August 13

Farm Notes

And just like that, the final week of our (first ever) Summer CSA is in the books! All things considered, it’s been a fun, abundant and successful first CSA session – and I’m especially proud of our team pulling it off after switching over to this distribution model midway through the season…

Alas! I’m already thinking about (and asking for feedback from our members via an online survey) on how we can evolve and improve in the growing seasons to come. Did folks get tired of receiving cherry tomatoes every week? Wish there had been more lettuce/greens? Were the recipe suggestions I emailed out each week helpful? – These are the sorts of questions that I love hearing the answers to, so I can better serve our community and truly help folks eat like a farmer. I love this work because the learning never ends, and every day / season / year is a brand new chance to nourish the soil and grow good food for our community - so all in all, I’m feeling wildly grateful (and tired..) right about now!

While we are technically on “break” for the next 3 weeks before our 12-week Fall CSA session begins, there is a LOT of work to be done over these next few weeks to prep + plant for fall! We’ve already seeded our first round of carrots, arugula, baby kale mix, radishes, and turnips – and next week, we’ll be getting hundreds of fall seedlings (like kale, broccoli, cabbage, fennel, collards, kohlrabi etc) from our friends at Banner Greenhouses. We custom order our seedlings from Banner 2-3 times per year (so we ordered our fall seedlings back in May) and we love working with them! It’s such a relief to not have to worry about keeping hundreds of baby seedlings alive in the middle of summer while we have a million other things to do, and I’m grateful that we have access to such a high quality nursery in our area.

I’d love to know, what are YOU excited to plant + grow as the temps start cooling down this fall?

As always, if you have any questions/need some advice for planting your fall garden, just send me a message – michelle@farmbelly.com!

Kitchen Notes

Let’s talk peppers! Earlier this week, I led a mini virtual cooking lesson digging into all things peppers… which are in abundance right now in gardens and farmers markets pretty much everywhere right now. There are SO many different varieties of peppers that it can be confusing to know how to best use them all, so I’m here to help break it down! Here are some pepper basics, as well as descriptions + recipe ideas for a range of some of my favorite sweet, mild, and hot peppers.

1) PEPPER BASICS

• Peppers range from sweet to very spicy, and a lot in between! In general, peppers will be spicier later in the growing season, and if the weather has been especially dry/hot while the peppers were growing.

• Capsaicin (kap-say-sn) is the active component in peppers that make them hot. 

• The Scoville scale is the scientific measure of a chili’s spice/heat, which ranges from 0 (no heat) to 1-2 million (very, very hot)!

  • A trick to reduce heat is to remove inner pith/membrane (which have highest amount of capsaicin)

• Store peppers in the warmest part of your fridge (usually the front, in a bag, making sure there is no moisture). Or if using in next few days, it’s okay to leave peppers out on your counter.

2) SWEET, MILD, & HOT PEPPER OVERVIEW (+ recipes)

Sweet Peppers

• Bell Peppers – Versatile sweet peppers with no heat that can be used in an abundance of recipes. Scoville Scale = 0.

  • Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

  • Sheet Pan Veggie Fajitas

  • Southwest Coleslaw

• Habanada – A special pepper with the flavor of a habanero, but without the heat! Scoville Scale = 0.

  • Pickled Habanadas with Shallots

  • Charred Habanadas with Burrata & Breadcrumbs

  • More about habanada peppers

• Sweet Italian Peppers – Basically a bell pepper, but with a distinct horn-like shape. Use sweet italian peppers like you would any kind of sweet bell pepper (common varieties are Corno di Toro & Carmen). Scoville = 100 - 500.

  • Peppers stuffed with Tomato, Basil & Feta

  • Roasted Red Peppers in Garlic Sauce

  • Classic Peperonata

Mild to Medium Frying Peppers 

• Shishito – One of my favorite peppers! Very mild heat, delicious smokey flavor when blistered in a hot pan with some oil, garlic, lemon juice, etc. Scoville Scale = 50 - 200.

  • Blistered Shishito Peppers

  • Stuffed Shishito Peppers

• Padron – Similar to shishito peppers, but with a bit more heat. Scoville Scale = 500 - 2,500.

  • Padron Peppers 101

  • Blistered Padron Peppers

  • Grilled Pepper & Tomato Salsa

• Poblano – You’ll get some heat with poblano peppers, which are typically used to make chile rellenos! When dried, they’re referred to as ancho chilis. Scoville Scale = 1,000 - 2,000.

  • Southwest Stuffed Poblano Peppers

  • Baked Chile Rellenos

Hot Peppers

• Jalapeno - One of the most well known and loved hot peppers! Very versatile and great for making hot sauce or adding a (manageable) bit of heat to most any recipe. Scoville Scale = 2,500 - 5,000.

  • Cherry Tomato Salsa with Jalapeno

  • Jalapeno Simple Syrup

  • Jalapeno Poppers

• Serrano – Serranos are 5x hotter than Jalapenos, but can be used in similar ways as you would a jalapeno. Scoville Scale = 6,000 - 23,000.

  • Pico de Gallo

  • Serrano Hot Sauce

  • Serrano Salsa Verde

• Cayenne – This long and slender hot pepper is most often used after being dried and ground into a fine powder, but you can also use fresh! Scoville Scale = 30,000 - 50,000.

  • Homemade Cayenne Powder

  • Cayenne Pepper Hot Sauce

  • Pasta with Sweet Pepper-Cayenne Sauce

Today’s Stats

• Low temp: 95F

• High temp: 71F

• Sunrise: 6:34am

• Sunset: 8:09pm

• Moon phase: Waxing Crescent

• Additional notes: Very hot and humid