Harvest Week 7 - Ode to the Onion

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

New Masquerade Potatoes, Fresh Cipollini Onions, Lorz Softneck Garlic, Rouxai Oakleaf Lettuce, Newham Little Gem Lettuce, Collards, Baby Celery, Fennel, Bunched Chioggia Beets, Assorted Zucchini, Patty Pan & Crookneck Squash, Bulk Pickling Cucumbers, Lemon Cucumbers, Persian Cucumbers, Carrots

U-PICK

Check the u-pick board in the barn for weekly u-pick limits.

• Albion Strawberries | 2 pints per share

• 🌟Amethyst Beans | 2 pints per share | These beautiful beans are purple on the outside and green on the inside. Eat them raw to highlight their color and sweet flavor, or cook as you would any other green beans and watch their color change to green.

• Purple Sugar Snap Peas | 1/2 pint per share

• Frying Peppers: check out last week’s harvest note for details.

  • Shishitos | 3 pints/share

  • Padrón | 2 pints/share

• Herbs & Edible Flowers: Italian Basil, Purple Basil, Lemon Basil, Purple Basil, Dill, Tulsi, Parsley, Cilantro, Chamomile, Calendula, Borage, Nasturtium, Pansies/Viola, Stridolo, Lemon Bergamot Bee Balm, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Tarragon, Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram, Culinary Sage, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena, Vietnamese Coriander, Shiso/Perilla, Catnip, Pineapple Sage, Sorrel, Assorted Mints

• Flowers! Too many to list! Feel free to pick the sunflowers along the edge of the parking area in addition to everything in the garden.

HARVEST NOTES

• Bunched Chioggia Beets: Also known as Candystripe Beets, these gorgeous pink beets have a bullseye inside and can be eaten raw to highlight their beauty and mild flavor (as in this recipe for Crunchy Salty Lemony Salad). When cooked, the colors meld and soften into a delicate pink that is enlivened by the presence of acid like vinegar or lemon juice. While often overlooked, beet greens are delicious too — exactly like Swiss chard but with a thinner stem.

• New Potatoes: These beautiful Masquerade potatoes are fresh and uncured — with delicate skin and an extra crisp texture, they’re more of a fresh vegetable than the starchy storage potatoes of winter. Use them like you would any potato, or, to highlight their fresh flavor, roast them in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper (and Cipollini onions! So good in everything) or check out the herby potato salad recipe below.

• Baby Celery: Farm-fresh celery is a completely different beast than the celery that comes from the store. Minerally, sweet and salty, we can’t get enough of it. To highlight this week’s pairing of celery and fennel, we’ll be making one of our longstanding favorite salads: Alison Roman’s Celery and Fennel with Walnuts and Blue Cheese. (You can find the recipe in this old newsletter.)

U-pick goodies are starting to get interesting

GREEN GODDESS POTATO SALAD

By Dan Pelosi aka GrossyPelosi

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5 lbs whole pee wee potatoes or halved baby potatoes, or a mix

• 1 cup chopped (1 inch pieces) asparagus

• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas

• 1 cups chopped (1/2 pieces) snap peas

• 2 T. of chopped fresh chives

• 2 T. of chopped fresh dill

• Kosher salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 1 batch of green goddess dressing

  GREEN GODDESS DRESSING

• 1 cup (1.5 oz container) fresh basil

• 1/2 cup fresh parsley

• 1/2 cup fresh mint

• 2 cloves garlic, peeled

• 3 whole anchovies

• 3/4 cup sour cream

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

  Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and well combined. Adjust flavors to taste. Chill for up to 5 days.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add potatoes to a pot and cover with 2 inches of water. Add a VERY generous amount of kosher salt, cover the pot and bring water to a boil. Boil potatoes for about 8ish minutes, but really until you can just get a knife through them. Add in your peas and asparagus and cook for 2 – 3 more minutes, until bright green. Your potatoes should now be perfectly knife tender. Drain everything in a colander and set aside to cool slightly. About 10 minutes.

2. If you haven’t made your dressing or chopped your herbs, now is a great time to do that. Or check your make up, whatev.

3. Toss your cooked and cooled potatoes and veg into a large bowl. Add snap peas, dressing, chives and dill. Toss everything to combine! Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.

4. Cover and place in refrigerator until ready to serve. This can be done a day ahead, flavors will only get better over time!

