THIS WEEK’S HARVEST
Arugula, Mustard Mix, Green Salanova Butter Lettuce, Lady Murasaki Komatsuna, Brussel Sprout Tops, Black Magic Dino Kale, Green Magic Broccoli, Cauliflower, Celery, Kohlrabi, Carrots, Yellow Onions, Huckleberry Gold Potatoes, Assorted Purple & Green Napa Cabbage, Sweet Peppers, Tomatoes (last week!), Jester Winter Squash
U-PICK
Check the u-pick board in the barn for weekly u-pick limits.
🎃 Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkins 🎃: Pumpkin Limit update! We are lifting the limit on Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkins! Take what you’ll use!
Albion Strawberries: ✨1 pint per share✨ The strawberries are beginning to wind down but there are still some delicious berries to be had this week!
Cherry Tomatoes: Gleanings
Goldilocks Beans: Gleanings
Frying Peppers:
Padrons: Gleanings
Shishitos: Gleanings
Hot Peppers:
Jalapeños: Gleanings
Thai Chilis: No limit — take what you’ll eat!
Habaneros: 3 peppers per share
Ot Hiem Pepper: No limit — take what you’ll eat!
Herbs & Edible Flowers: Husk Cherries, Lemon Bergamot, 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!
It’s been a good strawberry season.
HARVEST NOTES
Jester Winter Squash: These striped cuties are a delicata-type that look like a fancy acorn squash. A good Jester can be among the sweetest of squashes, and is David’s personal favorite. They’re not great keepers, so we recommend eating them soon! For the easiest preparation, cut in half, scoop out the seeds and roast, face down, until tender (adding a little water to your pan to keep the squash moist!). Unlike other Delicata, Jester skin is too thick to be edible.
Cauliflower: If you’re ever in doubt of what to do with cauliflower or broccoli, roast it! Just cut into florets (including the lightly-peeled stem), toss with olive oil and roast in a hot oven (anywhere from 400-450 degrees depending on how fast/crispy you want it). Or, if you’d like to try something a little more elaborate, check out the Cauliflower Ragu recipe below.
Last week of tomatoes! We hope you’ve indulged fully in the glory of summer tomatoes, and are ready to move into fall flavors with us, but if not, please take this week to stuff yourself to the gills. As a side note, the sweet peppers will also be leaving us soon, as they’re not a fan of the cold night temperatures we’ve been having.
CAULIFLOWER RAGÙ
From Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden
Riley just reminded us of this cozy recipe, in which you cook cauliflower down into a cheesy, winey sauce that coats your noodles perfectly.
INGREDIENTS
1 large head cauliflower or Romanesco (1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds)
Extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1/4 teaspoon dried chile flakes
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup dry, unoaked white wine
1 big sprig rosemary
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 ounces fusilli or other spiral- or tube-shaped pasta
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice
DIRECTIONS
If the cauliflower still has outer leaves and they look fresh, chop them. Cut the center stem from the cauliflower and cut the head into small florets. Chop the stem into small chunks.
Heat 1/4 cup olive oil, the garlic, and the chile flakes in a large deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add about two-thirds of the cauliflower florets and chopped stems (you’ll add the last third in a bit) and the onion. Add the wine, 1 cup water, rosemary sprig, 1 teaspoon salt, and several generous twists of black pepper. Tumble everything together.
Cover the pan and adjust the heat so the mixture simmers nicely. Cook until the cauliflower is fairly tender, about 25 minutes, stirring and smashing with a wooden spoon or spatula a few times as you cook.
Add the rest of the cauliflower and 1/2 cup water and cook until the second batch of cauliflower is very tender, though it will have more tooth to it than the first batch, which should be quite sloppy by now. This second cooking should take another 20 minutes or so. The ragù at this stage should be loose but not watery, so if it seems dry or tight, add a few more spoonfuls of water.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt until it tastes like the sea. Add the pasta and cook until 2 minutes shy of al dente (according to the package directions). The pasta will finish cooking in the ragù. With a ladle or a measuring cup, scoop out about 1 cup of the pasta cooking water and then drain the pasta well.
Add the pasta to the ragù, along with the Parmigiano, butter, and lemon juice and fold everything together. Taste and adjust with more salt, lemon, black pepper, or cheese, and adjust the texture to make it creamy by adding a splash or two of the reserved pasta water. Serve right away.
Thai Peppers and fading Zinnias.
FARMER’S LOG
In this busy week, full of bulky harvests, irrigation mainline woes, frost in the morning and heat in the afternoon, and light through the falling and fading oak leaves, we’ll leave you with this poem from one of our favorites…
* * * * *
Leaves
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Years do odd things to identity.
What does it mean to say
I am that child in the photograph
at Kishamish in 1935?
Might as well say I am the shadow
of a leaf of the acacia tree
felled seventy years ago
moving on the page the child reads.
Might as well say I am the words she read
or the words I wrote in other years,
flicker of shade and sunlight
as the wind moves through the leaves.
* * * * *
See you in the fields,
David & Kayta
CSA BASICS
Check out our 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.
