Farm Notes

Hot dang y’all, it is HOT out here. Spring came and disappeared in a blink, and now we’re officially deep in the throes of the hot + humid North Carolina summertime. There’s a certain amount of surrender and tolerance for discomfort that is required to farm in the South in the summer, and by this point in the season I’m pretty acclimated to the heat and can just muscle through it. Also… I keep thinking about how last year at this time, I was farming all summer while in the third trimester of my pregnancy, and if I could do THAT, then I can do just about anything.

Thankfully most of the veggies are loving the heat, and this week was another bountiful one for our CSA members… new to our boxes this week are cherry tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, and red onions, with LOTS more coming soon (like all the peppers, beans, okra, etc etc).

There were some exciting new things to harvest this week… starting with our blueberries! After watching these little plants grow over the past year and a half, it’s wildly rewarding to be able to pick sweet, sun-warm berries and enjoy them right there in the field. This week we also finished pulling out all our garlic, which is now drying out on racks for the next several weeks, which will help the garlic be shelf stable over the next several months. I also started harvesting the first of our shishito peppers and fairytale (aka mini) eggplant, which are two of my favorite summer veggies. Last but not least… this week we finished digging up the rest of our potatoes.

Overall, it was a great year for potatoes, and even the experiment growing potatoes in grow bags worked fairly well. By far the most productive (and best looking) potato variety we grew was called Gold Nugget, with a close second being the Upstate Abundance potatoes from Row 7 Seeds.

As we head deeper into summer, suddenly we have a lot of empty beds on the farm as we remove the plants that grew all spring (like kale, cabbage, broccoli, potatoes, onions, garlic, etc). As a general rule, I try to never leave beds empty for long, because bare soil is going to quickly become depleted of organic matter and key nutrients. So today I planted several rows with buckwheat, which is a super easy and quick summer cover crop that’s also great for pollinators!

My process is very straightforward – first make sure your row is clear and free of weeds, then scatter the seed by hand (I use a 32 oz yogurt cup to broadcast the seeds, using about 3 of those 32-oz scoops per 50-foot bed), then use a rake to cover up the seed with soil, and finally water everything in with a cheap backyard sprinkler.

The buckwheat usually germinates very quickly, and after 4-6 weeks once the flowers bloom I’ll use a weed whacker to cut everything down, and then I’ll cover the rows with a tarp for several weeks so the plant matter can decompose and add organic matter back to the soil. And just like that, we will have super happy and nutrient-rich beds ready for fall planting! If you have any questions about cover crops, don’t hesitate to reach out… it' really is such a great and simple way to drastically improve the health of your soil (and then in turn, have healthier plants).

Wondering what veggies you can still plant this time of year? For most climates (around the US at least) you can probably still get in a late crop of tomatoes, peppers, or eggplant. You should also be able to plant more cucumbers, squash, beans, corn, okra, basil, etc. Now's the time y'all!

Kitchen Notes

When it’s hot and the last thing you want to do is turn on your stove/oven, chilled soups are your best friend! I absolutely love this super simple, but still flavor-packed recipe for a chilled cucumber and avocado soup. It’s as easy as throwing a few ingredients together in a blender, and it has surprisingly complex flavors for such a straightforward recipe. Happy cooking!

CHILLED CUCUMBER & AVOCADO SOUP

WITH FRESH SUMMER HERBS

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

2 slicing cucumbers | peeled and diced (1/4 cup reserved for garnish)
2 avocados | pitted, peeled, and diced (1/4 cup reserved for garnish)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 scallion/green onion | coarsely chopped
1/2 jalapeno | seeded and coarsely chopped
1 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1 cup cold water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

PREPARATION

Puree ingredients in a blender until very smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, then divide among 4 bowls and top with reserved cucumber, avocado, and a few sprigs of cilantro.

Today’s Stats

Low temp: 70F
High temp: 96F
Sunrise: 6:00am
Sunset: 8:36pm
Moon phase: Waning Gibbous
Additional notes: Sunny & warm

Farm Notes

While it was so nice to have a few days off the farm last week, inevitably I returned to ALL the plants that were over-due for harvesting, weeds that exploded overnight, and general farm chaos that had to be reigned in. Thankfully, I had some great reinforcement help this week and I’m finally feeling like things are more under control(ish)! Right now we are deep in prep for fall planting, which means lots of weeding, broadforking, amending the soil, and just generally making room for cooler weather crops like brassicas (kale, broccoli, cabbage, collards, etc), radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, herbs, lots of greens, etc.

Buckwheat cover crop looking lush before cutting it down.

Speaking of prep for fall – we were able to sneak in a quick cover crop rotation in the rows where our early summer zucchini grew. We had a TON of pest pressure in those beds, and I could tell that they needed some extra love, so a few weeks ago we seeded the beds thickly with buckwheat, which is an awesome/quick-growing summer cover crop. Yesterday, we used a weed whacker to cut down the buckwheat and left all the plant matter on top of the soil. Then we immediately covered the beds with a black tarp to speed up the decomposition process so the beds will be ready for fall planting in about a month. While the window is closing, there is still some time to plant a summer buckwheat cover crop if any of you are looking to add some good organic matter to your garden this season. If you have any questions about cover crops and how to work them into your garden, just let me know!

We use a weed whacker to cut back the buckwheat and leave the plant matter on the beds to decompose.

Black tarps working their magic to help speed up the cover crop decomposition in the heat of summer.

The other highlight from this week is that the sweet corn is ready! Unfortunately, we didn’t have room to plant much corn this year, but the ears we do have are beautiful and delishhhh.

Kitchen Notes

Let’s talk gazpacho! There are so many different variations on this chilled summer soup, but it’s culinary roots can be traced back to Spain and Portugal.

At its most basic, a gazpacho is a chilled soup made of ripe summer tomatoes blended with peppers, cucumber, shallots/onion, and garlic, and seasoned with vinegar and good olive oil. Many traditional recipes also call for some day-old bread blended in with the veggies for some extra body, though it’s totally up to you (I omit the bread as I like to keep everything veggie-centric). Some gazpachos are blended to be completely smooth, while others are part blended / part diced veggies for some extra texture and crunch.

Here is my basic recipe for gazpacho, but you totally can (and should!) get creative and make this soup your own, using whatever summer veggies/herbs/fruits you have on hand.

SIMPLE SUMMER GAZPACHO

INGREDIENTS

3-4 lbs ripe heirloom, slicer, and/or cherry tomatoes (4-5 cups chopped)
1-2 cucumbers (1-2 cups chopped)
1-2 bell peppers, any color (about 1 cup chopped)
1 shallot or 1/2 red onion (about 1/2 cup chopped)
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons red wine or sherry vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

PREPARATION

Prepare your ingredients by roughly chopping all of the tomatoes, cucumber, bell peppers, shallot/onion, garlic, and basil and combine in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. NOTE: If you’d like some extra texture/crunch for your gazpacho, set aside some of the tomato, cucumber, bell pepper and shallot/onion and chop in a small dice, which you can add to the blended portion of the soup later.
Add the vinegar, olive oil, kosher salt (start with 3/4 teaspoon), freshly ground pepper, 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves and blend all of the ingredients until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed – you may want to add more salt or vinegar to really make all the flavors pop.
Stir in your diced veggies (if using) into the blended portion of the soup and chill in your fridge for 1-2 hours before enjoying (if time allows).

Today’s Stats

Low temp: 65F
High temp: 88F
Sunrise: 6:18am
Sunset: 8:29pm
Moon phase: Waxing Gibbous
Additional notes: Sunny and humid