11/15/2019 - Week 22 - Conversation in the Field 2019

THIS WEEK'S HARVEST

Tetsukabuto Winter Squash, Harvest Moon Potatoes, Leeks, Duganski Hardneck Garlic, Broccoli Spigariello, Komatsuna, Cabbage, Romanesco, Green Magic Broccoli, Hakurei Turnips, Loose Rainbow Carrots, Loose Beets, Little Gems & Assorted Head Lettuce, Spinach, Fancy Fall Salad Mix

CSA member and photographer Sashwa Burrous came out to photograph us doing our thing. Thank for the amazing photos, Sashwa!

U-PICK

• Herbs: Tulsi Basil, Thai Basil, Italian Parsley, Rosemary, Lemon balm, Lemon Verbena, Vietnamese Coriander, Cilantro, French Sorrel, Onion Chives, Tarragon, Oregano, Thyme, Culinary Lavender, Lemongrass

• Flowers: Bouquets can still be scavenged, but our flower year is winding down as it’s time to put our gardens to bed for the winter. Thank you, Kayta, for planning an incredible flower year!

• Strawberries: Going to sleep for the season. Still a few to be found.

HARVEST NOTES

• Tetsukabuto Winter Squash: A kabocha x butternut cross called the “apocalypse squash” for its vigor and ability to a produce sweet, nutty, and versatile squash under adverse conditions. To roast, cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and roast cut side down at 400 degrees until you can poke a fork through the skin and the flesh is soft and creamy. Add dashes of water to the baking sheet while roasting to keep squash moist. Eat straight out of the shell with a spoon or use like you would any sweet winter squash (soups, stews, curries, pies, etc.).

Tetsukabuto second from left on the bottom. See Week 18’s Newsletter for a rundown of 2019’s winter squash crew.

RAW LOCAL HONEY FOR SALE

Our friend Darlene Taylor will be selling her “Blessed Bee” honey made by happy backyard bees of Graton! This bee-utiful gift of liquid gold is over-flowing in her kitchen, and she’s excited to share some with members of Green Valley Community Farm! Help boost your immune system with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals or simply add a little sweetness to your days.

She’ll have 3 sizes of jars available: 6 oz for $5, 12 oz for $10, and 16 oz for $13. Cash payment please.

SAVE THE DATE!

End of the Season Harvest Potluck Brunch
Sunday, December 8TH: 11:00am - 1:00pm

CSA members Carl Jaeger & Sarah Salamon are planning celebratory end of season CSA community Harvest Brunch Potluck in the big party barn on the south end of the property on December 8th! Come mix and mingle and eat scrumptious fare. See your farmers in non dirt-stained clothing. Open mic! Find the invitation in your inbox for more details and to RSVP. We hope to see you all there!

WHEN IS THE LAST WEEK of HARVEST PICK-UP?

Some folks have been asking when the last week of harvest pick-up is. The last week of our 2019 CSA harvest season is the week of December 14th.

• The last Saturday pick-up is December 14th

• The last Tuesday pick-up is December 17th

Thank you to everyone who helped us plant 2020’s garlic this week. 4,700 cloves in the ground!

NOTES & REMINDERS

• Say No to Single Use Plastic: We will no longer be supplying plastic or plastic-substitute bags at farm pick-up. Please bring your own plastic produce bags. Additionally, if you have a bunch of extra clean plastic bags at home, please bring some to fill our recycled plastic bag station for others to use.

FARMER’S LOG

Conversation in the Field 2019 Style

Perhaps it could be said there are unexpected perks and disadvantages every occupation on this good Earth. The perks and prickles of farming are many and famous. Long hours, rewarding work. Dirty hands, clean hearts. Being at the whims of nature but also at her bosom.

Our favorite perk of farming, a gift that keeps on giving, are the abiding, familial bonds we develop with the people we work with; our colleagues in the fields; compatriots through the long summer days; comrades in frosty Fall harvests.

