Dear Members,
The cacophonous explosion of Summer in the garden is here.
Every time we walked through the garden this week it seemed to scream at us, “Hey Farmer! Look at me, it’s high-time for a Newsletter!” Even Nuthenroy the Gnome cast us a side eye today and he doesn’t even own a computer…
With this year’s vegetable production droughted-out, we wondered if we would continue our weekly Newsletter tradition. The truth is, it’s a ritual that connects us with you all, the garden, and ourselves — we couldn’t live without. And now, with the grip of June busyness fading, we can finally put pen to paper.
These weekly Newsletters you will now receive (until the garden stops its long explosion in October or Nuthenroy says we can stop) will be little verbal odes to what is happening on the farm; little windows into our world; little baskets of tales, tips, and tricks to help you enjoy your year in the garden to the max.
These Newsletter’s will be a little smaller than usual veggie filled tomes, but they’ll be sweet like dessert. They are purely for enjoyment (and inside scoops) and we hope they tickle your fancy like the way Minarda must tickle on a breakfasting Bumblebee’s belly.
Enjoy!
THIS WEEK IN HERBS
Oregano, Marjoram, Thyme, Chives & Garlic Chives, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena, Chamomile, Tulsi Basil, Purple & Green & Bi-color Shiso (aka Perilla), Mints, Italian Basil, Purple Basil, Thai Basil, Cilantro, Dill, Anise Hyssop, Sage, Tarragon, and Vietnamese Cilantro
It’s ALL happening in herbs this week — especially check out our annuals Parsley, Dill, Basils, and Cilantro, who are at their best on the West side of the garden.
Pro-tip: Tea blends abound in the garden: Sun tea, iced tea or dried tea for winter! Kayta’s been drying little batches of tea herbs (chamomile, lemon balm, mints, tulsi, calendula) in open brown paper bags in the kitchen.
This Week’s Herb Challenge: Try making a chimichurri sauce this week with all exploding fresh parsley, dill, cilantro and basil!
THIS WEEK IN FLOWERS
It’s that special time of year in the garden when a new flower variety seems to start popping each day — check out the Marigolds above the gnome homes.
Pro-tip: This is a great time of year to start collecting the abundant drying flowers so you have a nice stash to brighten up your home in the winter: Strawflower, Statice, and Gomphrena (pictured above) are all great for drying. Just hang them in a cool, dry place out of the sun with good airflow. You can use these same dry flowers in garlic braids in a few weeks!
This Week’s Flower Challenge: Try picking a bouquet that’s twice as big as the bouquet you picked last week! The plants will thank ye for it!
GARLIC FOR SALE SOON
Yes, that is a giant hoard of heirloom Italian garlic drying in our pick-up barn (sorry, vampires). And yes, we will be selling it… as soon as the stalks dry down a bit more (2-3 weeks) we’ll start cleaning it up and offering it by the pound! Stay tuned!
NOTES & REMINDERS
Confused? Ask us! If you’re ever confused about anything in the garden, don’t hesitate to ask us in person or via email. We love helping you use the garden!
How do I find the herbs? All herbs that are ready to pick are marked with a colored stake with the name of the herb on it.
How do I find the flowers? All flowers (besides the ones in the hedgerow on the fence) are yours to pick. We do not label them because they label themselves!
How to I harvest the plants? Most of the plants in the garden are properly harvested by cutting above a branching point no lower than halfway down the plant. (This stimulates the plant and allows the branch points you left below to grow!)
How much can I harvest? Harvest an amount such that about ninety other shares could harvest the same amount — this will change by plant and by size throughout the life of each plant.
FARMER’S LOG
PLAN F
The first Farmer’s Log of each year is difficult.
The urge is to impart all that has happened over the Winter and Spring — an impossibility, especially with a Winter and Spring as crazy these were. At one point we had so many plans — Plan A, Plan B, Plan C… — that we almost went around the whole alphabet.
Whichever plan we are on now (F?) we are in a great place and feeling so grateful. We miss our vegetable friends dearly; our early morning harvests in the fog; conversations with the crew; the hustle and bustle of Tuesday and Saturday harvest pick-ups. But at the end of the day, we are doing what we love, tending a plants and Gnome Homes for you dear people.
Horticulturally speaking, it was a relatively easy Spring to farm with because it was so dry (ironically). Other years we’ve had to contend with Monster Storms as we worked the soil but this year the garden worked up nice and light. We are lucky that the garden is situated on a high hill though, as this Spring will be known to most farmers in our area as the Spring of late-frosts. Luckily we didn’t have a whole field of tomatoes out in the lower fields and only our Dahlia were singed.
In the Big News category, this Spring and Winter did not withhold! This drought-induced hiatus from vegetable farming has given us a window of opportunity to catch our breath and pursue some big moves for the long-term health of the Green Valley Community Farm sapling.
Firstly, Kayta and I have received approval from the Sonoma County Dept of Agriculture and the Cal Department of Food and Ag to grow a half-acre of cannabis as a row crop in our fields this summer. We’ll write more about that crazy process (and our decision to grow this crop) in next week’s Farmer’s Log. It’s a tale of paperwork, survival, and the love of farming.
And secondly, we’ve been in talks with the lovely Laurel Anderson and Scotty Mathieson (who founded Laguna Farm in the early 90’s) about farming their beautiful, water rich, Valley Oak studded land in South Sebastopol. So with any luck Green Valley Community Farm farmers and lovers shouldn't have to endure a drought year without farm fresh radicchios again. More on that in future newsletters too!
We’ll leave it at that for this year’s Winter and Spring re-cap.
We can’t wait to see what tales are in store for us in the garden and in this Farmer’s Log this quirky year.
Thank you for being our muses.
See you in the garden,
David & Kayta
