Harvest Week 25 - Putting the Farm to Bed

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

In the dark season, remember: Popcorns are little kernels of sunlight exploding in your pot

Pennsylvania Dutch Butter Flavored Popcorn, Indigo Radicchio, Dandelion Greens, Dino Kale, Leeks, Celery Root, Mixed Daikon Radishes, Cabbage, Bolero Carrots, Beets, Desiree Red Potatoes, Elsye Yellow Onions, Lorz Softneck Garlic, your choice of Buttercup Bonbon Squash or Marina di Chioggia Pumpkin

HARVEST NOTES

• Pennsylvania Dutch Butter Flavored Popcorn: Quite the name, huh? This is our first year growing this variety and it is a winner. An excellent popper, it looks beautiful in the bowl snow white and flecked with amber butter shells — and it does taste like butter! The trick to stove top popcorn is to use a thick bottomed put like a dutch oven. This distributes the heat evenly and prevents burning. Pour a generous amount of high heat oil into the bottom of your pot. You can be generous with the oil so that it covers the kernels at least half way up. Turn the stove on to medium high and heat the oil a little bit before pouring the kernels in. Put the lid on and enjoy the fireworks!

• Marina di Chioggia Pumpkin: (aka Sea Pumpkin or Suca Braca, "warty pumpkin") is an Italian heirloom from the seaside town of Chioggia and is the staple squash of Venice. This is a versatile pumpkin that can be utilized in any recipe where a traditional pumpkin is called for. It is an excellent dessert pumpkin for pies, muffins and quick bread; it makes an ideal filling for pasta such as ravioli and tortellini; and it can also be used to make gnocchi. The pumpkin itself will keep for up to six months when stored in a cool, dry, and dark place. We love the diverse bounty that can be made from this pumpkin! When we have the time we love to make a big batch of gnocchi (check out this recipe ) for the freezer so that we have many incredibly fast and delicious meals to look forward to. Or consider using it as a show-stopping centerpiece for a big gathering using the recipe below!

• BonBon Buttercup Winter Squash: The other squash to choose from this week is, in your farmers’ opinion, the best squash ever bred. Ultra sweet and flaky, this squash is like a dessert all on its own. Also great for use in any of your favorite winter squash dishes.

WHEN DOES THE CSA END?

Because of the wet Spring and late start we had, our 2023 harvest season will run all the way until the third week of December this year! The last Saturday pickup will be December 16th, and the last Tuesday pick-up of the year will be December, 19th.

WHEN CAN I RESERVE MY SPOT FOR 2024?

We are deep in the planning phases for next season, rest assured, current members will be given the first chance to reserve a spot in our 2024 CSA program! We usually open sign-ups in January.

Savory Stuffed Pumpkin with Sausage and Gruyère

From The Kitchn, who adapted it from the great Dorie Greenspan

This recipe is the epitome of cozy winter cooking. It will work perfectly with either of the winter squash options in the share this week. For a large gathering, we recommend Marina di Chioggia , but keep in mind that it will take a significant amount of baking time in the oven — up to 3 or 4 hours depending on size. If you’re more interested in expediency, and having a smaller meal, the Bonbon will also make a delicious vessel!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large baking pumpkin (approximately 5 to 10 pounds)

• 1 (1-pound) loaf day-old crusty bread, such as sourdough or French baguette

• 1 1/2 cups (about 5 1/2 ounces) grated Gruyère cheese

• 2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil, such as canola

• 1 pound uncooked Italian sausage or bulk sausage, any casings removed

• 3 large shallots, thinly sliced

• 2 to 3 large cloves garlic, minced

• 1/4 cup dry white wine

• 2 to 3 heaping cups spinach, Swiss chard or kale, coarsely chopped

• 4 large eggs

• 2 cups half-and-half (or 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup whole milk)

• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste

• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, for the top

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (or for a larger pumpkin, 400°F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Place the pumpkin on a flat work surface. Using a heavy-duty knife inserted at a 45-degree angle, carefully cut out a “lid” from the top of the pumpkin. Remove any seeds and cut away any loose strings using kitchen shears. Transfer the pumpkin to the prepared baking sheet and set aside.