There is something about going through a season on a farm together that feels like you really went through something together — something big. (Perhaps this bond is not unlike the fabled bond among soldiers.) You really get to know someone through the ups and down of a growing season, how they fall and how they get up.

I think the secret sauce to crew kinship in farming is something quite simple… but rather rare these days: Lots of long form conversation.

It is well known: Small scale agriculture requires a lot of repetitive work with the hands. Harvesting 800 feet of tomatoes twice a week; hand weeding 600 bed feet of Fall carrots; washing 4,000 lbs of potatoes. And with the hands occupied, the mind, heart, and tongue are free to wander. One might say, while harvesting tomatoes on a 95 degree day, they are required to wander for the upkeep of sanity. Needless to say, informative, interesting, revealing, and hilarious conversations sprout up like weeds in the field. Spread out over the days, weeks, months — even years — and you have a recipe for some amazing dialogues.

Inside jokes abound. A single conversation can last weeks, tossed around and mulled over every which way, all depths plumbed. Then it can be tabled only to be brought up again to be revisited in the Fall light. Topics of conversation are all over the place, but we definitely have our favorites.

Photo by Sashwa Borrous

Sora Bolles, 11 years old (who has been volunteering with us on Wednesdays) insightfully noted this week when discussing this very Farmer’s Log that, “We seem to talk most about food and books.” She is not wrong.

Perhaps it is because we are surrounded by it, or because we need so many calories that we obsessively talk about the most delicious ways to get them. Kayta, Anna, and Kate are accomplished cooks and bakers surrounded by top notch ingredients. Often, food is cooked up mentally in the field before it is manifested in the real world.

Anna (on pace to read over 62 books this year), Kayta, and Sora, are all voracious readers. One of Kayta’s childhood favorites, Watership Down, came up one Wednesday, and Sora read it in a couple of days, in time to discuss it the following week! Indeed, a week in our fields does rarely goes by without an in depth discussion of a classic young-adult fantasy series (His Dark Materials or Harry Potter, for example) or a newer novel on the Man Booker Prize short list.

Similarly, TV series, podcasts, or movies we’ve all consumed are tossed around in the furrows, providing a common language for laughter, philosophical, political, and cultural discussion. While we can’t get off the farm most of the year, engaging in these narratives expand our horizons, briefly transporting us to other worlds and other ways of life. We often take each others recommendations for the conversation that will ensue afterward more than any other reason — as with one recent rap battle reality show on Netflix, which provided an alarming amount of fodder for harvest morning banter.

Farmers: We may be penniless paupers but we are filthy rich in long, deep, meandering, conversations with our fellow humans and the friendships that come from it. And in this fast paced, disconnected age, that is as good as gold.

Oh yeah… and we do, on occasion, talk about farming.

See you in the fields,
David & Kayta

Click here for an archive of past newsletters

11/8/2019 - Week 21 - Sweeping Changes

SAVE THE DATE!

end of the season harvest brunch potluck
Sunday, DECEMBER 8TH: 11:00am - 1:00pm

CSA members Carl & Sarah are so sweetly planning celebratory end of season CSA community Harvest Brunch Potluck in the big party barn on the south end of the land. Come mix and mingle and eat scrumptious fare. See your farmers in non dirt-stained clothing. Open mic! Look for an invitation in your inbox for more details. We hope to see you all there!

THIS WEEK'S HARVEST

Bonbon Buttercup Winter Squash, Desiree Red Potatoes, Scallions, Duganski Hardneck Garlic, White Russian Kale, Purple Bok Choi, Napa Cabbage, Romanesco, Green Magic Broccoli, Cabernet Red Onions, Red Round Turnips, Loose Rainbow Carrots, Little Gems & Summer Crisp Head Lettuce, Spinach, Arugula

Land before time. Looking southeast Thursday morning from the 2020 Metechi garlic patch

U-PICK

• Herbs: Tulsi Basil, Thai Basil, Italian Parsley, Rosemary, Lemon balm, Lemon Verbena, Vietnamese Coriander, Cilantro, French Sorrel, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Tarragon, Oregano, Thyme, Anise Hyssop, Culinary Lavender, Lemongrass

• Flowers: Bouquets can still be scavenged, but our flower year is winding down as it’s time to put our garden to bed for the winter. Thank you, Kayta, for an incredible flower year!

