October 1st 2018

Box Contents:

1 lb Mixed Sweet Peppers

1 ¼ lb Early Girl Tomatoes

3 Delicata Squashes

½ lb Arugula

1 bu Tokyo Turnips

1 bu Collard Greens

Box Notes: The 2nd squash variety is making its appearance in the veggie box this week: the delicious delicata, a winter squash favorite with subtle sweet flavors and a pale yellow, creamy flesh. Also new this week are Tokyo turnips and collard greens. We’re pleased to be entering a new season with new items to offer to you. There will also be Fuyu persimmons this year as in past years from a neighboring farm.

 

Field Notes: Rain is expected this Tuesday! We have overcast weather today (Monday) so are very excited about the coming rain. While it will likely not be a substantial amount of rain, any amount of rain after 129 days of no rain is a welcome sight and the temperatures are much cooler so everyone on the farm is happier.

Upcoming new harvests include: Little Gem Lettuce (mini-romaines), spinach, other bunching green varieties including kale, chard, and mustard greens. The carrots and beets will return in November.

 

Riverdog Farm Annual Pumpkin Party

Saturday October 20, 2018

12:00 to 4:00 pm

11905 State Route 16, Brooks CA 95606

 

Come to the farm,

bring a potluck dish to share, enjoy

farm-grilled pork sausages, take a

hay ride tour of the farm, feed the pigs,

and pick a pumpkin to bring home.

We will provide grilled sausages and ice cold water.  

September 24th 2017

Box Contents:

¾ lb Mixed Sweet Peppers

1 ¼ lb Early Girl Tomatoes

2 ea Acorn Squash

¾ lb Arugula

1 hd Napa Cabbage

1 bu Parsley

Box Notes: This is the first week of winter squash! The acorn squash is always the first squash of the season because it ripens faster and we harvest it before the other varieties. The fall greens harvest is starting to flow in earnest. With arugula and Napa Cabbage in this week’s box, we have cabbage and little gem lettuce coming soon. The field of leeks was recently weeded and the crop is looking great. We’ll begin the leek harvest in December.

Field Notes: We are pleased to begin selling the straw from the grain we harvested this year. The timing of the straw sales is critical because we don’t want the beautifully baled and stacked straw to get wet in the first rains. This year, we have about 3000 bales of straw to sell. Today we sold 512 bales and soon we’ll sell the rest. One of the requirements for organic dairies is that the straw used for bedding has to be certified organic. Because our straw is CCOF certified organic, we are able to sell it to the organic dairies in northern CA.

Riverdog Farm Annual Pumpkin Party

Saturday October 20, 2018

12:00 to 4 pm

11905 State Route 16, Brooks CA 95606

Come to the farm,

bring a potluck dish to share, enjoy

farm-grilled pork sausages, take a

hay ride tour of the farm, feed the pigs,

and pick a pumpkin to bring home.

We will provide grilled sausages and ice cold water.  

 

RSVP by 10/15/18 with the number attending: csa@riverdogfarm.com.

September 17th 2018

Box Contents:

¾ lb Mixed Corno Di Toro Peppers

1 bu Basil

1 Yellow Canary Melon

½ lb Arugula

1 ¼  lb Yellow Finn Potatoes

1 bskt Cherry Tomatoes

1 lb Japanese Eggplant

 

Box Notes: Sweet peppers, basil, arugula and melons – it’s the time for the overlapping of seasons, when the deep colors and flavors of summer and fall become available all at once. It’s a feast for the eyes and appetites!

 

Field Notes: Mild weather has landed in the valley. Evenings have become chilly and the daytime temperatures are hovering around 85 degrees. The smoky air has finally cleared from the fires. We’re getting incredible night sky views with the planetary alignment of Venus, Jupiter, the moon, Saturn and Mars in an arc over the western horizon just after sunset. To learn more about this phenomenon, visit: http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury.

     In this region, there are very few nighttime lights so the star and planetary visibility is vivid. The Milky Way can be seen with the naked eye and shooting stars happen with increasing frequency in August and September. Nighttime on the farm is a great time to witness the wonders of astronomy in our midst. 

