We are in our 14th year of growing chiles here in Boonville, CA, with Gideon and I running the operation under Boonville Barn Collective for the 6th growing season. We’ve accomplished a lot in the past 14 years and I’m especially proud of what we’ve done since 2019 - adding 10 chiles and 6 beans to the crop plan, new infrastructure to make farming easier, really delicious product collaborations with other food brands, bringing more land into production, and honestly quite importantly, turning a side business into a profitable farm (truly a feat!).
We’ve made it through some pretty intense situations - like losing the majority of our irrigation water for the season when an irrigation pump broke 2 years and drained our pond in 3 days, as well as a fire bordering part of the farm and our homes last summer. We’ve made it through incredible heat spells (well we had chiles that died in the heatwave last June and a full crop of Controne beans that dried out Labor Day weekend a couple years before), insane gopher pressure, and wild rain storms that flooded areas around us. But we have endured.
There’s a lot of planning and patience that goes into farming, followed by so many things being out of your control. Yet every year we learn something and change our strategy to be better prepared for the next year - and we've already started making notes for next year.
We’re so grateful to have an incredible community built around delicious flavors and California grown chiles and beans. Thanks to each and every one of you for your continuous support of our small farm.
Summer Flavors
For the past 14 years, the Espelette chile has been the main crop of the farm. And we do something really special with our Espelette chiles that no one else is doing - we create 3 different kinds of Piment d’Ville chile powder just from our Espelette chiles. First out of the field are Espelette chiles for Spicy Piment d’Ville. We grow these chiles under more harsh conditions, leading to spicier chiles and a brighter flavor. Next is Classic Piment d’Ville, whose chiles we harvest throughout the middle of the season resulting in a rich, tomatoey, medium heat chile powder. And finally, the late season chiles turn into Smoky Piment d’Ville after being in the field the longest and spending time with mesquite while they dry. The flavor is a bit sweeter and rounder.
During the summer, I find myself reaching for Smoky Piment d’Ville more and more frequently. This may be in part due to my inability to light enough charcoal on our Weber grill to make it through cooking a full dinner on the grill, but let’s just say I really like grilled and smoky flavors in the summer regardless of the grills success. Our Smoky Piment d’Ville is the perfect shortcut regardless of your grilling skills.
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Where to start for the summer with Smoky Piment d'Ville:
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A few more beans available
Now that our beans are all in the ground and thriving, I can restock some varieties we held onto for seed. We have more Southwest Gold beans available, as well as Tan Tepary beans and a few Brown Tepary beans. These are all from the fall 2024 harvest and will be the last of what is available until November.
One really lovely thing about Tepary beans is that they hold their shape very well and it’s pretty hard to overcook them. They also reheat nicely and don’t fall apart. To me, this makes them a perfect option for summer salads with beans! A big bowl of summer veg and bean dip (known also as Cowboy Caviar/Texas Caviar/Bean Salad) with a bag of tortilla chips is the perfect lunch (or honestly dinner) on a super hot day. While Texas Caviar is traditionally made with black eyed peas, I think our Tepary beans are a perfect substitute. Check out this recipe from Masienda for Ayocote Bean Salad and this Cowboy Caviar recipe. I'm going to make one or the other this week with our Tepary beans!
