Here are some of the most common vegetables farmers grow during the summer months, inspired by the offerings from various farms listed on Farmstay.

1. Tomatoes (of course!)

Tomatoes are a quintessential summer crop, appreciated for their versatility in salads, sauces, and salsas. Farms like Scurlock Farms in Texas often produce hundreds of pounds of tomatoes during the summer. This popular vegetable thrives in the heat, making it a staple in summer gardens.

2. Squash and Zucchini

Squash and zucchini are prolific summer vegetables that grow quickly and abundantly. They are easy to cultivate and can be used in a myriad of dishes, from grilled vegetables to baked goods. The joke in the countryside is to not leave your car unlocked or you may find it anonymously loaded with squash.

Stony Creek Farmstead in New York grows significant amounts of these and other organic vegetables and herbs, contributing to their diverse farm stand offerings. They even have pizza nights in summer with the freshest of toppings!

3. Peppers

Peppers, including bell peppers and hot varieties like jalapeños, flourish in the summer sun. The warm weather helps them develop their sweet or spicy profiles, making them a favorite among farmers. The hotter the location, the hotter the pepper. Our favorites: Big Jim’s and Poblanos from New Mexico. Find these locally when you stay on a farm in the Southwest with its spicy Hispanic palate.

4. Cucumbers

Cucumbers are another summer favorite, perfect for sandwiches, fresh salads and pickling. They require warm temperatures and plenty of water, and they grow rapidly during the peak of summer. Farms across the country often dedicate significant space to cucumber cultivation. Brunner Family Farm in California highlights their permaculture practices, farming their 10 acres organically and selling at their local farmers markets, including cucumbers as a summer crop.

Of course, there are plenty of other vegetables that fill both the garden and then later the pantry as canned salsas and sauces, pickles and pastes.

Remember that lettuce, spinach and peas are cooler crops. Radishes and asparagus are early spring crops. Tomatoes, beans, chiles, onions, cabbage, corn and beets like to be hot. Broccoli will bolt if you don’t keep an eye on it, as will your cilantro. Potatoes don’t need to be dug up all at once. The same goes for carrots which can do fine staying in the ground for a bit. Onions and garlic need to be dried in the sun to last through the winter.  Herbs tend to love the heat but most will die off with the first cold snap.

Varieties vary by region around the country so make sure for your own garden that you buy seeds for what grows best in your climate. Maybe even ask your local farmer or farm stay host for suggestions!

Want to stay on farms that have a farmers market business too? Depending on location, they may be selling more than veggies too. Take a look at these to see if there is one in your area: farm stays with a farmers markets booth. 

Let’s end with an incredibly simple recipe a friend made to accompany Happy Hour. To say it was gone in a minute would be an understatement. It uses some of the vegetables above and a few others not reviewed but loved all the same.

 Baked Feta Cheese and Vegetables Hors-d’oeuvre

Preheat oven to 425

Cut up veggies (e.g. red onions, cherry tomatoes, peppers, artichoke hearts, olives) and place in cookware suitable for baking in the oven

Place two blocks of feta cheese in the middle of a baking dish

Drizzle all over with olive oil . Sprinkle oregano. Bake for 20 minutes. The cheese should have a bit of a crust and the vegetables should be lightly cooked through.

Serve with crackers or toasted pita chips.

(I made up the name which is more descriptive of what’s in it than how good it tastes)

The post Favorite summer veggies from the farmer’s garden appeared first on Farmstay.

The last of the tomatoes are rolling in here in the Pacific NW and this tomato coconut milk curry (makhani curry) is divine!

This sauce is so delicious and can be used with/on any manner of vegetable, protein, grain or bean even–it’s delicious with chickpeas. Here I served it first (above) with rice and salmon and lots of cilantro and scallions and then (below), thinned out with a bit of cream and water with the black “forbidden” rice, some scallions and an egg.

Makhani curry (a North Indian dish) is classically made with butter and cream. I use olive oil and coconut milk here but substitute butter and cream if you’d like. I often stretch the sauce on the second day with cream and a little water.

If you have a few extra minutes you can toast spices and grind them for the garam masala. The flavor is fabulous but a store-bought version will be just fine.

