10/29/2021 - Endings and New Beginnings

Dear Members,

This will be our last Friday newsletter of our 2021 Flower, Herb & Strawberry share. But while the newsletters will end the flowers and the garden will continue and we hope you all will continue to visit the farm and enjoy all the fall blooms, the lumbering bumble bees, the rain kissed herbs, the strawberry gleanings, and the fresh flush of life these sweet rains have brought to the farm.

Our attention will now turn to putting the garden and farm to bed and planting cover crop, garlic, and strawberries for 2022!

We are so excited to have planted our first cover crop seeds at a second, water rich farm off Cooper Rd. in South Sebastopol, so no matter what this winter brings, we will be back in full force with our vegetable CSA next year and you will be the first to know when sign-ups open for our 2022 CSA program in the beginning of January. 

If you have friends or family who you’d like to enjoy next year on the farm with, please encourage them to sign up for our waitlist here.

Finally, we wanted to thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for being our muses, the hearts and souls of the farm, and for supporting us through this drought year. We hope the garden and the strawberries offered you many moments of sweetness, beauty, pleasure, and grounding. It was our immense privilege to plant and tend these patches for you and to see you and yours enjoying this special place.

Read on below for some end of season tips.

Until next year…

See you in the fields, 
David & Kayta

IN THE FLOWERS

To walk into the garden after our record-breaking rainstorm is to enter into a world refreshed. The air is alive with insects and the fresh breath of wet plants and soil. Everywhere you look bumblebees are bumping into one another, hanging pendulously from blossoms, and filling the air with the sound of their wings like far away voices. Our three resident hummingbirds are fussing and battling overhead and Goose the garden cat can be found delicately smelling the flowers to discover who passed this way in the night. The strawflowers have burst again into full bloom, holding their brilliant flowers up like gems to catch the light. And everywhere you look fresh green shoots push out of the earth and spread their leaves and the cycle of life begins again.

With no frost in sight, bouquets like the one below should be easy to create for several weeks more at least. We hope you’ll keep coming and enjoying the blooms.

Today’s bouquet of the day!

IN THE HERBS

• Rosemary, Parsley, Oregano, Marjoram, Thyme, Chives & Garlic Chives, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena, Tulsi Basil, Mints, Italian Basil, Purple Basil, Thai Basil, Cilantro, Tarragon, Vietnamese Cilantro, Sorrel, Lemongrass.

While they will grow more slowly, and the frost-tender among them (Basil, Tarragon, and some of the Mint) will at some point leave us, many herbs will continue to be available well into the fall. Bon appetite!

IN THE STRAWBERRIES

The strawberries have been most affected by the rain and cold. While there are still some ripe berries, the experience of picking will be more like gleaning. Feel free to keep hunting, but keep in mind that the strawb season is slowing down.

The June garden, a profusion of wild oats.

MILK, MUSHROOMS, AND MARKET

Our sister farms and the Marketplace will still be going strong throughout the sleepy winter. Don’t forget to visit the Green Valley Marketplace for dried goods and Moonfruit Shiitake Mushrooms, and, if you for some reason haven’t already, consider signing up for Bramble Tail Homestead amazing dairy herdshare program. Spaces are available and they have flyers with more information on the herdshare program in their creamery as you enter the mill.

NOTES

• Garlic: We are down to our last few pounds of garlic available for sale! If you were still hoping to get some now is the time as it will be first come first serve until we run out.

• Clippers: Our small orange and black garden clippers are in scarce supply. If you’ve accidentally made your way home with some, please try to bring them along with you next time you come to the farm. Thank you to those of you who have brought them back!

A memory of the garden in June

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10/23/2021 - To Be Fellow

IN THE FLOWERS

Flower Update: Many of you are probably wondering with the rain (!!!), the cold and the wind we’ve been experiencing, if there are still any flowers to be had in the garden. And while the rain Sunday will likely knock some of the taller plants over, the answer is yes! Our south-facing slope stays frost free quite late and there are still tender flowers and herbs in profusion. There’s a last, very late succession of giant green-centered sunflowers blooming on the far side below the strawflowers and in some moments the garden actually looks more beautiful in the rain, with the gem-like colors covered in raindrops.

IN THE HERBS

• Parsley, Oregano, Marjoram, Thyme, Chives & Garlic Chives, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena, Tulsi Basil, Mints, Italian Basil, Purple Basil, Thai Basil, Cilantro, Anise Hyssop, Tarragon, Vietnamese Cilantro, Sorrel, Lemongrass.

Herb Update: The herbs are also still going strong, offering in their humble way to elevate whatever you happen to be cooking or drinking. This week, with its winter-ish weather, has us particularly enjoying the combination of rosemary, lemon thyme and marjoram, tied in a bundle and cooked in whatever stew or braise you’re inspired to make.

a couple notes

• Garlic: We are down to our last few pounds of garlic available for sale! If you were still hoping to get some now is the time as it will be first come first serve until we run out.

• Clippers: Our small orange and black garden clippers are in scarce supply. If you’ve accidentally made your way home with some, please try to bring them along with you next time you come to the farm.

FAQ

• When does the CSA end? Exact dates are TBD, depending on the weather. The flower and herb garden will starting winding down in October and we’ll put her to bed in November. But expect some good blooms all the way til then. The strawberries will usually wrap up a little earlier, producing through the end of September.

