slow cooker chicken pozole

plus pro tips for planting carrots & sugar snap peas

And just like that, our first seeds of 2024 are in the ground!

After several days of rain, Tuesday was a blustery, bright-blue sky kind of day, and I had my best crew here helping me get the sugar snap peas and carrots planted. The first planting of the year always puts extra pep in my step – I love a fresh start, with rows that are free of weeds (for now!), and no crop failures or weather disasters or pest issues (yet!). Ahh yes, these first few weeks, it’s like nothing can go wrong… though inevitably, things will go wrong, and honestly, that’s why I’m hooked on farming. Every season I take what I’ve learned from the previous years, and in the season ahead, Mother Nature will inevitably have a whole host of new lessons to teach me.

Let the planting begin!

In the spirit of embracing lessons learned from previous growing seasons, today I’m sharing all my tips for growing sugar snap peas and carrots:

CARROTS

• Carrot seeds are TINY, so I recommend purchasing pelleted seeds. Pelleted seeds are coated into little clay balls, making them much easier to see and handle. Because we’re growing on a larger scale, we plant our pelleted carrot seeds using a highly efficient Jang Seeder, but the pelleted seeds are also super helpful if you are planting by hand. Plant your carrot seeds in long furrows in your beds, about 1/2” deep and 1” apart.

• This spring, we planted three different varieties of carrots, which should be ready to harvest around mid-May: Caravel, Romance, Gold Nugget, and Naval.

• Carrots need a lot of moisture to germinate, so make sure to keep your carrot beds well watered after seeding! And patience is key – carrots can take up to 14-21 days to germinate.

SUGAR SNAP PEAS

• Most varieties of sugar snap peas get pretty tall, so you’ll want to install a trellis. We use 10 ft tall t-posts and pound them into the ground every 10 feet, then we tie up this trellis netting and attach it to the t-posts using zip ties. The trellis netting is 4-feet tall, so we tie up two layers, so the peas have 8 feet of netting to climb up.

• To aid with germination, soak your pea seeds in water for 4-6 hours before planting. Another step that isn’t required, but will help ensure that your peas fix nitrogen in your soil is to coat the seeds with an inoculant just before planting. Inoculants are basically a powdered form of a beneficial bacteria, which encourages the formation of high-nitrogen nodules on plant roots to result in richer soil, healthier plants, and better yields. Here is a source from Johnny’s.

• To plant your sugar snap peas, make two long furrows in your bed spaced about 6 inches apart (the space in the middle of the two furrows is where the trellis will go). In each furrow, plant the seeds by hand, about 2 inches apart. Once you’ve placed the seeds, just cover them back up with soil, water in well, and let the magic happen.

Any questions as you plan + plant your spring gardens? Let me know in the comments, I’m happy to help!

---

Need some culinary inspiration for the weekend? Here’s my weekly round up of seasonal recipes from around Substack (and from my ever-growing recipe index) to help you eat like a farmer:

• BEST ever focaccia bread from yours truly /

  Eat Like a Farmer

• Spicy Black Bean & Butternut Soup from

  Christina Chaey
  /
  Gentle Foods by Christina Chaey

• One-pan garlic butter roasted chicken and crispy potatoes from

  Caroline Chambers
  /
  What To Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking

Keep reading for today’s recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Pozole, available for paid subscribers.

Out of all the recipes I’ve shared on this newsletter, this recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Pozole is hands down the easiest to make (and it manages to be one of the most flavorful).

The secret is the magic of the slow cooker. This is one of those recipes where you can just throw a handful of ingredients directly into the bowl of your slow cooker, set it on low for about 6 hours, and that’s IT. No need to cook anything on the stove, no complicated sauces, no weird ingredients, no unnecessary fuss. Dreamy!

Now, to be abundantly clear, this is not an authentic pozole recipe. Pozole is a traditional Mexican stew that is hearty, brothy, and typically made from hominy (dried corn), meat (usually chicken or pork), and garnished with cabbage, radishes, tortillas, etc. There are three main types of pozole (rojo/red, green/verde, and blanco/white), and this recipe is closest to a pozole verde. (A note that if you want to try to make a traditional pozole, I highly recommend this recipe + video over on Rossana Figueroa’s blog, Villa Cocina).

Authentic or not, this pozole is PACKED with flavor – it’s bright, it’s bold, and it’s hearty without being overly heavy. Sooo what are you waiting for? Get cookin’ good lookin!

Keep scrolling for the full recipe (and a handy 1-page PDF for easy printing).

---

Become a paid subscriber to access today’s recipe (free subscribers get access to full recipes on the 1st Friday of the month). As a paid subscriber, you’ll also get access to my full recipe archive, gardening guides, and you’ll be able to join our private community chats.

Slow Cooker Chicken Pozole

Serves 4-6