10/14/2022 - Week 19 - Ode to Winter Squash

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

Fancy Fall Salad Mix (with Arugula, Mustard Greens and Frisee), Panisse Oak Leaf Lettuce, Sugarloaf Chicories, Brussels Sprout Tops, Napa Cabbage, Alpine and Scarlet Daikon Radish, Scallions, Fennel, Sunrise Carrots, Asterix Red Potatoes, Sweet Peppers, Poblano Peppers, Olympian Cucumbers, Summer Squash & Zucchini, Sunshine Kabocha Winter Squash, Lorz Italian Softneck Garlic

U-PICK

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

• Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkins: Season limit: 1 pumpkin per share for shares without kids or 1 pumpkin per kid for shares with kiddos.

• Albion Strawberries

• Cherry Tomatoes: Gleanings

• 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!

This year’s Brussels Sprout Tops grew up next to a beautiful insectary row of Sweet Alyssum, Clarkia, Sulfur Cosmos, Sunflowers, Borage, and Phacelia seeded by CSA member Gwena Gardon!

HARVEST NOTES

• Sunshine Kabocha Winter Squash: Sunshine Kabocha is an all-time favorite squash. Excellent for eating straight roasted. Also excellent in pies, curries, etc. Super sweet, velvety smooth texture.

• Poblano Peppers: These beauties won’t be around much longer, so may we suggest that before they go you indulge? Try roasting them and then freezing them for summer-time flavor in the winter. Or make this super simple 4-ingredient Roasted Poblano Cream Sauce recipe.

• Brussels Sprout Tops: Each year around this time we trim the tops off of the Brussel sprouts plants to spur the sprouts to size up evenly. This annual necessity has the delicious benefit of giving us delicate bunches of cooking greens with that lovely Brussel sprout flavor. Use as you would any of your favorite cooking greens like Kale or Collards.

• Napa Cabbage & Kimchi: Welcome to Kim-chi week, the week when Kayta’s magical crop planning skills make Napa Cabbage, Scallions, and Daikon Radish align together on the harvest table. Try this classic spicy Kim-chi recipe and/or this more mellow, kid friendly, white Kim-chi recipe from CSA member Robin Kim. Robin made a vegan version of the white Kim-chi recipe for us last year that was one of our all-time favorite farm preserves. She substituted the salted shrimp and fish sauce with Bragg’s aminos / soy sauce and also omitted the alliums. It was mellow but still packed with flavor. For the jujubes, chestnuts, pine nuts, and rice flour, Robin recommends visiting Asiana Market in Cotati or Asia Mart in Santa Rosa. (The Napa cabbage took a beating this year from cabbage moths, so they will be limited to 1 per share.)

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to help us bring in this year’s Hopi Blue Corn! It was a joy to spend the morning with you. As we get deeper into Fall, Wednesday mornings will be full of fun harvests to participate in. Please join us for these volunteers mornings below!

Calico Popcorn Harvest & Winter Squash Toss
Wednesday, October 19th: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm

Fall Carrot Harvest
Wednesday, October 26th: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm

HOW TO USE ESCAROLE, SUGARLOAFS AND OTHER CHICORIES

In the Fall, we harvest a lot of chicories (a family of leafy greens including Dandelion, Frisée, Radicchio, Endive, and Escarole).

People who are unfamiliar with them are intimidated by chicories at first, not knowing how to use them, because they are bitter. But once you break on through to the other side, they is no turning back and they become a staple.

Chicories are pleasantly bitter, with a succulent, crunchy sweetness, especially near the base of the stems. They are thicker in texture and heartier than lettuce, and softer and more easily cooked than cabbage. Generally they can be used like you would any cooking green like Kale or Chard — you can sauté them, use them in omelets, casseroles, pastas, or raw on salad with a rich dressing. Their sweet bitterness offers a wonderful counterpoint to savory, fatty, and spicy flavors. For your Escarole or Sugarloaf Chicory this week try Utica Greens, a staple dish among Italians in upstate New York.

