THIS WEEK’S HARVEST
Cegolaine Little Gems, Cherokee Summer Crisp Lettuce, Escarole, Dino Kale, Pink Ladyslipper Radish, Celery, Sweet Corn, Kohlrabi, Romance Carrots, Cabernet Red Onions, Heirloom Tomatoes, Sweet Peppers, Summer Squash & Zucchini, Sarah’s Choice Cantaloupe, Asterix Red Potatoes, Farao Cabbage
U-PICK
Please remember to check the u-pick board for updated weekly limits before going out to pick
Albion Strawberries: 3 pints per share this week
Cherry Tomatoes: See week 8’s newsletter for variety descriptions
Frying Peppers: Shishitos & Padrons | See week 4’s newsletter for harvest and preparation tips
Hot Peppers: Buena Mulata, Habanero, Ali Limo and Jalapeño Hot Peppers | Check u-pick board for limits
Tomatillos: Check u-pick board for limits
Herbs: Dill, Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram, Tarragon, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Vietnamese Coriander, Culinary Lavender, Culinary Sage, French Sorrel, Lemon Verbena, Cilantro, Tulsi, Various Mints, Catnip, Chamomile, Purple Basil, Genovese Basil, Thai Basil
Flowers!
HARVEST NOTES
Escarole: An Italian staple, this leafy chicory (related to radicchio and endive) is a hardy, sweet, and slightly bitter green that’ll add punctuation to any rich and fatty feast. It has a substantial, juicy texture and slight nutty flavor that make it great in salads, and it also stands up to braising or broiling. Our favorite way to prepare escarole is to cut at the base, toss the leaves in olive oil and to broil it in the oven until it is nice and melted and the tips are crispy. Toss with garlic, salt, and lemon juice and voila!
Sweet Corn Caterpillars: You are likely to a European corn borer caterpillar in your ears of sweet corn this week. An unfortunate reality of organically grown corn, this little moth caterpillar, while a little gross, is harmless and loves sweet corn just like you. Don’t let it deter you from this scrumptious sweet corn! Just feed your caterpillar to the birds, clean off the eaten part, and enjoy your corn! “It’s CORN!”
Damaged Strawbs and Upick crops: Extreme heat is hard on fruits (strawberries, peppers, cherry tomatoes) so you will likely find a lot of cooked fruits in the u-pick crops this week and next. You can do the plants a favor by just picking and dropping any melted feeling fruits while you are u-picking. Thank you!
preserving the harvest
Bulk Tomatoes are here! From now until the end of tomato season, bulk quantities of Speckled Roman Sauce Tomatoes and all Seconds (tomatoes that are blemished or quite ripe but still tasty) will be available! Bulk tomatoes will have a season limit, meaning the total tomatoes available per share over the course of the season. You’re welcome to take them all at once or a little bit here and there, whichever you like!
The easiest way to put up tomatoes is freezing. While you can freeze tomatoes without processing first, we particularly love halving them, drizzling with olive oil and roasting in a low-temp oven to concentrate the flavors. Or, if you have the time now and want to make a sauce that truly bottles the taste of summer, consider making fresh tomato sauce!
Fresh Tomato Sauce
For the simplest tomato sauce, we recommend sautéing onions and garlic in more olive oil than you might think you need. Then add tomatoes and salt to taste and cook down for 45 minutes to an hour until your sauce has reached the desired consistency and flavor. Depending on your preferred consistency, tomatoes can be peeled and de-seeded before cooking, or if you prefer a more rustic sauce, just chop and them throw them in the pot seeds and all. For more detailed instructions, and some good ideas for variations on tomato sauces, check out this Smitten Kitchen post on Fresh Tomato Sauce.
THANK YOU!
Thank you so much to everyone who helped bring in this year’s potato crop! We harvested over 10,000 lbs together — something we couldn’t have done so quickly without the 30 or 40 of you who lent a hand. A special shout-out to Jared Sutton who helped us load and unload thousands of lbs on Saturday. If you loved this harvest party or want to get in on the next one, keep an eye out in this newsletter for announcements about our Winter Squash Toss and Fall Carrot Harvest Party.
WINTER SISTER FARM CSA SIGN-UPS NOW OPEN!
The hottest tickets in town are now on sale — Winter Sister Farm’s 2023 Winter CSA program is now open for registration! Winter Sister Farm, right next door to us, was started by dear friends Anna and Sarah Dozor. Their CSA runs runs from December through May and includes 24 weeks of specialty winter veggies, flowers, herbs, and more — all picked up by CSA members, free-choice market style, on their beautiful farm here on Cooper Rd. Sign-up today!
FARMER’S LOG
REFLECTIONS ON THE HEAT WAVE
Sunrise on Tuesday, the hottest day in Bay Area known history.
The plants on the farm seemed to have fared OK. The most damage occurred in fruits exposed to the sun with our tomatoes sustaining the most damage. We have so many tomatoes right now that we probably won’t notice it in the CSA, but it might mean we have a shorter no-limit tomato season as so many young fruits and flowers were literally cooked by the heat. (Supposedly fruits are usually 30 degrees warmer than ambient temps with the sun on them.) Many strawberries with sun-facing sides were also damaged. If you’re picking strawbs this week and see a melty strawberry, please pull them off the plants for us!
We’re proud and grateful to our crew who toughed it out through the hot week. We weren’t outside in the sun after 11 am or so, but we did brave some hot greenhouses and Lauren ran pick-up in an ambient 112 degrees! This week, we did harvests in the cool mornings and then lots of inside work like cleaning onions. We basically delayed this week’s field transplantings and seedings until we have more Earthly temperatures next week.
It is interesting how the body seems to not be able to tell much of a difference between 105 and 112. It’s almost as if 105 is the top of the thermometer!
Potatoes! Last Friday, Saturday and Wednesday mornings we harvested our potatoes — all 10,000+ lbs of which are stored away in the cooler. We were happy (and somewhat relieved) to unearth a bumper potato crop. We were concerned that the gophers had been doing a lot of damage to the crop but, thank goodness, even the gophers here can’t eat that much. The sandy soil of the upper part of the Farfield is ideal for potatoes and the smooth skins of the potatoes show it.
We hope you all fared well in the heat. Here’s to a more mild last couple weeks of summer.
See you in the fields,
David
