3/19/25 Spring Equinox = This year is getting real!
Tomorrow is Spring Equinox, midway between Winter & Summer Solstices and the technical First Day of Spring! Wow does it feel it! We are just running on the farm.
We have our two new full time crew members Amaia and Sam on the farm now three weeks and they are rocking it, learning tons and farming like there’s no tomorrow. Sarah’s back from a two month trip to Central America and planning and getting things rolling like crazy. Sean’s been holding things together and is going to keep amazing harvests rolling. Leo has been holding us together with his building, selling at market and supporting the work in the field.
Farmer Elizabeth put on three workshops in the last couple of weeks plus more talks in the coming weeks! Thursday (tomorrow) you can hear Elizabeth on a Farmer-to-Farmer conversation Growing Resilience with Farmer Campus rung by former SFF crew member Katie. She’ll be interviewing Elizabeth and Farmer Harper of Two Roots Farm who took a workshop from us 6 years ago and runs a low-till farm at 6500 feet in Colorado! It’ll be a blast! Link in email.
Thursday March 27th Elizabeth and may others will be at the renewed Sustainable Enterprise Conference at SOMA in Rohnert Park. I will be on a panel on the food system in the North Bay with Clark Wolf, Brittany Heck (RCD), Genevieve Taylor (Ag Innovations) and maybe Albert Strauss. Link in email also.
Then in the fields we’re terminating lots more cover crop, we planted our first crop of cucumbers and 4 crops of summer squash! Strawberries are all in the ground. Plus many many more crops (lettuces are coming in strong, broccolis and cauliflowers, kales, chards, cabbages, and so much more. In the nursery our tomatoes, peppers and eggplant are growing, our first round of basil is up as is our second rounds of cucumbers and summer squash, first sunflowers get seeded to day and the list goes on and on! That’s not even to mention all the planning behind scenes… it’s an extremely full time!
New Biofiltration Toilets!!
We finally have groovy toilets! These are not composting, they are biofiltration toilets from Ecozoic. Our waste (urine & scat) are transformed by a mix of bacterial organisms (which are otherwise used to increase decomposition of organic mater) into a liquid on a mat of peet. These toilets are meant for much higher use (2-300 people a day at Burning Man) and in that case, the crease a nutrient dense liquid which can be used as a fertilizer. We will only average 6-10 people a day using them and so we’re told the liquid will likely evaporate. That said, it is a closed system and therefore considered a port-a-potty so we would have to remove the liquid. We would not use on any annual or food crops and we probably will not have the ability.
We just today stopped service on our chemical port-a-potties. We’re embarrassed we’ve had them all these years but with a high water table we could not install flush toilets and having a composting toilet when growing fresh greens just didn’t feel good.
Check them out next time you’re at the farm, they’re just across from the barn in the area that used to be our chicken coop. They still need a ramp but are useable.
Egg-citing Announcement!
We will once again have egg shares this year! For many years we offered eggs as a second subscription with our CSA with at first eggs from our own hens and then former crew members. When they moved out of the area we were left without and CSA Members ask over and over again. We’ve looked for a farmer/rancher that wanted to sell eggs via our CSA. We met Farmer Chris of Deep Roots via our new CSA software. He runs a CSA in Penngrove and jumped at the opportunity to increase his chicken flock. The day we agreed he added 250 hens to his flock for us, I’ve been waiting to tell you. We hope to have 20 dozen eggs a week by May 1st and 40 by June 1st.
You’ll have the ability to sign up when we move from CSAware to Farmhand billing software in early April.
Produce Notes & Recipes
This Week’s Box
Escarole Head
Pea Shoots
Carrots
Last Winter Squash (Butternut OR Black Futsu)
Trumpet Royal Mushrooms (Myopia)
Meyer Lemons (Pretty Mike)
Families: Daikon Radish & Parsley
Our Escarole and Frisée just keeps rolling in… shortly we’ll be chalk full with lettuce, but these hardy light greens over wintered amazingly!
We’ve just been wilting head after head of Escarole or Frisée with garlic and butter or olive oil. We did a round last week with sautéed gnocchi that was to die for. This week I’ve got the hankering for white beans. Here are TWO very different recipes using different items from our box that are featured in the Kaiser kitchen this week.
White Bean and Escarole Soup with Garlic (Bon Appetite)
1 Tbs olive oil
1 c chopped onion
1 large carrot, cut into small dice
5 large garlic cloves, peeled, flattened
3 c (packed) 1-inch pieces escarole (about 1/2 large head)
4 c (or more) vegetable broth or low-salt chicken broth
3 1/4 c cooked Great Northern beans or two 15-ounce cans cannellini (white kidney beans), rinsed, drained
1 14 1/2- to 16-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
2 Tbs freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Heat oil in heavy large Dutch over medium-low heat. Add onion, carrot and garlic and sauté until onion is golden and tender, about 7 minutes. Discard garlic. Add escarole; stir 3 minutes. Add 4 cups broth, beans and tomatoes and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until escarole is tender and flavors blend, about 20 minutes. Thin with more broth, if desired. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before continuing.)
Lade soup into bowls. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.
Note: Throw some chopped up Pea Shoots on top!
If you cook your beans from scratch make more beans and keep some for this lemony dip. We really enjoyed the Meyer Lemon with this and as it’s mild we increased - see my notes. It was a great substitute for hummus (which we eat a lot and needed a change).
White Bean Dip (Love&Lemons)
1½ cups cooked cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice (1-2 meyer lemons)
½ tsp lemon zest (1 meyer lemon)
1 small garlic clove
½ tsp sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs chopped fresh parsley, basil or rosemary
2 to 4 Tbs water, if needed
In a food processor, pulse the cannellini beans, olive oil, lemon juice and zest, garlic, salt, and several grinds of pepper until combined. If the bean dip is too thick, slowly add the water with the food processor running. Process until smooth. Blend in the basil and/or rosemary, if desired. Serve with veggies, bread, chips or pita.
This is our second of three weeks of Meyer Lemons from Pretty Mike Farm in Freestone. If it feels overwhelming to use in cooking, make some lemon bars, or juice them and freeze in ice cube trays and then pop out into zip lock bags for a treat in a cool glass of water on a hot June day.
Another thing we like to add a couple of times ever spring are mushrooms from Myopia. We started this over 12 years ago when they were much smaller and have continued although they are a much bigger organization now. They’re still local and great. Everyone has a bag of Trumpet Royal Mushrooms today. We like these for their savory flavor and firm, meaty texture pls a great shelf life.
Trumpet Mushroom & Escarole Salad (Guac Squad)
1. Wash a mix of Escarole and other similar greens
2. Make your vinaigrette. You can follow this recipe from Bon Appetit as is or use Meyer lemon and omit the honey.
Creamy Lemon–Mustard Vinaigrette (Bon Appetit)
This lemony dressing is the classic vinaigrette, and too easy not to make.
1 small shallot, chopped
¾ cup olive oil
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3. Split the mushrooms lengthwise and grill over medium high heat turning until cooked through.
4. Toss the greens with some of the vinaigrette, but don't drown it.
5. Plate the greens, add mushrooms and drizzle a little more vinaigrette over the 'shrooms. If you must, toss on some walnut pieces.
Note: A head of escarole and 5 mushrooms is enough for 2 salads as a meal or 4 side salads. This salad is delicious!
You have the last of our Winter Squash on the last day of Winter for you! We have a mix of Butternut or a Black Futsu.