• Strawberries: Snacks

Looking back on a fabulous summer of flowers!

HARVEST NOTES

• Bonbon Buttercup Squash: A cute little buttercup variety with a light green belly button. Thick orange, bread-like, sweet, floral tasting flesh. We cooked up our first last night and it was excellent. To roast, cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and roast cut side down at 400 degrees until you can poke a fork through the skin and the flesh is soft and creamy. Add dashes of water to the baking sheet while roasting to keep squash moist. Eat straight out of the shell with a spoon or use like you would any sweet winter squash (soups, stews, curries, pies, etc.).

• Red Round Turnips. These crisp, sweet turnips can be eaten raw, shaved on a salad, or straight as a snack. Alternately, try this amazing recipe for miso carmelized turnips that transforms them into savory deliciousness .

PRESERVING THE HARVEST

• Bulk White Satin Carrots: We’ll be putting out bulk White Satins on the back table for pickling, juicing, etc. Out of bag. Check out this wonderful recipe for pickling carrots… or any vegetable!

Hello, old friend. A monarch butterfly enjoys the zinnias

WHEN IS THE LAST WeEK of HARVEST PICK-UP?

Some folks have been asking when the last week of harvest pick-up is. The last week of our 2019 CSA harvest season is the week of December 14th.

• The last Saturday pick-up is December 14th

• The last Tuesday pick-up is December 17th

POSTPONED: COOKING WITH FALL FOODS WITH SARAH KATE BENJAMIN

Due to complications from the fire Sarah needs to postpone the workshop schedule for November 16th. We’ll let you know when a new date is set!

NOTES & REMINDERS

• Say No to Single Use Plastic: We will no longer be supplying plastic or plastic-substitute bags at farm pick-up. If you have a bunch of extra plastic bags at home could you please bring some to fill our recycled plastic bag station? Remember to please bring your own produce bags and to participate in our bag recycling station!

• CSA Pick-up Schedule: Saturday pick-up from from 9am - 1pm & Tuesdays from 1pm - 6pm. Last pickup of the year will be Tuesday, December 17th.

GarlIC PLANTING!

We will be slowly planting out 2020’s garlic this coming week and the next and there are ample opportunities for members to plug into the process. On Saturday and Tuesday pick-ups we’ll be “popping” garlic bulbs into their individual cloves in preparation to plant. And then on Wednesday morning, November 13th (and possibly the 20th too) from 9am - 11am we’ll be planting! Come join in the fun if you are interested!

FARMER’S LOG

BIG CHANGES IN THE FIELDS

What a difference three months makes. At left, field three in full potato flower on August 8th. At right, the same field on November 7th —irrigating up cover crop seeds with over 4 tons of potatoes, corn and squash harvested.

It was a big week of change and transition out in the fields. With everyone back in full force after the fires, we hit the ground running and made big headway with our Fall push — cover cropping and taking down the infrastructure of summer to prep for the winter and next season.

On Monday with Kate Beilharz (who worked with Kayta at Russian River Vineyards in 2018 and who has been helping us out this Fall) we harvested our bulk crop of purple-top turnips, our remaining red round turnips, and watermelon radishes, washed them up and made major headway on seeding cover crops in field 1.

On Wednesday, with a large crew consisting of Anna, Kate, myself and Kayta, and neighbors Sora Bolles, and Marcella and Sebastian we did more bulk harvesting, removed the cherry tomatoes (until next year, loves!), mowed old crop residue, broadcast cover crop seed, and started in on removing the field tomato trellises.

By the time the dust had settled on Thursday evening, fields 2 and 3 were completely cleared and seeded into cover crop; Highgarden (where the cherry tomatoes were) had been almost completely cleared and lies ready for 2020 strawberry and garlic patch creation; and we had prepped one-half on our garlic beds over by the leeks, which we’ll plant this coming Wednesday morning.

