THIS WEEK’S HARVEST
Sunshine Kabocha Winter Squash, Lorz Softneck Garlic, Green Cabbage, Purple Majesty Potatoes, Calibra Yellow Onions, Carrots, Leeks, Romanesco, Dandelion Greens, Dazzling Blue Dino Kale, Castelfranco Chicories, Red Salanova Oakleaf Lettuce, Arugula
U-PICK
Check the u-pick board in the barn for weekly u-pick limits.
🎃 Jack-O-Lantern & Decorative Pumpkins | No limit | There are still a pile of nice pumpkins on the farm side of the field — help yourself if you’d like more!
Cherry Tomatoes | Gleanings
Frying Peppers:
Shishitos | Gleanings
Padróns | Gleanings
Time to pickle peppers! The hot peppers will be disappearing at the first sign of frost, so now is the time to preserve the abundance! It’s a great time for pickled hot peppers and making hot sauce!
Hot Peppers:
Jalapeños | No limit
Habanero | No limit
Thai Chilis | No limit | Spicy!
Wilson’s Vietnamese Devil Pepper | No limit
Herbs & Edible Flowers: Herbs are winding down but some can be scrounged.
Flowers! There are still some flowers to be had after the rains, particularly zinnias, marigolds (the solid orange ones are all the way to the north — towards Winter Sister Farm) and some late-season curios.
HARVEST NOTES
Sunshine Kabocha Squash: One of our all-time favorite squash. Excellent for eating roasted (check out our guide to roasting from last week if you need a reminder!). Also excellent in pies, curries, soups, and baked goods (substitute for pumpkin in any recipe). Super sweet, velvety smooth texture.
Green Cabbage: This week we’ll be bringing you some truly giant cabbage! They’re perfect for making sauerkraut (see our favorite recipe in Week 14’s newsletter), or slowly carving chunks off to eat with dinner. We’ve been loving eating stir-fried cabbage this fall, as in the recipe below, (and we’re also eyeing the Asian Pickled Cabbage recipe from the same source).
Dandelion Greens: These succulent Italian dandelions are the perfect bitter winter green. As with chicory, they pair well with rich, sharp flavors. For a simple and delicious side dish, try sautéing with olive oil (or bacon fat), plenty of garlic and a dash of red wine vinegar. Or check out this recipe for Chickpea Pancakes with Dandelions and Caramelized Onions from a past newsletter!
SELECTING A TASTY WINTER SQUASH
POV: You approach a macro-bin of West County Winter Squash in the barn with hundreds of edible orbs. Which will you choose!?
Selecting a sweet, ripe winter squash is a little like selecting a ripe melon; you never know lies within until you take a bite, but you can take certain cues from the outside of the squash to make sure you get a sweet one.
In general, it is best to select squashes with rich color, and deep warm hues like oranges and reds. Bon bon buttercup, for example, is a dark green squash but tends to be sweetest when it has a nice deep orange spot on one side. Sunshine Kabocha, which we are distributing this week, is best when a deep orange-red. A nice golden brown-orange delicata will likely be much tastier than a paler green compadre.
We try to avoid harvesting or putting out unripe squash, but in general, avoid squash that are pale or green. Go for the warm colors!
A vine-ripened, locally grown winter squash will be delicious just roasted and appreciated unadorned. See last week’s Newsletter for our tips on roasting winter squash.
WINTER SISTER FARM CSA - SIGN-UPS NOW OPEN!
Want to keep getting abundant weekly veggies through the winter? Winter Sister Farm, located right next door, is open for signups for their 2025-2026 Winter-Spring CSA! They have a range of share options and sizes, including both free-choice and box shares, all of which include access to their u-pick herb and flower garden. Visit www.wintersisterfarm.com/csa for more details!
Meg, Henry & Riley in the cabbage patch this morning.
CHINESE SHREDDED CABBAGE STIR-FRY
From The Woks of Life
Cabbage stir-fry is a really tasty dish that’s savory, tangy, and very satisfying. Plus,this cabbage stir-fry is CHEAP and quick to prepare.
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons oil
6 oz. pork belly (pork loin, or chicken, thinly sliced) — Optional
5 cloves garlic (smashed and cut in half)
5 dried red chilies (deseeded and roughly chopped)
1 1/2 lb. cabbage (hand-shredded into bite sized pieces, washed, and thoroughly dried)
2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar
2 scallions (cut into 2-inch lengths)
instructions
In a wok over high heat, add the oil. Sear the meat until caramelized. Add the garlic and chili, turn down the heat to medium, and stir-fry for a minute, taking care not to burn the garlic.
