There's always something to learn - July 2026

Hot weeks like these make me incredibly grateful to live in Anderson Valley, where it might be a high of 95 during the day, but will cool down to 50 at night when the coastal breeze comes through in the evening. I’ve lived in the Midwest and in New England and I do not miss the muggy, humid, and stale summers. I’m sending my regards to everyone out there suffering through another heat wave with no end in sight.

While I generally split my time between office work and farmwork, things have been skewing a bit more 95% farmwork to 5% office work as one of our employees is on vacation. I brought this on myself, thinking I could do both his job and my own, and it’s been a reminder of what I think I can do versus what I actually can do (I can do a lot. But maybe I shouldn't do so much). It’s all working out and I’m glad to have the time to be out doing things I haven’t done in awhile and reminding myself how much goes into every little thing that we do.

Here’s a few things that I learned and have been reminded of this past week:

The weeds are only getting bigger. And even if it takes a LOT of work to pull them all by hand and cut them back with shovels, it is necessary work that is absolutely worth it. I can also put my hand at the base of a chile plant and know by feel which stems are chiles and which are various weeds that need to be pulled.
There are few ways to avoid being sprayed in the face when fixing irrigation lines chewed by gophers. And it’s more enjoyable to fix them when there’s no fertilizer running through the line. Our drip irrigation lines run underneath the plastic weed barrier we use so part of the irrigating process is walking the fields listening and looking for spraying irrigation lines and big puddles. The line then gets cut in half, the place where the gopher bit the line is removed, and a coupler gets installed to reattach the line. It’s not complicated, but it takes a lot of time to walk each block and be on alert for the sounds of water. And a shocking amount of water is really pumping through the irrigation lines when you cut through it. Wearing a rain jacket helps keep you a bit more dry.

gopher bitten water line

irrigation line fixed with couplers

Being done with work and out of the sun by 2:30 pm makes starting at 6 am worth it.
I will continue to sing the praises of long sleeve sun shirts, neck buffs, long pants, and a big sun hat for working outside all day long. Also great - Nuun electrolyte (specifically the Pink Lemonade flavor) tabs to help stay hydrated.
Getting together with other people who understand what you do is helpful and empowering. Last week Kathleen, Lani, Amanda, and Kim of Tienda Salsita, Heima Made, KM Mushrooms, and Land + Local came to Boonville and included me in their night away to chat about running small food businesses and food production. While we all do very different things, it’s always nice to talk to people that really understand the same pain points you face and can help you celebrate your wins. I highly recommend checking out their products!
Harvest is going to be here before we know it. Whether its grapes here in Boonville, or our beans and chiles, it’s time to buy the harvest snacks and make sure our buckets are clean!

A New CA Cheese Made with Our Chiles

cypress grove cheese with piment d'ville

A year and a half ago, the cheese and charcuterie team from The Chefs Warehouse came to Boonville and the idea was thrown around to make an exclusive cheese with a California dairy that featured our Piment d’Ville. That cheese has finally come into fruition by the skilled cheese makers at Cypress Grove Cheese in Arcata, CA. The cheese is simple - a mix of our Piment d’Ville with their chevre - but the flavor is robust and rich and the color is incredible. It also won a Bronze award at the International Cheese and Dairy Expo for Goat Cheese with Savory Additions. While this is only available to restaurants and stores via our foodservice distributor The Chefs Warehouse, it’s an exciting thing to celebrate!

Sauce Everywhere Salsa is Back

Sauce Everywhere Salsa Casera and Aji Crisp just arrived at the farm office yesterday. These new batches of salsa were made last month at SE’s new production kitchen in Colorado. These salsas feature an absurd amount of our chiles and are incredibly versatile. The price has decreased on the Aji Crisp and both are now $18 per jar.

We had dinner with some friends with young kids last month and I brought some Ají Crisp along. I had not thought about how perfect the salsa macha was for households with kids where the kids want a plain meal and the parents want more flavor, but don't want to cook something completely different. Both of these salsas fit the bill for being an easy to spoon on and flavor changer for a simple and kid friendly meal!

Things we're running low on

It's mid-July which means that we start to run out of many items. We try really hard to keep things in stock for the better part of the year, but it's a tricky balance to make sure we sell everything without selling out too quickly! Here's a few updates to keep note of!

Brown Tepary Beans - 20 bags left! We are not growing these again.

Classic Piment d’Ville - We are … running low! There’s 20 3 ounce packs, 20 8 ounce packs, and about 48 jars remaining. We’ve got plenty of Spicy and Smoky on hand.

We just sold out of: Whole Dried Ancho chiles and Tan Tepary beans

Beans that remain: Rosso di Lucca, Southwest Gold, and Zolfini

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