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
