8/11/17 - Week 9 - Fall is here

Week 9 sample harvest share

FARMERS LOG:

This is a complex time of year on the farm. Summer is here in full force, but Fall is everywhere. Even next season is in the works out there.

Half a years worth of planning, seed starting and plant tending is paying off as the set pieces of summer are in full fruit; the slow developing nightshades (tomatoes, eggplant, peppers) and their cucurbit comrades (melons, cucumbers, squash) adorn our tables, the corn is high, and we are in that special time of year where one can make fresh salsa straight from the farm (jalapeños, onions, tomatoes, cilantro).

2017's Tomato Varieties: (Top to bottom like reading a book) New Girl, Black Prince, Cherokee Purple, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Paisano San Marzano, Sungold, Supersweet 100, Black Cherry, Black Vernissage, Striped German, Brandywine, Yellow Brandywine, Green Zebra. Which is your favorite?

But in the the greenhouses and increasingly in the fields, it is all Fall. Our Fall brassica plantings (kales, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussells sprouts and the broccoli we will be picking off of on into December) are all bursting out of their seeding trays and ready to go in the ground. We planted the Fall storage carrots last Sunday. Parts of the fields, you will notice this week, are bare and ready to be planted into or are in the process of being prepared for what's next. These beds provided our earliest farm meals (spring lettuces, mustard greens, turnips and radishes, the first carrots, beets, and first cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage) and, depending on what was in them before, will see a second crop before being put to cover crop bed in the fall or will be planted into a summer cover crop now. And you would hardly notice but, just underfoot, 8 or 10 inches below the surface of the soil, our potatoes are mostly fully formed, their skins hardening off.

2018 is here in the four beds next to the raspberries. These beds will get a brief summer cover crop of buckwheat, the buckwheat will be occulated, and then these lucky beds will be planted into 2018's garlic in late September / early October. 

We hope you are enjoying the summer bounty coming out of the fields and this season of transition on the farm.

See you in the fields, 

David & Kayta

THIS WEEK'S HARVEST: Heirloom Tomatoes, New Girl Slicing Tomatoes, San Marzano Sauce Tomatoes, Italian Eggplant, Fresh Yellow Spring Onions, Sweet Peppers, Summer Squash (Italian Zucchini, Crookneck and Patty Pan), Radishes, Striped Armenian Cucumbers, Melons, Broccoli, Savoy Cabbage, Chioggia Beets, Rainbow Carrots, Tatsoi, Red Russian Kale, Dino Kale, Arugula, Spinach, Hearts-Aglow Lettuce Leaf Mix

U-PICK in the GARDEN: Amethyst Green Beans, Frying Peppers, Jalapeños, Husk Cherries, cut flowers, perennial & annual herbs.

U-PICK on the FARM: Wild Himalayan Blackberries, Cherry Tomatoes

PRESERVING THE SUMMER: 

Pickling Cucumbers: The 20lb per season quota has been lifted, let the pickle free-for-all commence! If you are interested in more pickling cucumbers, we've got you covered. We'll have 10lb ready-to-go bags in the glass fronted fridge in our barn. Help yourselves. First come first serve. Pickling cukes will be tapering off over the next 2 to 3 weeks.

Green Beans: One of Kayta's and my favorite preserves is pickled green beans aka "Dilly Beans". They are a garlicy, tangy treat to throw on the plate next to pretty much any meal. Our patch of Amethyst Green Beans is loaded and picking is not limited. Here is a great, simple dilly bean recipe (from foodinjars.com) to inspire you.

8/4/17 - Week 8 - Owlets

FARMERS LOG:

The Flight of the Owlets

We farmers, out here rooting around in the muck all day, are sometimes chanced privy to the spectacularly goofy things wild creatures do. Such as today, when the wild turkeys got and boggled out by the thunder, and couldn't help gobbling back at it every time.

Once in a blue moon, we are chanced privy to the mystical side of Mother Nature. To the occult. To moments where the cosmic wold and the animal world of flesh and blood aline in such a way as to reveal the source of fairy tales and superstitions.

Such a day, or night rather, for both, was the full moon of July.

We told in these annals, just a few weeks past, of the family of Barn Owls growing up in the owl box near our house. Four owlets there were...