5. Give everything a nice toss before serving! Enjoy, Goddess!

Thanks to everyone who attended last week’s flower arranging workshop and especially to the farm’s flower ambassador Cassidy Blackwell for creating such an inspiring space for community creativity.

FARMER’S LOG

AN ODE TO THE ONION

We love fresh onion season. We’ve been putting the Cipollini onions on everything — pizza, salads, breakfast sandwiches...

Cipollini onions are always the first bulbing onion that we harvest — a sort of teaser for what is to come. They come at a time when the bulbs of our main storage onions start to swell and we get to watch the process as we harvest the Cipollinis. When this magical swelling starts we can start to gauge how our onion crop will turn out. Not withstanding any force majeure, we have a beautiful onion crop shaping up out there in Loaf Field. In mid September we will bust out the macro bins and haul in 10,000+ lbs of full sized orbs into our greenhouse for curing and eating throughout the fall and winter.

But now we are still in that stage of innocence — savoring, beholding our first fresh bulbing onion.

Fresh onions, for some reason, feel like an impossible food, a gift from heaven, “they make us cry without hurting us.”

Pablo Neruda managed to capture the heavenly grace of the onion. We’ll let him take it from here…

Ode to the Onion
by Pablo Neruda

Onion,
luminous flask,
your beauty formed
petal by petal,
crystal scales expanded you
and in the secrecy of the dark earth
your belly grew round with dew.
Under the earth
the miracle
happened
and when your clumsy
green stem appeared,
and your leaves were born
like swords
in the garden,
the earth heaped up her power
showing your naked transparency,
and as the remote sea
in lifting the breasts of Aphrodite
duplicating the magnolia,
so did the earth
make you,
onion
clear as a planet
and destined
to shine,
constant constellation,
round rose of water,
upon
the table
of the poor.

You make us cry without hurting us.
I have praised everything that exists,
but to me, onion, you are
more beautiful than a bird
of dazzling feathers,
heavenly globe, platinum goblet,
unmoving dance
of the snowy anemone

and the fragrance of the earth lives
in your crystalline nature.

* * * * * * *

See you in the fields,
David & Kayta

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CSA BASICS

What time is harvest pick-up?:

• Saturday harvest pick-ups run from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm

• Tuesday harvest pick-ups will run from 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm

U-pick hours: Oriented members can come to the farm any time, 7 days a week, sunrise to sunset, to u-pick and enjoy the farm.

2025 CSA program dates: Our harvest season will run from Saturday, June 14th through Tuesday, December 9th this year.

Where is the farm? The member parking lot is located at 1720 Cooper Rd., Sebastopol, CA 95472.

Slow on Cooper Rd. Out of respect for our neighbors and the many kids and animals that live on Cooper Rd., please drive slow (20 mph)!

Harvest Week 6 - July Emptiness

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

Fresh-Ground Floriani Red Flint Cornmeal, Cherokee Summer Crisp Lettuce, Kolibri Little Gem Lettuce, Dino Kale, Sugarloaf Chicories, Baby Beets, Assorted Zucchini, Patty Pan & Crookneck Squash, bulk Pickling Cucumbers, Persian Cucumbers, Mini Caraflex Cabbage, Carrots, Fresh Cipollini Onions, Lorz Softneck Garlic

U-PICK

Check the u-pick board in the barn for weekly u-pick limits.

• Albion Strawberries | 2 pints per share

• Purple Sugar Snap Peas | 1 pint per share | Just like green sugar snaps, these can be enjoyed raw or cooked, though their purple color will fade with cooking. Comb through the low-growing plants to find peas that have started to fill out for the sweetest flavor.

• Frying Peppers: see harvest note!

  • Shishitos: 2 pints/share

  • Padrons: 2 pints/share

• Herbs & Edible Flowers: Italian Basil, Purple Basil, Lemon Basil, Purple Basil, Dill, Tulsi, Parsley, Cilantro, Chamomile, Calendula, Borage, Nasturtium, Pansies/Viola, Stridolo, Lemon Bergamot Bee Balm, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Tarragon, Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram, Culinary Sage, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena, Vietnamese Coriander, Shiso/Perilla, Catnip, Pineapple Sage, Sorrel, Assorted Mints

• Flowers! Too many to list! Feel free to pick the sunflowers along the edge of the parking area in addition to everything in the garden.

Padrons, Purple Sugar Snap Peas, and Shishitos.