–Inspired by Cook Republic

Yields 2 1/2 cups sauce (enough for 2 meals of 4 servings each)

2 tablespoons olive oil (or butter, see headnote)

1 fresh jalapeno or serrano chili, minced (remove seeds if you want to keep it milder)

3 bay leaves

1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated, fresh ginger

5 cloves garlic, finely grated or minced

1 tablespoon garam masala (homemade or store-bought, see headnote)

1/8 teaspoon cayenne powder (or more, to taste)

1 tablespoon brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups tomato puree or crushed tomatoes or chopped fresh tomatoes

1 cup coconut milk (or heavy cream, see headnote) or the whole can of coconut milk, which I often do so I have even more sauce!

Juice of 1 lime

To prepare with salmon (for 4 servings):

1 lb salmon fillet

2 teaspoons oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

Black pepper

Cooked forbidden (black) rice or other rice

3/4 cup fresh cilantro, leaves and stems, chopped

2 scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced

To make the sauce:

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add bay leaves and fresh chili and cook for about a minute. Add ginger and garlic, stir well and cook for another 30 seconds or so until fragrant but take care not to burn the garlic. Add the garam masala, cayenne, sugar, salt and tomato and stir well. Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered for about 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Whisk in the coconut milk and simmer for another 10 minutes or until slightly thickened again. Taste and adjust for salt. Add lime juice.

This quantity should be enough for 2 meals of 4 servings each. Freeze half the sauce, for the second meal, if you’d like. It will keep for several months in the freezer.

For salmon:

Pat the fish dry and put on a plate and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cut the fish in half to fit the pan you’ll be cooking it in, if needed, and then cover the fish in a thin layer of the curry sauce–it will just take about 1/3 cup at most–you don’t want it dripping down the sides, really.

Heat a large, heavy skillet with just a little olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the salmon, skin-side down and cook for a 2-3 minutes, uncovered, then cover, turn heat down to medium-low and cook for another 4-7 minutes, depending on thickness of fillet and how you like your salmon cooked. Serve with rice, more sauce, the fresh herbs and scallions and another squeeze of lime juice, if you’d like.

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Recipe Collection from Cook With What You Have

Do you ever find yourself with an abundance of produce from your CSA subscription and are not totally sure what to do with it all? Or, if you’re a farmer — maybe especially because you’re a farmer — you’re more than set with a particular ingredient but short on ideas for how to prepare it in interesting ways again and again? We all have our favorites, but variety is always good and reducing waste is a big plus! The USDA estimates that 21% of the available food supply is wasted in homes, but we know that supporters of working farms and ranches want to make a difference in this regard.

Enter… Cook With What You Have! Farm Stay USA has teamed up with Katherine Deumling of CWWYH to bring her searchable, seasonal collection of 900+ recipes to our readers and our farm members alike.

I have always loved food and cooking and all that food is, beyond the requisite calories. My childhood in West Germany and my creative, efficient, cook-with-what-you-have mother with a sprawling vegetable garden, shaped my early years. A Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in 1996 took me to rural Italy and Mexico to deepen my understanding of how and why people cook the way they do. More than a decade of involvement with Slow Food, locally, nationally and internationally brought together my interest in food systems, regenerative agriculture and the combination of joy and justice. — Katherine Deumling

Users of the Farm Stay USA website may sign up for an individual membership on Cook With What You Have with a 20% discount using the code farmstayusa at checkout. For $4.99 per month, subscribers will have access to the entire searchable archive of recipes, tips, and techniques, plus a weekly newsletter with seasonal highlights and inspiration for the week.

Our dues-paying US Farm Stay Association members may subscribe to the Farm Stay USA organizational level and use CWWYH content (as applicable) in their day-to-day business of serving meals to guests, teaching cooking classes, or sharing recipes with their guests.

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED!

The post Tomato Coconut Milk Curry (Makhani Curry) from Cook with What You Have appeared first on Farmstay.

This is such a bright, sweet and crunchy salad for mid-summer. Use any blue cheese  you like or substitute feta or fresh goat cheese.

Variation

Substitute a handful of croutons or torn, toasted bread for the toasted seeds or nuts

Serves 4

• 1 large peach, peeled and sliced
• 3 cups arugula, washed, dried and torn, if large
• 3 cups lettuce (more or less), washed, dried and torn or cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 tablespoons red onion (wonderful with torpedo onions), thinly sliced
• Handful of basil leaves, torn or chopped
• 1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds or almonds or hazelnuts, roughly chopped if using nuts
• 1.5 ounces blue cheese, crumbled (or feta or fresh goat cheese)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons wine vinegar
• 3-4 tablespoons olive oil oil

Put the greens, peaches, herbs, onion, seeds and cheese in a salad bowl. Drizzle with vinegar, oil and add salt and pepper. Toss gently and taste and adjust as needed.