 

Riverdog Farm Annual Pumpkin Party

Saturday October 20, 2018

12:00 to 4 pm

11905 State Route 16, Brooks CA

Come to the farm, bring a potluck dish to share, enjoy farm-grilled pork sausages, take a tour of the farm, feed the pigs, and pick a pumpkin to bring home.

RSVP to the farm by 10/15/18 with the number attending: csa@riverdogfarm.com.

September 10th CSA Newsletter

Box Contents:

¾ lb Yellow Bell Peppers

1 lb Early Girl Tomatoes

1 Yellow Baby Watermelon

1 ¼ lb Black Beauty Eggplant

1 bskt Sungold Cherry Tomatoes

1 ¼ lb French Fingerling Potatoes 

Box Notes: Yellow is the theme of this week’s CSA box! The watermelon, bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes will provide you with a healthy dose of vibrant yellow and all the vitamins associated with that hue. Even the inside of the French Fingerling potatoes have tones of yellow. We are pleased to be able to offer you potatoes in September. These spuds are from our spring planted potato crop. We had such a great yield this year that we still have a steady supply of the, a wonderful staple at the farmer’s markets and for the CSA that we don’t usually have this time of year.

Field Notes: It’s starting to feel like the seasonal transition time on the farm. We’re two weeks away from the Fall Equinox, the time of the year when the daylight and hours of darkness are equal, also known as the beginning of Autumn. The equinox is the beginning of shortening days and lengthening nights. The nighttime temperatures are much cooler and summer crops are slowing down. We’re seeding onions, carrots, beets, turnips, and as many root crops as we can. The greenhouse transplants of greens, cabbage, broccoli and fennel have been going into the fields and we’re seeding the next round of transplants into trays for greenhouse sprouting. The whole farm is looking forward to the rainy season to settle the ash dust in the air and regenerate vegetative growth in the hills post-fire season.

Upcoming Event:

Capay Valley Vision’s 18th Annual Taste of Capay

Sunday October 21, 2018 from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm at Full Belly Farm, 16090 Road 43 Guinda, CA 95637. This event is a multi-course dinner featuring locally grown produce, wines and pastured meats. Event proceeds will support park improvements at local county parks in the rural region of Capay Valley. Tickets are $60 each or table of ten for $550. To order tickets visit:


https://www.eventbrite.com/e/taste-of-capay-tickets-48054012846.

 

September 3rd CSA Newsletter

Box Contents:

1 bskt Shishito Peppers

1 ¼ lb Early Girl Tomatoes

1 Orange Honeydew Melon

1  lb Armenian Cucumber

1 bunch Basil

¾ lb Red Onions

1 ½ lbs Yellow Finn Potatoes

Box Notes: The Shishito Peppers are a mild version of the Pimiento de Padron Peppers. They actually don’t have any spiciness. They are a fast cooking pepper, delicious heated in olive oil with salt on a skillet or on the grill until softened/wilted/slightly charred.  The Armenian cucumber is a very mild cucumber. The skin doesn’t need to be peeled. Unlike green slicing or pickling cucumbers, the Armenian cucumber doesn’t have any bitterness at any time during the growing season.

Field Notes: While most of the area fires are 100% contained, there was a flare up in Lake County last week that caused more smoke so we are still experiencing haziness and filtered light. Hopefully, the air will clear by next week. We didn’t get the annual August rain that usually surprises us the last month of summer. Looking forward to the rainy season that should begin in earnest in November. Carbon from the wildfire ash will fertilize the new plant growth in the hills. It should be a very verdant spring.

 Upcoming Event:
An annual event celebrating agricultural land preservation in Yolo County. Riverdog Farm will be there with a tomato tasting table.

For more info visit: http://theyololandtrust.org/a-day-in-the-country/

 

August 27th CSA Newsletter

 

Box Contents:

1 lb Yellow Bell Peppers

1 bkst Sungold Cherry Tomatoes

1 lb French Fingerling Potatoes

1 &1/4 lb Japanese Eggplant

1 Cantaloupe

3 Slicing Cucumbers

1 bu Italian Parsley

 

Box Notes: The melons are still at their peak of flavor and sweetness. A simple way to

enjoy the cucumbers and melons is: cut both into bite size pieces, toss together with chili,

lemon and salt. This is a quenching salad that satisfies your sweet and savory palettes all at

once. A quick thank you to the team at https://www.savorycafeonmain.com/

in Woodland for featuring our farm at their inaugural Dinner with a Farmer last Friday, a sold-out event. They created a delicious menu using produce and pastured meat from the farm. We’re looking forward to participating in more farm dinners with Savory Café in the future!