HARVEST NOTES

• Bulk Pickling Cucumbers! Now that the Persian cucumbers are beginning to produce, we’ll begin offering pickling cucumbers in bulk for members who want to make a big batch of pickles. This year there is a 2 gallon season limit. Season limits are how much a share can take home over the course of the season. If you are alternating weeks, please coordinate with your share partners about how much each group is taking. While we hope to be able to offer pickling cucumbers for 2-3 more weeks, we recommend taking your share as soon as you’re able to ensure you don’t miss out! Check out this past newsletter primer for tips on pickling.

• Fresh-Ground Floriani Red Flint Cornmeal: This beautiful Italian heirloom was bred especially for polenta, with a higher protein content than typical flour corns. The kernels are red on the outside and yellow inside, resulting in a vibrant yellow cornmeal with red flecks. Use it in your favorite cornmeal recipe or make polenta with the recipe below!

• Fresh Cipollini Onions: A sweet, fresh delicacy that is often eaten raw — it is so mild you can cut it thin and eat in on pizza, salad, or straight up! Also delicious grilled or roasted.

• Sugarloaf Chicories: We would die happy famers if we initiated all our CSA members into a deep and abiding love for Sugarloaf Chicories. The sweetest of the bitter chicory family, it’s delicious as a raw salad green, chopped up and paired with a rich, sharp dressing (like caesar), grilled, roasted or braised. To roast, cut a Sugarloaf head into quarters or eighths, brush with olive oil, and broil until the outer leaves are slightly caramelized and crisped, and the leaves soft. Then top with salt and grated parmesan (toasted breadcrumbs would be delicious too) and eat as a side.

• Shishito Frying Peppers: These Japanese frying peppers are long and wrinkled with thin, delicate walls. Best picked between 3-4” long, they are seldom spicy. They are incredibly delicious fried in high-heat oil until browned, sometimes with a dash of lemon or smoked paprika, and always with a liberal sprinkle of salt. A plate of just-off-the-stove frying peppers is an irresistible appetizer or snack. Shishitos also make incredible tempura.

• Padrón Frying Peppers: The famous Spanish heirloom, named after their town of origin. Padróns are served sautéed in olive oil with a little sea salt, and eaten as tapas in Spain. Harvested between 1” and 1 1/2" long, about 1 out of 10 fruits will be hot, but as the peppers’ size increase, so do their spiciness. While Padróns and Shishitos are both excellent prepared in the same way — sautéed in a hot pan — we recommend cooking them separately to achieve the perfect level of caramelization on each type.

FLOWER ARRANGING WORKSHOP

THIS Tuesday, July 22nd, 5:30 pm

Are you looking for some tips and inspiration on flower picking and arranging?

Are you a seasoned flower-nerd and feel like sipping bubblies and arranging flowers with like-minded friends?

CSA member Cassidy Blackwell fell in love with flowers and flower arranging on the farm in 2020. It’s since become a passion of hers. Cassidy will share her stoke and some tips she’s learned about arranging. This is a special annual farm event.

Please bring a bucket to pick into, a favorite vase, and clippers. Members are welcome to bring a non-member friend. Suggested $30 donation for non-members.

FLORIANI RED FLINT POLENTA

We love making a big pot of polenta to eat with veggies for dinner— this week, we’ll be roasting zucchini, cipollinis and fennel and topping with parmesan or feta — and then eating the leftover polenta sliced, pan-fried and topped with a fried egg and greens in the following days.

Polenta is simple to prepare, but it does benefit from a long cooking time — about 45 minutes. Here are the basic steps, and ideas for different variations.

• Bring water to a boil. For our course-ground cornmeal, we recommend 4-5 cups of water to 1 cup of cornmeal. Rather than water you can also use stock to bring extra flavor, or include some milk for added richness.

• Gradually whisk cornmeal into the boiling water, and continue stirring for a minute or two as the mixture thickens. Add some salt.

• Continue cooking on low, stirring every 10 minutes, for approximately 45 minutes, or until the polenta reaches the desired consistency, and the grains are swollen and soft. Add water as needed if it thickens before it’s fully cooked.

• Towards the end of the cooking time you can add in any additional flavorings you’d like: crushed garlic, olive oil, butter, sun-dried tomatoes, herbs like rosemary and thyme, or cheese! (Parmesan, feta, cheddar, blue cheese...) Taste for flavor and salt and adjust as needed.

