Farm Notes
Goodness gracious, it feels like we are farming in the rainforest! The past week has been wildly hot and humid and wet, and it hasn’t been the most pleasant weather for farming… but that’s just summer here in North Carolina, and we can’t complain about all the gorgeous veggies that are starting to flow in from our garden. Zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, etc have arrived, and so have the days of needing to harvest daily to keep up with all the abundance.
We officially held the last farmstand of the season this week, and next week we begin our Summer CSA! I’m beyond grateful for all the support from our community as we make this shift mid-season, which will really help me lighten and streamline my workload as we prepare to grow our family this fall. Our first official week of the CSA looks like it will be a delicious one… with a new crop of looseleaf lettuce, zucchini, onions, cherry tomatoes, new potatoes and lots more on the harvest list.
Yesterday we planted sweet potatoes, and it’s my first time ever growing them! When growing sweet potatoes, you plant what’s known as a ‘slip’ – which typically need to be ordered from your local farm/garden supply store. We got ours from our favorite local farm store in Pittsboro, Country Farm & Home. There are lots of different sweet potato varieties out there, and I had to practice some serious self control to not try them all! We ended up planting just two varieties: Beauregard and NC-122 (for a full list of different varieties and their characteristics, here’s a great resource).
A few additional notes about planting sweet potatoes:
Sweet potatoes prefer loose, well-drained soil for best results. If you have clay soil or drainage problems, work in lots of compost or other organic matter and make raised beds, hills, or planting ridges approximately 8 inches high.
Plant your slips at least 4-6 inches deep, spaced about 12” apart in rows at least 3 feet apart, to make room for all the sprawling vines! Water newly planted slips immediately and keep the soil moist for at least the first week as roots develop.
Sweet potatoes like the soil to be quite warm, so we planted ours under black landscape fabric (which also helps keep down weed pressure) though you can certainly plant them directly in your garden without the use of any fabric.
Time to practice some patience! Sweet potatoes take 3-4 months to mature, so we plan to harvest these in October/November. I’ll keep y’all posted on their progress!
Kitchen Notes
Native elderberry bush
If you live in the south east/mid-atlantic region, chances are that Elderberry bushes are in bloom on roadsides all around you! Elderberries are a spreading shrub grows to be about 8-10 feet and with a spray of creamy-white flowers in mid-summer, giving way to loose clusters of delicious black fruits that are high in nutrients and antioxidants, which have long been used by Native Americans for all their medicinal properties.
Every year around this time, I can be found scurrying along the sides of the road to collect the fragrant blooms, which I soak in simple syrup to made a fabulous elderflower syrup that I look forward to every summer.
Elderflower syrup is delicious stirred into a glass of cold club soda or ginger beer for a refreshing, non-alcoholic spritzer, and it is also divine added to a glass of sparkling wine or your favorite gin or vodka cocktail. I also enjoy drizzling it over fresh fruit, fruit sorbet, or over some tangy greek yogurt.
The syrup is super simple to make at home, here’s the recipe I used, adapted from the blog Lemon & Olive Oil.
Elderflower Syrup
INGREDIENTS
3 packed cups elderflower blooms
1 organic lemon, sliced
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups filtered water
1/4 teaspoon citric acid or 1 tablespoon lemon juice
INSTRUCTIONS
Trim stems of the elderflower blooms, getting as close to the base of the florets as possible (the stems are mildly toxic and, while a few won’t hurt, you definitely want to get rid of as much as possible). Make sure there aren’t any bugs hiding in your blooms!
Place the flowers in a clean quart-sized mason jar, along with the slices of lemon.
In a saucepan, heat sugar and water together until simmering and sugar is completely dissolved. Stir in citric acid or lemon juice.
Pour warm syrup over flowers. Cover the jar with a cloth or paper towel (with a rubber band around it to keep it tight) and store in your fridge for 4-6 days, stirring the mixture once per day, until the flowers start to turn brown and the syrup takes on a pale yellow hue. Strain syrup through a fine mesh sieve lined with a clean cheesecloth, discarding leftover flowers and lemon slices.
At this point the syrup can be refrigerated in a jar for up to 1 month.
Today’s Stats
Low temp: 68F
High temp: 84F
Sunrise: 6:00am
Sunset: 8:34pm
Moon phase: Waxing crescent
Additional notes: Hot, humid and scattered storms