Field Notes: The greenhouses are full to the brim with fall and winter transplants: cabbage,

broccoli, fennel, lettuce, chicories, and kale. We have started moving the transplants into the

field as they size up. The overlapping summer harvest and prep for the fall/winter crops is

always a juggling act on the farm. While we harvest the peppers, tomatoes, eggplant and

melons, we are keeping the leeks and other alliums weed-free and preparing beds in the

fields to make space for the rows and rows of cooler weather crops. Luckily, our temperate

northern California climate has a very long growing season. This allows the farm to provide

year round employment and to have produce for the CSA and year-round farmer’s markets that we attend.

Webstore Highlights Open Webstore Here

Jalapeños (red, green or mixed) -- 10 lb case for $32.00

Genovese Basil -- 24 bunches for $30.00

 

August 20th

Box Contents:

 

1 ½ lbs Variety of Tomatoes

1 bu Basil

1 ½ lbs Globe Eggplant

1-2 Charentais Melons

1 lb Yellow Baby Watermelon

1 ½ lbs Red Onions

¾ lb Mixed Sweet Peppers

 

Box Notes: The Charentais melons tend to split in the field when they are ripe. This doesn’t mean that they are overripe but instead indicates that they are at the peak of ripeness. Late August and September are pepper months on the farm. We are harvesting many varieties and featuring them in the veggie boxes almost weekly. Here are a few ideas for upping your pepper consumption while they are in season: thinly slice and sauté with garlic and onions for a veggie side dish for lunch or dinner, stuff with rice, herbs, ricotta cheese and ground lamb/beef/pork for baked, stuffed peppers, roast over an open flame indoors or outdoors and peel the charred skin to enjoy roasted peppers, chop into small pieces to add to a green salad, or just snack on them like you would an apple.

Field Notes: The nighttime temperatures have started to be cool, between 60 to 70 degrees. In August each year, we receive the first rains. Last week was very humid and cloudy so it was feeling like the first rain was coming but it hasn’t happened yet. It’s always a pleasant surprise to get rain in August after so many days of dry, warm weather. Then the real winter rainy season begins in earnest in November. This is when we feel a drastic change in the seasons with much cooler temperatures and the clouds reappear after their long hiatus.

Webstore Highlights   Open Webstore Here

Roma Tomatoes for Canning/Sauce
10 lb case for $32.50

Japanese Eggplant
10 lb case for $37.50

 

 

August 13th

1 ½  lb Mixed Heirloom Tomatoes

1 lb Dapple Dandy Pluots

2 Slicing Cucumbers

1 Da Vinci Melon (Tuscan variety)

½ lb Green Beans

1 lb Globe Eggplant

1 bskt Shishito Peppers

Box Notes: We are growing the Da Vinci melon variety for the first time this year. It’s a fragrant Tuscan type that has a sweet, dark orange flesh. It has been a customer favorite when we sample all of the melon varieties at the 4 farmer’s markets we attend each week. It’s ripe when firm and even when some of the stripes are still blue.  If you prefer a softer melon, you can let it sit out on your kitchen counter for a couple of days as it will continue to ripen. We have a bumper crop of green beans this year.  Use the shishito peppers like you would the pimiento de padrons, as a frying pepper. The shishito pepper is milder than the padrons but can be cooked the same way. Heat some olive oil in a skillet on medium heat, toss the peppers in the oil until they become limp and slightly browned/charred in some spots. Add salt and enjoy as an appetizer.

Field Notes: The smoke from the fires is subsiding. This week’s forecast is expected to hover around 100 degrees which, while still warm, is a big improvement over the 105/106 degree days we experienced in late July. 

Upcoming Event: We are proud to announce that we are being spotlighted as part of Savory Café in woodland’s first Dinner with a Farmer on Friday August 24th at 6:00 pm. Tim or Trini will be there representing our farm at this amazing six course farm to table meal.

