It is definitely summer here in Boonville! We’re eating warm bread with tomato, mayo, and Piment d’Ville daily and basking in the cool nights we’re lucky enough to get after hot hot days here.
I’m not a fan of using a scarcity mindset or talking about how exclusive things are, but y’all did a lot of cooking this year and we are running *very low* on a few of our products! I wanted to make sure you were in the loop and have the opportunity to stock up if you need to! We try to produce enough of each of our chile powders so that our supply lasts until the next crop is ready, but we’re going to run a bit short this year!
As a farm, we don’t have the ability to get something back in stock in the middle of the season - it doesn’t come back until the new crop has been grown, harvested, dried, and packed up. We’re approaching chile season and will be harvesting, drying, and grinding chiles (and beans!) from September through December. We hope the harvest this year is strong and are excited for what’s to come.
In the meantime, here’s a few things you might want to stock up on if you can’t wait till November...
Classic Piment d'Ville
I bet you didn’t expect to see this one on the list. We cut down our Piment d’Ville production in 2020 after a bumper crop in 2019 and really no idea what kind of outlook there was for the restaurant industry. As restaurants opened up again and with folks consistently using Piment d’Ville in their home kitchens, we’re running low! There’s less than 100 pounds left!
Smoky Piment d'Ville
We’re pretty much sold out of the Smoky - we’re selling through whats been packed up, including a handful of 3oz and 8oz packs of it in online. Otherwise it is only available in the Piment d’Ville Collection Box.
Citrus & Chile Marmalade
We truly thought that it would take us WAY more than 2 months to sell through 600 8oz jars of the Citrus and Chile Marmalade. Like we were thinking maybe a year. But y’all loved it and there’s 29 8oz jars left! We’ve got plenty of 2.4oz jars on hand (like 700 - whoops, guess we should’ve switched the quantities!), and we won’t be able to make more of this until this winter when citrus is back in season.
Things are growing!
Despite less than ideal growing conditions this year, our chile plants are flowering and starting to produce peppers!
We’re growing 12 different kinds of chiles this year (!!!), added a new bean variety (pictured above), and are learning that with diversification, there’s a whole new set of things to worry about. Mostly the reminder that we can’t grow indefinitely. We’re constrained by available land, water and man power. Additionally, we’re dealing with pest pressures that we haven’t experienced at such a scale, but are hopeful that the soil tests we’re doing this week will tell us exactly what nematode is in the soil affecting the roots of our plants and how we can balance the population.
It's become an unfortunate reality that fire season in California consumes much of the summer and fall. The fires currently burning are far from our valley but it feels early to see such large incidents. As a volunteer firefighter, Gideon has been busy with trainings and luckily not with fighting fires. If you are interested in supporting the Anderson Valley Volunteer Fire Department, grab a t-shirt, hat, or tote bag from our shop! We donate $5 from the sale of each item to the department to ensure they’ve got the equipment and support they need to take care of our community.
We'll be back with an update on how the year is shaping up next month. Until then, stay cool and happy cooking!
What We're Cooking
- I've decided that BLT's are not just for lunch, but actually make a lovely breakfast. Whip up a fresh basil mayo to cover your toast and dump a bunch of Piment d'Ville in there too.
- A recent favorite for us has been Japanese Okonomiyaki Pancakes by Sonoko Sakai. Season the batter with Piment d'Ville or sprinkle it on at the end! It's a great way to use up cabbagge.
- Piment d'Ville Shakshuka is a perfect dinner when your zucchini plant is starting to produce. It's a simple dinner that won't take up too much time!
