Week #21, 2025
Grapes ( more along the fence line help yourself to the left as you enter the farm)
Beets or cabbage
Stuffing peppers
Eggplant
Green beans
Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Sweet peppers
Hot peppers
Onions
Potatoes
Basil
Fruit bar
Zucchini
Cucumbers
lettuce
Update on the placement of a BESS battery storage facility just one mile from our farm! It may potentially harm our well water, make our environment unliveable and harm dozens of residential homes. The best news is that the pressure from local citizens (including members of La Finquita!) have helped to elevate the project to a Type III which means there will be a hearing! It is scheduled for 10/16/25 at 9:00 am. We are looking to raise $1000 to help with Lawyer fees. If you are interested in helping please send us your contributions and we will make sure they are put towards the efforts. I will send more action items in email in the next weeks.
We got a brief reprieve from the sweltering heat, enough to transplant a few beds in the hoop house. Beets for winter, celery and arugula too. I will take advantage of the cool weather tomorrow and fill in where I can with fennel, Chinese broccoli and lettuce. All the best laid plans some have to work out.
I strung 15 bunches of Italian drying tomatoes and hung them in my studio. The mice figured how to hang from the wall or jump from the wall to nibble on them. We are so frustrated with the vermin making my studio unusable and our harvest tables as well. Even with Higo rising to the occasion and enjoying the hunt each night the rodents are making farm life difficult.
Our orchard is brimming with fruit, if you want to make apple or pear sauce or dehydrate fruit let us know and we can point you in the direction of the most needy trees. It is time to put up for the winter as summer comes to a close and fall is just around the corner.
I am really placing the T-Shirt Order tomorrow so if you have not yet made your request send me an email and I will share the link to order.
Sign-up to help harvest !~ We need your help. The harvests are huge, the cherry tomatoes and beans are time consuming and getting extra hands to gather these delicacies is vital to us getting our work done.
Harvest Festival on 10/12/25 from 2-6 mark your calendars and join us for this celebration of the bounty of the land.
Recipes to enjoy this week:
Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
· ▢ 4 bell peppers seeded and halved lengthwise
· ▢ 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa rice blend*see note
· ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
· ▢ 1/2 medium yellow onion chopped
· ▢ 1/4 teaspoon chilli powder *see note
· ▢ 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
· ▢ 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
· ▢ 1/2 teaspoon oregano
· ▢ 1/4 teaspoon paprika
· ▢ 1/4 teaspoon cumin
· ▢ 14 oz can black beans
· ▢ 1 1/2 cups crushed or strained tomatoes
· ▢ 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
· ▢ 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
· ▢ 2 tablespoons cilantro chopped, plus more for garnish
· ▢ 2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese 1 cup for filling and 1 cup for topping
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with olive oil.
2. Cut the peppers in half from top to bottom, stem and seed them. Place cut side up in the prepared baking dish.
3. Cook the rice and quinoa blend according to package directions
4. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until softened and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes.
5. Stir in the chilli powder, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, paprika, and cumin and cook for an additional minute.
6. Add the beans, tomato sauce, salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Remove the pan from the heat.
7. Stir in the quinoa rice blend.
8. Add 1 cup of the cheese and 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro and stir to combine.
9. Divide the filling between the 8 pepper halves.
10. Sprinkle with the remaining cup of cheese and cover the dish with foil.
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11. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until the peppers are tender. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbly.
12. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve.
Stir Fried Cabbage with Red Peppers and Peas
3 Tbs neutral oil
1 ½ tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric
3 dried red chiles
1 head cabbage, finely chopped
2 bell peppers, seeded and finely chopped
1 c frozen peas
1.5 tsp kosher salt
Heat the canola oil with the cumin seeds, turmeric and red peppers in a large pan or wok, stirring occasionally until the chile peppers start to smoke, about 3 minutes. Add half the cabbage, the peppers and the peas and stir well to combine with the spices. After a few minutes the cabbage will start to wilt—stir in the remaining cabbage. Cook, stirring often, until volume has reduced by a third and cabbage is browned—about 15-30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temp
Prawn-stuffed peppers (Ottolenghi)
This is my take on the Mexican dish chile relleno, in which green poblano peppers are stuffed with cheese or mince, deep-fried in a light batter, then cooked in a roast tomato sauce. I’ve made all sorts of tweaks – the peppers are bell, the stuffing is prawn and they don’t get deep-fried – but I’ve stuck to tradition with the salsa, which features charred peppers, tomato and chilli. Serves four, with rice.
4 green bell peppers
2 red romano peppers, stalks removed
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4 tomatoes
1 green chilli, stalk removed
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1½ tsp lime juice
½ tsp maple syrup
Salt
For the stuffing
300g sustainably sourced raw peeled king prawns, roughly chopped
½ banana shallot, peeled and cut into 0.5cm dice
1 green chilli, finely chopped (if you don’t like too much heat, deseed, too)
½ tsp coriander seeds, lightly crushed
½ tsp cumin seeds, lightly crushed
2 limes – zest finely grated, to get 2 tsp, and juiced, to get 1 tbsp
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to finish
10g coriander leaves, finely chopped
100g soured cream
Heat the oven to its highest setting. Spread all the peppers, tomatoes, chilli and garlic on a large oven tray lined with baking paper. Roast for 10 minutes, then remove the garlic, turn over the remaining vegetables and roast for 10 minutes more, until slightly blackened. Lift out the green peppers and leave to cool, then transfer the red peppers, tomatoes, chilli and garlic to the bowl of a food processor. Don’t worry about removing any seeds or liquid, or any charred bits of skin: they all add to the salsa. Add the lime juice, maple syrup and half a teaspoon of salt, then blitz. Pour the salsa into a high-sided 20cm x 30cm baking dish.