2. Combine the bread cubes and Gruyère in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

3. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking it into crumbles with a wooden spoon, until it is golden-brown and cooked through, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to the bowl with the bread and cheeses

4. Reduce the heat to medium and add the shallots, cooking until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Increase heat to high and add the wine, using the wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine until it is almost evaporated. Add the spinach or chard and a generous pinch of salt; stir until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the spinach or chard to the bread mixture.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, half-and-half, Dijon, 2 teaspoons salt, thyme, and pepper until combined to make the custard. Pour the custard over the bread mixture and gently toss to coat. Let sit, stirring occasionally, until absorbed, about 10 minutes

6. Transfer the stuffing to the pumpkin, filling it all the way to the top. (If there is extra, you can bake it in a small dish on the side.) Fit the “lid" back onto the pumpkin and transfer to the oven

7. Bake until the filling is bubbling and hot, and the flesh of the pumpkin can be pierced with a knife. This can be anywhere from 1 to 2 (or more) hours, depending on the size and type of your pumpkin. If possible, remove the cap for the last 30 to 45 minutes of baking (sprinkle with grated Parmesan and fluff lightly if the stuffing has smushed down) so the top can crisp up a bit. To ensure that the stuffing is done, look for an internal temp of 165°F.

8. Carefully transfer the pumpkin to a serving platter. Slice the pumpkin into large wedges and serve along with a generous portion of stuffing.

Local Wine, handmade gifts, and meal kits for sale this week! 

We’re excited to be hosting a couple pop-ups from CSA members with goods for sale this week!

Join us on Saturday from 9:30 - 1 for a pop up from Lisa Chatham. Her company, Cookma features a line of one-pot meal kits for nourishing meals that are ridiculously easy to make and are excellent CSA companions. She’ll be giving samples of her Nourishing Kitchari (with veggies from the farm) and selling her full line.  

The Wool Witch, a fellow CSA member, will be hosting a table at this week’s Tuesday and next week’s Saturday pickups. She will offer a mix of homemade soaps, tinctures, essential oil rollers and wool/alpaca rugs as well as local Eric Kent wine at 50% off!  Come get your gifts, some made with herbs from our garden, or treat yourself! 

Hawks Feather Olive Oil will be back this week for both Saturday and Tuesday pickups in case you haven’t had a chance to try their delicious local olive oil.

FARMER’S LOG

HARBOR

It was a bittersweet harvest morning today — the last Friday harvest morning of our 2022 harvest season. This Tuesday’s harvest pick-up will be the last of our 2022 CSA harvest season. 

If each harvest season is like a voyage — with us farmers & CSA members together on a grand harvesting adventure — we have reached our harbor now. 

But what an adventure we had!

We outfitted an entirely new ship this year, with an entirely new crew, and we tested our mettle in uncharted waters. We weathered storms. We battled pirates (mostly deer). There were days when the world was our oyster and there were days when we were caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. But in the end, it was a bounteous voyage.

It was a year of abundant umbellifers and strawberries (once we got rid of the pirates); of radiant flowers and sweet winter squash. Our catch of potatoes would make Forrest Gump and Bubba jealous. In the end we fed over 300 adults and 140 Sonoma County kiddos with regenerative, soil building practices.

All thanks to you, dear members.

You see, the community supported agriculture that we practice here, that we ask you to practice here, is not a gimmick or a fad. It is not a clever way to sell farm produce ahead of time. It is a direct relationship between a human community and the land and the farmers that feed it. We are one crew on this voyage. And that bond allows us to farm well; to farm intentionally; to farm for the future.

Each Spring, human beings all over the world set out on adventures of gathering and growing food. When farmers kick off on their yearly voyage, they know not what awaits them; whether their nets will come up empty; if they’ll make it back to shore. Farming is risky.  As the climate changes, these voyages are only going to get more precarious. 

