10/20/17 - Week 19

For the next few days, we have the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District's seed drill (for drilling cover crop seed) at our disposal, so I have to take advantage of last nights rain and this machine! It's bedtime for big chunks of the farm right now; they are getting tucked in with compost seeded into a life and fertility giving cover crop mix.

It was a gloriously beautiful harvest morning today; sun shining through dark clouds onto the newly wet earth. The vegetables definitely soaked up that rain. We think you'll be able to taste it in this week's share!

See you in the fields,

David

THIS WEEK'S HARVEST: Jester Acorn Squash, Yukon Gold Potatoes, Cured Yellow Onions, Fresh Torpedo Onions, Heirloom Tomatoes, Green Sweet Peppers, Summer Squash, Purple Top Turnips, Beets, Napa Cabbage, Celery Root, Rainbow Carrots, Broccoli Spigarello, Red Russian Kale, Arugula, Braising Mix (with Ethiopian Mustards, Baby Kale, Frizee and Radicchio), assorted Head Lettuce

U-PICK on the FARM:

• Jack O' Lanterns: We brought the Jack O's into the barn so that we can start transitioning that field into cover crop. Did everyone get one? Don't be shy! Limit 1 per share. For households with two or more children, limit is 2 per share. 

U-PICK in the GARDEN: 

• -Shishito and Black Hungarian Frying Peppers (the never-ending miracle pepper crop continues) 
• -Padrones & Jalapeños
• -Husk Cherries 
• -Strawberry snacks
• -All herbs and flowers.

Garlic Planting Party & Fall Harvest Potluck

• When: Sunday, November 5th, Garlic Planting at 2:00 pm, Potluck at 5:30
• Where: Out in the main fields next to the raspberries
• What now? A party wherein we plant for future by popping, dropping, covering and mulching 2018's garlic!
• What-to-bring: Clothes you don't mind getting dirty. Water, sunhat, snacks, and a dish inspired by the Fall harvest and garden herbs

10/13/17 - Week 18 - Fires

A load of produce headed to the CERES Community Project kitchen

Our hearts are heavy thinking of our Santa Rosa members and many friends and fellow farmers whose lives were turned upside down this week by the fires.

Through members Sarah Salamon and Cole Bendenelli (who is a chef at Ceres) we have been able to send loads of produce to the Ceres Community Project kitchen, where it is being prepared into meals for the shelters and responders. Our understanding is that they are in need of grains and proteins at this time. We will continue to coordinate with Ceres and other outlets to ensure GVCFarm produce gets to those who need it.

It has been unbelievably surreal farming in what feels like a war zone. Kayta and I have been trying to maintain the farms as best we can -- anxious and helpless as helicopters fly overhead and smoke rises in the East.

The first frosts visited the farm this week, zapping the tomatoes and ending the cucumbers and summer squash for the season. But our 7 varieties of winter squash are curing in the greenhouses thanks to some special helping hands and our berries seem to be making a late season rally... a good sign for 2018.

So we take heart in simple things this days; like Winter Squash, camaraderie, and the site of this beautiful community coming together to face this tragedy. 

Stay safe & stay strong & see you in the fields, 

David

Harvest pick-up will resume this Saturday, 8am - 1pm as usual. 

IMPORTANT: It is vitally important that we keep the roads and highways accessing the fires and response basecamps as clear as possible for this effort. Please be mindful of this, and current road and fire conditions, before making a trip to the farm.

If you, or a local loved one are in need of shelter in this time, please reach out. The Victorian Farmhouse at Green Valley Farm + Mill is open to evacuees. We have rooms, beds, hot showers... and plenty of vegetables. Kayta and I have a guest room in our house as well. 

Email our neighbor and fellow CSA member, Temra at temra@gvfam.com. She'll be managing availability.

THIS WEEK'S HARVEST: Delicata Winter Squash, Bodega Red Potatoes, Cured Yellow Onions, Fresh Torpedo Onions, Heirloom Tomatoes, Green Peppers, Tomatillos, Summer Squash, Daikon Radish, Green Magic Broccolini & Bishop Cauliflower, Napa Cabbage, Celery, Rainbow Carrots, Red Russian Kale, Dino Kale, Spinach, Spicy Mustard Mix, Cherokee Summercrisp & Red Little Gem Lettuce

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.
• Jack O' Lanterns: Pay a visit to the pumpkin patch by finding the pink flag in the main fields. If frost threatens again (and it looks like it is) we will bring the into the barn. Limit 1 per share. For households with two or more children, limit is 2 per share. 

U-PICK in the GARDEN: 

• Shishito and Black Hungarian Frying Peppers (still a few left) 
• Padrones & Jalapeños
• Husk Cherries 
• Strawberry snacks
• All herbs and flowers.

10/6/17 - Week 17 - Ode to Corn, Jack-O-Lanterns,

A huge thank you to everyone who made it out Saturday to help bring in the potatoes (1,000lbs!) and the Painted Mountain Corn! It was such a joy working with you all. If you missed it, or didn't get enough corn shucking, join us tomorrow for a...