FARMER’S LOG

AN ODE TO WINTER SQUASH

Last week, we penned an Ode to Maize, and a couple of weeks prior we serenaded the potato. Both are New World crops who changed the world and inspired poets. But this week we set aside for the fairest of them all: The beloved oldest of the Three Sisters.

She takes on infinite forms, from voluptuous to svelte; from burning red to the palest blue. She has been kindling a bashful and loyal love in humanity’s heart for over 10,000 years…

Ladies and gentlemen: The Winter Squash.

The ancestral plants of what we call squash (the species including zucchini, melons, gourds, cucumbers, pumpkins and all winter squash) are millions of years old and native to the New World. The earliest evidence for human domestication dates back 10,000 years to Southern Mexico… earlier than the domestication of corn or beans.

Word travelled fast and inspiration abounded. By 2,000 B.C., squash had became a part of life for almost every Native American culture from Southern Canada to Patagonia — varietals were kept and cherished for everything from the protein rich and medicinal seeds of some, to the sweet flesh and tough, winter hardy skins of others. (The English word “squash” comes from the Narragansett word, askutasquash, meaning fresh vegetable, and similar words can be found in the Algonquian language family.) Botanists note at least six separate domestication events by native peoples in the New World.

Here at WCCF, the human + squash love affair burns bright — and we’re lucky to have at our fingertips the unparalleled modern library of heirloom squash seeds to play with. Over the winter, Kayta hunkered down by a roaring fire with a seed catalogue and a good cup of coffee and laid out a season-long love sonnet to squash: We felt the summer wind with a cool slice of Persian cucumber. We dined by candlelight over pasta with Costata Romanesca Zucchini. Once we tasted a Sarah’s Choice Cantaloupe, we could never forget.

But in the Winter, our true love came — the Winter Squash.

We’ll have a new squash for you to get to know every week until December 6th. Allow us to introduce you…

2022’s Winter Squash varieties: Top Row from L to R: Koginut, Delicata, Sweet Dumpling, Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin, Racer Jack-O-Lanter Pumpkin /// Bottom Row from L to R: Bonbon Buttercup, Butternut, Marina di Chioggia, Sunshine Kabocha, Jester

• Koginut: New to us this year and a newly developed variety, this stately little pumpkin is creating a lot of buzz. Tell us what you think!

• Delicata: A real heartbreaker. The sweetest. Easy to cook, even easier to eat.

• Sweet Dumpling: Just like a delicata but round and cute as a button

• Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin: The supreme pie pumpkin in lacy, netted lingerie. The only pie pumpkin that can compete with a Sunshine Kabocha. We'll distribute this one around Thanksgiving with our go-to pumpkin pie recipe.

• Racer Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin: A classic Jack-O-Lantern to help you celebrate All Hallow’s Eve. Don’t forget to try roasting the seeds when you hollow yours out to carve a scary face!

• Bonbon Buttercup: A cute little buttercup variety with a light green belly button and orange, creamy, rich, sweet flesh

• Butternut: The classic, reliable, bring-em-home-to-daddy squash with a nutty charm

• Marina di Chioggia: An Italian bombshell, this squash is "deliziosa, especially for gnocchi and ravioli... a culinary revelation." We'll include some tips on how to cook it when we distribute this later on.

• Sunshine Kabocha: The village beauty. A gorgeous fiery red Kabocha squash with sweet and flaky flesh. A farm favorite. Exceptional for pumpkin pie or straight roasted eating.

• Jester Acorn: A Delicate type that looks like a fancy Acorn Squash. A good Jester can be among the sweetest of squashes.

We hope you fall in love with a squash this fall!

See you in the fields,
David & Kayta

10/7/2022 - Week 18 - Pumpkin Patch!

CORN HARVEST party!

This wednesday, October 12th from 9 am - 12 pm

Join us for one of the most magical harvests of the year this Wednesday from 9 am - noon!

