9/23/2022 - Week 16 - Work Song

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

Arugula, Mustard Mix, Muir Summercrisp and Tendita Baby Romaine Lettuces, Radicchio, Integro Purple Cabbage, Romance Carrots, Walla Walla Sweet Onions, Heirloom & Slicing Tomatoes, Pink Lady Slipper Radishes, Green Magic Broccoli, Olympian Cucumbers, Asterix Red Potatoes, Summer Squash & Zucchini, Watermelon or Sarah’s Choice Cantaloupe, Lorz Italian Softneck Garlic

U-PICK

Please remember to check the u-pick board for updated weekly limits before going out to pick

• 🌟NEW Flambo Shelling Beans: See Harvest Notes below for tips

• Albion Strawberries: Still cranking! Please check the u-pick board for this week’s limit

• Cherry Tomatoes: NO LIMIT

• Frying Peppers: Shishitos & Padrons | See week 4’s newsletter for harvest and preparation tips

• Hot Peppers: Buena Mulata, Habanero, Ali Limo and Jalapeño Hot Peppers | Check u-pick board for limits

• Tomatillos: Check u-pick board for limits

• Herbs: Dill, Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram, Tarragon, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Vietnamese Coriander, Culinary Lavender, Culinary Sage, French Sorrel, Lemon Verbena, Cilantro, Tulsi, Various Mints, Catnip, Chamomile, Purple Basil, Genovese Basil, Thai Basil

• Flowers!

It’s been sort of a weird year in the u-pick hot and frying peppers — but there’s still a lot of good stuff to be foraged out there, like these Habaneros.

HARVEST NOTES

• Flambo Shelling Beans: Shelling beans are like your pantry dried beans — but fresh off a plant. They harken back to another age when old grandmas sat on stoops shelling beans. But why? Like other vegetables, fresh beans, (like, really fresh) are a revelation compared to the old dried beans. To cook your shelling beans…

  • Remove the beans from their shells: slice off each end of the pod, and pull the pod apart at the seam, or use the tip of a knife to break the seam.

  • Give the beans a rinse then add to a large pot. Cover with at least two inches of water and add salt and aromatics (crushed shallots or garlic, bay leaf or oregano, and dried chili).

  • Bring to a boil on the stove, then reduce the heat and simmer until tender. Check occasionally by taking out a few beans and trying them – they should be smooth and creamy without any resistance when you bite. This can take anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes depending on the size and age of the beans.

  • When tender, remove from heat and add salt to taste. Let the beans cool in their liquid, then drain (you can reserve the liquid as a broth). Add to pastas or salads, sauté with onions and garlic, or serve on their own with a little olive oil, or freeze for use later! Bon appetite!

• Bel Fiore and Radicchio Chicory: Radicchios on the menu this week. Check out last week’s Newsletter for CSA member, and cookbook author, Sarah Kate Benjamin’s wonderful summer salad recipe below using fresh Chicory.

Miles Roeyer: Expert strawberry picker

WINTER SISTER FARM CSA SIGN-UPS NOW OPEN!

The hottest tickets in town are now on sale — Winter Sister Farm’s 2023 Winter CSA program is now open for registration! Winter Sister Farm, right next door to us, was started by our dear friends Anna and Sarah Dozor. Their CSA runs runs from December through May and includes 24 weeks of specialty winter veggies, flowers, herbs, and more — all picked up by CSA members, free-choice market style, on their beautiful farm here on Cooper Rd. Sign-up today!

FARMER’S LOG

WORK SONG

If we will have the wisdom to survive,
to stand like slow growing trees
on a ruined place, renewing, enriching it…
then a long time after we are dead
the lives our lives prepare will live
there, their houses strongly placed
upon the valley sides…

The river will run
clear, as we will never know it…
On the steeps where greed and ignorance cut down
the old forest, an old forest will stand,
its rich leaf-fall drifting on its roots.

The veins of forgotten springs will have opened.
Families will be singing in the fields…
Memory,
native to this valley, will spread over it
like a grove, and memory will grow
into legend, legend into song, song
into sacrament. The abundance of this place,
the songs of its people and its birds,
will be health and wisdom

and indwelling light.

This is no paradisal dream.
Its hardship is its reality.