• Floriani Red Flint Corn Harvest & Squash Haul Party
• When: This Saturday, October 7th at 10:30 am
• Where: Out in the main fields
• What now? A harvest party wherein we'll harvest the Floriani Red Flint Polenta Corn and, time permitting, haul squash out of the field to cure in the greenhouses.
• What-to-bring: Clothes you don't mind getting very dirty. Water, sunhat, snacks, and a brunchy-lunchy snack or drink to share if it's easy (not required).

We planted two heirloom corn varieties this year. Many of you met the Painted Mountain on Saturday. This gorgeous variety was developed in Montana by Dave Christensen, a farmer who dedicated his life to breeding corn that could survive the harsh conditions and high altitudes. He did this by gathering heirloom seeds from Northern Native Americans tribes and homesteaders, planting them together, letting them naturally cross pollinate, and carefully selecting for hardiness and nutrition. The result was Painted Mountain.

We’ll let this years cobs completely dry down in the greenhouse for about a week, so that the kernels readily thrashes off the cob. We’ll then distribute whole cobs to you all for decoration and a seed saving challenge (stay tuned!) and the rest we’ll take to our friend Wayne James’ place in Windsor, where we’ll thrash it and clean it, and then distribute it to the CSA as kernels. Painted Mountain makes great hominy.

The Painted Mountain corn drying in the greenhouse

Our second variety, drying out there in the fields, is Floriani Red Flint, which we will be harvesting tomorrow. It is an Italian heirloom, bread for the exceptional polenta it makes. Kayta and I have verified this over many hot winter meals. We’ll grind this corn into a coarse flour and distribute it late in the season.

Flint corns — hard as flint, hence the name — lack the “soft starch” of dent corns. They have a dense outer layers protecting the nutritious germ within. This shell, combined with a low water content, make flint corns resistant to freezing and excellent for storage. Flints were the staff of life for Native Americans in harsher climates on both hemispheres.

Indeed, since domestication in southern Mexico some 10,000 years ago, maize has been the staff of life for much of human civilization as we know it, from the ancient Mississipian and Mayan civilizations of old to the supermarket aisles of today, maize has reigned king.

Who better to pen ode to this miraculous plant, than the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda:

Ode to Maize

America, from a grain

of maize you grew

to crown

with spacious lands

the ocean foam.

A grain of maize was your geography.

From the grain

a green lance rose,

was covered with gold,

to grace the heights

of Peru with its yellow tassels.

But, poet, let

history rest in its shroud;

praise with your lyre

the grain in its granaries:

sing to the simple maize in

the kitchen.

First, a fine beard

fluttered in the field

above the tender teeth

of the young ear.

Then the husks parted

and fruitfulness burst its veils

of pale papyrus

that grains of laughter

might fall upon the earth.

To the stone,

in your journey,

you returned.

Not to the terrible stone,

the bloody

triangle of Mexican death,

but to the grinding stone

sacred

stone of your kitchens.

There, milk and matter,

strength-giving, nutritious

cornmeal pulp,

you were worked and patted

by the wondrous hands

of women.

Wherever you fall, maize,

whether into the

splendid pot of porridge, or among

country beans, you light up

the meal and lend it

your virginal flavor.

Oh, to bite into

the steaming ear beside the sea

of distant song and deepest waltz.

To boil you

as your aroma

spreads through

blue sierras.

But is there

no end

to your treasure?

In chalky, barren lands

bordered

by the sea, along

the rocky Chilean coast,

at times

only your radiance

reaches the empty

table of the miner.

Your light, your cornmeal,

your hope

pervades America’s solitudes,

and to hunger

your lances

are enemy legions.

Within your husks,

like gentle kernels,

our sober provincial

children’s hearts were

nurtured,

until life began

to shuck us from the ear.

– Pablo Neruda

See you in the fields, 

David and Kayta

THIS WEEKS HARVEST: Sunshine Kabocha Squash, Yukon Gold Potatoes, Cured Cabernet Red Onions, Fresh Torpedo Onions, Heirloom and New Girl Tomatoes, Tomatillos, Summer Squash, Hakurei Turnips, Striped Armenian & Lemon Cucumbers (last week!), Green Magic Broccoli & Bishop Cauliflower, Napa Cabbage, Celery, Carrots, Red Russian Kale, Dino Kale, Tatsoi Leafy Greens, Spicy Mustard Mix, Cherokee Summercrisp & Assorted Head Lettuces

U-PICK in the GARDEN: 

• Pesto Basil - this might be the last week, as temperatures have approached frosting the last few nights.
• Shishito and Black Hungarian Frying Peppers (still a few left), Padrones, Jalapeños 
• Husk Cherries
• All herbs and flowers.

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.
• Jack O' Lanterns! These 40 Jack O's are looking for a home out in the main fields! Pay a visit to the pumpkin patch by finding the pink flag and take one home! Limit is 1 per share. For households with two or more children, limit is 2 per share.