Hot, Hot Hot and Cool Summer Produce

We're now at eleven straight days of 100 degree plus heat.  And no rain in my part of Pierre on the Missouri.  I'm going to melt.  One day it's unbearably humid, and the next day as dry as a brick oven.  They always say that this is South Dakota and if you don't like the weather, stick around for 5 minutes and it will change.  Apparently "they" need a new watch battery, since it has been WAY longer than 5 minutes.  And the good news is there are only about ten more days like this until we get a break.  Yay!  NOT.  I admit I get cold easily, but can we please reach some kind of compromise?

And the heat is affecting my tomatoes.  I water them thoroughly, and have tons of buds, but until the night temps go down, they likely won't set fruit.  Same with the cucumbers.  So it's back to the Capital City Farmers Market this weekend for produce (please have green onions!)  I also get something new to Pierre, but not new to other parts of the country.  It's called Bountiful Baskets.  It is a cooperative venture providing fresh, seasonal produce (fruits and vegetables both) for a really decent cost.  You can get a regular basket for $15, or for an additional $10 upgrade to organic.  They also have some great add-ons like breads or fruit.  This week, you can get an 18 pound lug of Rainier cherries for $25.  That's roughly $1.40 a pound.  Last week the local grocery had them on sale for $3.99 a pound.  Talk about a whopping savings!  A couple of us went together to get the cherries plus a 5-pack of sourdough bread.  I can't wait to see what is in the baskets.  I'm kind of hoping for some of the red sweet corn featured on their site's blog link.  I have to be careful about eating too much corn though, or I have gastric pain and issues. I will take pictures of the basket and post them next week!

For now, time for a quick popsicle before I scamper off to bed for another night of good sleep and confusing dreams.  Hopefully the pineapple acid burn inside my mouth will be better by tomorrow!