Work Song Part II - A Vision (Epilogue) by Wendell Berry
(From "New and Collected Poems", Counterpoint Press)

*********
See you in the fields,
David & Kayta

9/16/2022 - Week 15 - Equinox on the Farm

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

Salad Mix, Assorted Lettuce, Bel Fiore Chicory / Radicchio, Rainbow Chard, Fennel, Kohlrabi, Romance Carrots, Walla Walla Sweet Onions, Heirloom & Slicing Tomatoes, Sweet Peppers, Poblano Peppers, Summer Squash & Zucchini, Olympian Cucumbers, Sarah’s Choice Cantaloupe, , Crimson Sweet Watermelon, Bintje Gold Potatoes

U-PICK

Please remember to check the u-pick board for updated weekly limits before going out to pick

• 🌟NEW Flambo Shelling Beans: See Harvest Notes below for tips

• Albion Strawberries: Please check the u-pick board for this week’s limit

• Cherry Tomatoes: No limit

• Frying Peppers: Shishitos & Padrons | See week 4’s newsletter for harvest and preparation tips

• Hot Peppers: Buena Mulata, Habanero, Ali Limo and Jalapeño Hot Peppers | Check u-pick board for limits

• Tomatillos: Check u-pick board for limits

• Herbs: Dill, Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram, Tarragon, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Vietnamese Coriander, Culinary Lavender, Culinary Sage, French Sorrel, Lemon Verbena, Cilantro, Tulsi, Various Mints, Catnip, Chamomile, Purple Basil, Genovese Basil, Thai Basil

• Flowers!

HARVEST NOTES

• Flambo Shelling Beans: Shelling beans are like your pantry dried beans — but fresh off a plant. They harken back to another age when old grandmas sat on stoops shelling beans. But why? Like other vegetables, fresh beans, (like, really fresh) are a revelation compared to the old dried beans. To cook your shelling beans…

  • Remove the beans from their shells: slice off each end of the pod, and pull the pod apart at the seam, or use the tip of a knife to break the seam.

  • Give the beans a rinse then add to a large pot. Cover with at least two inches of water and add salt and aromatics (crushed shallots or garlic, bay leaf or oregano, and dried chili).

  • Bring to a boil on the stove, then reduce the heat and simmer until tender. Check occasionally by taking out a few beans and trying them – they should be smooth and creamy without any resistance when you bite. This can take anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes depending on the size and age of the beans.

  • When tender, remove from heat and add salt to taste. Let the beans cool in their liquid, then drain (you can reserve the liquid as a broth). Add to pastas or salads, sauté with onions and garlic, or serve on their own with a little olive oil, or freeze for use later! Bon appetite!

• Bulk Tomatoes: We’re still in peak tomato season. See last week’s Newsletter for tips on a way to easily prep tomato sauce for storage.

• Bel Fiore and Radicchio Chicory: These beauties are back. Check out CSA member, and cookbook author, Sarah Kate Benjamin’s wonderful summer salad recipe below using Bel Fiore Chicory.

TOMATO CREW 2022

We’re well into peak tomato season and it’s high time we introduced you to our tomato crew this year. This is a dream team assortment of varieties we’ve grown to love over the last 6 years — plus a new trial (Valencia). We hope you fall in love with one of them this year. Tell us which is your favorite!

Top row, left to right: Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Striped German, Big Beef | Middle row, left to right: Speckled Roman Sauce Tomato, Green Zebra, Valencia | Bottom Row, left to right: Brandywine, Goldie, Cherokee Purple

• Cherokee Purple: A classic, super productive heirloom tomato particularly good for BLTs

• Striped German: Arguably the prettiest tomato we grow. Smooth, often huge, mellow, and fruity flavored.

• Green Zebra: A delightful, tart and acidic, miniature tomato. Ripe when yellow-green and slightly soft to the touch.

• Big Beef: Like jeans and a t-shirt: A classic red beefsteak.

• Aunt Ruby’s German Green: Green turning to yellow when ripe, this tomato is our all-time favorite. First introduced by Ruby Arnold whose German immigrant grandfather saved the seeds. You'll know Aunt Ruby's is ripe when it gives just slightly to the touch.