• To make your leftovers into firm, sliceable polenta, pour the still-warm and not-yet-set polenta into a shallow layer in a lightly buttered dish. (Rectangular glass storage containers are great for this.) Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 days.

FARMER’S LOG

July Emptiness

At this time of year it is hard to find the headspace for a thoughtful Farmer’s Log — the steady rhythm of the bulky harvests drowns out softer notes of reflection.

To sneak in planting, seeding, and weeding in the margins of harvest your only thoughts are farm thoughts, your only feelings are farm feelings. You must remain disciplined, focused… you can’t miss a beat (no pun intended).

This week, while the harvest share starts to get a little more summery (despite this very cold July) we turned towards fall in the field. We transplanted over 650 ft of Brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving. Asa seeded our fall carrots. We saw the first potato tubers swelling up in the flowering potato field.

Whimsical thoughts.

It’s a strange feeling, this time of year: Our internal lives, our emotions, dreams, and whimsies — feel far away, shoved aside by the harvest and urgent needs in the field — but at the same time we never feel more full. 

There is a sort of innocence, a fullness, in being so busy as to be empty.

Then, the swelling of the corn stalks can you lift you up to the eaves. The heat is your sorrow. The flowering potatoes are your whimsical thoughts. And the little things — a good sip of coffee, a crew mate’s joke, a good harvest —  can fill you up to the brim.

See you in the fields,
David

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CSA BASICS

What time is harvest pick-up?:

• Saturday harvest pick-ups run from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm

• Tuesday harvest pick-ups will run from 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm

U-pick hours: Oriented members can come to the farm any time, 7 days a week, sunrise to sunset, to u-pick and enjoy the farm.

2025 CSA program dates: Our harvest season will run from Saturday, June 14th through Tuesday, December 9th this year.

Where is the farm? The member parking lot is located at 1720 Cooper Rd., Sebastopol, CA 95472.

Slow on Cooper Rd. Out of respect for our neighbors and the many kids and animals that live on Cooper Rd., please drive slow (20 mph)!

Harvest Week 5 - The Season of Flowers

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

Arugula, Mustard Mix, French Breakfast Radishes, Dino Kale, Kolibri Little Gem Lettuce, Romaine Lettuce, Green Butter Lettuce, Assorted Chicories, Fennel, Green Zucchini and Yellow Crookneck Squash, Pickling Cucumbers, Mini Cabbage, Carrots, Fresh Lorz Softneck Garlic

U-PICK

Check the u-pick board in the barn for weekly u-pick limits.

• Albion Strawberries: 1 pint per share

• Sugar Snap Peas: Gleanings | Gleanings is how we indicate that a crop is done with the bulk of its production, but members are welcome to forage for a bit of what is left.

• Herbs & Edible Flowers: Italian Basil, Purple Basil, Lemon Basil, Purple Basil, Dill, Tulsi, Parsley, Cilantro, Chamomile, Calendula, Borage, Nasturtium, Pansies/Viola, Stridolo, Lemon Bergamot Bee Balm, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Tarragon, Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram, Culinary Sage, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena, Vietnamese Coriander, Shiso/Perilla, Catnip, Pineapple Sage, Sorrel, Assorted Mints

• Flowers! Too many to list! Feel free to pick the sunflowers along the edge of the parking area in addition to everything in the garden.

Supercrest Celosia getting ever more elaborate in the garden. / Dried chamomile: just one of the many herbs for tea growing in the garden right now. / Salad with chicories, lettuce, carrot ribbons & chopped fennel fronds.

HARVEST NOTES

• French Breakfast Radishes: Delicate little radishes with the most evocative name. Not sure how to eat radishes? We love them sliced on good bread with butter and flaky salt, roasted with miso, or sliced and eaten atop almost any meal — we’re always amazed at how much beauty, crunch and freshness they bring.

FLOWER ARRANGING WORKSHOP

SAVE THE DATE!
Tuesday, July 22nd, 5:30 pm

Are you looking for some tips and inspiration on flower picking and arranging?

Are you a seasoned flower-nerd and feel like sipping bubblies and arranging flowers with like-minded friends?

CSA member Cassidy Blackwell fell in love with flowers and flower arranging on the farm in 2020. It’s since become a passion of hers. Cassidy will share her stoke and some tips she’s learned about arranging. This is a special annual farm event.

Please bring a bucket to pick into, a favorite vase, and clippers. Members are welcome to bring a non-member friend. Suggested $30 donation for non-members.

