Farm Notes

It was a picture perfect spring weekend around here, and we took advantage of the good weather by spending as much time outside as possible. I was able to tie up some loose ends like weeding, installing irrigation lines, potting up some peppers, planting out some edible flowers, etc – and with Matthew’s help, we started tackling a big project of clearing out invasive plants from around all the trees in the “back five” outside the main garden. Not only did all the invasive plants around all the trees make the area look terrible, but the more established trees were also suffering and being choked out from all the roots and vines competing for space. I wish we had taken a before / after of ALL our progress, but here’s a before / after of a small section that we worked on this afternoon:

Even though it was a LOT of work, it’s super satisfying to see this area slowly transforming into a more open and beautiful space. Our hope is to eventually raise a few pigs back here every year, though we’ll need to get some infrastructure in place first (fencing, shelter, waterer, etc)… but let’s just take it one day at a time!

Also! In case you missed our weekly Friday Farm Walk this week, you can view the video via our private Facebook group page here, or if you’re not on Facebook I’ll be saving all the weekly recordings in this google drive folder (let me know if you have any trouble accessing this folder). This week I showed y’all the tomatoes we planted this week (and our different methods for trellising), demonstrate some methods for harvesting lettuce, and I talked in more detail about how we "flip" our beds from one crop to the next. If you have any questions from anything I covered in the video from Friday, just let me know!

Kitchen Notes

Before I dig into today’s recipe, I have a question…. are you interested in some quick, virtual cooking lessons? I'm gauging interest in hosting some short (20 minutes or less) and accessible group cooking lessons, focusing on super helpful topics to give you more confidence and joy in the kitchen! These mini virtual cooking lessons would be included in your Farmbelly Club membership. If you're interested in this idea, please fill out this super quick survey to let me know what kind of topics you'd like to cover, and the best day/time of the week for these lessons! And a big thanks to everyone who has already filled out the survey… it seems like there is a lot of interest in something like this, and I’m hoping to get started in the next week or two.

Okay, time to talk cooking. Whenever I’ve feeling especially tired or un-inspired to cook, I’ve found that the secret to jazzing up an otherwise boring meal is to have a delish sauce on hand. Pesto is one of my go-to sauces for adding heaps of flavor to a meal, and today I’m sharing my recipe for arugula pesto… mostly because I suddenly have a LOT of arugula coming in right now, and also because I like it even better than basil pesto! In general, pesto is a super forgiving sauce, so don’t feel like you have to measure things out exactly… just eyeball it, taste, and adjust seasoning as needed.

ARUGULA PESTO

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup walnut pieces
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups tightly packed arugula leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to taste
2 tablespoons lemon juice (and some lemon zest, if you like)
Kosher salt

INSTRUCTIONS

In a food processor, combine the walnuts and garlic and pulse until well blended.
Next, add the arugula, parmesan, olive oil, lemon juice (and some lemon zest, if using) and 1/2 teaspoon salt and pulse to blend. If the pesto seems too dry, add a bit more Taste and adjust the seasoning (adding more salt, lemon juice, etc) as needed. Enjoy!

Today’s Stats

Low temp: 50F
High temp: 77F
Sunrise: 6:49am
Sunset: 7:48pm
Moon phase: Waning Crescent
Additional notes: Sunny, breezy and beautiful all day.