• Brandywine: The quintessential pink heirloom, “rich, loud, and distinctively spicy" according to Johnny's Selected Seeds

• Goldie: David’s personal favorite. A very mellow tomato. A good Goldie (dark orange when ripe) will taste like flowers and melons and go down smooth and sweet.

• Speckled Roman: An exceptionally delicious sauce tomato with a psychedelic dream-coat. Excellent for fresh eating as well.

• Valencia: A new trial this year. Valencia is a Maine family heirloom with a meaty texture and bold flavor that could make a nice addition to sauce or canned tomatoes.

SARAH KATE’S RADICCHIO SUMMER SALAD

On days when it’s just too hot to cook, a big salad usually does the trick for dinner. While crisp lettuce is a mainstay for all of your salad needs, its bitter cousin chicory is worth giving a try. Yes, chicories tend to be on the bitter side, but that bitter is actually good for you. Bitter greens are cooling to the body and help you digest and assimilate your foods better. So, if you’ve been wondering what to do with the Bel Fiore or Sugarloaf Chicory, you’ll want to make this quick and easy salad. And don’t be shy with the fresh herbs either. Grab your favorites to toss into the dressing or sprinkle on top just before serving. 

Ingredients 

For the dressing 
1 cup yogurt 
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
1 clove garlic, grated 
¼ cup freshly chopped dill 
1 tablespoon freshly chopped fennel fronds 
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons honey 
½ cup olive oil 
Salt and pepper, to taste 

For the salad 
1 head Bel Fiore or Sugarloaf Chicory (Little Gems work too) 
½ cup breadcrumbs 
2 radishes, thinly sliced 

1. Add all of the dressing ingredients to a blender or food processor and combine until smooth. Taste and adjust for more honey or vinegar. 

2. Gently tear the salad greens into large pieces and add to a mixing bowl. 

3. Toss the greens and radishes with a few tablespoons of the dressing, depending on how dressed you like them.

4. To serve, add half of the dressed salad to a serving bowl and top with half of the breadcrumbs. Repeat and finish with a drizzle of dressing and a sprinkle of fresh herbs if you’d like.  

For more recipe inspiration, check out Sarah Kate’s weekly recipe newsletter here and get access to over 45 seasonal recipes.

WINTER SISTER FARM CSA SIGN-UPS NOW OPEN!

The hottest tickets in town are now on sale — Winter Sister Farm’s 2023 Winter CSA program is now open for registration! Winter Sister Farm, right next door to us, was started by our dear friends Anna and Sarah Dozor. Their CSA runs runs from December through May and includes 24 weeks of specialty winter veggies, flowers, herbs, and more — all picked up by CSA members, free-choice market style, on their beautiful farm here on Cooper Rd. Sign-up today!

FARMER’S LOG

EQUINOX TURNINGS

At 6:03 PM this Thursday, the sun will cross the plane of the equator — the autumnal equinox.

It struck me today how the tasks of pulling off the farm year harmonize with the seasons in such a way that it always seems like there is just enough time to accomplish what needs to be accomplished by the skin on our chins.

The Byrds were right: To everything, there is a season. 

In the Spring, we aren’t harvesting yet so we have all the time in all the medium-length days to prep the canvas and plant out the farm; to build a propagation zone and new irrigation systems; to set up the barn; to seed 60 trays a week in the greenhouse; to pot up tomatoes, to stake tomatoes, to trellis tomatoes; to mow cover crop and turn soil and shape beds and plant, plant, plant!

Then harvest seasons starts and two, then three, then then four days of the week are consumed with harvest. You put down the saw and the hammer and take up the harvest knife. All other projects cease. Planting and harvesting are your life — maybe some weeding if you’re lucky. The days are at their longest. If there is ever a time to be harvesting 1,000+ pounds of cucumbers, tomatoes and squash in the morning and then prepping and planting out a half mile of beds in the afternoon, it is when there is 16 hours of daylight.

Before you know it, it’s late Summer. The tomatoes start exploding, the cucumbers already are, you’re still planting like crazy and then the melons come in — and just when you think you’ll break, that there isn’t enough time in the day, you scroll through your crop plan and see that plantings are nearly done. No more bed shaping. The greenhouse seedings stop. You plant the last Fall brassicas in the field, the tractor sits quiet for a minute, and you can spend all day amongst the vines and in the cooler playing Tetris with boxes of Summer fruit. 

