transplants)
    • Carrots
    • Cauliflower (Transplants)
    • Cilantro
    • Cucumber
    • Kale
    • Leeks (Transplants)
    • Lettuce
    • Parsley
    • Radishes
    • Swiss Chard
    • Turnips
    • Winter Squash

Wareham Community Garden site re-boot

Our site has been around for quite some time – but in general it has not gotten a lot of activity.  We would like to change that and make the site more useful and set it up to work in conjunction with our Facebook Page .

Facebook vs. Our Site

Why have a Facebook page and a site?

This site is a way to get large quantities of content up and running, where it can be shared and where we can control it.  With this site, we own the site and can change the design, the framework,  and anything else about it that we could want to change. With posting to Facebook, we’re limited in all of those things.

Our site is an excellent base for content because it all exists indefinitely. Sure, some of the content is going to be time-sensitive and not valuable in the future, and it will drop off in utility.

The upside of Facebook is it’s broad reach.  Our page there can generate awareness and drive activity.  One limitation is that Facebook truncates lengthy content, which means it’s harder to post long-form blog posts and informative tutorials without losing readers. Most browsers on Facebook aren’t going to click “Read more” to expand the article, which is why the ideal length of a Facebook post is limited in the number of characters.

Our goal is to have these resources work together to serve our community.

Design

For now we plan to continue to use WordPress to deliver the content.  We are using a free WordPress plan which limits the amount of control we have and it also means that the site will have advertisements.  If we are successful at driving activity and supporting the community we can consider upgrading to a paid plan.

The first step was to update the look and feel of the site by using a more modern theme. We will continue to look a free options to ensure that we can deliver the functionality that is requested.

Content

In order to make the site useful we will try and provide new and relevant information regularly.  However, the thought behind the site is that our community is also a valuable source for useful and interesting information.  Please send both your ideas and any content that you think will be of interest to the community.

Feedback

Please provide your feedback and suggestions.