We’re deep into summer now, eating as many vegetables as we can. This year we grew more food than we have ever grown before. Zucchini, crookneck and patty pan squash will be on the stand in the next few days, maybe tomorrow! And the cabbage is ready now and gorgeous. We have one more variety that is still growing and heading up that is supposed to be perfect for sauerkraut. Currants, too have just reached their peak. If you have not had fresh red currants, you’re missing out. They are very special and their season is so short. I make currant jelly with them every year, and this year I am making currant gin! We’re also adding them to cakes, buckles, and eating them fresh. We’ve put them on the stand and they’ll be available for as long as they last!
Our tomatoes have just started to blush since we trimmed the leaves around the fruit yesterday. It’ll still be a few weeks before they are ready to pick, but they are coming, along with our peppers. Our son-in-law, Roger, who grew up in Nebraska, planted a few varieties of sweet corn this year and they have just started to tassel. Our prospects for my favorite meal of corn, tomatoes, and crab are looking bright!
With all the vegetables available right now, dinner salads are a staple at our home so I thought I’d share one that Livie made recently using albacore tuna from Lummi Island Wild and snow peas in place of celery. Serve it with some crusty garlic toast and a glass of white wine, if that’s your thing. This would be equally delicious with smoked salmon too!
Dress some greens with a simple vinaigrette and top with this tuna salad:
SNOW PEA + ALBACORE TUNA SALAD
1 6 oz can Lummi Island Wild Albacore Tuna with all the juice
6-8 large snow peas, diced
2 tablespoons chopped red onion or shallot
2 tablespoons chopped pickle (dill is our preference, but you could use sweet too)
1 tablespoon good quality olive oil
2-4 tablespoons mayonnaise (depending on how you like your tuna salad)
1 squeeze of lemon juices
Salt & Pepper to taste
OTHER SALADY THINGS …
Stay tuned for more dinner salad ideas. In the meantime we have really nice iceberg on the stand which I use to make wedge salads as well as Larb Moo. Here’s the recipe for the Larb Moo (ลาบหมู) we made using iceberg as lettuce cups/wraps and Hillcrest Farm ground pork and it was GOOD!
BLUEBERRY (or any berry) BUCKLE
We’ve been buying big, beautiful, organic blueberries from Hopewell Farm and eating them on granola, by the handful, and in this blueberry buckle. This is a simple cake to make and is great as a coffee cake, snack or dressed up with some whipped cream, sweetened mascarpone, or ice cream for dessert.
Ingredients
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
½ stick of butter, at room temp
1 large egg or two small, at room temp
Zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk, at room temp
1 pint fresh blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, or strawberries (chopped)
Topping
½ stick of butter, softened
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup chopped nuts of your choice
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350ºF and grease an 8” square or round cake pan with butter or neutral flavored oil. These can also be made in muffin tins too!
In a medium bowl mix all topping ingredients with a fork until it comes together into a crumble. Place in the fridge.
In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl whisk the sugar and butter briskly until creamy. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment. Next add the egg, lemon zest, vanilla extract, and milk and mix until well incorporated. Fold in flour mixture (or mix in with paddle attachment) until all the flour is incorporated and then add the blueberries and gently fold until the blueberries are evenly distributed.
Spread into prepared pan and top with crumble topping and bake for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pan after 25 minutes. Test the cake before removing from the oven with a cake tester or toothpick. It should come out clean. Let cool on cooling rack and enjoy by itself for breakfast or as a dessert with ice cream or whipped cream!
BODACIOUS BOUQUETS
Almost all of our flowers are finally in bloom which means our summer bouquets are so fun to make and incredibly vibrant. As the season winds on we’ll have more sunflowers, goldenrod, craspedia, and black-eyed susans. We realized that we had so many edible flowers on the farm so we started making mini-bouquets for people to use to adorn their dishes.
DON’T MISS THE LAVENDER!
Did you know that Three Pheasants Farm’s lavender is in full bloom right now? Their U-pick field (located just south of the corner of Tuttle Lane and Centerview Road) is so incredibly beautiful and the lavender field feels like you’ve escaped to France for a quick trip. Something we all need right now. The lavender doesn’t bloom for terribly long, so go now or tomorrow, or as soon as possible. It’s $5/bunch, bring cash and some scissors, and a mask. Sharron is also selling her delicious raspberries that she grows on the farm.
A COUPLE NOTES
BAGELRY UPDATE: As of right now we still have some bagels and bialys available! You have until 12pm on Fridays to place your order for same-day pick up that evening after 5pm. Thanks to everyone who has ordered and continues to. We’re becoming known at The Bagelry for our big Lummi Island orders and it feels really good to be able to support them.
BLOG RECOMMENDATION: I found the currant gin recipe on the Diversivore blog and it is a really remarkable find. I encourage you to look through all the incredible sounding recipes. Sean Bromilow is the person behind the blog and he is based out of Richmond, BC - not so far away!
FEEDBACK: If you’d like to give us some feedback, we’ve setup an anonymous survey below to get a sense for what you’d like us to stock, what you’d love for us to grow (we’re planting our fall/winter garden now), and anything else you’d like to share. We value your ideas and input! As a thank you, when you fill out the survey, you’ll be given a coupon code for 10% off your next order with us.