PEAK SALAD SEASON IS HERE!

As salad season continues, we wanted to bring you 2 more versatile dressing recipes from Samin Nosrat that are amazing to have on hand during peak salad season and beyond.

House Dressing

By Samin Nosrat

Yield: 1½ cups

• 1 large shallot, very finely diced

• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon aged sherry vinegar, plus more as needed

• 1 tablespoon warm water

• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• 1½ teaspoons honey

• 1½ teaspoons Dijon mustard

• 1½ teaspoons whole-grain mustard

• 2 thyme sprigs, washed leaves picked and finely chopped (about ½ teaspoon)

• 1 garlic clove, finely grated

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed

• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place the shallot in a fine-mesh sieve and quickly rinse with cold water. Allow to drain, then place in a medium bowl. Add vinegar and warm water, and let the shallot mixture sit for 2 minutes

Whisk in oil, honey, both mustards, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the salt and vinegar as needed.

Cover and refrigerate remaining dressing for up to 1 week.

To make a crunchy and refreshing green salad: toss Little Gem lettuce (or your favorite variety of baby lettuce), thinly shaved fennel, tender dill fronds, whole cilantro and parsley leaves, 1-inch pieces of chives and dressing. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Delicately mound onto a serving platter and serve immediately.

CRUNCHY CABBAGE SLAW WITH CREAMY SESAME-GINGER DRESSING

By Samin Nosrat

Yield: 1½ cups

• ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more as needed

• ¼ cup seasoned rice vinegar, plus more as needed

• 5 tablespoons white miso

• 2 tablespoons honey

• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

• 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

• 1 (3-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

• 1 fresh jalapeño, stemmed (seeded if desired) and sliced

• ½ cup neutral oil

• Kosher salt

In a liquid measuring cup or wide-mouth jar, combine the lemon juice, vinegar, miso, honey, sesame oil, garlic, ginger and chile, and use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. With the immersion blender running, add the neutral oil in a thin stream. (Alternatively, you can use a countertop blender.) Taste and adjust with salt, lemon juice and vinegar as needed.

Cover and refrigerate remaining dressing for up to 1 week.

To make a crunchy cabbage slaw: combine ½ head thinly sliced cabbage, 2 coarsely grated carrots, ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro, 2 scallions thinly sliced on sharp bias, 3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds and 1 cup salted roasted peanuts in a large bowl. Toss with a generous amount of dressing. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Chill for 30 minutes before serving.

FARMER’S LOG

THE SEASON OF FLOWERS

A couple weeks ago we wrote about the Season of Power; that time of year on the farm when the turbocharged alchemy of water and solstice light erupts in unfathomable foliar growth.

If the last two weeks were the Season of Power, we’re now entering the fleeting and breathtaking Season of Flower.

Every a nook and cranny on the farm is starting to bloom. The garden, obviously, is on full display. It is more like a fireworks factory caught on fire than a fireworks show — but quieter. 

In the fields too, flowers are everywhere. Our Masquerade potatoes in Creek Field are like two oceanic strips of royal purple flowers and yellow anther arrows. Our main crop of potatoes, in Farfield West across the creek, is half abloom, and will likely be in full bloom late next week. (We suggest a visit.)

The winter squash are sounding their fuzzy yellow trumpets; the cherry tomatoes are fully bedazzled in yellow stars; our first batch of sweet corn put on their tassel hats this week.

Life can be full of pain and distraction. But the season of flower, if you let it in, reminds us of joy.

We hope you can take a quiet moment these next couple weeks — listening to the bees in the borage; breathing in deep the smell of a field of potato flowers; arranging flower with us next Tuesday — to really soak in the jubilance of the Season of Flowers.

You deserve it.

See you in the flowers,
David and Kayta

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CSA BASICS

What time is harvest pick-up?:

• Saturday harvest pick-ups run from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm

• Tuesday harvest pick-ups will run from 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm

U-pick hours: Oriented members can come to the farm any time, 7 days a week, sunrise to sunset, to u-pick and enjoy the farm.

2025 CSA program dates: Our harvest season will run from Saturday, June 14th through Tuesday, December 9th this year.

Where is the farm? The member parking lot is located at 1720 Cooper Rd., Sebastopol, CA 95472.

Slow on Cooper Rd. Out of respect for our neighbors and the many kids and animals that live on Cooper Rd., please drive slow (20 mph)!