THIS WEEK'S HARVEST
Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkins, Butternut Winter Squash, Hopi Blue Cornmeal, German Butterball Potatoes, Leeks, Celery, Purple Cabbage, Lorz Italian Softneck Garlic, Cured Yellow Onions, Dazzling Blue Dino Kale, Brussels Sprouts, Purple Top Turnips, Watermelon Radishes, Loose Bolero Carrots, Loose Beets, Little Gems, Salad Mix (with Mustard Greens and Chicories)
Mushrooms and cover crop sprouting up in Highgarden
U-PICK
Gleanings: After the hard frosts we got last week, only a few of the most cold hardy plants remain for u-picking.
Rosemary, Parsley, Oregano, Marjoram, Thyme
A few assorted flowers
HARVEST NOTES
Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin: This lacy, soft-orange beauty is the best pumpkin we’ve found for pumpkin pie. See below for Kayta’s tried and true pumpkin pie recipe.
Hopi Blue Heirloom Cornflour: This beautiful corn flour is from the tall stand of corn that watched over our Jack-O-Lanterns all season long. Harvested by members, ground last week and then frozen, this is a rare, heirloom cornflour with a freshness and flavor that only fresh ground corn can have. Store frozen to preserve the fats and oils. See below for our go to Hopi Blue Corn pancake recipe. It can be used in any way that you would use cornflour (polenta, grits, muffins, cornbread, etc.) Enjoy!
Purple Top Turnips: These versatile turnips are sweet and delicate enough to be eaten raw shaved or micro-planed on salads and hardy enough to handle the stoutest stews and vegetable medley roasts.
The Dream Team planting 2021’s garlic
KAYTA’s AMAZING PUMPKIN PIE RECIPE
This is an incredibly simple recipe which relies entirely on the quality of its ingredients for its flavor. We find that it tastes amazing with a high quality squash and Brambletail’s fresh milk.
THE CRUST
1/2 tsp salt
75 ml water, about 1/3 cup, very cold (I usually start with this amount and add a touch more as needed)
227 g all purpose flour, about 1 and 3/4 cup
150 g unsalted butter, 1 stick plus 2.5 tablespoons, very cold
Cut the cold butter into pea sized chunks and mix into the flour and salt mixture. With your fingers, squeeze the butter chunks so that they flatten into the flour. Add the water gradually, pressing and kneading the dough as you go, until all of the flour has been moistened and is able to be formed into a ball.( I usually use slightly more water than the recipe calls for.) Make the dough into a ball and then flatten into a disc and refrigerate, wrapped in a bag, until you are ready to roll it out. Once the crust has been rolled out and placed in your pie pan, refrigerate or freeze it until right before you put it in the oven. Pro tip: you’ll achieve more layered flakiness if you fold the dough over on itself several times before shaping into the pie pan. Just remember to not let it get warm enough that the butter starts to melt.
THE FILLING
1 3/4 cup baked Winter Luxury Pie pumpkin (or other sweet squash, the sweeter the better — we also love the Sunshine Kabocha and the velvety Marina di Chioggia!)
1/2-3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 heaping tsp. ground ginger
2 eggs
1 cup cream
1/2 cup milk (feel free to adjust the ratio of cream to milk, or substitute coconut milk for all of it!)
Mix the sugar, salt, and spices into the pumpkin. Then mix in the eggs, milk, and cream, and whisk until smooth.
Pour the pie filling into your chilled, raw pie crust, and bake at 400* until only an inch in the center of the pie remains liquid and the crust is golden brown. Let set before eating.
HOPI BLUE CORN PANCAKES
INGREDIENTS
1 cup blue cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 cup boiling water
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted (coconut oil would be a delicious, dairy-free substitute)
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup pine nuts, walnuts, or pecans, toasted (optional)
DIRECTIONSIn a medium bowl, mix together the blue cornmeal, salt and sugar. Stir in the boiling water until all of the ingredients are wet. Cover, and let stand for a few minutes.
In a measuring cup, combine the milk, egg and melted butter. Stir the milk mixture into the cornmeal mixture. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the cornmeal mixture until just incorporated. If the batter is stiff, add a little more milk until it flows off the spoon thickly but smoothly.Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat, and grease it with a dab of oil or butter. Use about 2 tablespoons of batter for each pancake. Quickly sprinkle a few pignoli (or other nuts if using) onto each cake. When the entire surface of the pancakes are covered with bubbles, flip them over, and cook the other side until golden.
Serve immediately with maple syrup or fruit preserves.
