Wow, this summer has been long. There's a saying around here that "the heat and cold last until Obon," but the scorching heat has continued into September.
Over the past few days, morning and evening temperatures have finally settled into the low 20s, and although the sun is strong during the day, we can now work while enjoying the cool breeze.
In fact, it was so hot in August that I couldn't move around much. All I could do was work in the fields.
This summer, there was little rain, and the fields were completely dry for days on end. Even when we watered them with a pump, they were completely dry the next day. Summer vegetables were not producing fruit well, and we were worried many times that we would not have enough to ship. I'm sure some of our customers were thinking, "It's taking so long for our eggplants to arrive."
The eggplants, which began to be harvested a month late, seemed to have been warming up their energy, as once they began to ripen they were shiny and packed with flavor, making them the finest eggplants. 
Shinkuro eggplants are truly beautiful. Beauty and deliciousness seem to be proportional to each other.
However, with climate change so extreme these days, I feel strongly that I need to reconsider my current vegetable farming methods. If we can bring our fields closer to a richer natural environment, the vegetables we grow there will be less susceptible to extreme weather.
Okra is also reaching its peak harvest time, about a month later than usual.
I grow three types of okra: island okra, red okra, and Star of David. This year, I'm growing only a few red and Star of David okra because I'm only growing them for seed. I'll be growing a lot from next year onwards~♪
I also received some tomato seeds from a friend and have started growing a variety of them. They are all unique and I'm looking forward to collecting the seeds. I think I'll make a set of tomatoes next year. 
Speaking of tomatoes, since it's been sunny lately, I made some sun-dried tomatoes.
We cut about 800 tomatoes in half, removed the pith, and left them to dry slowly in the sun for three days.
Here's a recipe for scrambled eggs with tomatoes and morning glory ♪
Ingredients for 2 people
・10 cherry tomatoes
・200g of morning glory
・2 eggs
・Salt to taste
①Cut the tomatoes in half.
②Cut morning glory into 3cm pieces
③Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat them.
4. Add oil to a frying pan, add cherry tomatoes, sprinkle with salt, and heat over high heat.
⑤When the cherry tomatoes start to release juice, add the morning glory and continue heating.
⑥ Turn the heat to medium and extract the moisture from the tomatoes and morning glory.
7. When the vegetables start to release their liquid and start to simmer, taste, add salt, and pour in the eggs while still on high heat.
8. Pour in the eggs and heat over medium heat until the eggs begin to solidify, then stir to loosen them.
9. Serve on a plate and it's done. It's also delicious if you add pepper or garlic.
September is a busy time for sowing autumn vegetable seeds, but if you sow the seeds during this heat, they will be quickly eaten by insects. On the other hand, if you sow them later, winter will come before the seeds are fully grown, so it's a difficult decision. I'm sowing the seeds in several batches.
We are now accepting orders for vegetable sets. Please try these vibrant vegetables that have grown with lots of grass and insects.
