THIS WEEK’S HARVEST
Braising/Salad Mix (with Radicchio, and Mustard Greens), Little Gem Lettuces, Daikon Radishes, Murdoch & Farao Green Cabbage, Celery Root, Green Magic Broccoli, Baby Fennel, Brussels Sprouts, Harvest Moon Potatoes, Carrots, Cured Cabernet Onions, Marina di Chioggia Winter Squash, Jester Acorn Squash
Rain and Brussels sprouts: It was a good harvest!
U-PICK
With the killing frosts this week, our u-pick season is mostly at an end aside from the hardier herbs and flowers still left in the garden and an occasional strawberry or two, spared from the cold and wet. We will slowly be transitioning the garden and u-pick areas into their winter resting phase.
Herbs: Italian Parsley, Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Vietnamese Coriander, Culinary Lavender, French Sorrel, Lemon Balm
HARVEST NOTES
Celery Root: Aka celeriac, aka turnip celery, is a variety of celery cultivated for its starchy bulbous stem. It is like a turnip that tastes like celery. Try adding it to a hardy winter stew. We’ve also heard legend that celery root fries (i.e. deep fried celery root sticks) are the best thing ever. Also try shaving or micro-planing raw onto a salad.
Brussels Sprouts: We’ll be offering you these Fall treats as fresh as can be, still on the stalk!
Marina di Chioggia Winter Squash: Marina di Chioggia (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 desert pumpkin for pies, muffins and quick bread, makes an ideal filling for pasta such as ravioli and tortellini, and 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.
Harvesting this week’s “Sea Pumpkins” back in mid-September
LOCALLY GROWN FLOUR SHARES AVAILABLE!
Finally! Sonoma-grown and milled flour! And you can tell the difference.
Our friend Farmer Mai is offering a Grain Share and the Green Valley Marketplace is excited to be a pick-up site. Kayta and I have so enjoyed baking with Mai’s flour — it’s incredibly delicious. You can learn more about Mai, their wheat, and farming here. Mai’s wheats were selected from over a decade of trials for what thrives right here in our special coastal climate and they were grown using ecological practices. They’re then stone milled into a distinctive, flavorful flour incomparable to anything you’ve ever eaten.
Introducing the Grain Share
You’re invited to experience these unique flours through the inaugural Farmer Mai Grain Share. There are 20 spots available. Each share price is $150 and will take place December 2020 through May 2021 wherein members can:
Receive 5 lbs of a single variety of freshly milled whole wheat flour once a month
5 lbs = 4 loaves of bread and a lot of pancakes, or a small mountain of cookies
Varieties may include: Chiddam Blanc de Mars, Wit Wolkoring, Sonora, Akmolinka
Pick-up on the second Thursday of every month at
Right here at The Green Valley Marketplace… OR…
The Bagel Mill in downtown Petaluma
Sign-up by November 20
Please complete this registration form by Friday, Nov 20 at 8 PM. Shares will be filled in order of registration date. You will receive a confirmation email that will request payment by PayPal or Venmo. If payment ($150) is not received by Monday, November 23 at 8 PM your spot will be offered to a waitlisted applicant. Only one share per person/family.
CLAY FOLK POTTERY STUDIO MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE!
Our friends and CSA members Cory Brown and Kaelyn Ramsden have been hard at work these past couple years opening a pottery studio in downtown Occidental, Clay Folk Studio.
They have a few memberships available and classes coming soon. Check out their website to learn more about this special new community space!
LOGISTICS
The last pick-up of our 2020 harvest season will be Tuesday, December, 8th.
Saturday pick-up runs from 9:00am - 2:00pm
Tuesday pick-up runs from 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm
The farm and u-picking are open 7-days a week, sunrise to sunset. Please close the farm gates behind you on off days.
FARMER’S LOG
Jack Frost & First Rain
Fall is finally here.
After a dusty, perpetually 90 degree October, we were visited this week, starting on Sunday, by Grandfather Frost. And now, as I write, the year’s 1st rain is coming down — 1.5 inches according to our porch gauge!
The wait is finally over.
The first hard frost and the first rain are the real markers of the winding down of our year on the farm. They bring with them multitudinous blessings and signals to the plants, the animals, and farmers.
The first hard frost decisively kills a number of our cold intolerant crops and flowers — like nightshades (bye bye shishito peppers), zinnias and dahlias, sunflowers, basils, etc. — this naturally clears any guilt we have surrounding removing things and putting the garden and u-pick zones to bed for the winter. Over the next few weeks expect to see these zones transition to sleep in mulch and cover crop.
Garlic Pop-A-Thon 2020!
The first rains bring with them countless blessings to the wild creatures and plants of our ecosystem and signal an awakening from dry-season’s dormancy. You could see the joy in the birds this morning, bathing in clean puddles, anticipating the re-greening of their meadows and understories. The bone dry soils surrounding our fields took a sigh of relief. For your farmers, the first big rain means our irrigation duties are now over for the year and that our cover cropping efforts, previously reliant on scant irrigation water, can shift into high gear. As in the wild pastures, so too will the spent summer zones of the farm, kissed by rain, begin to re-green.
On our non-harvest days this week, Kayta, Anna, Kate, and myself kept knocking off the Fall tasks: With the help of a sweet group of volunteers, we harvested and washed the last bed of Fall carrots. The kids got to see the Root Blaster 5000 in action! Then we transitioned to popping garlic cloves (i.e. separating out the nicest cloves of this year’s seed garlic bulbs for planting next week.)
Thursday marked the true beginning of next year’s harvest shares! We spent all day prepping next year’s garlic beds: amending, spading, mulching and wood chipping the pathways, which you can see at the top of field 5.
So it goes on the farm: The end of one cycle is the beginning of the next.
See you in the fields,
David for Kayta, Kate, & Anna