We’ll be pulling popping off ears and pulling husks off of our beautiful Hopi Blue corn (and maybe a little bit of popcorn too!). Every ear is a present, waiting to be unwrapped and marveled at. We hope you can join us!

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

Arugula, Mustard Mix, Assorted Lettuce, Purple Bok Choi, Rainbow Chard, Easter Egg Radishes, Celery, Scallions, Bishop Cauliflower, Carrots, Bintje Gold Potatoes, Sweet Peppers, Olympian Cucumbers, Summer Squash & Zucchini, Farao Cabbage, Heirloom & Slicing Tomatoes, Delicata Winter Squash

U-PICK

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

• 🌟NEW Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkins: See below for details!

• Albion Strawberries: Check u-pick board

• Cherry Tomatoes: Gleanings

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

• Hot Peppers: Buena Mulata, Habanero, Ali Limo and Jalapeño Hot Peppers

• Tomatillos: Gleanings

• 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

• Delicata Winter Squash: Debuting our first of 9 Winter Squash varieties grown this year, Delicata are a perennial favorite. Versatile, and sweet, they even have edible skins. For the easiest preparation, cut in half, scoop out the seeds and roast, face down, until tender (adding a little water to your pan to keep the squash moist!). They are also delicious cut into rings or half circles, tossed with an oil of your choice (coconut is particularly scrumptious) and then roasted until caramelized. Enjoy!

PUMPKIN PATCH OPEN!

Halloween is coming and our pumpkin patch is now open! 420 plump pumpkins are out there waiting for you!

Season limit this year is: 1 pumpkin per share for shares without kids or 1 pumpkin per kid for shares with kids up to 3 pumpkins.

WINTER SISTER FARM CSA SIGN-UPS NOW OPEN!

The hottest tickets in town are getting snatched up — 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

AN ODE TO CORN

In honor of our upcoming flour corn harvest this Wednesday, we wanted this newsletter to be a song of praise to maize: Humanity is bound to no other plant more than maize, in life and myth.

Since it’s domestication in Southern Mexico some 10,000 years ago, maize has become the staff of life to human civilization as we know it.

We can testify to it’s power just as farmers: From a small, armored, long-storing kernel of radiant color springs forth a plant (a grass) with vigor unmatched. In a week or so it out-competes any weed, reaching for the sun with jaw-dropping, almost hallucinatory speed. In what seems like the blink of an eye ,maize creates a shady, complete canopy over the ground, soaking up every ray of sun with palm thick spears. After reaching full height, maize enters the most beautiful phase, a month of beautiful wind tossed sex. The pollen, contained in the brown tassels atop the plant, feeds thousands of pollinators and floats town to the silks below. Each silk, if pollinated, becomes a kernel. And from just one kernel, up to 800 kernels can grow — multiplicities of nourishment.

As for the poets, we’ll let them speak for themselves. First, we’ll hear from our dear friend, former neighbor, and CSA members, Rebecca Harris, the veritable poet in residence of our CSA, who wrote this poem in 2019 after walking through the corn field. Second, we’ll hear from Pablo Neruda.

Notice that both poets name the sea, laughter, blue, children — undoubtedly tapping into the same collective song of praise to the spirit of Mother Maize.

* * * * *

The Symphony of Harvest
by Rebecca Harris

I go down to the
Corn stalks just to listen
To them.
The way you might go
To hear the ocean.
Or bear a child to share
Laughter.
Here in a world that feels
Like a desert,
I hear rain in this
Corn-
Hear voices-
Melted with sunlight,
Made soft and strong-
Such a wild way-
The corn dances,
As strange
As lions
Dancing,
Or finding a melody in the
Dirt,
Or light in a cave.
Here,
They reach so tall,
They are browning,
Golden and green-
The farthest cousin from
The sea-
Yet I hear them murmur
The same words.
And I am bathed
In music.

