10/14/26 First Frost & Food is Medicine

Oct 13

A big moment on farm each year is First Frost! It ends the field tomatoes, summer squash, dahlias and zinnia outdoors, sometimes we can keep a couple summer crops going indoors. Read more on 2nd page how it affects your CSA box this week and coming.

Food is Medicine

Elizabeth is currently off the farm at a four-day Food is Medicine and Regenerative Farming working group at Pie Ranch in Pescadero, writing this from there. So she’s a little inspired… You’ve heard us talk about the book What Your Food Ate by David Montgomery and Anne Biklé. Singing Frogs Farm participated in one of the studies featured in the book, which found that our cabbage, carrots and spinach grown in our regenerative system had higher levels of certain nutrients and phytochemicals compared with conventionally grown counterparts — from roughly 20% higher for some minerals to as much as 400% higher for certain phytochemicals! That book, and the science behind it, is a big part of the discussion here.

Gathered together are people from Recipe4Health in Alameda County that has a CSA veggie prescription program for 800 patients, Climate Farm School, the American Heart Association, the Periodic Table of Food Initiative, Nourish Food Literacy, UC Berkeley’s Food Institute, regenerative farmers like us and others working at the intersection of agriculture, nutrition and healthcare.

We've traditionally thought about nutrition in terms of protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. It turns out these are just a small part of what's actually in our food. But plants produce thousands of other compounds, specialized metabolites (including flavonoids, carotenoids and polyphenols), many of which help plants defend themselves against pests, diseases, drought and other stresses. Many them influence inflammation, metabolism and long-term health for us. This vast number of compounds we haven't yet identified or understood is refer to as the "dark matter of food.”

One particularly exciting area is foodomics — the study and documentation of the thousands of different molecules that make up our food. The Periodic Table of Food Initiative, is working to map this extraordinary molecular diversity. Researchers are beginning to identify and measure thousands of compounds in foods from around the world. And looking at how those compounds vary depending on the variety of crop, the soil, the environment and growing practices.

This is where Singing Frogs and other regenerative farmers come in. Plants don't grow in isolation. They are constantly interacting with the soil, the billions of microorganisms living around their roots, and their environment. Soil microbes help plants access nutrients, exchange chemical signals with their roots, and influence their response to stress. These interactions affect the compounds a plant produces. When we minimize soil disturbance, keep the soil covered, add compost, and encourage a diverse and thriving soil ecosystem, we're doing more than building fertile soil. We're creating the biological conditions that influence the nutritional complexity of the food we grow.

The nutritionists in the room say that when they get patients eating local food, they can see their health and even some of their labs shift, the documentation needs to continuity to come.

Showing the connections between Regenerative Farming, Soil Health, Food Health and Human Health. And for those of you who may not know, Elizabeth is a nurse by training with a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins so you can see her excitement at being a part of these discussions.

It feels good to be a part of the conversation connecting the work we do every day in our fields to advances in nutrition and medicine.

This Week’s Box

Chicory: Frisée (SR) OR Escarole (WC)

Kale: Toscano (SR) OR Red Russian (WC)

Broccoli

Summer Surprise

Cabbage: Green Farao (Classic) OR Napa (Family)

Bulk Basil

Family: Fresh Onions & Kohlrabi

Produce Notes & Recipes

With First Frost🥶, our boxes and our Summer Surprise certainly changes. We have some Summer Squash from Monday, but otherwise it’s pretty much done. We’ll have some peppers and Cucumbers and maybe some Cherry Tomatoes. Because Elizabeth is writing this up Tuesday, she’s not 100% certain and you have a true surprise.

However our Basil is indoors. Everyone has a big bunch of older Basil. This is great for cooking with or making a last round of Pesto for the season but change things up and make some Basil chimichurri or Basil Bean Dip.

Basil & White Bean Dip

Prep time: 10 minutes | Makes ~ 2 cups

1 can (15 oz) white beans, drained and rinsed
1–2 packed cups fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
3 Tbs olive oil
½ tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1–3 Tbs water, as needed

Combine beans, basil, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a food processor. Blend until smooth and creamy.
Add water, 1 Tbs at a time, until desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve with raw broccoli, cabbage, crackers or crusty bread. Also delicious as a sandwich spread or alongside roasted vegetables.