You can purchase ticketsusing the link below.

www.savorysdinnerwithafarmer.bpt.me

 

August 6th

Box Contents:

1 bskt Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes

1-2 Walla Walla Onions

1-2 Charentais Melon

1 lb Sweet Peppers

½  lb Green Beans

1 lb Listada Di Gandia Eggplant

1 ½ lbs Carrots

Box Notes: The Charentais melon is our best tasting melon this week. We harvest all the melon varieties when they’re ripe. They continue to ripen off the plant but we like to harvest them at their peak of sweetness for the fullest flavor. The signs of ripeness for Charentais are:

1. The skin goes from blue green to cream colored, with some blue stripes still showing

2. The melon slips easily off the plant from the stem end

3. We sample some in the field to taste test their sweetness

These harvest techniques apply to all the melon types except the watermelon – the main difference in ripeness indicators with the watermelon is that the green curlique tendril on the other side of the stem starts to dry out, becomes brown. When the curlique is half dry, the melon is perfectly ripe!

Field Notes: Still smoky conditions in the Capay Valley. We’re monitoring the Calfire updates to have the current information about the fire’s status. Hoping for improved containment as soon as possible. 

New Webstore Items

https://csa.farmigo.com/store/riverdogfarmcsa

Globe Eggplant ($30/25lb)                      

Green Beans ($40.00/10lb)

 

July 30th 2018

Box Contents:

¾ lb Green Beans

1 ½ lbs Brandywine Tomatoes

2 Slicing Cucumbers

1 Orange Honeydew Melon

1 bu Basil

1 lb Globe Eggplant

1 bskt Sungold Cherry Tomatoes

Box Notes: The veggie box this week represents the best of summer! Tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, basil, eggplant and melon: each peaking with flavor and juiciness. A simple summer sandwich is a great way to experience the flavors of the produce in this week’s box: thinly sliced cucumbers (leave the skin on), a slice of tomato, some feta cheese or other type of salty cheese, salt, pepper and avocado if you have it on hand. Voila! It’s summer held in between two pieces of bread.

Field Notes: Our region is experiencing thick smoke today from the Carr Fire near Shasta and the complex of fires in Lake and Medocino Counties. While the smoky air is no fun to work in, it’s creating the plus of lower temperatures by filtering the sunlight. Hopefully soon, the fires will be contained. We are feeling for those who’ve lost homes and family members to the firestorms. Having experienced the threat of the wildfire in the County Fire that started in Guinda, seeing the flames lapping nearby was unsettling enough. Our hearts go out to those in the path of the fires.

New Webstore Items

https://csa.farmigo.com/store/riverdogfarmcsa

Boneless Loin Roast ($12/lb)

Orange Honeydew Melon ($26.00/30lb)

       

 

 

 

 

 

July 23rd

Box Contents:

1 ½ lbs Early Girl Tomatoes

1 Painted Serpent Cucumber

1 lb Mixed Peppers

1 Yellow Baby Watermelon

1 Musk Melon

¾ lb Green Beans

2 Jumbo Red Onions

Box Notes: The peppers are coming on with brilliant colors and we’re excited to share them with you. The green beans are another new treat in the box this week. This year we are growing these, cranberry beans and black eyes peas.

     The yellow baby watermelon and muskmelon are refreshing, sweet and crisp fruits. Great to share with friends on these summer days. The yellow baby was developed in Taiwan using a melon from New Hampshire and a melon from China. The painted serpent cucumber is originally from Armenia and is fantastic for slicing, putting in sandwiches and mincing/blending for sauces.   

Web Store Highlights

https://csa.farmigo.com/store/riverdogfarmcsa.

We’ve put several new varieties of organic melons on our webstore.
New pork shares are also available.

Place orders for any of our pastured pork or chicken via the web store.

We offer 6 types of seasoned sausage, ground pork, pork cuts, bacon, ham, pork bone broth, and whole pastured chickens. 