Weeks later,
I heard that children were stamping
On the corn
After harvest,
Finally allowed to run tender and
Wild through and over the stalks.
I imagine they blew through them like
Wind colored with blue,
Dragging the sky behind them.
Blue corn sits in baskets
Like fallen arrows
Waiting to dance.

Now,
I see the corn stalks and as I
Let go of the sea wind that it
Brought into my hair
I am filled with children and their
Games
And the memory in my body
Joining them,
As beautifully as the corn and I
Make music.

* * * * *

Ode to Maize
by Pablo Neruda

America, from a grain
of maize you grew
to crown
with spacious lands
the ocean foam.

A grain of maize was your geography.
From the grain
a green lance rose,
was covered with gold,
to grace the heights
of Peru with its yellow tassels.

But, poet, let
history rest in its shroud;
praise with your lyre
the grain in its granaries:
sing to the simple maize in
the kitchen.

First, a fine beard
fluttered in the field
above the tender teeth
of the young ear.
Then the husks parted
and fruitfulness burst its veils
of pale papyrus
that grains of laughter
might fall upon the earth.
To the stone,
in your journey,
you returned.
Not to the terrible stone,
the bloody
triangle of Mexican death,
but to the grinding stone
sacred
stone of your kitchens.
There, milk and matter,
strength-giving, nutritious
cornmeal pulp,
you were worked and patted
by the wondrous hands
of dark-skinned women.

Wherever you fall, maize,
whether into the
splendid pot of porridge, or among
country beans, you light up
the meal and lend it
your virginal flavor.

Oh, to bite into
the steaming ear beside the sea
of distant song and deepest waltz.
To boil you
as your aroma
spreads through
blue sierras.

But is there
no end
to your treasure?
In chalky, barren lands
bordered
by the sea, along
the rocky Chilean coast,
at times
only your radiance
reaches the empty
table of the miner.

Your light, your cornmeal,
your hope
pervades America’s solitudes,
and to hunger
your lances
are enemy legions.

Within your husks,
like gentle kernels,
our sober provincial
children’s hearts were
nurtured,
until life began
to shuck us from the ear.

* * * * *

We hope to see you in the corn this Wednesday!

See you in the fields,
David & Kayta

9/30/2022 - Week 17 - The Rain's Blessing

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

Fancy Fall Salad Mix, Assorted Oakleaf and Summercrisp Lettuce, Tendita Baby Romaine Lettuce, Dazzling Blue Dino Kale, Easter Egg Radishes, Romance Carrots, Walla Walla Sweet Onions, Heirloom & Slicing Tomatoes, Green Magic Broccoli, Bishop Cauliflower, Farao Cabbage, Olympian Cucumbers, Harvest Moon Purple Potatoes, Summer Squash & Zucchini, Sweet Peppers, Poblano Peppers, Sarah’s Choice Cantaloupe (last week!), Lorz Italian Softneck Garlic

The first of this year’s cauliflower!

U-PICK

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

• Flambo Shelling Beans: Gleanings

• Albion Strawberries: Still cranking!

• Cherry Tomatoes: No limit

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

• Hot Peppers: Buena Mulata, Habanero, Ali Limo and Jalapeño Hot Peppers

• Tomatillos: Gleanings

• 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!

Really simple braised cabbage — stills by Griffin Wilson (@cabincorn)

HARVEST NOTES

Cabbage Avalanche: As we continue to plow through what seems to be our best cabbage-year of all time, we thought you might appreciate some extra inspiration for how to keep enjoying the abundance. Check out these two delicious recipes from CSA members:

• Really simple braised cabbage —

  “Scorch the hell out of the open face of a half a cabbage in a dry pan on high heat. Flip it over, melt a few tablespoons of butter into the crevices, sprinkle a generous amount of salt, and wash the salt into the cabbage with a healthy splash of sherry vinegar (balsamic would also be nice). Roast in a 500f oven or a blazing wood stove for 20 minutes or until the core is soft. Slice so that each portion has some charred and soft, tender green.”

