FRESH EDAMAME & A NOTE ABOUT OUR WEEK
HIGH, LOW, BUFFALO
Oftentimes Jake and I reflect on our day with the rule: “high, low, buffalo.” Even though we spend most of our days together, it’s still nice to hear what went well, what was hard, and some fun, weird fact or circumstance from the day, the buffalo. I thought I’d share this week’s farm reflections with y’all.
High: Tomato harvest!
It was absolutely shocking how long tomato harvest took on Monday and Thursday. Which means we’ve got an abundance of heirloom tomatoes! We harvested over 100 pounds this week, and I’m going to be spending the entire weekend canning. Not a bad problem to have.
Low: Pests.
The disappointment of crop loss in farming is no secret. Lately, it feels like everything is getting munched overnight.
The dill is getting picked at by birds. We’re covering our head lettuce to protect it. Our tomatoes are losing foliage to those elusive hornworms. Somehow, our kale is hanging on between the flea beetle/cabbage moth combo. And cucumber beetles keep munching on our cucumbers.
It’s hard when something you’re counting on disappears in the middle of the night. Farming isn’t always so glamorous. Sometimes it’s a lot of watching, waiting, protecting, and accepting that you’re going to lose some things along the way.
Buffalo: Plot 4 jungle!
On Wednesday, Jake and I managed to wiggle our way through the 10-foot-tall blooming sunflowers and under the canopy of popcorn.
The green forest of growth has been my favorite part of the garden this year, and getting to explore it from a new vantage point felt magical. We were completely hidden in there, protected from the wind and the sun. Serenity!
NEW CROP ALERT ‼️
Fresh Edamame!
We’re super excited to be offering fresh edamame. This protein-rich legume is so delicious, and we’re hopeful that it will be ready this week. It might, however, trickle onto the tables next week depending on how quickly it finishes sizing up. CSA will have first dibs and the rest will be offered to our markets.
I wanted to make sure to share about this treat before it was on our tables because fresh edamame has a notoriously short harvest window and shelf life. That’s one of the reasons you rarely, if ever, find it fresh in grocery stores. Once harvested, the beans begin converting their natural sugars into starch, so edamame is best eaten within 1–3 days of harvest while it’s still sweet and tender.
Luckily, it couldn’t be easier to prepare. Boil the whole pods in salt water for just a few minutes, drain, and toss generously with salt. Then squeeze the beans straight from the pods and eat them like little green treasures. You can also freeze fresh edamame for much longer storage, the best way to save them for future eating.
YAY FOR FRISÉE!
It’s time we talk about all the glorious ways to use this spunky little head.
Frisée is part of the chicory family, alongside escarole, radicchio, and Belgian endive. It has been cultivated in Europe for centuries and is especially beloved in French cooking, where its delicate, frilly leaves and pleasantly bitter flavor have long made it a classic salad green.
It’s not quite lettuce, although you might use it like one. Frisée has much more personality: crisp, feathery leaves, a slightly bitter bite, and enough character to stand up to rich dressings, eggs, cheese, bacon, roasted vegetables, and warm grains.
It’s also a nutritional little powerhouse, providing fiber along with vitamin A, vitamin K, folate, and vitamin C. Like many of the bitter greens, it brings a lot of flavor without needing much help.
And please don’t limit it to salads. Frisée is wonderful sautéed. Heat a little olive oil or butter in a pan, add minced garlic, and toss in a whole head of chopped frisée. Cook for just a few minutes until the leaves wilt and soften. Finish with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon. You can also add a fried egg on top, some Parmesan, or white beans and make a whole meal of it.
But my favorite way to eat frisée is in a broth-y soup. Add the chopped greens toward the end of cooking, just like you would spinach or kale. The frisée wilts into the broth and somehow makes the whole thing feel richer and more substantial. Whenever I add endive or frisée to soup, it’s almost as though I’ve added butter. The bitter greens give the broth this deep, rounded quality that is hard to describe. It’s some sort of radicchio magic.
THIS WEEK’S BOUNTY
We hope this list gives you a little predictability about what you can expect to find at our farmstand and farmers markets each week. Of course, farming is full of surprises, and we can’t guarantee that every item will be available. Things sell out, crops come in early or late, and sometimes the bugs get to something before we do!
Summer Crops
Heirloom Tomatoes - bulk orders are $40 for 10 pounds of any combination of our tomatoes
Paste Tomatoes
Lunchbox Tomatoes - miniature slicer tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Zucchini
Persian Cucumbers
Armenian Cucumbers
Lemon Cucumbers - they’re here!
Fresh Edamame 🤞
Greens
Mighty Mix - a nutrient-dense baby greens mix of spinach, kale, chard, and mustards
Endive Frisée
Other
Garlic
Radishes
Fresh Herb Bundles (also available at the Co-op!)
Tarragon
Genovese Basil
Thai Basil
Tulsi Basil
Sage
Cilantro
Thyme
& Strawflower Bouquets!
See you at the farmstand on Monday (4-6:30) and the Morro Bay Thursday Market (2-4:30).
Your farmers,
Jake & Jesse :)
