THIS WEEK’S HARVEST
Fresh-Ground Floriani Red Flint Cornmeal, Cherokee Summer Crisp Lettuce, Kolibri Little Gem Lettuce, Dino Kale, Sugarloaf Chicories, Baby Beets, Assorted Zucchini, Patty Pan & Crookneck Squash, bulk Pickling Cucumbers, Persian Cucumbers, Mini Caraflex Cabbage, Carrots, Fresh Cipollini Onions, Lorz Softneck Garlic
U-PICK
Check the u-pick board in the barn for weekly u-pick limits.
Albion Strawberries | 2 pints per share
Purple Sugar Snap Peas | 1 pint per share | Just like green sugar snaps, these can be enjoyed raw or cooked, though their purple color will fade with cooking. Comb through the low-growing plants to find peas that have started to fill out for the sweetest flavor.
Frying Peppers: see harvest note!
Shishitos: 2 pints/share
Padrons: 2 pints/share
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! Too many to list! Feel free to pick the sunflowers along the edge of the parking area in addition to everything in the garden.
Padrons, Purple Sugar Snap Peas, and Shishitos.
HARVEST NOTES
Bulk Pickling Cucumbers! Now that the Persian cucumbers are beginning to produce, we’ll begin 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. 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.
Fresh-Ground Floriani Red Flint Cornmeal: This beautiful Italian heirloom was bred especially for polenta, with a higher protein content than typical flour corns. The kernels are red on the outside and yellow inside, resulting in a vibrant yellow cornmeal with red flecks. Use it in your favorite cornmeal recipe or make polenta with the recipe below!
Fresh Cipollini Onions: A sweet, fresh delicacy that is often eaten raw — it is so mild you can cut it thin and eat in on pizza, salad, or straight up! Also delicious grilled or roasted.
Sugarloaf Chicories: We would die happy famers if we initiated all our CSA members into a deep and abiding love for Sugarloaf Chicories. The sweetest of the bitter chicory family, it’s delicious as a raw salad green, chopped up and paired with a rich, sharp dressing (like caesar), grilled, roasted or braised. To roast, cut a Sugarloaf head into quarters or eighths, brush with olive oil, and broil until the outer leaves are slightly caramelized and crisped, and the leaves soft. Then top with salt and grated parmesan (toasted breadcrumbs would be delicious too) and eat as a side.
Shishito Frying Peppers: These Japanese frying peppers are long and wrinkled with thin, delicate walls. Best picked between 3-4” long, they are seldom spicy. They are incredibly delicious fried in high-heat oil until 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 1/2" long, about 1 out of 10 fruits will be hot, but as the peppers’ size increase, so do their spiciness. 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.
FLOWER ARRANGING WORKSHOP
THIS Tuesday, July 22nd, 5:30 pm
Are you looking for some tips and inspiration on flower picking and arranging?
Are you a seasoned flower-nerd and feel like sipping bubblies and arranging flowers with like-minded friends?
CSA member Cassidy Blackwell fell in love with flowers and flower arranging on the farm in 2020. It’s since become a passion of hers. Cassidy will share her stoke and some tips she’s learned about arranging. This is a special annual farm event.
Please bring a bucket to pick into, a favorite vase, and clippers. Members are welcome to bring a non-member friend. Suggested $30 donation for non-members.
FLORIANI RED FLINT POLENTA
We love making a big pot of polenta to eat with veggies for dinner— this week, we’ll be roasting zucchini, cipollinis and fennel and topping with parmesan or feta — and then eating the leftover polenta sliced, pan-fried and topped with a fried egg and greens in the following days.
Polenta is simple to prepare, but it does benefit from a long cooking time — about 45 minutes. Here are the basic steps, and ideas for different variations.
Bring water to a boil. For our course-ground cornmeal, we recommend 4-5 cups of water to 1 cup of cornmeal. Rather than water you can also use stock to bring extra flavor, or include some milk for added richness.
Gradually whisk cornmeal into the boiling water, and continue stirring for a minute or two as the mixture thickens. Add some salt.
Continue cooking on low, stirring every 10 minutes, for approximately 45 minutes, or until the polenta reaches the desired consistency, and the grains are swollen and soft. Add water as needed if it thickens before it’s fully cooked.
Towards the end of the cooking time you can add in any additional flavorings you’d like: crushed garlic, olive oil, butter, sun-dried tomatoes, herbs like rosemary and thyme, or cheese! (Parmesan, feta, cheddar, blue cheese...) Taste for flavor and salt and adjust as needed.
To make your leftovers into firm, sliceable polenta, pour the still-warm and not-yet-set polenta into a shallow layer in a lightly buttered dish. (Rectangular glass storage containers are great for this.) Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 days.
FARMER’S LOG
July Emptiness
At this time of year it is hard to find the headspace for a thoughtful Farmer’s Log — the steady rhythm of the bulky harvests drowns out softer notes of reflection.
To sneak in planting, seeding, and weeding in the margins of harvest your only thoughts are farm thoughts, your only feelings are farm feelings. You must remain disciplined, focused… you can’t miss a beat (no pun intended).
This week, while the harvest share starts to get a little more summery (despite this very cold July) we turned towards fall in the field. We transplanted over 650 ft of Brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving. Asa seeded our fall carrots. We saw the first potato tubers swelling up in the flowering potato field.
Whimsical thoughts.
It’s a strange feeling, this time of year: Our internal lives, our emotions, dreams, and whimsies — feel far away, shoved aside by the harvest and urgent needs in the field — but at the same time we never feel more full.
There is a sort of innocence, a fullness, in being so busy as to be empty.
Then, the swelling of the corn stalks can you lift you up to the eaves. The heat is your sorrow. The flowering potatoes are your whimsical thoughts. And the little things — a good sip of coffee, a crew mate’s joke, a good harvest — can fill you up to the brim.
See you in the fields,
David
CSA 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)!