We first learned of their birth into this World by tiny, hideous, rasping noises coming from the previously vacant aery. This was in March. Every twilight thenceforth, when out to check the mail or out to check the plums or out returning in from out, their insistent rasps accompanied us, "Feed us, Mommy! Feed us!" And feed them she did. 

Once in a while we would spy Mother Owl, silent and ghostly white, hovering through the air as if suspended. She would alight upon the doorway, the rasps would increase in urgency and change in tone, and she would float away.

Weeks passed, moons passed, and the little rasps grew in power and potency. They became so loud they entered the house and became the soundtrack of our nocturnal lives. From dusk to dawn, cooking in the kitchen, turning over in between dreams, or in the predawn brushing our tooths, rasp. rasp. RAAAASP! 

Sometime in early May, they started showing themselves. Far from the little demons we expected to see, cute little white monkey faces began popping out of the box. A few weeks later, be-winged fuzzy monkeys bravely perched upon the porch. And screeched.

In June, they got their driving permits and could be seen and heard screeching to and from the a nearby tree. They awkwardly would crash into the tree, screech a few times, and try to hide from us, the bemused audience below.

As June waned and the moon waxed the owlets came into their own. The nights brightened and their presence increasingly dominated the little meadow valley below. They began whipping lithely hither and thither, perching on Big Doug Firs far from their nest, and piercing the air with chilling warning calls when we would approached their box. But same infant screeching continued. All night. Every night. We started to wonder how they all fit in the box during the day. And what power could compel these grown-children to stop haunting the meadow?

The full moon of July 9th, the "Thunder Moon" it is sometimes called, was a bright one this year. On my bedtime walk to check on the irrigation around 10pm, I remember the long shadow I cast on the silvery path and an eery feeling. One of the shortest nights of the year, I remember tossing and turning in bed, the bright window shades, shadows on the white walls, and silence. At morning tea we realized they were gone.

Since the Thunder Moon we have not heard or seen the owlets. We know they are out there. A pellet consisting of the front half of a lizard and the back half a mouse happenstanced on our doorstep the other day. But they have changed. The awkward monkey faces are no more. It seems the giant monkey face in the heavens may have held the key.

See you in the fields,

David & Kayta

THIS WEEK'S HARVEST: Heirloom Tomatoes, New Girl Slicing Tomatoes, San Marzano Sauce Tomatoes, Italian Eggplant, Sweet Peppers, Summer Squash (Italian Zucchini, Crookneck and Patty Pan), Striped Armenian & Lemon Cucumbers, Melons, Fennel, Broccoli, Murdoch Cabbage, Beets, Carrots, Bok Choi, Red Russian Kale, Rainbow Chard, Collard Greens, Mustard Greens, Romaine and Red Summercrisp Head Lettuces, Fresh Yellow Spring Onions

PICKLING CUCUMBERS: We're increasing the pickling cucumber quota to 20lbs per share. If you have already picked up one 10lb bag, take home a second. If you haven't received any pickling cucumbers yet, your future-self will thank your past-self when you are rolling in pickles this winter. We'll have ready to go bags in the glass fronted fridge in the back of the pick up barn. 

U-PICK in the GARDEN: 

• Amethyst Beans: This is a beautiful purple green bean variety great raw or cooked. Beans pods turn green when cooked. Picking is unlimited, the plants are loaded. They are located just below the frying peppers and are somewhat hard to spot because they are the same color as the vines.
• Herbs: Genovese Italian Basil, Cilantro, Savory, Onion Chives, Parsley, Sage, Oregano, Dill, Thymes, Mints, Sorrel, Chamomile, Lemon Verbena, Lemon Balm, Anise Hyssop
• Cut flowers: Dahlias (limit 4 per season per share), Celosia, Craspedia, Cosmos, Nasturtium, Bachelor's Buttons, Zinnias, Calendula, Snapdragons, Red Spike Amaranth, Sunflowers, Love-in-a-Mist
• Frying peppers: Shishitos, Black Hungarian, Padrones, Jalapeños
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Husk Cherries aka Ground Cherries aka Cape Gooseberries: A delightful sweet little nightshade berry wrapped inside a cool little "wrapper". Kids love them. Just peel the papery wrapper off and eat! Husk Cherries are ripe when the wrapper is golden. (Green = unripe). Look low down under the canopy of leaves for the ripe ones.