It’ll be a shock to lay eyes on the fields for those of you who haven’t seen them in a few weeks (or even a few days!). It is a shock, even to us, the speed and fatal finality with which we can break down and destroy what we’ve spent so long building; how fast (4 hours?) it takes to vanquish a cherry tomato world we spent 6 months painstakingly tending and trellising. But Old Man Winter is not sentimental. Strawberries must be planted. Cover crop must be sown. A new season bares down even before this one is finished.

Onward and upward friends…

See you in the fields,
David & Kayta

Click here for an archive of past newsletters

11/1/2019 - Week 20 - Farming in a Changing World

POSTPONED:
The Magic of Corn in the Kitchen with Lindsay Dailey

We’ll be postponing this Saturday’s masa and tortilla making workshop for a later date due to complications from the fire. We’ll let you know as soon as a new date is set.

FARMER’S LOG

Fire evacuation week

We hope this finds you and all your loved ones safe and settling back into some degree of normalcy.

Needless to say, it was a strange week for your Green Valley farmers.

After an eery Saturday harvest pick-up (spent watering ahead of the power outage and buttoning things up for the unthinkable) we headed straight home to pack the car and listen to the radio. We got the evacuation order at about 6pm on Saturday evening, turned off the sprinklers, threw Bilbo the cat in the car and beelined it to my (David’s) childhood home in Sunnyvale.

We spent the next 4 days at my parents, watching the news, killing time, and feeling for everyone feeling the brunt of displacement (like Aubrie and Scott and other livestock tenders who deal in such high stakes during these events). Over those tense days, the fire news was generally heartening (go firefighters!) and our anxiety turned to the projected hard frosts and lack of power for watering the farm.

On Wednesday, we borrowed a 4,500 watt generator from a family friend, scooped up Bilbo, and beelined it back to the farm — still without power.

Thursday morning found us taking stock of every crop and feeling pretty impressed — plants are tough. They all faired quite well, all things considered. The most damage we sustained was from the wind blowing off the row covers and Turkeys eating crops exposed and frost singeing a few things. But everything should recover. And there are some big cauliflower heads from missing Tuesday’s harvest! Power finally returned to our corner of the woods around 8 last night and the watering began.

We spent the rest of Thursday covering and re-covering crops and jumping right back on the horse with cover crop tasks. We are a little behind schedule of where we’d like to be with cover cropping and strawberry/garlic planting because of the lost week, but it all seems minor after being spared the worst of this year’s late October-November Apocalypse Season (knock on wood).

Let’s all pray for rain and a speedy recovery for those most affected by the fires this year.

* * * * *

For the Children

by Gary Snyder

The rising hills, the slopes,
of statistics
lie before us.
The steep climb
of everything, going up,
up, as we all
go down.

In the next century
or the one beyond that,
they say,
are valleys, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
if we make it.

To climb these coming crests
one word to you, to
you and your children:

stay together
learn the flowers
go light

* * * * *

See you in the fields,
David & Kayta

THIS WEEK'S HARVEST

Note: The share this week will be nearly the same as last week because most of you missed out on Week 19’s harvest

Sunshine Kabocha & Delicata Winter Squash (and Jester Acorn Squash for those who missed it last week), Le Reine Fingerling Potatoes, Leeks, Italian Softneck Garlic, Dazzling Blue Dino Kale, Brussels Sprouts Tops, Purple & Green Cabbage, Romanesco & Cauliflower, Fennel, Mixed Loose Beets, Hakurei Japanese Salad Turnips, Loose Rainbow Carrots, Little Gem & Oak Leaf Head Lettuce, Spinach, Fancy Fall Salad Mix (with Shungiku, Mustard Greens, Lettuce, and Radicchio)

U-PICK

Note: There is a considerable amount of ash on the farm from the fire, you might want to wash u-pick herbs and produce

• Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin: Limit 1 per share season limit. (If you are sharing a share, please coordinate with your group as to who takes home your pumpkin.)