Then comes the Autumnal Equinox.

The tomatoes are still pumping and the potatoes and winter squash are calling to be harvested; the corn is filling out and crisping up. The big harvests are here. Space needs to be cleared. Winter is just around the corner so you also need to establish new garlic and strawberries beds and to lime new fields, and get ready for cover cropping — and just when you think you’ll break, that there isn’t enough time in the shortening days the heat starts to ebb, the tomatoes show signs of slowing down. Soon, a light frost will roll through the farm and nip the summer fruits. Smiling friends will come to help you harvest your winter squash. The chill morning air will go down like a draught of ambrosia. You seed the last lettuce of the season. You have a moment sit down and calculate your garlic seed and order cover crop.

All this is why you won’t ever hear a farmer say, “Shucks! Summer is over.” We are greedy for the turnings. We love nothing more than a first harvest. But first tomato harvest glory fades under the weight of a hundred tomato crates and then we crave cold hands and cozy coats and the crisp snap of the stem of a plump radicchio. Lucky for us, when scolding kiddos for running through the corn becomes sad and hackneyed, Autumn comes, and we can yell, “Come! Knock it down! Gather armfuls of cobs!” 

Change is our tonic — one of the great sustaining elixirs of farm life.

Soon, Winter will come. It’s so close now we can almost taste it. The rains will fall and we will turn in — to rest, rejuvenation, and internality. We’ll clean up the farm and we’ll look back on the year and plan the next. We’ll look at spreadsheets, sit, think, build, fix things, and sleep. 

But ample sleep turns into insomnia; too much internality into angst. Our harvest muscles will atrophy, we will get pudgy, and we will forget why we are toiling out in the wet and the cold. And just when we think we’ll break, that there is too much open-endedness in the too short days, the sun will return and we will hear the Swainson’s Thrush calling us back out to the fields, beckoning us, “Build it up again! Plant! Turn! Turn! Turn!”

See you in the fields,
David & Kayta

9/9/2022 - Week 14 - Heat Wave Reflections

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

Cegolaine Little Gems, Cherokee Summer Crisp Lettuce, Escarole, Dino Kale, Pink Ladyslipper Radish, Celery, Sweet Corn, Kohlrabi, Romance Carrots, Cabernet Red Onions, Heirloom Tomatoes, Sweet Peppers, Summer Squash & Zucchini, Sarah’s Choice Cantaloupe, Asterix Red Potatoes, Farao Cabbage

U-PICK

Please remember to check the u-pick board for updated weekly limits before going out to pick

• Albion Strawberries: 3 pints per share this week

• Cherry Tomatoes: See week 8’s newsletter for variety descriptions

• Frying Peppers: Shishitos & Padrons | See week 4’s newsletter for harvest and preparation tips

• Hot Peppers: Buena Mulata, Habanero, Ali Limo and Jalapeño Hot Peppers | Check u-pick board for limits

• Tomatillos: Check u-pick board for limits

• Herbs: Dill, Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram, Tarragon, Onion Chives, Garlic Chives, Vietnamese Coriander, Culinary Lavender, Culinary Sage, French Sorrel, Lemon Verbena, Cilantro, Tulsi, Various Mints, Catnip, Chamomile, Purple Basil, Genovese Basil, Thai Basil

• Flowers!

HARVEST NOTES

• Escarole: An Italian staple, this leafy chicory (related to radicchio and endive) is a hardy, sweet, and slightly bitter green that’ll add punctuation to any rich and fatty feast. It has a substantial, juicy texture and slight nutty flavor that make it great in salads, and it also stands up to braising or broiling. Our favorite way to prepare escarole is to cut at the base, toss the leaves in olive oil and to broil it in the oven until it is nice and melted and the tips are crispy. Toss with garlic, salt, and lemon juice and voila!

• Sweet Corn Caterpillars: You are likely to a European corn borer caterpillar in your ears of sweet corn this week. An unfortunate reality of organically grown corn, this little moth caterpillar, while a little gross, is harmless and loves sweet corn just like you. Don’t let it deter you from this scrumptious sweet corn! Just feed your caterpillar to the birds, clean off the eaten part, and enjoy your corn! “It’s CORN!”

