2/14/24 Let’s get you out onto the Farm this year!
This year we’re excited to bring back more farm education and events. We invite you to join in a way that works for you. With the help of our current crew plus long time CSA member Carol we’re designing two CSA Member Only Events and quite excited about these. These are free of charge to you and are just intended to get you out on the farm enjoying and sharing. You, our CSA members are the heart of our farm, we want you to be able to come and see what’s happening.
CSA Member Only Events:
Pollinator Day April 14th 10:00-12:00 or 1:30-3:30
Summer Day late June TBD
CSA Member Pollinator Day
Sign up for this event anytime on the CSA Store. You will see a new category for Farm Events. There is no cost but we need RSVPs because of parking. Sign up for your vehicle, we don’t need to know how many are in the vehicle.
We’re still designing the event, but here’s what we have in the plan thus far:
Come dressed as your favorite pollinator or beneficial insect (wings encouraged)
Bring a picnic snack or meal
Discover who lives in our hedgerows
Look for Pollinators, Lady Beatles and more
Take a sensory or micro hike (with magnifying glass)
Explore the Enchanted Bamboo Forest
Test out some tasty produce right from the field
Learn about Bluebirds and their Nesting Boxes
Learn about pollinator plantings (on the farm and that you can do) and take some pollinator friendly flowers home to plant!
Bring a picnic snack or brunch
Take a Farm Tour with one of our Farmers (at an adult level of discussion).
Farm Tours:
Come for an hour long walk through the fields discussing our farming practices, nutrient density and the web of life on Singing Frogs Farm. These are not how to garden workshops, but a way for our customers to connect with the farm that feeds them.
Open to the public. These are $10 per person but free to CSA Members.
Feb 25th, 1:30 pm Adult Focused
Mar 10th, 1:30 pm Family Focused
May 12th, 1:30 pm Mother Focused
May 19th, 1:30 pm Adult Focused
RSVPs for tours via Eventbrite. If you are a CSA Member enter the promo code CSAMEMBER and it will change it to a free event.
Come take a self guided walk through our fields when you pick up your CSA box. Only about 10% of you pick up at the farm. Anyone, any week can change their pick up site to on the farm and take a walk through the fields. You can either do this through your Membership Dashboard before Monday 5pm or emailing us by Wednesday 8am. This is an offer only for CSA members, if you deeply desire a friend reach out to us and we’ll usually accommodate, we just need to know who’s on the property.
Lastly, we are doing our Living Soil Workshops. Our first event is 2/3 full. If you know of a budding farmer or someone really passionate about their gardening please don’t hesitate to share with them.
March 5th & April 18th
If you want to come to the farm and have mobility issues, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We can make a plan that works.
It’s going to be an exciting spring!
Produce Notes & Recipes!
This Week’s Box
Little Gem Lettuces
Spinach (SR) OR Arugula (WC)
Pea Shoots
Brussels Sprout Stalks
Queen Jessica Potatoes (Stemple Creek)
Onions (Longer Table)
Family: Rainbow Kale &
Frisée
Okay this week’s Brussels Sprouts are Ugly. We’re sorry. They’ll take a moment to clean up but we have been checking them and the brown leaves from what we see are keeping the inner ones good. And we had some last night and they were taste. This is the END of Brussels Sprout Season. We love them as the last hearty Brassica that we can provide in the winter. The next will be Broccoli and Cauliflower we just planted last week (and we won’t have them for you until early May). So, we balance them being ugly with the fact that seasonally that’s what we can get you.
We’re excited to have a couple little Little Gem Lettuces for you this week. Lola has been trying to protect them from the birds the last two weeks, wanting to make sure they get to you. Note: Birds are voracious lettuce and baby Brassica eaters this time of year. And with all our Hedgerows and biodiversity we have a LOT of birds. So these have been under cover and checked on frequently to make sure all the weather we’ve been having hasn’t moved the covers.
We’ve had quite a few Pea Shoots in our CSA boxes. Mostly we hear from you that you love these nutrient dense and fresh little goodies but we had a member recently say they have a hard time figuring out what to do with them. Here are some ideas:
Chop and add to your salad
Arugula & Pea Shoot Salad (in last week’s newsletter)
Smoothie: simple is with banana and apple juice but you can really add to any smoothie.
Lightly stir-fry.
A fresh topping on a cooked dish (think bean sprouts on Pad Thai) such as a stir-fry, noodle dish, fish, or a lentil dish.
Chopped and added to a broth-y soup (miso yes, but we even do with chicken noodle or egg drop.
On top of avocado toast
On a bagel with cream cheese
On a cold cut sandwich instead of lettuce
Today we have the last of our Onions from Longer Table Farm going out, as such it is a mix of Red Cabernet and Yellow Patterson. We were hoping these would store into March but too many of them are sprouting so now is the time.
We have another round of Queen Jessica Potatoes (and will have one more round of these). At least one of you has a heart shaped potato we giggled at this morning. These are a heritage white fleshed variety that is dry and floury but las lots of taste when boiled. Excellent for boiling, roasting and baking. Good for mashing and frying. My family made them mashed a week ago, they sucked up a lot of milk and butter and therefore were mighty delicious.
Roasted Potatoes and Spinach (Food Network)
1 lb small roasting potatoes, quartered
4 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbs grainy mustard
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
One 5-ounce container spinach (you have 8 oz)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Toss the potatoes with the butter and mustard on a baking sheet until coated; season with salt and pepper. Roast, stirring once halfway through, until the potatoes are browned and tender, about 25 minutes. Stir in the spinach and garlic and continue to roast until the spinach is wilted, 1 to 2 minutes more. Adjust the seasoning with additional salt and pepper.
Crispy Roasted Potatoes & Arugula Salad (Yay! for Food)
1½ lb. potatoes, in 1” pieces
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp dried rosemary
½ tsp ground sweet paprika
½ tsp ground cumin
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 cups (packed) arugula
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, to taste ~1/4 cup)
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine together the potatoes, garlic, rosemary, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper until the potatoes are well-coated.
On a baking sheet (lined with parchment paper), spread the potatoes in a single layer and roast for 30-40 minutes, flipping once halfway through, until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
For the salad. As the potatoes roast, place the arugula in a large bowl and top with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss to combine and then set aside.
Flower CSA Shares Starting today!
We have the first of our flower shares going out today with anemone, ranunculus, snow drops+. Join us for the next flowers in March. As with our veggie CSA, flower CSA members get the focus of our attention and the best of the fields. Currently we have the next bouquets set for March 13th (or March 27th for Half Santa Rosa) but we may adjust if we can get some tulips in. Tulips are new for us and we’re not quite sure on timing.