By the time you're reading this I hope we're all sweating a bit less and sighing a (temporary) breath of relief from the extreme heat and humidity of the past week. Here in Lapland it's been feeling like 35-38 degrees with the humidity factored in. Not great for working in the fields! We've been starting early, ending our days between noon and 2pm, and taking lots of breaks. Fortunately the crops don't seem to be adversely impacted by the heat so far, and if anything crops like the tomatoes and peppers seem to be loving it. It's certainly scary though, given that this is likely the coolest it will ever be... my heart is with farmers and farmworkers across the country who don't have as much freedom to take breaks and cool down as we do.
On a lighter note, this past week Raphaëlle and Rebecca have been hard at work 'flipping' beds to prepare them for our final successions of planting. In the next two weeks most of our fall crops will be in the ground. We are also hoping to offer a short Fall CSA program so stay tuned for more details about that.
This week I want to talk about basil! Last year we intercropped our basil plants with tomatoes and they weren't very happy because the huge tomato plants shaded them out. This year they have their own bed and are doing exceptionally well, the leaves look like full-size spinach leaves! We hope you're as excited about us to dive into lots of basil recipes this summer. Here are some ideas of what to do with basil:
A simple basil vinaigrette like this one
Caprese salad (try making it 'hors d'oeuvre' style and put small bocconcini, basil, and cherry tomatoes on toothpicks - I've even seen people add some peach chunks onto the skewers)
Pesto, of course. If you don't have pine nuts (I rarely have them around the house) I like subbing in walnuts or almonds.
Tear it up and add it fresh to pizza or flatbreads after they come out of the oven
Trying some of these basil drinks (as mocktails as I'm 29 weeks pregnant) is on my bucket list for this summer. In the past I've really enjoyed gin smashes with basil and cucumber.
Finally, I haven't had a chance to try this recipe yet but I am looking forward to doing so, it's from one of my favourite food blogs: braised chickpeas with zucchini and pesto
Do you have any inspiring basil recipes you love to make? Send them our way!
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