THIS WEEK’S HARVEST
Assorted Salanova Lettuces, Giorgione Castelfranco Chicories, Indigo Radicchio, Purple & White Daikon Radish, Belstar Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Leeks, Carrots, Yellow Onions, Assorted Potatoes, Honeynut Baby Butternut Winter Squash, Celery Root
U-PICK
This week, we put most of the garden to bed for the season, but we saved the strawberries, a few beds of late flowers, and the perennial herbs. Help yourself to gleanings of anything left!
HARVEST NOTES
Celery Root: Celery root is also known as Celeriac, and its gnarled appearance hides a bulk of smooth, starchy white flesh with a delicious celery flavor. It’s most often enjoyed as an addition to mashed potatoes or in soup, but it can also be roasted as you would any other root vegetable, or made into latkes, fritters or French fries.
Honeynut Baby Butternut: We’re smitten with these tiny orange butternut. Halved and roasted they make a perfectly elegant single-serving, with a rich honey color and a flavor that matches the best butternuts.
Brussel Sprouts: This week in anticipation of Thanksgiving we’re debuting the first of this season’s Brussel Sprouts! Seeded in the greenhouse in June, these slow-growing treasures feel like they’ve been with us on the farm all season. We’ll be distributing them on the stalk, but we recommend snapping them off and storing in a sealed container or bag in the fridge to keep them looking fresh. The stalk is best composted, as it becomes remarkably woody over the long season.
THANKSGIVING PREVIEW
To help you plan for the big day, here is a snapshot of the share we are planning for Harvest Week 24, the week leading up to Thanksgiving:
German Butterball Potatoes, Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin or Sunshine Kabocha Squash, Butternut Squash, Celery Root, Yellow Onions, Carrots, Watermelon Radishes, Brussel Sprouts, Rainbow Lacinato Kale, Radicchio, and Assorted Lettuce.
Brussel Sprouts on the stalk.
CHICORY, PERSIMMON & POMEGRANATE SALAD
Adapted from David Tanis (NYT Cooking)
We’ve lately been obsessed with the beauty and delectable bitterness of chicory salads, particularly those including their winter compatriots, persimmons and pomegranates. This salad would be a stunning side dish at Thanksgiving, but it’s also easy enough to make for a weeknight dinner, and it makes a wonderful counterpart to a richer main course. It’s particularly beautiful with a mixture of the 2 chicories we have in the share this week — Indigo and Giorgione (both radicchio, but of different colors).
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
INGREDIENTS
2 ounces walnuts, about ½ cup
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon fleur de sel or other coarse sea salt, crumbled
1 shallot, finely sliced
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons walnut oil
3 medium Fuyu persimmons
8 ounces radicchio or other chicory leaves
½ cup pomegranate seeds
PREPARATION
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Make the sugared walnuts: Line a baking sheet with parchment. Put walnuts in a small bowl. Pour very hot water over walnuts for 1 minute, then drain. Add sugar and fleur de sel. Mix to coat nuts evenly, then spread them on the parchment. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, until crisp and caramelized. Cool, then break walnuts apart. (May be prepared up to 5 days ahead; store in the cupboard in an airtight container.)
Make the vinaigrette: Put shallots in a small bowl. Add a pinch of salt and the sherry vinegar. Let mixture steep for 10 minutes. Whisk in walnut oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Cut the persimmons into ½-inch-thick wedges, or round slices, depending on your preference, and transfer to a low, wide salad bowl. Salt persimmons lightly, then dress with vinaigrette. Add radicchio leaves and gently toss with hands to coat leaves, pulling persimmon pieces to the top. Scatter pomegranate seeds over the top, along with any collected juices. Garnish with sugared walnuts and serve.
Eric hauling a macro-bin of Brussels Sprouts out of the field this morning
FARMER’S LOG
TO THE RAIN
In honor of this nice rainy fall we’ve been having, and to get some rest ahead of this big Thanksgiving harvest week, tonight we will leave you with a poem by Ursula K. Le Guin, daughter of California.
TO THE RAIN
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Mother rain, manifold, measureless,
falling on fallow, on field and forest,
on house-roof, low hovel, high tower,
downwelling waters all-washing, wider
than cities, softer than sisterhood, vaster
than countrysides, calming, recalling:
return to us, teaching our troubled
souls in your ceaseless descent
to fall, to be fellow, to feel to the root,
to sink in, to heal, to sweeten the sea.
* * * * *
See you in the fields,
David & Kayta
Creekfield put to bed in cover crop and the sun setting on our 2026 irrigation and production season as the first big storm of the winter rolls in
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.
