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How do you control pests?

We have never sprayed anything, organic or otherwise, to control pests. Biological control is best. We plant diverse crops and rotate them often to avoid pest buildup. We plant beneficial hedgerows and allow crops to flower to attract good bugs to the field.

Favorite tomato:

It changes. One year I was really in love with Aunt Ruby’s German Green, which has a clean cucumber taste. Last year it was Persimmon, a bright orange, meaty tomato. This year it may be the new variety, Cherokee Chocolate.

Recipes

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Burgers with House-Made Buns, Pickles, and Fries

There’s hardly any food more stereotypically American than hamburgers, but all too frequently, we Americans screw them up. We decided to build our own version of a burger to reclaim what we consider to be a great thing. We take our burgers seriously at the Bakery and serve them with our own house-made buns, pickles, and fries—but feel free to set your own priorities, and resort to store-bought supplies as you see fit.

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INGREDIENTS

FOR THE BURGER PATTIES:

2 pounds ground chuck from a reputable source

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE BURGERS:

4 buns (recipe follows)

8 ounces white Vermont cheddar, sliced ¼ inch thick

Marinated onions (recipe follows)

Homemade mayonnaise

4 heirloom tomato slices

4 butter lettuce leaves

Ketchup

Yellow mustard

4 pickles (recipe follows)

French fries (recipe follows)

Serves 4

Preheat the grill 30 minutes in advance, burning the wood down until you have a red-hot coal base. (See backmatter for preparing a wood-fired grill.)

Divide the meat into four portions and shape them into patties. Season both sides of the patties heavily with salt and pepper, and place them on the grill. Then leave them alone—you want to let the outside caramelize, and moving the burgers too early can rupture their surface and allow the juice to leak out. Once the burgers move easily when gently prodded, flip them over. Cook to your desired doneness—rare is great!

To serve, encourage your guests to build their own burgers on a bun with the sliced white cheddar and their choice of marinated onions, mayonnaise, tomato slices, lettuce, ketchup, and/or mustard. Don’t forget the pickles and the fries!

Photographs by Sara Remington

House-Made Buns

INGREDIENTS

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk

1 ½ tablespoons active dry yeast

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for coating the bowl

3 ¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

2 ½ tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 egg

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Makes 6 or 7 buns

Put the milk in a small saucepan and warm it over very low heat until lukewarm. Remove the pan from the heat. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk, stir, and set it aside for 5 minutes to activate.

Butter a large bowl and set it aside.

In an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine the yeast mixture with half the flour on low speed. Then, over a 1-minute period, add the remaining flour along with the sugar, salt, egg, and butter. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes. Then turn the speed to high and mix for 2 minutes more. Transfer the dough to the prepared bowl, cover it loosely with plastic wrap, and set it aside in a warm area for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in size.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Divide it into 6 or 7 equal pieces, and arrange them in a row on the surface. Keeping the other portions covered with a kitchen towel so they won’t dry out, roll each piece into a ball. Leave them, covered, on the surface for another 10 minutes to relax the gluten. Then, using a rolling pin, flatten the balls into rounds that are 3 ½ to 4 inches in diameter. Place the buns on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, put the baking sheet inside a large plastic bag, and tie the open end closed. Place the pan in a warm area of