Add the cabbage, wine, soy sauce, sugar, and water. Turn up the heat to high, cover the lid and let the cabbage cook for 1-2 minutes. Uncover the lid, and stir in the black vinegar, scallions, and salt to taste. The cabbage should be wilted, but still slightly crunchy and caramelized. Serve hot!
FARMER’S LOG
AN ODE TO WINTER SQUASH
This week on the farm we made a big push to finish clipping and boxing the last of our monster 2025 winter squash.
A few weeks ago, we penned an ode to the mighty potato. Last week we serenaded el maíz. Both are New World crops that changed the world and inspired poets. But this week we save for the fairest of them all: The beloved oldest of the three sisters — the winter squash.
She takes on infinite forms, from voluptuous to svelte; from burning red to the palest blue. She has been kindling a bashful and loyal love in humanity’s heart for over 10,000 years.
The ancestral plants of what we call squash (the species including zucchini, melons, gourds, cucumbers, pumpkins and all winter squash) are millions of years old and native to the Americas. The earliest evidence for human domestication dates back 10,000 years to southern Mexico, earlier than the domestication of corn or beans.
Word travelled fast and inspiration abounded. By 2,000 B.C., squash had became a part of life for almost every Native American culture from Southern Canada to Patagonia. (The English word “squash” comes from the Narragansett word, askutasquash, meaning fresh vegetable, and similar words can be found in the Algonquian language family.) Squash varieties were developed and cherished for everything from their protein rich and medicinal seeds to the sweet flesh and winter-hardy skins. Botanists note at least six separate domestication events occurring in the Americas.
Here at West County Community Farm, the human + squash love affair burns bright — and we’re lucky to have at our fingertips the unparalleled modern library of heirloom squash seeds to explore. Over the winter, Kayta hunkered down with a seed catalogue and a good cup of coffee and laid out a season-long love sonnet to squash: We felt the summer wind with a cool slice of Persian cucumber; we dined by candlelight over pasta with Costata Romanesca Zucchini; and once we tasted a Sarah’s Choice Cantaloupe, we could never forget.
But in the winter, our true love came — the winter squash.
We’ll have a new squash for you to get to know almost every week from now until our last CSA pickup day, December 9th. Allow us to introduce you…
Top row from L to R: Delicata, Butternut, Futsu, Bonbon Buttercup, Jester Acorn | Bottom row L to R: Honeynut, Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin, Sunshine Kabocha, Koginut, Sweet Jade
Sunshine Kabocha: The village beauty. A fiery-red Kabocha squash with sugar-sweet and flaky flesh. An all-time farmer favorite that can be cooked any which way. Exceptional for pumpkin pie and straight roasted eating.
Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin: The supreme pie pumpkin in lacy lingerie. The only pie pumpkin that can compete with a Sunshine Kabocha. We'll distribute this one around Thanksgiving with our go-to pumpkin pie recipe.
Black Futsu: A beloved Japanese delicacy, this bite sized, mini Butternut relative has bright orange flesh with unique fruity flavor and edible skin with a gorgeous frosted look.
Butternut: The solid, reliable, bring-’em-home-to-Daddy squash with a nutty charm.
Bonbon Buttercup: The girl next door. Unassuming, humble, and cute as a button. BonBon Buttercup is, in farmer David’s opinion, the best squash ever. Marriage material.
Delicata: A real heartbreaker. The sweetest. Easiest to cook, even easier to eat.
Koginut: A very expensive date (the priciest seed of all squash), this cutie is a hybrid of kabocha and butternut and has a nutty flavor with notes of citrus and vanilla. Very popular with chefs.
Honeynut Butternut: A highly educated squash developed by the Cornell Vegetable Breeding Institute, this petite butternut variant is new to us this year.
Jester Acorn: A Delicata type that looks like a fancy Acorn Squash. A good Jester can be among the sweetest of squashes.
Sweet Jade: A real cutie — a personal-sized grey green Kabocha.
Set the table, poor the wine, and light the candles — we hope you fall in love with a winter squash this autumn!
See you in the fields,
David
CSA BASICS
Slow on Cooper Road! Out of respect for our neighbors and the many kids and animals that live on Cooper Rd., please drive slow (20 mph)!
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.
