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!

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