The farm is coming into its most productive phase in these next weeks, and this is the point when it takes on its legendary title as a gazpacho or ratatouille farm. By this, we mean that if you were to set up a kitchen right there at the farm, you’d already have all you need there to whip up either of those timeless dishes.

To start, our sweet bell peppers are coming in, and while they are still green, they are sizeable and hearty. These would be perfect for stuffing as well.

Our rows of cherry tomatoes are also making their first appearance! Finding the bright cherry tomatoes between the wild-looking tomato stems feels like digging for treasure and finding the jackpot. Filling up containers of cherry tomatoes is like having bowls of candy right at your fingertips.

Roma tomatoes will be following closely behind cherry tomatoes! Roma tomatoes, or plum tomatoes, are perfect for gazpacho. These are ‘tomato sauce’ tomatoes. They are juicy, red, and perfect for cooking down.

While on the subject of tomatoes, our heirloom tomatoes are creeping in as well. While they are not quite all ready yet, there have been a few to ripen beautifully. Heirloom tomatoes are each unique in their own way, with varying shapes and sizes and color schemes. Seeing the stems hang heavy with this funky fruit is a treat in itself. Soon, these heirlooms of ours will make it to the CSA and market, and you will be able to select your favorite of these special tomatoes.

Our other nightshades like eggplant, zucchini, and okra are at their peak as well. Okra is a fascinating sight because, upon first look, this plant appears like it’s growing upside down.

If you have read this far, you will be some of the first to know about the real surprise this week from the farm. For a very limited time, we are picking our squash blossoms! Squash blossoms are the flowers that bloom from zucchini plants, and they make for an excellent delicacy to cook with. These needed to stay on the zucchini for long enough to produce the vegetable, so we have finally made it to the sweet spot that allows us to harvest the flower as well. So be sure not to miss this extraordinary summer ingredient while we have them!