• Damaged Strawbs and Upick crops: Extreme heat is hard on fruits (strawberries, peppers, cherry tomatoes) so you will likely find a lot of cooked fruits in the u-pick crops this week and next. You can do the plants a favor by just picking and dropping any melted feeling fruits while you are u-picking. Thank you!

preserving the harvest

Bulk Tomatoes are here! From now until the end of tomato season, bulk quantities of Speckled Roman Sauce Tomatoes and all Seconds (tomatoes that are blemished or quite ripe but still tasty) will be available! Bulk tomatoes will have a season limit, meaning the total tomatoes available per share over the course of the season. You’re welcome to take them all at once or a little bit here and there, whichever you like!

The easiest way to put up tomatoes is freezing. While you can freeze tomatoes without processing first, we particularly love halving them, drizzling with olive oil and roasting in a low-temp oven to concentrate the flavors. Or, if you have the time now and want to make a sauce that truly bottles the taste of summer, consider making fresh tomato sauce!

Fresh Tomato Sauce

For the simplest tomato sauce, we recommend sautéing onions and garlic in more olive oil than you might think you need. Then add tomatoes and salt to taste and cook down for 45 minutes to an hour until your sauce has reached the desired consistency and flavor. Depending on your preferred consistency, tomatoes can be peeled and de-seeded before cooking, or if you prefer a more rustic sauce, just chop and them throw them in the pot seeds and all. For more detailed instructions, and some good ideas for variations on tomato sauces, check out this Smitten Kitchen post on Fresh Tomato Sauce.

THANK YOU!

Thank you so much to everyone who helped bring in this year’s potato crop! We harvested over 10,000 lbs together — something we couldn’t have done so quickly without the 30 or 40 of you who lent a hand. A special shout-out to Jared Sutton who helped us load and unload thousands of lbs on Saturday. If you loved this harvest party or want to get in on the next one, keep an eye out in this newsletter for announcements about our Winter Squash Toss and Fall Carrot Harvest Party.

WINTER SISTER FARM CSA SIGN-UPS NOW OPEN!

The hottest tickets in town are now on sale — Winter Sister Farm’s 2023 Winter CSA program is now open for registration! Winter Sister Farm, right next door to us, was started by dear friends Anna and Sarah Dozor. Their CSA runs runs from December through May and includes 24 weeks of specialty winter veggies, flowers, herbs, and more — all picked up by CSA members, free-choice market style, on their beautiful farm here on Cooper Rd. Sign-up today!

FARMER’S LOG

REFLECTIONS ON THE HEAT WAVE

Sunrise on Tuesday, the hottest day in Bay Area known history.

• The plants on the farm seemed to have fared OK. The most damage occurred in fruits exposed to the sun with our tomatoes sustaining the most damage. We have so many tomatoes right now that we probably won’t notice it in the CSA, but it might mean we have a shorter no-limit tomato season as so many young fruits and flowers were literally cooked by the heat. (Supposedly fruits are usually 30 degrees warmer than ambient temps with the sun on them.) Many strawberries with sun-facing sides were also damaged. If you’re picking strawbs this week and see a melty strawberry, please pull them off the plants for us!

• We’re proud and grateful to our crew who toughed it out through the hot week. We weren’t outside in the sun after 11 am or so, but we did brave some hot greenhouses and Lauren ran pick-up in an ambient 112 degrees! This week, we did harvests in the cool mornings and then lots of inside work like cleaning onions. We basically delayed this week’s field transplantings and seedings until we have more Earthly temperatures next week.

• It is interesting how the body seems to not be able to tell much of a difference between 105 and 112. It’s almost as if 105 is the top of the thermometer!

• Potatoes! Last Friday, Saturday and Wednesday mornings we harvested our potatoes — all 10,000+ lbs of which are stored away in the cooler. We were happy (and somewhat relieved) to unearth a bumper potato crop. We were concerned that the gophers had been doing a lot of damage to the crop but, thank goodness, even the gophers here can’t eat that much. The sandy soil of the upper part of the Farfield is ideal for potatoes and the smooth skins of the potatoes show it.

We hope you all fared well in the heat. Here’s to a more mild last couple weeks of summer.

See you in the fields,
David