7/27/17 - Week 7 - Farm Labor

FARMERS LOG:

One day in early July, I realized we were in trouble. Our electric cultivation (aka weed killing) tractor was more broken than we thought -- ground faults everywhere, potentiometer acting all screwy. The weeds on the other had were not broken. The weeds in our quarter acre of winter squash were notably unbroken and had been growing so rapidly during our tractor troubleshooting that mechanical cultivation became impossible. Ironic. We needed help. We needed grit and agricultural experience.

Enter the Graton Day Labor Center. We're lucky to live close to a one-of-a-kind worker led non-profit that "organizes with domestic workers and day laborers in west Sonoma County, CA for the advancement of their rights and dignity as workers, as immigrants, and as members of the broader community." The workers there have organized so that everyone is paid decently ($15/hour is baseline) and everyone knows their rights. And needless to say, there is a wealth of agricultural experience there. 

I made an appointment and the following morning, Sebastian and Alexandra showed up at 7am. We got to talking a bit. Both in their 20's, Sebastian had come to Santa Rosa as a boy, the son of Mexican immigrants. Alexandra, from Kazakstan, had come to the states via Mexico. She spoke Spanish fluently and had been in the U.S. for a month. 

Over the course two 95 degree days, Alexandra and Sebastian rescued our winter squash planting. Their skill and care was obvious from the start. They were thorough and took care not to harm the fragile squash stems and blossoms as they removed the two foot tall, deeply rooted weeds surrounding the plants (easier said than done).

Naturally, Sebastian and Alexandra's presence on the farm made me think of the current political "discourse" around immigrants. For Kayta and I, it is impossible separate this conversation from people we know and the work we love because Latin American immigrants are the backbone of agriculture in Sonoma County and beyond. They run the vineyards, manage the lands, tend and harvest our food up and down North America.

One reason we like the CSA model is that it brings eaters into closer connection with where their food comes from and how it comes to be. To us this feels like one helpful antidote for a culture that participates little in its food production, and is therefore sometimes able to think little of the people who do it.

So, we wanted to give Sebastian and Alexandra and their work a little shout out here. Every time Kayta and I look at the plump, happy baby winter squash filling out under a clean canopy of squash leaves, we think of them and their critical contribution to our season. And we'll all have them to thank for every bite of sweet winter squash this Fall. 

See you in the fields, 

David & Kayta

THIS WEEK'S HARVEST: Heirloom Tomatoes, New Girl Slicing Tomatoes, San Marzano Type Sauce Tomatoes, Italian Eggplant, Summer Squash (Italian Zucchini, Crookneck and Patty Pan), Striped Armenian & Lemon Cucumbers, Galia Melons, Fennel, Cauliflower, Radishes, Savoy Cabbage, Beets, Carrots, Bok Choi, Red Russian Kale, Arugula, Mustard Greens Mix, Muir Summer Crisp and Red Little Gem Head Lettuces

U-PICK in the GARDEN: 

• Herbs: Genovese Italian Basil, Cilantro, Savory, Onion Chives, Parsley, Sage, Oregano, Dill, Thymes, Mints, Sorrel, Chamomile, Lemon Verbena, Lemon Balm, Lemon Grass, Anise Hyssop
• Cut flowers: Dahlias (limit 3 per season per share), Celosia, Craspedia, Cosmos, Nasturtium, Bachelor's Buttons, Zinnias, Calendula, Snapdragons, Red Spike Amaranth, Sunflowers, Love-in-a-Mist
• Frying peppers: Shishitos, Black Hungarian, Padrones, Jalapeños
• Husk Cherries aka Ground Cherries aka Cape Gooseberries: These are a delightful sweet little nightshade berries wrapped inside a cool little "wrapper". Kids love them. Just peel the papery wrapper off and eat! Husk Cherries are ripe when the wrapper is golden. (Green = unripe). Look low down under the canopy of leaves for the ripe ones.

U-PICK on the FARM: 

• Cherry tomatoes:  Sungolds, Black Cherry, and Super Sweet 100's in three Rows marked with the blue flags in the main fields.
• Wild Blackberries:  Two epic patches along the fence on the far side of our main fields (behind the winter squash and potatoes). Marked with pink flags. Let us know if you need help locating them!