CSA Opening Day June 15th!

Dear members,

Dust off your harvest baskets, sharpen your clippers, and put that picnic blanket in the car because we’re about to embark on 6-month adventure of harvest abundance!

We are excited to announce that our 2024 CSA harvest season will open Saturday, June 15th! This means that the first Saturday pickup is on June 15th and the first Tuesday pick-up is June 18th.

Read on below — especially new members — for all the details!

ORIENTATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

All new members are asked to attend a brief orientation tour their first time picking up their harvest share. This tour will help you make the most of this harvest season: We’ll give you your farm tote bag, show you the ropes in the flower and herb garden and the strawberry patch, and go over farm safety and etiquette.

Please join us promptly for one of the tour times below:

WEEK 1:
Saturday, June 15: 9 am, 11 am, 1 pm
Tuesday, June 18: 1 pm. 3 pm, 5:30 pm

WEEK 2:
Saturday, June 22: 9 am, 11 am, 1 pm
Tuesday, June 25: 1 pm. 3 pm, 5:30 pm

WEEK 3:
Saturday, June 29: 9 am, 11 am, 1 pm
Tuesday, July 2: 1 pm. 3 pm, 5:30 pm

You can come get oriented and pick up your first share on either day (Saturday or Tuesday), whichever day and time works best for your schedule. Tours last for about 30 minutes. We ask that all adult members of your share who will be regularly enjoying the farm attend an orientation. If you are sharing a CSA share (alternating weeks) with another household, one household should attend an orientation Week 1 and the other an orientation on Week 2.

If you can’t attend a tour time above, please reach out to us to schedule a time that works for you.

2023 CSA members do not need to attend an orientation tour.

IMPORTANT LOGISTICS:

What time is harvest pick-up?:

• Saturday harvest pick-ups run from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm

• Tuesday harvest pick-ups will run from 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Oriented members can come to the farm any time, 7 days a week, sunrise to sunset, to enjoy the farm, u-pick crops and garden.

2024 CSA program dates: Our harvest season will run this year from Saturday, June 15th through Tuesday, December 10th.

Where is the farm? The member parking lot is located at 1720 Cooper Rd., Sebastopol, CA 95472.

Where should I park?: Follow our sign on Cooper Rd. down a short gravel driveway. Please find a parking spot under the solar panels to your left, or to the side of the road going down towards the field.

Where is the food?: The produce pick-up barn is just to the right of the solar panels and above our big greenhouse, you can’t miss it!

What should I bring?:

• Pint baskets or small containers for strawberries and herbs (if you have some)

• A vase or water bottle to keep your flowers happy on the ride home.

• Clippers or secateurs to cut flowers (if you have some — there will be a limited number of clippers available in the barn)

• Water / sun hat / picnic supplies if you plan to stay awhile!

Newsletters & email communication: You will receive a newsletter in your inbox from this email address every Friday evening outlining the harvest and u-pick options for the week ahead. All our important CSA communications are through this email address, so make sure to add it to your address book. All newsletters and important updates are also posted on the Newsletters page of our website weekly.

INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING THIS YEAR?

This year we’re hoping to rekindle an old tradition with more regular volunteer mornings on the farm! If you’re interested in receiving We’ll then reach out to you to let you know about volunteering opportunities such as an ongoing carrot harvest or special weeding project.

BAKED GOODS Galore!

This season we are so delighted to be hosting two incredible bakeries at CSA pickups!

• Sonoma Mountain Breads will be offering their incredible croissants for purchase at the Saturday pickups for the first time.

• Zweibel’s will be back with their delicious bagels and pastries for purchase at the Tuesday pickups.

The amazing crew who’s making it all possible: (L-R) Char, Ava, David (whose idea it was to pose like the Backstreet Boys), Brent, Tristan, Asa, Aisling and Henry in a sea of just-planted onions.

We are so excited to see you on the farm and share this harvest season with you! It’s going to be delicious in so many ways.

See you in the fields,
David & Kayta

Strawberry U-Pick Open to Returning Members!

Dear members,

We are excited to let you know that our bodacious new strawberry patch has just started producing in earnest and the berries are looking beautiful!

Starting today, strawberry u-pick is open to returning members. This is little perk we like to offer folks who want to check in the on the verdant unfurling of the farm, pick a few strawberries and enjoy the first garden flowers and herbs!

The new strawberry patch is located inside the deer fence on the west side of the garden, between the flower garden and Cooper rd. There are two entrances to the deer fence and both will be flagged. Please bring your own pint basket(s) if you have them and/or a container for your strawberries.

