Farm Notes

Mondays are mostly spent working at my computer, but I was able to sneak outside for a few hours in the late afternoon to enjoy the gorgeous day and knock a few things off my to-do list. Many people don’t know that I also have a part-time job managing communications for a local non-profit, but it’s a significant part of my life and how I spend my time, so I figured I should talk about it! I’m incredibly grateful to get to work alongside an incredibly kind and understanding and inspiring team, and my work is pretty much fully remote, which makes it easier to manage with all the demands of the farm. While it can be a lot to juggle at times, I genuinely enjoy that my days and weeks are wildly varied in the kind of work that I do, and it means I get to flex a lot of different muscles (both literal and figurative) on a daily basis.

So as the sun was starting to set today, I worked on some much-overdue weeding and then revved up our zero-turn mower for the first mowing session of 2021! Y’all might think I’m crazy, but I actually LOVE mowing. For one thing, it is incredibly satisfying to turn a weedy, overgrown field into a crisply cut lawn. Whenever I’m mowing, I like to pop in my headphones and listen to a podcast or some music, and it’s my time to just zone out, think, dream and scheme. All that said… I don’t love mowing quiiiiite so much when it’s June and the grass (and all the weeds) grow like crazy and I can barely keep up… but I can say that this first round of spring mowing has been pretty darn lovely.

Also! At the beginning of every week, I always write down a list of tasks to tackle on the farm in the week ahead, and I think it would be fun to start sharing these weekly lists with y’all… so here’s what’s on deck this week:

Plant all our potatoes (we’re a week or two behind, but better late than never)
Seed another round of radishes and turnips
Finish laying down landscape fabric in our blueberry patch (and gently remove any flowers from our 1st year blueberry plants)
Install trellis netting for our row of sugar snap peas
Weed-whack around the farm
Start spring cucurbits in our indoor greenhouse (zucchini and cucumbers)
Finish installing drip tape irrigation lines on all planted rows

Kitchen Notes

As it starts feeling more and more like spring, today I was craving a refreshing salad with heaps of herbs and spring veggies, with some kind of grain to make it a bit more hearty. So I decided to whip up my version of a Spring Tabbouli Salad, and it absolutely hit the spot. This is one of my go-to salads to make ahead and portion out for a few lunches or dinners, because it and stays fresh + crisp in your fridge for several days. It’s also incredibly forgiving, so feel free to substitute with whatever herbs/veggies you have on hand, and you can certainly use a different salad dressing/vinaigrette. You do you!

Spring Tabbouleh Salad

INGREDIENTS:

For the salad

2 cups quinoa
3 cups water
Kosher salt
1 bunch asparagus, chopped into 1 inch pieces (if available)
1 cup green peas (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup sliced sugar snap or snow peas
4-5 radishes, thinly sliced
3 scallions/green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup toasted pepitas/pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
4 ounces feta cheese, diced (optional)

For the lemon vinaigrette

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup good olive oil
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1 garlic clove, minced
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

Pour 3 cups of water and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in the quinoa, lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow quinoa to steam with the lid on for 5 minutes, then uncover and fluff with a fork. Transfer quinoa to your salad bowl.
While the quinoa is cooking, blanch asparagus in a large pot of salted boiling water for about 1 minute, then add the peas and cook for another 30 seconds. Drain and immerse the asparagus and peas in a cold water bath. Drain once more and dry the blanched vegetables by laying them out on a clean kitchen towel.
While the asparagus and peas are drying, make the lemon vinaigrette: Simply combine all the vinaigrette ingredients in mason jar and shake well. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
Add the blanched veggies to the salad bowl with the cooked quinoa. Add the sliced sugar snap peas, radishes, green onions, chopped herbs, pepitas, feta cheese (if using) and pour over the vinaigrette (using only as much vinaigrette as you need), gently stirring everything together.
Taste and adjust seasoning as needed (such as adding a bit more salt or lemon). This bright, hearty salad keeps very well in the fridge for several days.

Today’s Stats

Low temp: 38F
High temp: 63F
Sunrise: 7:17am
Sunset: 7:31pm
Moon phase: Waxing Gibbous
Additional notes: Warm and sunny all day. :)