NOTES & REMINDERS
When does the CSA end? The last week of our 2020 CSA harvest season is the week of December 5th. The last Saturday pick-up is December 5th. The last Tuesday pick-up is December 8th.
FARMER’S LOG
A FARMER’S THANKSGIVING
Kayta and I both grew up in the suburbs and, like everyone, we would encountered those ubiquitous expressions — “three shakes of a lamb's tail”, “like a horse who’s seen the barn”, “chomping at the bit”, “make hay while the sun shines”, "coming home to roost", etc. It wasn’t until we started farming that we began to realize the roots of these expressions and their visceral poetry. And it wasn’t until we started farming that we began to understand — like really understand — the visceral reason to give thanks in the Fall.
The Fall is an incredible time of year in the temperate world. It is a season of unimaginable bounty. The plants of forest and field have spent all Spring and Summer harnessing the sun’s energy into their fruits, seeds, roots, and leaves and we have harvested. In the Fall the root cellar is full, the larder is full, the granary is full — the land has burst forth at its seams and we have gathered the overflow.
The farmer, sitting at home with her feet up next to the fire, is keenly aware of the bounty in the root cellar below. She feels a great contentment in this but no pride because she realizes how little she did to create it. Sure, she worked hard all year — moving things here and there — but it was others, present now and before, that filled that cellar. It was others who dug it out and laid the roof. Others who forged the tools and taught her how to use them. Others who saved the seeds and taught others, who taught others, who taught others, who taught her how to care for them. And what (or who) made those seeds sprout? Not she.
For all this, there is nothing to give but thanks.
We’d like to take a moment to give thanks those who made this year's harvest season possible.
First, to the indigenous people and cultures who stewarded into existence, and who continue to steward, so-so many of the seeds we grow for our harvest shares. As we enjoy the first cornmeal of the year this week, let us think of these people, give thanks, and think of ways we can actively support their communities. Similarly, to the people and cultures on whose ancestral land we live and farm — the Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok — the next time we walk out to the farm, let us think of these people, give thanks, and think of ways we can actively support and empower them.
To all the volunteers who helped on the farm this year — we really leaned on our community to help us with big harvests and plantings this year because we know you all will come through. You do not disappoint.
To Sora Bolles — and the whole Hom-Bolles family — what can we say? Thank you for brightening so many of our days. We will miss you.
To Ryan Bundrick for the incredible arbor; Cory and Amy for our second-breakfast bench and all your PRAXIANS for everyday spirit boosting and giggles; to Jared Sutton for the sink that kept our dirty hands clean; to Ann Hamilton and all the Fall regulars; to Michael Crivello for the big cooler push — couldn’t have done the season without that thing; to Josiah Cain, Jeff Mendelsohn, and Farmer Daron Joffe for the all the loot from the greatest farm estate-sale of all time!
To Cory and Ryath of Moonfruit Mushrooms for growing the best mushrooms anyone has ever had; to Eli at Revolution Bread for making us fat; to Kim LaVere to her incredible Marketplace and vision for food and connection here.
To Anna and Kate: Pulling off a season such as it is takes hefty amount of grit, grace, and guffaws in a normal year — let alone one as physically and mentally difficult as 2020. As Royal Tenenbaum would say, you two are “true blue'“. We can’t express how lucky we feel to have been able to spend our days in the field with you two. You are the Fairy Godmothers of this farm and always will be.
To our neighbors and landmates at Green Valley Farm + Mill: Temra & Jeremy, Teo, Quin, Aubrie, Scott Kelley, Jeff, Gaya, Frankie & Desha, Josiah, Genevieve, Michael, the ladies of Greenhaven, Daron, Stephanie and your kiddos, and Chris LS Panym up in the Wildnest: It takes a village to sustain a small farm and your support, encouragement and our daily interactions make up the web of friendship that sustain this farm and farmers!
To our friends and families: For your unconditional love and support as we tend our toddler farm-baby. We can do things now!
And finally, to you, our members. Whatever bounty we’ve enjoyed this year is because of you. You made a real connection to, and shared in the risk of a growing season, with your farmers — something extremely rare and important, we think, in this crazy world. You helped us plant the seeds, spread compost, lay the irrigation tape, the tomato trellising twine, and were there with us in the work that went into planting this harvest season. You helped keep each other safe. You helped harvest your garlic, potatoes, corn, and squash and did quite a bit of u-picking! You showed up each week with sweet smiles, words of encouragement and appreciation. You are the heart of this farm.
You reminded us, day after day, week after week, that real, life-sustaining bounty comes from a community of neighbors rolling up their sleeves and building something beautiful together.
Thank you.
See you in the fields,
David & Kayta