• Herbs: Tulsi Basil, Thai Basil, Italian Parsley, Rosemary, Lemon balm, Lemon Verbena, Vietnamese Coriander, Cilantro, French Sorrel, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Tarragon, Oregano, Thyme, Anise Hyssop, Culinary Lavender, Lemongrass

• Flowers: The zinnias by the cherry tomatoes were mostly killed by frost (along with the frying peppers and cherry tomatoes). There are still flowers to be found but it’s time to put our garden to bed for the winter!

• Strawberries: Snacks

A preying mantis hunts cucumber beetles on the zinnias

HARVEST NOTES

• Jester Acorn Winter Squash: A true gem. The sweetest Acorn squash we've ever tasted. A hard ribbed shell hides pudding-sweet flesh. A good Jester can be among the sweetest of all winter squashes. Try halving long ways, scooping out the seeds, and roasting cut side down at 400 degrees until you can poke a fork in the skin and the flesh is soft and creamy. Add dashes of water to the baking sheet while roasting to keep squash moist. Eat straight out of the shell with a spoon like pudding! See week 18’s Newsletter for a description of each Winter Squash

• Hakurei Turnips: Hakurei are back! These beloved, crisp, sweet turnips are meant to be eaten raw, on a salad, or straight as a snack. They can also be roasted, and the greens are also delicious cooked. The Indian dish saag was traditionally prepared with turnip greens.

• Brussels Sprouts Tops: The growing tips of young Brussels sprout plants are like sweet delicate collard greens. Try sautéing them with oil, salt and garlic or using them how you would collards.

PRESERVING THE HARVEST

• Bulk White Satin Carrots: Don’t underestimate the White Satin Carrot. We feel it is consistently our best tasting, sweetest carrot. It also happens to be extraordinarily vigorous. We’ll be putting out bulk White Satins on the back table for pickling, juicing, etc. Out of bag. Check out this wonderful recipe for pickling carrots… or any vegetable!

FALL COOKING WORKSHOP

COOKING WITH FALL FOODS with Sarah Kate Benjamin
Saturday, November 16th: 10am - 12pm | $15

Join CSA members, herbalist, chef, and cofounder of The Kosmic Kitchen, Sarah Kate Benjamin for a cooking workshop featuring Fall farm produce and herbs. The kitchen has long been seen as the heart of the home and a sanctuary. It is a space to feel nourished, connected and inspired by the magic of healing foods and herbs. Though most of us have busy and full lives, having a foundation of everyday herbs and rituals helps us to feel less overwhelmed about nourishing ourselves and our loved ones. Together, with our hearts and hands, we’ll create simple side dishes and a quick supper with produce and fresh herbs from the farm for the cooler seasons. Cost $15 and includes small meal; please bring your own bowls and utensils to save on waste 

NOTES & REMINDERS

• Say No to Single Use Plastic: We will no longer be supplying plastic or plastic-substitute bags at farm pick-up. If you have a bunch of extra plastic bags at home could you please bring some to fill our recycled plastic bag station? Remember to please bring your own produce bags and/or participate in our bag recycling station!

• CSA Pick-up Schedule: Tuesdays, 1pm - 6pm // Saturdays, 9am - 1pm. Last pickup of the year is December 21st.

• Volunteer Wednesday: Interested in some farm therapy? Come out on Wednesday mornings to help us tend the garden and farm together. Come find us in the garden or out in the main fields on Wednesdays from 8:00am 'til 10:00 am. All abilities welcome, we’ll find something comfortable for you to do!

Garlic Poppers wanted

To help us prep for planting 2020’s garlic crop we need to “pop” hundreds of garlic bulbs into their individual cloves. This is a nice chill in-the-barn job for anyone interested in a nice light volunteering task. Come on Wednesday mornings for volunteer morning, or any other time just let us know and we’ll set you up!

Click here for an archive of past newsletters