Are you a new member who hasn’t attended an orientation yet? Please email us to schedule an individual orientation during a CSA pickup.
THIS WEEK’S HARVEST
Arugula, Mustard Mix, Mei Qing Bok Choi, Kolibri Little Gem Lettuce, Green Butter Lettuce, Assorted Zucchini & Summer Squash, Assorted Radicchio, Slicing Cucumbers, Bulk Pickling Cucumbers, Baby Leeks, Carrots, Pink Beauty Radishes, Fennel, Tiara Mini Cabbage
U-PICK
Check the u-pick board in the barn for weekly u-pick limits.
Albion Strawberries: 2 pints per share this week
🌟 Frying Peppers: See Harvest Notes!
Padrons: 2 pints per share
Shishitos: 1/2 pint per share
Herbs & Edible Flowers: Dill, Cilantro, Purple Basil, Thai Basil, Lemon Basil, Italian Basil, Tulsi, Parsley, Chamomile, Calendula, Nasturtium, Pansies/Viola, Garlic Chives, Tarragon, Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena, Vietnamese Coriander, Shiso/Perilla, Catnip, French & Culinary Lavender, Sorrel, & Assorted Mints
Flowers!
HARVEST NOTES
Bulk Pickling Cucumbers! Now that they’re really starting to produce in earnest, we’ll be 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 to make sure you take only 2 gallons total. 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.
Shishito Frying Peppers: These Japanese frying peppers are long and wrinkled with thin, delicate walls. Best picked between 2-4” long, they are seldom spicy (until the end of the year). Delicious sautéed hot with oil until wilted and 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 1.5" long, about 1 out of 10 fruits will be hot, above 1.5” will be spicy. 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.
A Note about Sugar Snap Peas: Returning members may have wondered where our usual pea u-pick crops have been this spring. Peas are one of the more challenging (and beloved) crops that we grow each year, and we have struggled with intense disease pressure over the last few years. Sadly, this year, some changes that we made to the crop plan combined with the late, wet spring to mean that we won’t have harvestable peas for you. We are taking notes and will try to bring them back for 2027.
Have you been making tea from the garden yet? Next time you’re on the farm, grab a couple handfuls to use fresh or dry for tea. Pictured here are Peppermint, Spearmint, Moroccan Mint, Chamomile, Calendula, Lemon Balm and Tulsi.
SUMMER VEGETABLE GALETTE
By Melissa Clark
Servings: Yield: 8 servings
While some of the vegetables featured in this recipe will be coming to us later in the summer, Melissa Clark says that this galette is great with any combination of cooked vegetables (even leftovers!). Just aim to have about 3 cups worth. This week we’ll be making this with a diversity of summer squash and zucchini, caramelized fennel and leeks, but it also seems amazing with roasted cabbage, fennel, leeks and mushrooms, and any cooking greens like kale or spinach that you might still have hanging out in your fridge.
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE DOUGH
⅔ cup/80 grams all-purpose flour
⅔ cup/90 grams rye flour or whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon/5 grams sugar
½ teaspoon/3 grams fine sea salt
1 large egg
Heavy cream, as needed
1 stick/113 grams unsalted butter, cut into big pieces
2 teaspoons/10 milliliters lemon juice
½ teaspoon/4 grams grated lemon zest (optional)
FOR THE FILLING
2 medium eggplant (about 1 pound), trimmed and thinly sliced
2 medium zucchini (about ¾ pound), trimmed and thinly sliced
1 pound plum tomatoes, cored and thinly sliced
Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed
Kosher salt, as needed
Black pepper, as needed
2 hot chile peppers, such as cherry peppers, seeded and minced
3 ounces goat cheese, softened
1 small garlic clove, grated or pressed
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
PREPARATION
In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, or in a large bowl, pulse or mix together the flours, sugar, and salt. In a measuring cup, lightly beat the egg, then add just enough cream to get to ⅓ cup. Lightly whisk the egg and cream together.
Add butter to flour mixture and pulse or use a pastry cutter or your fingers to break up the butter. If using a food processor, do not over-process; you need chickpea-size chunks of butter. Drizzle the egg mixture (up to ¼ cup) over the dough and pulse or stir until it just starts to come together but is still mostly large crumbs. Mix in lemon juice and zest if using.
Put the dough on lightly floured counter and knead to make one uniform piece. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill for 2 hours, or up to 3 days.
When you are ready to make the tart, roll out dough to a 12-inch round (it can be ragged). Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and chill while preparing the filling.
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Spread out eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes in one layer on three separate sheet pans or cookie sheets. Drizzle generously with oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast vegetables, tossing zucchini and eggplant occasionally, 35 to 40 minutes. Eggplant and tomatoes will be golden at the edges; zucchini will be tender. Don’t let the vegetables get too dark because they will continue to brown in the tart. Transfer vegetables to a bowl (you want to have about 3 cups of them) and toss with chile peppers.
Decrease oven temperature to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, combine goat cheese, garlic and thyme leaves. Spread mixture in a thin layer over crust, leaving a 1 ½-inch border all around. Arrange vegetables evenly over goat cheese. Fold up edges of crust, pleating to hold it in (sloppy is fine). Brush pastry generously with leftover egg and cream mixture.
Transfer galette to oven and bake until golden brown, about 40 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before slicing.
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 alchemy of water and solstice light erupts in unfathomable foliar growth.
We’re now entering a fleeting and breathtaking time — the Season of Flowers.
In the second week of July, every nook and cranny on the farm seems to be in bloom.
The garden, obviously, is on full display — less like a fireworks show and more like a fireworks factory caught on fire. The boxes of Black Eyed Susan’s just ignited.
And flowers are everywhere in the fields. The lush foliage of the frying & hot peppers beds and the cherry tomatoes are suddenly all decorated with white and yellow stars. In Farfield, the Masquerade potatoes are waving their royal purple and deep yellow flowers triumphantly in the breeze. (We suggest a visit to our main-crop of potatoes across the bridge soon — it’s about to be in full bloom.)
In Creekfield, the winter squash are just starting to sound their big fuzzy trumpets while the melons to the North are an ocean of tiny yellow fluffs.
Flowering buckwheat cover crop with tasseling sweet corn in the background
Our first batch of sweet corn, in Centerfield, was a vision this evening — every plant stretching out it’s tassel hat; each tassel a branching cluster of thousands of male florets; each floret, two anthers that will shed untold pollen onto the silks and ovaries below.
Let the dance begin.
Life can be full of pain and distraction. But the season of flowers, reminds us of joy.
Even the roadways are blooming in white clover.
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 flowers — to soak in the jubilance of the Season of Flowers.
See you in the fields,
David
THE BASICS
Check out our new Brief Membership Guide: A quick-reference on the essentials of being a member.
Harvest pick-up times:
Friday harvest pick-ups run from 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm
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.
2026 CSA program dates: This year’s harvest season will run from Friday, June 12th through Tuesday, December 8th this year.
Where is the farm? The member parking lot is located at 1720 Cooper Rd., Sebastopol, CA 95472.
Slow on Cooper Rd. Please drive slowly on Cooper Road — 20 mph. It's a neighborhood with lots of kids and animals who generously share the road with us.
