Harvesting Cowpeas and Sweet Potato Greens

Cowpeas are officially in season! Cowpeas, sometimes called Southern peas, field peas, and black-eyed peas can be harvested fresh or once the pods have been allowed to dry out on the plant. We are harvesting our cowpeas fresh because we think they have a superior flavor at this stage. In order to keep them as fresh as possible, we’re leaving the shelling up to you! Simply split the pods open and remove the peas. To cook your fresh cowpeas, rinse them off once they’ve been shelled then add them to a pot. Cover with the broth of your choice and bring everything to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce it to a simmer for about 30 minutes or until the peas are tender.

Have you had a chance to try any of our summer greens? So far we’ve been able to harvest amaranth greens, roselle greens, sweet potato greens, and arugula. Both sweet potato greens and arugula are currently being harvested on the farm. As you might have guessed, sweet potato greens are the above ground shoots and greens of the sweet potato tuber. The greens are tender with a subtle sweetness and can be used just as you would spinach. We highly recommended popping by the veggie wagon this Saturday between 8am and noon to try some!

We briefly mentioned it last week but our fall succession of tomatoes in the greenhouse has been potted up and is ready for transplanting later this month. The mild fall temperatures in our growing zone allow for an additional succession of tomatoes to be planted in the fall. As much as we’d love to have them for you all throughout the summer, once high temperatures are consistently above 90 degrees, tomato plants stop setting fruit. Here are some of the varieties that you can look forward to this fall: Matina, Juane Flamme, Afghan, and Galina.