Farm Notes

Somehow it’s been two weeks since my last update, and suddenly it is July! We’re in the thick of summer now, and even though there’s still light in the sky until 9pm, somehow there's still not enough time in the day to do all the things. I’m clearly still learning how to balance managing the farm, raising a sweet 9 month old baby, making sure we all have clean clothes to wear, food to eat, and clean dishes to eat off, and still making time for friends and family and REST. I know most everyone knows this feeling, and we’re all just trying to find the right balance (do we ever find the right balance? If you’ve figured it out, please let me know).

What I do know is that one variable I’m able to control is how much we grow here at the farm each season, and as I think ahead to next season… either I need to scale back a bit, or I need more help, or maybe a little bit of both! This year we’re growing more than we ever (by a LOT), and it’s been amazing to see just how much this little farm can produce. But finding the right scale for our family (and our CSA community) is something I’m still trying to figure out, and every year I hope we can get a little closer. I know that our farm will need to expand and contract depending on the season, and I’m okay with that. And I’m thankful for each one of you for joining me on this journey as we figure it out!

Okay, back to vegetables. The past two weeks of the CSA have been so beautiful and bountiful… tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, etc are rolling in and I spend most of my day just trying to keep up with the harvesting. Coming up in the next week or two will be the first of our green beans, okra, and bell peppers! Here’s a peak at what went inside our full share boxes for the last two weeks:

At this point in the season, the only things we are planting are a few additional successions of cucumbers, squash, beans, and lettuce – as all of our main summer crops (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, okra, etc) have been in the ground since April. Our next big planting push will be in in mid-August, when we put all of our fall seedlings in the ground.

In other news, last weekend we hosted a hands-on workshop here at the farm, and it was a blast! It was my “Eat Like a Farmer” workshop, which is chock full of information about growing, harvesting, storing, and cooking with fresh, local produce. Everyone got to help with harvesting veggies, and together we sharpened up our knife skills, made vinaigrettes, and whipped up a few different fresh salads to enjoy together. I absolutely love teaching this class, and it’s been a dream of mine to be able to create a hands-on learning experience for folks to come and learn about growing + cooking good, nourishing food here at our farm.

The workshop was so much fun (and sold out so quickly..) that I’m hosting it again in a few weeks! As Farmbelly Club members, y’all get first dibs on tickets for our next Eat Like a Farmer Workshop on Saturday, July 16th @ 4-6:30pm. More details + tickets can be found here!

For a full tour of what’s growing on the farm this week + helpful growing tips, tune into my virtual farm walk from earlier today HERE on Facebook or in our google drive folder HERE.

Kitchen Notes

A galette, aka a rustic pie, is the ideal vehicle for containing ripe, juicy, sweet summer fruits for a perfectly imperfect dessert. Use this recipe as a guide for whatever fruits you have on hand – raspberries, blackberries, cherries, peaches, pluots, etc – don’t overthink this folks. Galettes are best after sitting for several hours or overnight (allowing all those juices to settle and firm up a bit), so they’re a great make-ahead dessert for summer dinner parties. All you need is a scoop of vanilla ice cream (or whipped cream or creme fraiche) to top it all off! Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit.

Blueberry-Ginger Galette with Pecan Crust

INGREDIENTS:

Pecan Galette Dough

½ cup pecans
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Blueberry Filling

12 ounces blueberries (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon tapioca flour (or cornstarch)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (or more, if you really like ginger)
1/3 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
All-purpose flour (for surface)
2 tablespoons half-and-half or heavy cream

INSTRUCTIONS:

Make the dough

Preheat oven to 350°. Toast pecans on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until fragrant and slightly darkened, 10–15 minutes; let cool. Pulse pecans in a food processor until the consistency of coarse meal.
In the same food processor as the ground pecans, add flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon and pulse just to combine. Add cold, chopped butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with a few pea-size pieces remaining. Drizzle with 4 tablespoons ice water and pulse a few more times to mix.
Transfer the dough to a large bowl and mix quickly with your hands, adding another tablespoonful of water if needed, just until the dough comes together in a ball. Pat dough into a 6"-diameter disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Filling and Assembly

Preheat oven to 375°. Toss blueberries, tapioca flour (or cornstarch), lemon juice, grated ginger (I use a microplane to grate ginger) and 1/3 cup sugar in a large bowl.
While the berries macerate in their juices, roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper to a 12" round, 1/8" thick. Carefully transfer the parchment paper with the rolled-out dough onto a baking sheet. Mound the blueberries in center of the dough, leaving a 2" border. Carefully lift and fold the edges up and over the filling, allowing the dough to naturally pleat at 1-2 inch intervals as you fold. Brush dough with cream and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake galette until crust is dark golden brown and filling is bubbling, 45–55 minutes total, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Allow to cool before enjoying. Just before serving, top with scoops of your favorite vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or creme fraiche for the ultimate galette experience.

Today’s Stats

Low temp: 69F
High temp: 91F
Sunrise: 6:04am
Sunset: 8:38pm
Moon phase: Waxing crescent
Additional notes: Sunny & warm