• If I go away can a friend use my share? Yes! If you’ll be out of town or unable to come pick strawbs and flowers, feel free to send a friend or relative in your stead. Please verbally orient them as to the directions and how things work as we are not always around.

FARMER’S LOG

This week, a poem by Ursula K. Le Guin, daughter of California, dreamer of other worlds and the richness often missed in this one.

To the Rain

BY URSULA K. LE GUIN

Mother rain, manifold, measureless,
falling on fallow, on field and forest,
on house-roof, low hovel, high tower,
downwelling waters all-washing, wider
than cities, softer than sisterhood, vaster
than countrysides, calming, recalling:
return to us, teaching our troubled
souls in your ceaseless descent
to fall, to be fellow, to feel to the root,
to sink in, to heal, to sweeten the sea.

* * *

See you in the fields,
David and Kayta

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10/15/2021 - Sulfur Cosmos

Xeranthemum, Bishop’s Children’s Dahlias, Amaranth and Marigolds.

IN THE FLOWERS

Flower Spotlight: If there’s one flower that brings to mind the garden at this time of year — the slanty light, crisping colors, the cooler nights — it’s sulfur cosmos. We hear from many members that though they may resist it at any other time of the year, when October comes, they’re ready for orange. And sulfur cosmos are waiting for them.

Cosmos sulphureus, sometimes called simply yellow cosmos, are the branching, reaching, chipper little orange and yellow flowers popping up all over the garden. Part of their distinctive look, and the reason that you can find them in so many places is their tendency to turn from brilliant flowers to beautiful little star shaped spangles of seeds, which then drop, ready to fill the garden next year. Sulfur cosmos seeds are among the easiest to collect: simply pinch the dried ones off of the stalk; no need for winnowing or cleaning of any kind. The flowers themselves can be eaten on salads (note: other kinds of cosmos are NOT edible, only the yellow and orange sulfur cosmos), or used to produce a beautiful natural dye in shades of yellow and chartreuse.

IN THE HERBS

• Parsley, Oregano, Marjoram, Thyme, Chives & Garlic Chives, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena, Tulsi Basil, Mints, Italian Basil, Purple Basil, Thai Basil, Cilantro, Anise Hyssop, Tarragon, Vietnamese Cilantro, Sorrel, Husk Cherries, Lemongrass.

Herb Spotlight: Have you made it this far through the season without eating Sorrel? If you have you’re probably not alone, but there’s still time!

Sorrel is one of the most generous herbs in the garden and packs a punch with its deliciously tart lemon flavor. You’ll find its verdant green leaves below the Lemon Balm and next to the Catnip planter. For a simple way to incorporate it into your next meal, try chopping it finely and tossing it into your salad, or sprinkling atop an omelette. If you’re feeling in the mood for something more elaborate, consider Julia Child’s classic French Cream of Sorrel soup.

Potage Crème d’Oseille (Cream of Sorrel Soup)
From Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck

⅓ cup minced green onions, or yellow onions
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 to 4 packed cups fresh sorrel, washed and dried in a towel, cut into chiffonade
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5½ cups boiling white stock or canned chicken broth
2 large egg yolks
½ cup whipping cream
1 to 2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter

Cook the onions slowly in the butter in a covered saucepan for 5 to 10 minutes, until tender and translucent but not browned. Stir in the sorrel and salt, cover, and cook slowly for about 5 minutes or until the leaves are tender and wilted. Sprinkle in the flour and stir over moderate heat for 3 minutes. Off heat, beat in the boiling stock. Simmer for 5 minutes. Correct seasoning.

Blend the yolks and cream in a mixing bowl. Beat a cupful of hot soup into them by driblets. Gradually beat in the rest of the soup in a thin stream. Return soup to saucepan and stir over moderate heat for a minute or two to poach the egg yolks, but do not bring the soup to a simmer. Off heat, stir in the enrichment butter a tablespoon at a time.

Makes 6 servings

a couple notes

• Garlic: We are down to our last few pounds of garlic available for sale! If you were still hoping to get some now is the time as it will be first come first serve until we run out.

• Clippers: Our small orange and black garden clippers are in scarce supply. If you’ve accidentally made your way home with some please try to bring them along with you next time you come to the farm.

FAQ

• When does the CSA end? Exact dates are TBD, depending on the weather. The flower and herb garden will starting winding down in October and we’ll put her to bed in November. But expect some good blooms all the way til then. The strawberries will usually wrap up a little earlier, producing through the end of September.

• If I go away can a friend use my share? Yes! If you’ll be out of town or unable to come pick strawbs and flowers, feel free to send a friend or relative in your stead. Please verbally orient them as to the directions and how things work as we are not always around.

FARMER’S LOG

This week, a poem by Linda Hogan.

To Be Held

BY LINDA HOGAN

To be held
by the light
was what I wanted,
to be a tree drinking the rain,
no longer parched in this hot land.
To be roots in a tunnel growing
but also to be sheltering the inborn leaves
and the green slide of mineral
down the immense distances
into infinite comfort
and the land here, only clay,
still contains and consumes
the thirsty need
the way a tree always shelters the unborn life
waiting for the healing
after the storm
which has been our life.

See you in the fields,
David and Kayta

Click here for an archive of past newsletters