3/4/26 Shaking Up CSA Box Labeling
After months of planning, we took a dive into a new way of labeling and managing CSA boxes. Instead of individual names, boxes are now unnamed with a checklist to make sure you’re getting just the right thing.
Order of operations:
📋 Check yourself off on clip board.
📦 Pick up veggies from a Classic/Family CSA box.
💚 Leave the box and tidy it away for the people after you as well as your amazing host who offers their space for us to use in the service of strengthening our local food system.
♻️ If you want to trade, please do your best to leave approximately the value that you took.
🥬 Pick up any food Add-Ons (clip board will have told you if and what). But these are labeled.
💐 Pick up any Flowers you’ve ordered. Clip board will have told you if and what
Why did we make this change? There are several reasons. . .
On your side, we hope this will eliminate the accidental taking of someone else’s box. This happens once every couple CSAs, always by pure mistake but can really create problems for the family who’s arrived to find an empty box, the host and Elizabeth who drops everything to figure out where the lost food has gone and how to meet the needs of the family.
On the farm side, it will create several efficiencies. First of all, organizing all the names at all the sites takes Elle an entire afternoon. Secondly, we store so many extra boxes. Getting all the add ons into the correct boxes makes for a lot of running around and around barn tables. And once we get kinks ironed out of this change, we actually hope to create an assembly line. Elizabeth has visited two larger farms in the last year to learn.
On the host side, we hope that it will create for a more tidy environment. People moving boxes around to get to their own make for a mess of empty and full boxes. Please do help us with this.
We wanted to get some of these details figured out before bringing in our new 2026 members. Please please, provide us your feedback on this.
Changing Seasons
We’re nearing Spring Equinox (March 20th) but goodness does it already feel like Spring. Flowers are coming on early, fruit trees are flowering early and the grass is growing faster than ever!
In the last couple days of sun we’ve been planting up a storm, kale, lettuce, asian greens and more. Next week our first Cucumbers will go in the ground. The following will have Summer Squash!
This week’s box is a transition box for sure. Lots of light greens but then finishing off some of our winter storage crops as well. We’ll still have a round of potatoes for you in future weeks.
This Week’s Box
Spinach (Classic) OR Arugula (Family)
Chicory Mix
Bulb Fennel
Sangre Potatoes (Suncatcher Farm)
Black Futsu Winter Squash
Calibra Onion (WCCF)
Family: Rainbow Chard + More of Above
Produce Notes & Recipes
We’re just thrilled to have Spinach for all Classic Boxes this week! Family Boxes have had it twice this winter already. Like other loose cut greens, spinach takes a lot of time to harvest and then bag too. As such, we don’t get to do it for you as much as we would like. It would go great with potatoes this week.
Potatoes this week are mostly the red Sangre Potatoes, about half in Classic West County Boxes are Purple Majesty. Sangre are red-skinned potatoes with creamy white flesh that hold their shape well, making them excellent for roasting, potato salads, or simple boiled potatoes with herbs and butter. Purple Majesty are deep purple inside and out with a slightly drier texture and earthy flavor, best roasted, mashed, or used in colorful potato salads where their vibrant color shines. Both had a few eyes popping out. This is not bad, but they are at the end of their storage time (should be kept in the fridge and eaten in a couple weeks). In fact some people say potatoes are sweeter when they have light sprouting as their stored starches are being turned to sugars. Do not eat if starting to turn green. I did not see any going green while putting them in boxes today.
Spanish-Style Spinach & Potatoes (Espinacas con Patatas)
Boil potato chunks until tender. In a pan sauté olive oil, garlic, smoked paprika, and a pinch of chili flakes. Add spinach to wilt, then toss with potatoes and a splash of sherry vinegar. Finish with toasted almonds.
Potato–Spinach Frittata
Sauté thin potato slices in olive oil until tender. Add spinach to wilt. Pour beaten eggs over the top, sprinkle feta or goat cheese, cook until mostly set, then finish under the broiler.
Spinach & Potato Coconut Curry
Simmer potatoes in coconut milk with curry paste, ginger, and garlic. When tender, stir in spinach and lime juice. Finish with cilantro. Serve over rice.
Chicories are the family of greens that include Radicchio, Escarole and Frisée. Chicories are famous for their pleasant bitterness — and that flavor is actually a big part of why they’re valued both culinarily and nutritionally. Chicories are known for their pleasantly bitter flavor, which comes from natural plant compounds called sesquiterpene lactones. In the wild, these compounds help protect plants from pests, but for us they create the refreshing bite that makes chicories so distinctive.
That bitterness plays an important role in cooking. It balances sweet and rich foods and adds complexity that makes a dish taste more vibrant and complete. Many traditional cuisines, especially Mediterranean ones, rely on bitter greens for this reason.
Bitter foods also help stimulate digestion. When we taste bitterness, it triggers saliva, stomach acid, and bile production, helping the body digest food more efficiently. Chicories are also rich in fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins.
While modern vegetables are often bred to be milder, chicories bring back an important flavor our palates evolved to enjoy.
Sometimes they don’t have the best heads but Farm Manager Sean curated this Chicory Mix last winter and loved it so much we planted almost double the Chicory for it this winter. It makes a great winter salad, this week it would be great with Bulb Fennel and Black Futsu Winter Squash.
Roasted Black Futsu with Mixed Chicories & Fennel
Serves 4
1 medium Black Futsu squash
1 large bulb fennel
1 bag Chicory Mix
3 Tbs olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dressing:
2 Tbs red wine vinegar (or sherry vinegar)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey or maple syrup
3 Tbs olive oil
1 small clove garlic, finely grated
Salt and pepper
Optional additions (excellent but not required)
¼ cup toasted walnuts or hazelnuts
¼ cup shaved Pecorino or Parmesan
Fennel fronds for garnish
Heat oven to 425°F.
Cut the Black Futsu squash in half, scoop seeds, then cut into ¾–1 inch wedges. Leave the skin on. Toss with 2 Tbs olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Spread on a sheet pan and roast 25–35 minutes, turning once, until tender and deeply caramelized on the edges.
While the squash roasts, trim the fennel bulb and shave it very thin (a knife or mandoline works well). Reserve the fronds.
Whisk together the vinegar, mustard, honey, garlic, salt, and pepper. Slowly whisk in the olive oil to emulsify.
In a large bowl toss the chicories and shaved fennel with about half of the dressing.
Arrange the dressed greens on a platter. Top with the warm roasted squash wedges.
Drizzle remaining dressing over the squash. Finish with toasted nuts, shaved cheese, and chopped fennel fronds.
Serve warm or room temperature.
In general on our storage crops this week. Black Futsu, this is the last of our winter squash in your boxes for the winter. We still have a few so will keep on add ons. Onions this is the last as well, we still have more of both the For both of these there is a chance we may include in Family Boxes is all. Potatoes we should still have 1-2 more rounds coming to you!
Extra Shares
Flower Share: Focus on Tulips 🌷
Lettuce Share: Little Gems (including Cegolaine) 🥬
Bunched Greens Share: Toscano Kale