9/23/26 Happy Autumn 🍁

As you know, the solar calendar is oh so important for us, and the Autumnal Equinox is a particularly meaningful marker on the farm. This is the moment when day and night are nearly equal, but what matters most to our crops is where we are headed from here: rapidly shortening days, a lower sun in the sky, cooler soils and increasingly slower growth. A week of growing time in September is very different from a week in November. So much of winter farming is really about getting plants established before growth slows dramatically. By the equinox, we want the farm largely set up for the season ahead—plants in the ground, roots growing, and crops building enough size to carry us through the darker months.

For us, that means most of our winter heading brassicas (Cauliflowers, Broccolis) are now in the ground. There are still a few cabbages to go, but getting this far represents a huge push.

That push has been tremendously harder this year, as we have had a tremendous amount of staff turnover. In the last 40 days, over half our staff has turned over. Yes, in the busiest time of year! That means hiring, yes, but even more: saying goodbyes and training, training, training.

We are excited to have our awesome new hires starting to take on more and more as they get a month+ of work on the farm under their belts and begin to learn our systems. Owen has been taking on bits in the field, and Pippin has been filling your add-ons for the last week. Plus, both of them have now been trained on Farmers' Markets. Amal and Glen are newer but starting to learn the ropes, and Baldomero is just coming on.

Many, many thanks to our Farm Manager Sean and Crew Lead Carolina for holding so much, training, and picking up many an extra shift and role as we move through this transition.

Women’s Leadership in Food Symposium

This past weekend, Farmer Elizabeth, along with Carolina and Pippin, attended the 10th annual Women's Leadership in Food Symposium in West County and were fed by the amazing conversations and interactions. Check out today's email for some fun photos from a photo display featuring female farmers and food advocates from around the North Bay who gave a couple lines on WHY they do what they do. Enjoy.

Fire Blight Year

If you have pear or apple trees and you’re in Sonoma County you know that this has been a tremendous year for Fire Blight. Fire blight is a bacterial disease that affects apples, pears, and other plants in the rose family. Infected blossoms, shoots, and branches can suddenly turn brown or black and look scorched—as if they’ve been burned by fire. The bacteria spread especially quickly during warm, wet spring weather, entering through flowers or wounds and sometimes killing entire branches. Remember the late rains and early heat we had? There’s no simple cure, so management focuses on pruning out infected wood.

For us, we did several rounds of cutting out branches that were affected and we even had to stump 5 mature trees. This means cutting them back to the ground. We’ll see if they grow back from above the graft union, giving us the same variety, or if what emerges is from the rootstock below. Either way, it will take some time for this part of the orchard to recover.

As such, you are receiving the entirety of our Pear and Asian Pear crop today. It’s pathetic. As a comparison last year we gave them out 5 times through autumn, each time double to triple what you have today.

This Week’s Box

Red Butter Lettuce

🍅 Smaller Mixed Tomato Quart 🍅

Bunched Green: Rainbow Chard (SR) OR Brussels Greens (WC)

Cucumber (SR) OR Summer Squash (WC)

Strawberries (SR) OR Cherry Tomatoes (WC)

Genovese Basil

Mixed Pears

Family: Fresh Onions & Kohlrabi

Produce Notes & Recipes

We’ve had a lettuce gap due to some germination issues in our greenhouse and thrilled to have beautiful Red Butter Lettuce for you!

Autumn is here and our Tomatoes feel DONE early!! We’re crying over this. The late San Marzanos are an exception. We’re excited to have the San Marzano sauce boxes this week and we’ll have more San Marzanos. But the rest are really coming to an end. You can see your quarts are much more empty than the last two weeks and it’s likely our last of the tomato quarts.

One of the take aways at the Symposium is talking with other farmers, we are not the only ones. Was it the early September rain? Or just they started early and are ending early. We’re not alone.

Swiss Chard Maiolino (from CSA member Marnie)

She says: I’ve doubled this and eaten for days on it.  It stays well covered in air tight container in the fridge.  This is my favorite greens recipe.  I’ve used spinach, bok choy, kale, and all kinds of chard.  Sometimes I use more than one green.  The biggest deal for me is the garlic and tomato mixture.

1 bunch swiss chard

6 lg cloves garlic, minced

14 oz can of tomatoes or 1 lb fresh tomatoes

red wine or sherry vinegar

olive oil

salt, pepper, red pepper flakes

1. Combine half the garlic and all the tomatoes in a small stew-pot and cook on low for 25-30 min, breaking up tomatoes as you go.

2. While waiting, set lg pot of water to boil with generous handful of salt.

3. Wash chard and trim ends, roughly chop and blanch, in batches if needed for 1-2 min per batch. Drain and dump into ice bath.

4. Pour olive oil (a couple glugs) in saute pan on high heat. Throw in rest of garlic and toss around just until it begins to toast. Quickly add ¼ tsp red pepper flakes (more if you like) and give everything a swirl. Add the chard and sute for a couple minutes before you add the tomatoes. Cook another ~3 minutes, stirring often over med-high heat.

5. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Lastly sprinkle with red wine vinegar (~ 1 Tbs) and serve.

We’re going into another round of Brussels Greens and we’re switching up the groups so those in West County are getting it twice in a row. As such, let me give you a recipe. A reminder that they are the leaves of Brussels Sprout stalks to help them have air and grow tall. Treat them like Collards but they have a Brussel Sprout flavor. Just like sprouts (and collards too) they really do well with ham or bacon. For a vegetarian version use butter or coconut oil.

Braised Brussels Greens with Apple and Bacon

• Wash and de-stem Brussel Greens

• Cut into about 1/2 - 1 inch squares

• Chop 1-2 Apples

• Chop crosswise 4-6 pieces of bacon. Fry. Take Bacon out of skillet and add Brussels Greens and Apple. Add a splash or apple cider, water or apple cider vinegar for more of a zing.

Roasted Summer Squash & Burst Tomato Pasta with Basil & Goat Cheese

8 oz fusilli, penne or other short pasta
2 medium summer squash, cut into bite-size pieces
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 Tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch red pepper flakes
1 lemon
2–3 oz goat cheese (or pearl mozzarella)
½ cup fresh basil, torn
Salt and black pepper
Optional: toasted walnuts or pine nuts

1. Heat oven to 425°F. Toss squash and whole cherry tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast 20–25 minutes, until the squash is browned at the edges and the tomatoes have burst.

2. Meanwhile, cook pasta until al dente, reserving about ½ cup pasta water before draining.

3. Return pasta to the pot and add the roasted vegetables, garlic, red pepper flakes, juice of half the lemon and most of the goat cheese. Toss, adding a splash of pasta water until the goat cheese melts into a light, creamy sauce.

4. Fold in lots of fresh basil and taste, adding more lemon, salt or pepper as needed.

5. Finish with the remaining goat cheese and, if you like, toasted walnuts or pine nuts for crunch.

Make it even better: Roast the vegetables until they get genuinely browned rather than just tender—the caramelized squash and jammy, burst tomatoes are what make this dish special.

Extra Shares

Flower Share: 🌸 Lisianthus & Mums starting in

Lettuce Share:  Panisse & more Red Butter 🥬

Bunched Greens Share: Toscano Kale 🌱

Herb Share: Thai Basil

Summer Pint Share: Fairytale Eggplant

Eggs: 🥚

This Week’s Box