Vanishingly few farmers have a community with them on their voyages like we do.

So as we close out this Farmer’s Log on 2022, let it be known that any and all the abundance we enjoyed this year was because of your commitment, and our commitment to each other, to take care of each other and the land. There is no safer harbor than that. 

And now for our customary parting words…

If, in the dark season ahead, you feel pent up, like you need to get out of the house and stretch your legs, come visit the farm and stand still for a moment in a field.

There you will find silence, broken only by the screech of a hawk or the singing of the blackbirds. A coolness will emanate up from the wet soil, chilling your knees. Before you will lay the sleeping farm, the soft contours of the land draped in a blanket of green. 

But listen closely...

For within that slumber next season churns. The cover crop stretches its living roots deep into the soil where subterranean creatures break down this year's roots and residue, processing them — like so many memories — into the raw materials that will make up next year’s stories, next year’s voyage, next year's bounty.

Listen closely and you’ll hear the land dreaming.

Now, it is time for your farmers to rest, to reflect, and to do a little dreaming ourselves. Thank you all so much for the memories this harvest season. Here is to many more to come.

See you in the fields,
David for Kayta

Harvest Week 24 - Winter Echoes

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

Hardy winter stalwarts to ground and nourish you as the light wanes.

Spinach, Cherokee Lettuce, Dazzling Blue Kale, Kohlrabi, Brussel Sprouts, Leeks, Celery Root, Mixed Daikon Radishes, Cabbage, Delicata and Jester Winter Squash, Bolero Carrots, Bintje Potatoes, Yellow Elsye Onions, Lorz Softneck Garlic

U-PICK

• Herbs: We will be mowing the annual portion of the garden soon, but until then there is still a very small amount of select herbs left for the gleaning: Italian Parsley, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Oregano, Lemon Verbena, Thyme, and French Sorrel.

HARVEST NOTES

• Delicata and Jester Winter Squash: Do you have a squash horde (colloquially known as a “squord”) at home? One tip to taking best advantage of the season’s winter squash bounty is to make sure to eat the small ones first. The sweet little gems like this week’s Delicata and Jester will start to lose their flavor more quickly than the larger varieties such as Butternut and the upcoming Marina di Chioggia pumpkins. We recommend enjoying these sweet treats within the next few weeks. Try having a piping hot roasted half for breakfast! Yum!

• Celery Root: See the recipe below, or Week 22’s Newsletter for ideas on what to do with this rare and delicious winter vegetable.

• Multi-colored Daikon: Three varieties of Daikon make a confetti of color. Try using a mandolin or cutting super thin slices and adding a splash of lemon juice and salt for a colorful side salad to brighten up your winter plate.

We had some super cold — for California — morning’s this week!

WHEN DOES THE CSA END?

Because of the wet Spring and late start we had, our 2023 harvest season will run all the way until the third week of December this year! The last Saturday pickup will be December 16th, and the last Tuesday pick-up of the year will be December, 19th.

WHEN CAN I RESERVE MY SPOT FOR 2024?

We are deep in the planning phases for next season, rest assured, current members will be given the first chance to reserve a spot in our 2024 CSA program!

Celery Root Rösti with Caper and Celery Salsa

Recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi

This is a dish for any time of the day: for brunch (with some crisp bacon, maybe?), or for a light meal or first course. Makes 10 rösti, to serve two to four.

Note: if you’re in need of some additional Celery Root inspiration, check out Ottolenghi’s other mouth-watering recipes here.