It’s perfect timing to have First Frost aligned with Fall Broccoli!! It’s almost as if we crop planned for it! ;)

It’s also gearing up for

With First Frost, our boxes and our Summer Surprise certainly changes. We have some Summer Squash from Monday, but otherwise it’s pretty much done. We’ll have some peppers and Cucumbers and maybe some Cherry Tomatoes. Because Elizabeth is writing this up Tuesday, she’s not 100% certain and you have a true surprise.

Basil & White Bean Dip

Prep time: 10 minutes | Makes ~ 2 cups

1 can (15 oz) white beans, drained and rinsed

1–2 packed cups fresh basil leaves

2 cloves garlic

2 Tbs fresh lemon juice

3 Tbs olive oil

½ tsp salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1–3 Tbs water, as needed

Combine beans, basil, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a food processor. Blend until smooth and creamy.
Add water, 1 Tbs at a time, until desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve with raw broccoli, cabbage, crackers or crusty bread. Also delicious as a sandwich spread or alongside roasted vegetables.

It’s perfect timing to have First Frost aligned with Fall Broccoli!! It’s almost as if we crop planned for it! ;)

It’s also gearing up for Chicory season. We had part of the rotation last week but I missed writing about it…

Frisée, Escarole, Radicchio, Dandelion, Belgian Endive are all part of the Chicory Family. They are closely related to lettuces, but heartier and with a bitter edge. They are cool weather crops. They are great for adding a pleasant, slightly bitter freshness to all sorts of dishes. There are a lot of health benefits to bitter greens: they help us absorb nutrients, detoxify our livers, they’re packed with vitamins and minerals, and they reduce sugar cravings and balance your taste buds.

Chicories can be a little strong on their own, if you like bitter taste (and many of our members do), certainly do a salad of just them. Traditionally Frisée is the base for Salad Lyonnaise with a poached egg on top. This is truly wonderful. All chicories in salads pare best with a strongly flavored dressing such as a balsamic dressing or a strongly flavored cheese like gorgonzola. The center of your Chicory will be more tender so you could also use the inner leaves on salads and keep the outer leaves for cooking.

If you are not that into the bitter flavor, a little cooking will mellow that out (as with most strong flavors including arugula, radishes and more). It is certainly wonderful wilted, added to omelet or frittata, with beans, in a soup or pasta. Personally I just wilt it with garlic, olive oil and chili flakes plus some mushrooms if I have them. Other members have found that Frisée is their favorite green eaten with bacon or cooked in bacon grease because it pares so well.

Puffy Chicory Frittata (Farmer John’s Cookbook)

The secret to flavor in this dish is long, slow cooing which deepens and sweetens the flavors.

2 Tbs Extra virgin olive oil or butter
1 large onion (red or white), thinly sliced
1 chicory head, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced (~½ tsp)
8 eggs
4 Tbs finely chopped fresh herbs (any combination of parsley, basil, cilantro or thyme)
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 c grated Gruyere cheese
2 Tbs freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Heat the oil over low heat in a medium skillet with an ovenproof handle. Add the onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until it is soft but not browned, ~15 min.
Add chicory; cook, stirring, until it is tender and moisture has cooked off, ~15 min. Add garlic.
Lightly beet the eggs in a large bowl. Stir in the herbs, salt, and pepper. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet. Add the Gruyere and 1 Tbs of the Parmesan.
Preheat the broiler.
Cook the mixture in the skillet over very low heat, without stirring, until the eggs are set on top but still a little moist, 10-15 min. Remove the skillet from heat.
Sprinkle the remaining 1 Tbs of Parmesan on top of the frittata. Place the skillet under the broiler; broil the frittata until it is lightly browned on top, ~1 min. If not brown to your satisfaction after 1 min, continue cooking under the broiler, checking every 30 seconds.
Remove the skillet from the broiler. Slice the frittata into wedges and serve. Wrap any leftovers and store at room temperature up to one day.

10/14/26 First Frost & Food is Medicine

Food is Medicine

Produce Notes & Recipes

Extra Shares

10/7/26 End of Summer Produce

Singing Frogs Farm