Are you a new member who hasn’t attended an orientation yet? Orientation dates and times can be found below the Harvest Notes.
THIS WEEK’S HARVEST
Fresh Lorz Softneck Garlic, Mustard Mix, Dino Kale, Komatsuna or Purple Flowering Bok Choi, Green Zucchini and Yellow Crookneck Squash, Volcana Little Gem Lettuce, Red Butter Lettuce, Rouxai Red Oakleaf Lettuce, Giorgione Chicory, Baby Fennel, Kohlrabi, Scallions, Pickling Cucumbers, Mini Tiara Cabbage, Baby Carrots
A swarm of honeybees hanging from the branches of the big oak by the playground on Thursday.
U-PICK
Check the u-pick board in the barn for weekly u-pick limits.
Albion Strawberries: 2 pints per share
Sugar Snap Peas: 1 pint per share | We recommend walking to the back of the Sugar Snap Pea beds where the peas are fat and abundant!
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! Many perennial flowers and the first of the year’s annuals!
HARVEST NOTES
Baby Carrots: We are so excited to share the first carrots of the season with you! These are true baby carrots, planted at the beginning of May, as soon as the fields dried down enough to access. They are delicate, sweet and incredibly tender. Eat them raw as a perfect snack, or toss with olive oil and salt and roast alongside fennel, scallions and squash as an elegant early summer side. We’ll have carrots now until the end of the year.
Pickling Cucumbers: While we will have bulk Pickling Cucumbers available a little later in the season for pickling projects, this week we’re bringing you just a taste as the first cucumbers of the season. Like the first pancakes, these are a bit eccentric, but delicious, either peeled and eaten fresh, or made into a very small batch of quick pickles.
Giorgione Chicory: This Castelfranco Radicchio has fancy, frilled leaf-edges, delicate speckling and a flavor that’s mild enough to be enjoyed raw. Delicious and beautiful added to a lettuce salad or on its own paired with a sharp, rich dressing.
FARM ORIENTATION TOURS FOR NEW MEMBERS
All new adult members are required to attend an orientation their first time picking up their harvest share. We’ll go over farm safety and etiquette, give you your farm tote bags, show you the ropes in the flower and herb garden, and share the secret to finding the sweetest strawberries.
If you are new to the farm, please join us promptly for one of the orientation tours below:
WEEK 3:
Saturday, June 28: 9 am, 11 am, 1 pm
Tuesday, July 1: 1 pm. 3 pm, 5:30 pm
You can come get oriented and pick up your first share on either day (Saturday or Tuesday), whichever day and time works best for your schedule. Tours last about 30 minutes. All adult members of your share who will be regularly enjoying the farm should attend an orientation.
If you are sharing a share by alternating weeks with another household, one household should attend an orientation Week 1 and the other an orientation on Week 2.
If you can’t attend a tour time above, please reach out to us to schedule a time that works for you.
THE 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)!
Where should I park?: Follow our sign on Cooper Rd. down a short gravel driveway. Please find a parking spot under the solar panels to your left, or on either side of the road in front, or below, the greenhouse.
Where is the food? The produce pick-up barn is just to the right of the solar panels and above our big greenhouse. You can’t miss it!
What should I bring?:
Former members, please bring your WCCF tote bag! (New members will be given a new one.)
Pint baskets or small containers for strawberries and herbs (if you have some, we will provide a few pint baskets to be used as measures)
A vase, bucket, or water bottle to keep your flowers and herbs happy
Clippers or secateurs to cut flowers (if you have some)
Water / sun hat / picnic supplies if you plan to stay awhile!
Newsletters & email communication: All our important CSA communications are sent through this email address, which is sometimes spam blocked. Please make sure this email address is in your address book so you get important CSA communications. All newsletters and important updates, like this one, are also posted on the Newsletters page of our website weekly.
LATE SPRING SALAD WITH FETA, HERBS AND SNAP PEAS
It’s salad season, and this week we hit upon a combination that we had to share:
Tear Volcano Little Gems (pink all the way to the heart and so special) and the blanched hearts of Giorgione chicories into bite-sized pieces.
Thinly slice fennel and sugar snap peas.
Chop or tear dill, lemon & Italian basil and mint (it’s all about the mint!) .
Crumble feta or goat cheese.
Toast some fresh or stale bread chunks in a generous amount of olive oil and salt to make homemade croutons.
Toss everything together with ranch dressing. (Check out this recipe if you’d like to make your own!)
Taste and add additional olive oil, lemon and salt if desired.
FARMER’S LOG
THE SEASON OF POWER
This week we settled further into our harvest rhythm and entered one of the most exciting and transformational times of year on the farm. The season of power.
With most of our plant babies out of the nursery and in their fields, waterlines set, the days at their longest, it is now time for our plants to do their thing.
The word power comes to mind for this time of year on the farm in the sense of the raw power of light, soil, and plant life. At no other time of year is this power more palpable, more awe inspiring, than the 50 or 60 days surrounding the solstice.
Take a look at these pictures of our winter squash field taken from the same place on June 18th and July 27th, 2023 (just 40 days a apart).
During the season of power our crops (who up till now have been vulnerable little things who needed us for everything) take their lives and their power into their own hands.
They seem to grow before our eyes, passionately devouring and transforming every drop of sunlight and water that falls. They mature, they flower, they sex, they start growing their seeds. Our fields transform from tranquil nursery plots into teaming, striving jungles.
It’s kind of scary.
And it is a humbling time of year for the farmer. At no other time do we feel more clearly the fact that we are not actually growers, we are shepherds.
Sure, we worked hard preparing the ground, moving things here and there. But this was all just setting the stage. This was all just setting out the dreamcatcher for when the real power enters.
And when it comes, boy, do we know it.
At this time of year the farm feels possessed with light, with growth, with spirit. All this energy is the heavy, nutritious staple food we’ll enjoy all summer and fall — all that corn, the potatoes, squash, tomatoes — they are here with us now, flowing through exploding green foliage, quick and bright, like high voltage electricity.
It’s best to just stand back and watch.
See you in the fields,
David