Ingredients

1 celeriac, peeled and coarsely grated
1 small desiree potato, peeled and coarsely grated
1 shallot, peeled and thinly sliced (use a mandolin, if you have one)
1 tbsp lemon juice
Salt and black pepper
½ tsp each coriander seeds, celery seeds and caraway seeds, toasted and finely crushed
½ garlic clove, peeled and crushed
2 eggs, beaten
2½ tbsp plain flour
Vegetable oil, for frying
100g sour cream, to serve

For the salsa:
½ small shallot, peeled and very finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
10g basil leaves, finely shredded
10g parsley, finely chopped
15g capers, roughly chopped
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus 1 tbsp juice
1½ tbsp olive oil

Celeriac rösti — photo from The Guardian

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine the celeriac, potato, shallot and lemon juice in a medium bowl with two teaspoons of salt, then tip into a sieve lined with a clean tea towel or cheesecloth. Set the sieve over a bowl and leave for 30 minutes, for the liquid to drain off. Draw together the edges of the towel, then wring it a few times, to get rid of as much water as possible. Transfer to a clean bowl and combine with the spices, garlic, eggs and flour. Using your hands, form the mix into 10 6cm-wide patties, compressing the rösti as you make them, to squeeze out any remaining liquid.

Put all the salsa ingredients in a separate bowl, add a generous grind of pepper and mix to combine.

Pour enough oil into a medium-sized nonstick frying pan to come 1/2 inch up the sides. Put the pan on a medium heat and, once the oil is very hot, fry the rösti in batches for seven minutes, turning them a few times, until crisp and golden-brown all over. Transfer to a plate lined with kitchen towel and keep warm while you cook the rest of the rösti. Serve at once with the salsa and a spoonful of sour cream. 

Local Olive Oil For Sale this Week!

Hawks Feather Olive Oil will be available for purchase at both this week’s Saturday and Tuesday pickups. Please come sample local, organic, extra-virgin olive oil that is grown and pressed here in Sebastopol by a fellow CSA member. Tuscan varietals thrive in our ideal climate, making a divine EVOO.  Please come sample the latest harvest - Olio Nuovo – a vibrant green full of peppery personality. 375 ml bottles ($25) are a perfect holiday gift!  

FARMER’S LOG

ECHOES

On the farm, time is an echo. Moments, days — the particular slant of light while you harvest Fall carrots — each return from a long distance, the long distance of a year, like a deja-vu.

A corn plant itself is an echo. It’s whole life, from seed to harvest, is the echo of the lives of the thousands of corn plants that came before it.

For a farmer, these echoes are full of memory. All it takes is a certain smell, the sound of dry corn rustling in the wind, and there you are again, surrounded by the memories of who you were and who you were with the last time you heard that sound.

Last December 1st, we were also rich in winter vegetables. We were prepping next year’s strawberry beds in the icy morning. We were pulling our irrigation lines out of the field and battening down the hatches for the winter floods. Frosts were sweeping through the farm, turning it silver for an hour or two on cold mornings.

Prepping 2023’s strawberry patch last December — looked mighty similar to this Monday morning.

The silver December light is full of echoes. We can hear them in the early morning, shimmering out over the frosted cover crop, and they make us smile.

Sometimes, when we are still, the echoes seem to continue on forward, strangely, and it is as if we can hear the echoes of December’s yet to come…

See you in the fields, 
David & Kayta 

Harvest Week 23 - Belonging

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

In a nutshell: the bitter and sweet flavors of winter.

Leeks, Cabernet Onions, Lorz Italian Softneck Garlic, Purple Cabbage, Bodega Red Potatoes, Black Futsu Winter Squash, Dandelion Greens, Brussels Sprouts, Bolero Carrots, Assorted Lettuces, Radicchio, Bok Choi, Beets, Green Magic Broccoli.

This week’s Black Futsu squash hanging out before their big day.

U-PICK

• Albion Strawberries: Very last gleanings (mostly in the new, Western patch)

• Herbs: Italian Parsley, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Oregano, Lemon Verbena, Thyme, French Sorrel.

HARVEST NOTES

• Black Futsu Winter Squash: A beloved Japanese delicacy, this bite sized, mini Butternut relative has bright orange flesh with unique fruity flavor and edible skin. New to the farm this year! Let us know if you like it!

• Dandelion Greens: These succulent Italian dandelions are the perfect bitter winter green. As with chicory, they pair well with rich, sharp flavors. For a simple and delicious side dish, try sautéing in bacon fat with a dash of red wine vinegar and topping with parmesan. Also try including them in an omelet, or making the recipe for chickpea pancakes with dandelions and caramelized onions below!

