Sowing a Cover Crop of Cowpeas

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• Farm Updates

Planting cover crops is integral to managing the health of our soil on the farm. In order to improve the soil in one of the back sections of the farm, we’re planting it with a cover crop of cowpeas for the season. As they grow, the cowpeas will work to fix beneficial nitrogen to the soil, reduce soil erosion, and hopefully crowd out pesky weeds like nutsedge. Our plan is to let the cover crop grow throughout the summer until we can mow it down in the fall. The bonus with a cowpea cover crop is that we will be able to harvest both fresh and dried peas for you as it grows!

We’re harvesting four new crops for you this week: tomatillos, long beans, jalapenos, and eggplant. Long beans are not only fun to play with out in the field as seen in the photo above but in the kitchen as well! Farmer Alex recommends stir-frying them with garlic, soy sauce, and honey and a quick and flavorful side dish. As for the tomatillos and jalapenos, they make a great salsa along with our scallions that can be paired with slices of grilled or roasted eggplant. If you’d like to try out these recipes, make sure to pop by the farm stand to stock up!

Just in case you hadn’t noticed it yet, it’s mighty hot outside! The arrival of a record-breaking heat wave means that our more sensitive crops like tomatoes won’t be around much longer. Overall, the high heat and dry conditions will be stressful for most of our crops so we’ll keep you updated as it might affect what’s available at the farm stand week to week. And, it means that we’ll most likely be doing work off-farm in the afternoons past 2pm on days when the highs reach 100 degrees and above to avoid heat stress for ourselves. Stay cool out there!

In Season at the Farm Stand: Long Beans, Eggplant, Tomatillos, Jalapenos, Sweet Peppers, Tomatoes, Spaghetti Squash, Delicata Squash, Cucumbers, Amaranth Greens, Zucchini, Cousa Squash, Carrots, Beets, Scallions, and Cut Flowers