  —from Griffin Wilson’s gorgeous and inspiring Instagram account @cabincorn. Click through to see Griffin’s beautiful videos of the recipe.

• Goi Ga Rau Ram / Vietnamese chicken slaw

  To make this incredibly refreshing Vietnamese salad from CSA member Hani Hong, mix all of the Goi Ga Rau Ram ingredients together and then dress with undiluted nuoc cham, salt & pepper. (Hani says diluting the nuoc Cham with 2 Tablespoons of water makes a perfect dipping sauce for spring or summer rolls!) Let sit for about 5-10 minutes. Top with the fried shallots. SO GOOD.

  • Nuoc Cham (Fish Sauce dipping sauce) — scale up as needed

    -1 Tablespoon fish sauce

    -1 Tablespoon sugar

    -1 clove garlic (to taste)

    -1 lime (to taste)

    -Red hot chili pepper (to taste)

  • GOI GA RAU RAM

    -red or white onion — cut the bite by soaking half-rings in vinegar & sugar or lime juice & sugar for 10mins or more

    -rau ram / Vietnamese coriander - that pointy peppery herb growing in one of the barrels in the garden

    -cabbage - chop like cole slaw; maybe about half a cabbage or less

    -poached/shredded/pulled chicken

    -if you want to add mint or cilantro you can

    -salt & pepper to taste

    -fried shallots to top it off

Sunrise over the Fall farfield veggie patch.

WINTER SISTER FARM CSA SIGN-UPS NOW OPEN!

The hottest tickets in town are getting snatch — 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

We started in on one of the most autumnal tasks of the year this week — clipping the winter squash from the vines and piling them in the field to cure. You’ll all be invited to help us bring in the squash in all its vibrant glory in the next week or two. (Keep an eye on the newsletter for the exact date!)

And lucky for us, this autumn, everywhere we look the earth is touched by the delicate green of new growth in the wake of our recent rains. We are so grateful to be going greenly into what’s usually the driest time of the year. It’s brought to mind one of our favorite poems, by Ursula K. Le Guin, daughter of California, dreamer of other worlds and the richness often missed in this one.

* * * * *

TO THE RAIN

BY URSULA K. LE GUIN

Mother rain, manifold, measureless,
falling on fallow, on field and forest,
on house-roof, low hovel, high tower,
downwelling waters all-washing, wider
than cities, softer than sisterhood, vaster
than countrysides, calming, recalling:
return to us, teaching our troubled
souls in your ceaseless descent
to fall, to be fellow, to feel to the root,
to sink in, to heal, to sweeten the sea.

* * * * *

Many of you asked how the rain affected the farm. Aside from a few squishy strawberries and tomatoes, it was a manifold blessing and sweet relief to the soul and to the senses of all the creatures of the farm. Since the rain, the tyranny of summer’s scorched brown hue has slowly been replaced by the green of new grasses; the calls of the songbirds became tinged with joy and exuberance. And everything seems to have became softer — from the blades of dry grass to the very earth under our feet which seemed to change from baked brick to a bouncy sponge.

You can see and taste the rain’s blessing in the crops too. As our friend Ryan Power at New Family Farm once said, "Vegetables become more refined in the Fall."  Truer words were never spoken. Perhaps it’s from those occasional fall rains. Or perhaps it’s from the slower growth caused by the reducing sunlight that makes the vegetables grow more carefully, sturdier, like hardwood trees; rarified and essentialized. Or maybe it’s because they stare more often at the moon and stars these days than the belligerent sun. Or perhaps it's the cooler days and cooler nights that slow down the insect and root worm armies and allow our veggies to let their defenses down and grow in peace. Whatever the cause, it is true: Many in our vegetable society are looking more dapper than they have all year — especially the greens.

We hope you enjoy the share this week: That unique time of year when autumn and summer collide on the harvest table and you can chase some fruity tomatoes with rain-sweetened snow white cauliflower.

See you in the fields,
David & Kayta