• Lorz Italian Softneck Garlic: If you read Harvest Week 16 Farmer’s Log, you know that the ultra wet winter we had hit this year’s garlic crop hard. We did get enough garlic to save for seed — which we planted on higher beds a couple weeks ago, so now we can distribute the remaining garlic we had. Let these little guys be but a taste for what we hope are big bulbous garlics next year.

WHEN DOES THE CSA END?

Because of the wet Spring and late start we had, our 2023 harvest season will run all the way until the third week of December this year! The last Saturday pickup will be December 16th, and the last Tuesday pick-up of the year will be December, 19th.

WHEN CAN I RESERVE MY SPOT FOR 2024?

We are deep in the planning phases for next season, rest assured, current members will be given the first chance to reserve a spot in our 2024 CSA program!

Chickpea Pancakes with Dandelion Greens & Caramelized Onions

From Heirloom by Sarah Owens

This recipe brings together hindbeh, a Lebanese dish of dandelion greens and caramelized onions eaten with Arabic flatbread, with chickpea crepes, traditionally enjoyed in southern France, northern Italy, North Africa and Gibraltar. Its crispy edges and custardy interior make for an edible scoop for the sweet onions and bitter greens, and its nutty flavor complements both.

Ingredients

• 125 g / 1 cup chickpea flour

• 1 cup water

• 1 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided

• 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the pan

• 7 1/2 cups sliced onions (about 6 to 7 small onions)

• 1 pound dandelion greens (about 2 bunches)

• splash of vinegar
  
  
  

  Instructions

• Whisk together the flour, water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons of the oil in a medium bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and rest for at least 2 hours or up to 6 hours for the flour to fully hydrate. (Farmer’s note: we have skimped on this time and found the pancakes to still be delicious!)

• In a large heavy-bottomed skillet, cook the onions and remaining 1 teaspoon of salt in 1/2 cup of the remaining oil over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are well caramelized, 40 to 45 minutes.

• (Farmer’s note: because the dandelions we grow are cultivated varieties, they don’t necessarily need to be blanched before sautéing as the recipe directs, but you can if you’d like to further reduce their bitterness.) While the onions are cooking, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Turn off the heat and dunk the dandelion greens in the water, stirring to wilt them, about 45 seconds to 1 minute. Pour through a colander positioned over the sink and run cold water over the greens to stop the cooking, then use your hands to wring out excess water. Coarsely chop the dandelion greens and add them to the skillet with the onions. reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes or longer to remove more of their bitterness. Serve warm or at room temperature. You can make the greens up to 3 days in advance; store covered in the refrigerator.

• Place a 10-inch cast-iron griddle or skillet 3 to 4 inches under your broiler and preheat the broiler on high for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the pan and pour in 1/2 tablespoon of oil, swirling to coat. Return to the broiler for 1 to 2 minutes to heat the oil, then pour in enough of the batter (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup) to create a thin 8- to 9-inch pancake, tilting the pan to swirl it or using the back of a spoon or measuring cup to quickly spread it. Broil for 3 to 4 minutes, until the crepe is blistered and cooked through with the edges curling slightly. Remove the crepe from the pan with a spatula and repeat with the remaining batter, adding more oil for each crepe — you should have enough batter to make about 4 crepes. Serve immediately, with the dandelion greens and onions, using the crepe as an edible scoop.

FARMER’S LOG

BELONGING

We’re having a busy Holiday, so this week we’ll reposting a Farmer’s Log from this time last year with a little epilogue update at the end. We hope you all felt nourished and that the farm produce helped liven your tables this week.

* * * * *

With the frost, the time of rest, gratitude, and reflection settles on the Laguna.

It was a quiet day today on the farm. I was on the tractor, shaping next year’s garlic and strawberry beds over what was the tomatoes and u-pick peppers, when a perennial Fall question occurred to me:

“What does it mean to belong to a place?”