NOTES ON THE STRAWBERRIES:

How many can I pick? We will run the u-pick a little differently than we do during the regular season, since folks are not already coming out every week. Each share is able to pick 6 pints of strawberries total between now and the CSA opening on June 15th. You are welcome to pick them all at once, or a couple pints a week. If you are alternating weeks please coordinate with your share partner to make sure you all take only 6 pints total.

Can new members pick? Unfortunately, no, this is a perk we like to reserve to returning members who have already been oriented to the farm and know the ropes. Please note, that if you are alternating weeks with someone who is a member of the farm for the first time, they will have to wait to pick until June 15th (so you can pick 6 pints!)

Are there pint baskets available? Yes, we will have a few pint baskets set out in the front table of the pickup area. As always, we ask that you help us reduce the farm’s carbon footprint by taking just a basket or two to help you measure as you pick into a bag or tupperware and to reuse the basket throughout the season. Thank you!

FLOWERS & HERBS:

The garden is starting to wake up!

Herbs: The perennial herbs are particularly abundant right now, particularly Lemon Balm, Oregano, Marjoram, Tarragon and Sorrel. There are also various Mints, Chives, Sage and a gorgeous spring planting of Parsley. As always, we will put signs on the herbs ready to pick.

Flowers: While most of the blooms are in the perennial beds closest to the oak trees, a few of the annuals are starting to bloom as well, and you’re welcome to pick from them.

As usual with flowers and herbs, please pick with your fellow members in mind and according to the plants size and the abundance of foliage and blooms.

CAREFUL! This is also the time of year where there are tons of vulnerable young seedlings and transplants in the garden. Please watch your step and train your kiddos not to walk on beds!

Happy spring & see you in the fields!
David & Kayta

Spring Update 2024!

Dear 2025 CSA members,

The farm is abuzz. The greenhouse is overflowing with seedlings; fields are being shaped and crops planted daily; the summer garden flowers and herbs seem to grow before your very eyes…

Spring is upon us and summer is coming!

We wanted to send you dear members a quick update of what’s been happening and let you know the date of our 2025 harvest season!

Propagation Manager Asa Black and the rest of the crew have been busy filling the greenhouse with the seedlings that will become this harvest season!

2025 CSA PROGRAM START DATE!

Despite another wet spring, our main fields dried down fast enough to allow us to open the CSA for Father’s Day weekend.

Our first Saturday pick-up of 2025’s harvest season will be Saturday, June 14th; our first Tuesday pick-up will be Tuesday, June 17th.

The six months thereafter will be, as usual, an avalanche of deliciousness.

A few days before the CSA starts we will send an email with all the logistics like how to find us, what to bring, and orientation times for new members.

Note! All of our important CSA communications are sent to your inbox via this email and are also posted on the Newsletters page of our website.

Since the equinox, the perennial section of the garden has been springing to life.

FARMER’S LOG

SETTING SAIL

The period from January through mid-May is a very important time on the farm.

From New Year’s Day to early April, our boat is at harbor. The next voyage, the year ahead, is plotted in smoky cabins; our farm-ship is moored, scraped, and every corner is cleaned; the sails are mended, new masts set, and the carpenters work overtime; the ship is provisioned and loaded.

This year’s harbor time on the farm was incredibly productive.

Eric Bueno, who joined us in January, hit the ground running, tuning up all our equipment and building new toys for us to play with this summer, like weed-killing harpoons.

Asa and Aisling were busy shepherding out the last of 2024’s bounty from the greenhouse to FEED Cooperative, tending our garlic and strawberries, and filling the greenhouse with the seedlings of this year’s bounty.

Henry, Riley Reed, and Arabella Wood joined us in early April and then we pushed off.

From mid-April to mid-June we sail at full mast. It is the most pivotal time of year as 70% of the farm is mowed, tilled, composted and planted. The landscape transforms from green meadows to rows upon rows food and flowers.

We’re in the middle of that transformation now. This week we will plant the year’s sweet peppers, onions, leeks, celery root, and a third of the year’s carrots. Next week we’ll finish planting tomatoes, potatoes, and flour and popcorn.

At this time of year the greenhouse overflows with beautiful starts, which flow into the trucks and then into skilled and careful hands, into the soil. Walkie-talkies beep and boop, the tractor hums constantly, the red-wing blackbirds whistle in the hedgerows.

From L to R: Baby Alice, Aisling, Nuthenroy the Gnome, and new crew members Char and Ava next to their new Gnome Home!

2025 is shaping up to be a delicious and beautiful harvest season.

We can’t wait for you to meet the new crew members, to get lost in the new garden zones, and to sink into this beautiful place and the flavors of the approaching harvest season.

See you in the fields,
David & Kayta