I was nervous 3 weeks ago when I vocalized in my last email that things were going well here on the farm, but the good news is that I have yet to be wrong!
I walked around the farm yesterday afternoon and in the heat of the day I swear I could smell the distinct green chile aroma wafting out of our fields. Things are happening out there! The weather has warmed up; out of the 70s and into the 80s and 90s which is really helping our crops make solid progress.
There’s big beans growing out there too, which was really great to see after I spent far too many hours hand-weeding some of our beans last week, a very exhausting task. And I swear the corn we are growing for shade around the Pasilla and Poblano chiles grew at least a foot over the weekend.
It’s a time of year where the main tasks are weeding, irrigating, and checking irrigation lines to fix all the places that have been chewed by gophers. It’s when we get excited to get the harvest going even though it is really not happening any time soon. It’s also when we take stock of what we have, and figure out what kind of equipment and supplies we need for harvest and processing season. It’s a slight calm before the storm of harvest - one I need to remember to relish.
5 Recipes for the Week Ahead
-
Grandma Teel's Old Fashioned Brown Sugar Sugar Rush Peach Peach Cobbler: We’ve been inundated by peaches in the last week, which is not a thing to complain about. Between the white peach tree at my parent’s house ripening, as well as driving across Colusa and Yolo counties over the weekend which is full of massive peach orchards, we've got peaches on the mind! It’s the perfect time to make Grandma Teel’s Old Fashioned Brown Sugar Sugar Rush Peach Peach Cobbler. If you haven’t made it yet, the ingredients might surprise you. It’s based on a Depression Era cobbler that has very little fat and instead uses some butter and whole milk and no eggs or cream. The peaches also go great with our Sugar Rush Peach Chile Powder, who gets the name from the blush of peach color the chiles have when they are ripe as well as their fruity aroma (There’s only 21 jars of this left until we harvest more chiles this fall!). If the peaches I have on the counter don’t ripen enough today, I’ll use the sliced peaches I froze instead.
- Spicy Fruit Salad: our drive east across California last weekend we also passed large watermelon fields (if you are on a long drive with me you’ll learn that I’m constantly playing the game of “what crop is that?”). I love the way the big melons are hidden under their vines and you really have to be on the lookout for them. Along our drive east across California last weekend we also passed large watermelon fields (if you are on a long drive with me you’ll learn that I’m constantly playing the game of “what crop is that?”). I love the way the big melons are hidden under their vines and you really have to be on the lookout for them. We grabbed a Sugar Baby watermelon from a farmstand to eat later this week in this recipe. Summer fruit, especially watermelon, make this Spicy Fruit Salad sing. It’s easy to make with whatever fruits you have on hand. Don’t feel like you have to stick to the recipe. Classic Piment d’Ville is a go-to for this but you can also use any of our chile powders you have on hand like Guajillo chile powder or Comapeño chile powder.
- Piment-O Cheese: My home garden is in full cucumber production and for the past 3 weeks I have had to meticulously plan our meals to incorporate all the lemon cucumbers and Armenian cucumbers that keep appearing each day. If you have a garden abundance of cucumbers, peppers, carrots, or other veg that can be used as a chip, this Piment-O Cheese recipe will help you consume all your vegetables. Or if you want a summer lunch snack, spread the Piment-O Cheese on bread for a simple sandwich.
- Citrus and Chile Flake Roasted Fish: My garden tomatoes are also starting to ripen nicely and the market down the road from us has had really great fish on hand. I love this recipe for Citrus and Chile Flake Roasted Fish because the marinade for the fish is full of fresh flavors as well as brightness from the orange juice. I haven’t made it in awhile, but with the fresh tomato and onions I have from my garden, I can’t think of a better dish to make. It’s a simple dish that is big on flavor from the Yahualica Chile Flakes that also doesn’t require too much work to prep. Serve it with rice and top it with avocado.
- Comapeño & Butter Spiked beans: Summer calls for hot dogs and baked beans, but sometimes you might want something a little different. Here’s where our Comapeño & Butter Spiked Beans come in. What starts as a simple pot of beans is spiked with tomato, butter, vinegar, and comapeño chile powder to amplify the flavor and make them more than just a plain pot of beans. We still have Southwest Gold Beans on hand that would be great for this, but it would also be great with Zolfini or Sorana beans if you have those in your pantry.