When they’re cool enough to handle, cut the green peppers in half lengthways, discard the stalks, seeds and any liquid, then pat dry. Lay the peppers cut side up in the salsa dish: they should fit very snugly.
In a medium bowl, mix the prawns, shallots, chilli, coriander and cumin seeds, lime zest and juice, olive oil, half the coriander and an eighth of a teaspoon of salt. Spoon this mixture into the pepper halves, drizzle a little oil over the stuffing, then bake for 10 minutes, until the prawns are cooked and golden-brown.
Neatly spoon soured cream over the peppers (serve any excess in a bowl alongside), scatter over the remaining coriander and serve.
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4.94 from 16 votes
Cherry Tomato Pasta with Garlic and Lots of Basil
15 minute cherry tomato pasta is what summer dinners are made for! Sweet cherry tomatoes burst in olive oil and lots of garlic, creating the most delicious, slightly sweet and bright s
Kosher salt
· ¼ cup olive oil + more for garnish
· 3-4 garlic cloves minced
· 2 pints cherry tomatoes any variety
· ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese + more for garnish
· 1 cup fresh basil leaves roughly torn
· Flaky sea salt for garnish
· Red pepper flakes optional, for heat
Instructions
1. Begin by boiling a pot of water for the pasta and season liberally with kosher salt. Cook linguini according to directions, until al dente. About 8-9 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and drizzle with olive oil. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds until just softened but color has not changed.
3. Add cherry tomatoes and cook until tomatoes begin to burst. Use a wooden spoon to gently press on the tomatoes as they soften to help them burst. Season with salt and cook for about 10 minutes or until tomatoes have started to release their juices.
4. Once pasta is done, add cooked pasta directly to tomatoes and toss to combine and stir in Parmesan cheese. If sauce is too dry, add a bit of pasta water and another good drizzle of olive oil.
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5. Roughly tear up some of the basil and add to pasta, tossing everything together.
6. Plate pasta with cherry tomatoes and top with fresh basil, red pepper flakes, drizzle of olive oil, sea salt and Parmesan cheese.
Ciliegini Siciliani Arrostiti a Bassa Temperatura
(Slow Roasted Sicilian Cherry Tomatoes, Shallot & Garlic):
Serves 2
Ingredients:
300-400g Cherry Tomatoes, halved
1 or 2 shallots, quartered lengthwise with skin on
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, smashed with skin on
EVOO
Salt to taste
Fresh basil (or any fresh herbs you have on hand)
Method:
Combine the cherry tomatoes, shallot, and garlic in a roasting pan. Drizzle generously with EVOO and salt to taste. If you’re using a woody herb like thyme, add that too if it’s a fresh fragile herb like basil, add at the very end of cooking. Slowly roast the tomatoes in a pre-heated oven at 100C or 225F for about an hour to hour and half stirring once or twice. The tomatoes are done when they’ve shrunk a bit, and intensified in flavor but don’t appear brown. Feel free to have as a side or dress with any pasta, adding some of the cooking water as needed to marry the sauce to the pasta.
Yamitsuki (addictive cabbage)
1 lb cabbage
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Kosher salt
2 medium cloves garlic
2 Tbs toasted sesame oil
1 Tb untoasted sesame seeds
Core the cabbage, then cut the leaves into rough 11/4 “ square pieces. Wash and drain the pieces in a colander. Put the cabbage pieces in a very large bowl and sprinkle them w/3 Tbs kosher salt. Mix with your hands, massaging until the salt is well mixed with the cabbage an it is starting to soften. Leave for 10 minutes.
The dressing: While the cabbage sits, finely grate the garlic into a smooth paste into a small bowl. Whisk in the sesame oil, pinch of salt and ¼ tsp ground black pepper.
Rinse a piece of the cabbage with water—it should taste salty. Rinse the cabbage under running water to rinse off all the salt, then drain the cabbage as well as you can or spin in a salad spinner. Set aside ntil ready to serve
When ready to serve, toss the cabbage with the dressing and sprinkle with sesame seeds
Tomato Salad with Cucumbers and Ginger
3 persian cukes
Kosher salt
3 tsp sugar
1 ½ tsp fresh lime zest plus 3 Tbs lime juice
4 tsp fish sauce
1 Tb coconut or canola oil
1 Tb very thinly sliced serrano chiles.
1 garlic clove, finely grated
12 oz multicolored cherry tomatoes, halved.
½ c torn fresh basil
½ c small springs cilantro
¼ small red onion, thinly sliced
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1” piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
¼ c roasted salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Create strips on the exterior of the cukes by running a fork along the length of the skin. Halve the cukes lengthwise then cut crosswise into ½” pieces. Transfer to a colander
And toss with a tsp each salt and sugar.
Meanwhile, make the dressing: In a large bowl whisk together the lime zest and juice, fish sauce, oil, chili, garlic and the remaining 2 Tsp sugar.
Just before serving, add the tomatoes, basil, cilantro, red onion, ginger, cukes and half the nuts to the dressing; toss to coat. Transfer to a bowl or platter to serve immediately