Big questions like this are perhaps never answerable. Or perhaps, if they are answerable, the answers are constantly changing. Or, perhaps the point is not in the answers you get but in the perennial asking of the question.

So today on the tractor I wondered, “What does it mean to belong to a place?" for the first time on the new farm. I was struck by how different it felt from the last time I asked.

Though we just moved the farm a few miles across town this year, it was a big move. We uprooted from the place where we started the farm as a 30 member CSA 7 years ago and where we cut our teeth shaping fields, growing food, building soil, and trying to build community together. We made a lot of memories there. Every nook, cranny, and field in that valley was becoming a layer cake of memory for us — first harvests; getting engaged on the hill on a crisp Fall afternoon; getting married in the redwood barn; of meeting so many of you CSA members for the first time.

Beautiful lines of cover crop sprouting in the Creek Field planted by Longer Table Farm this year.

A palimpsest (from the Greek “scraped again”) is a writing material or surface (like a parchment or tablet) used again after earlier writing as been erased. It’s a surface that is being continuously renewed but the etches and marks of the past remain and build up.

A farm is a palimpsest for a farmer: The more years you’ve lived and worked in a place, the more the marks of memory build and layer depth onto the continuously renewing fields and landscape. This is why elders are the most revered members of agrarian cultures.

When you come to a new place, to a new farm in our case, the heaviest lifting isn’t physical — it’s mental. You have to learn the history of the place by talking to those who know the place and by reading whatever clues the land can tell you. Then you have to start working.

“Where should the garden go?”, “Where should we plant the garlic?” You are bound to make mistakes — some big, some small as you build your memories and map on the place you inhabit.

One small mistake we made this Spring was shaping our tomato and u-pick beds too close to the drainage that separates that field from the garden so it ended up being hard to drive a truck comfortably around those oft visited zones.

So today, as I was outlining 2023’s strawberry and garlic fields over 2022’s erased tomatoes, I gave us another 6 feet of leeway. And whenever I drove the tractor East, I could see the garden and the strawberry patch and was flooded with memories; of second-breakfasts with the crew under the oak trees; of friends and families picnicking and perusing the July flower garden; of kiddos plucking strawberries in the evening light.

And in that reverie the question arose: “What does it mean to belong to this place?”

I don’t know the answer — but I think those kinds of memories have a lot to do with it.

* * * * *

2023 epilogue: One of the highlights of 2023 for us was how many of you used the farm as a hang out spot — to lounge, throw a birthday party, to take family pictures, drink wine with friends...

We always meant for the farm to serve this purpose, and people have kicked it on the farm before, but never like this year. Maybe it was the extra picnic benches, maybe it was the relaxing of COVID fears, heck, maybe it was the swing set! Whatever it was, you all are doing a great job of making memories and making us belong to this place. Keep it up.

Also, how about a play structure for 2024!?

A mighty fine spot for a play structure.

OTHER RESOURCES FOR BELONGING

In asking the “belonging” question, the one thing we do know is that it is imperative to learn from and support the people and cultures who have belonged to this place for many thousands of years:

• mak-'amham / Cafe Ohlone: Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino created Cafe Ohlone as, in their words "an Ohlone cultural institution empowering our community with tradition—and we teach the public, through taste, of our unbroken roots."

• Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria: The federally recognized confederacy of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo people. Their website contains a concise history of the Rancheria and news of current cultural initiatives.

• California Indian Museum and Culture Center in Santa Rosa which in addition to its other work offers programs for Tribal youth.

• Sogorea Te' Land Trust is an urban, indigenous women-led land trust that facilitates the return of indigenous land to indigenous people in the East Bay.

• We have been grateful to follow along and learn from the amazing Indigenous farmer and seedkeeper Rowen White. She can be found here and at Sierra Seeds.

• We highly recommend the documentary Gather. In the filmmakers words, "Gather is an intimate portrait of the growing movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide."

* * * * *

See you in the fields, 
David & Kayta