* * * * * *

Recipe Collection from Cook With What You Have

Do you ever find yourself with an abundance of produce from your CSA subscription and are not totally sure what to do with it all? Or, if you’re a farmer — maybe especially because you’re a farmer — you’re more than set with a particular ingredient but short on ideas for how to prepare it in interesting ways again and again? We all have our favorites, but variety is always good and reducing waste is a big plus! The USDA estimates that 21% of the available food supply is wasted in homes, but we know that supporters of working farms and ranches want to make a difference in this regard.

Enter… Cook With What You Have! Farm Stay USA has teamed up with Katherine Deumling of CWWYH to bring her searchable, seasonal collection of 900+ recipes to our readers and our farm members alike.

I have always loved food and cooking and all that food is, beyond the requisite calories. My childhood in West Germany and my creative, efficient, cook-with-what-you-have mother with a sprawling vegetable garden, shaped my early years. A Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in 1996 took me to rural Italy and Mexico to deepen my understanding of how and why people cook the way they do. More than a decade of involvement with Slow Food, locally, nationally and internationally brought together my interest in food systems, regenerative agriculture and the combination of joy and justice. — Katherine Deumling

Users of the Farm Stay USA website may sign up for an individual membership on Cook With What You Have with a 20% discount using the code farmstayusa at checkout. For $4.99 per month, subscribers will have access to the entire searchable archive of recipes, tips, and techniques, plus a weekly newsletter with seasonal highlights and inspiration for the week.

Our dues-paying US Farm Stay Association members may subscribe to the Farm Stay USA organizational level and use CWWYH content (as applicable) in their day-to-day business of serving meals to guests, teaching cooking classes, or sharing recipes with their guests.

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED!

The post Seasonal Recipe: Arugula, Peach and Blue Cheese Salad appeared first on Farmstay.

Enter… Cook With What You Have! Farm Stay USA has teamed up with Katherine Deumling of CWWYH to bring her searchable, seasonal collection of 900+ recipes to our readers and our farm members alike.

I have always loved food and cooking and all that food is, beyond the requisite calories. My childhood in West Germany and my creative, efficient, cook-with-what-you-have mother with a sprawling vegetable garden, shaped my early years. A Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in 1996 took me to rural Italy and Mexico to deepen my understanding of how and why people cook the way they do. More than a decade of involvement with Slow Food, locally, nationally and internationally brought together my interest in food systems, regenerative agriculture and the combination of joy and justice. — Katherine Deumling

Users of the Farm Stay USA website may sign up for an individual membership on Cook With What You Have with a 20% discount using the code farmstayusa at checkout. For $4.99 per month, subscribers will have access to the entire searchable archive of recipes, tips, and techniques, plus a weekly newsletter with seasonal highlights and inspiration for the week.

Our dues-paying US Farm Stay Association members may subscribe to the Farm Stay USA organizational level and use CWWYH content (as applicable) in their day-to-day business of serving meals to guests, teaching cooking classes, or sharing recipes with their guests.

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED!

Please enjoy one of CWWYH’s seasonal recipes below!

Collard Greens with Winter Squash and Bacon

I threw this dish together one night and it turned out to be a winner. You could fry or poach an egg to serve on top of this and call it dinner.

For this dish to work you need a large skillet and you need to cut the squash into really small pieces. I suggest 1-inch long little batons or some such. You want the vegetables to have enough room so they sauté/brown rather than steaming.

Serves 4+

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 smallish bunch collard greens, washed, any tough stems removed and leaves cut in half lengthwise and then cut crosswise thin ribbons
• 2 shallots or half an onion, thinly sliced
• 2 (or more) slices bacon, cut into dice
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes or other hot pepper (optional)
• 3-4 cups winter squash (Butternut, Hubbard, Delicata, etc.), cut into small pieces, see headnote
• Salt and pepper

Heat oil in the biggest skillet you have over medium-high heat. Add the onion or shallot and bacon and cook until the onions begin browning and the bacon renders most of its fat. Add the squash and the greens and several generous pinches of salt. Mix well and cook, covered, stirring often to prevent the veggies from burning, until the squash is tender, the greens have begun to caramelize a bit but still have a bite. If things get too dry you can add a little splash of water and cover to speed up the cooking. Taste, adjust seasoning and serve.

The post Introducing… Cook With What You Have, plus a recipe for collard greens with winter squash and bacon appeared first on Farmstay.