 

July 16th

 Box Contents:

1.5 lbs Mixed Heirloom Tomatoes

2 Slicing Cucumbers

1 basket Shishito Peppers

1 Yellow Watermelon

1 bu Italian Parsley

3/4 lb Japanese Eggplant

1 lb Santa Rosa Plums

 Box Notes: The Shishito Peppers are making their first appearance this week. They are a mild pepper that is best sautéed quickly in a heavy skillet (see recipe below). Shishitos are similar to Pimiento de Padrons but don’t have the spicy element. We are harvesting the yellow watermelons for the first time this season. They are a quenching, sweet treat especially when temperatures are predicted to be triple digit this week.

 Field Notes: Thank goodness, the County Fire is 100% contained and the fire crews have moved along to put their time and effort into other fires happening throughout the state. While the western hillsides of the valley look charred in patches, there are still some trees and vegetation. The fire responders did an incredible job of keeping the fire away from homes and barns on the valley floor be creating effective fire breaks. Hopefully in the future, any wildfires in this region will be less ferocious because the fuel load has been greatly reduced by the County Fire.

 Web Store Highlights

https://csa.farmigo.com/store/riverdogfarmcsa

You can now get full cases of canning and sauce tomatoes as well as pickling cucumbers on the web store.

New pork shares are also available. Place orders for any of our pastured pork or chicken via the web store.

We offer 6 types of seasoned sausage, ground pork, pork cuts, bacon, ham, pork bone broth, and whole pastured chickens.

July 9th 2018

 Box Contents:

1 & 1/2 lbs Mixed Heirloom Tomatoes

2 Slicing Cucumbers

1 lb Mountain Rose Potatoes

1 Muskmelon

1 bu Carrots

.75 lb Mixed Summer Squash

1 lb Santa Rosa Plums

 Box Notes: July is tomato time. Each year, we grow over 50 colorful varieties of tomatoes.

We’ll be featuring a changing selection of tomatoes in the veggie boxes for most of the

summer. Some weeks we’ll include mixed cherry tomatoes, other weeks you’ll see mixed

heirlooms and some weeks you’ll see Early Girls toms. You’ll also be seeing a variety of

potatoes throughout this month. We harvested the fist yellow watermelons and cantaloupes

last week so they’ll be appearing soon. The carrots are almost done for the summer season

as they prefer to grow in the cooler seasons. Last week was the first cucumber harvest so

they are the cream of the crop: mild, no need to peel the skin, and juicy/quenching!

 Field Notes: The County Fire grew wildly over the past week but thanks to the incredible

fleet of fire responders from all over the state, it’s now up to 73% contained. We are seeing

greatly reduced smoke and barely any smoldering remnants of the fire in the hills. The

hillside/wilderness landscape is charred. It’s hard to fathom that just one week ago we were

fearful of property damage because the fire line was so close but the fire breaks that Calfire

created and the backburns that they orchestrated were effective in containing the fire.

Looking at the fires happening throughout the state and the loss of homes/structures, we are

really sympathizing with the people who reside near regions that are vulnerable to wildfires

after experiencing the threat of fire here. We hope that Calfire begins a program of

wilderness management throughout the state that includes controlled fires to reduce the fuel

load of vegetation that has accumulated over the years causing inferno-like conditions.

Thank you for your concern about our safety. We appreciate your kind words!

 Web Store Highlights:

To celebrate the summer cook-out season: Spare Ribs are on sale!

Only $8/lb. (down from $10/lb.)

You can now order a Frog Hollow Farm CSA box (or two!) for delivery with your Riverdog

Farm CSA Veggie box, or web store order. The Frog Hollow fruit is CCOF-certified organic.

 The catch: you must make your one time or weekly order no later than Sunday at

midnight for delivery the coming week. Frog Hollow fruit boxes come packed full of 3-4

varieties of exceptionally tasty, seasonal, tree ripened stone fruit. Summer fruit boxes

contain 7 lbs. of mixed CCOF-certified organic stone fruit that include many varieties of

peaches, plums, nectarines and pluots. Visit their web site: www.froghollowcsa.com to learn

more about their CSA program, farm, ethos and fruits.

 Each Fruit Box is $27.75

Event Announcement: The Hoes Down Harvest Festival isn’t happening this year. The

event organizers decided to take a break. The festival will resume in October 2019.

July 02, 2018

Box Contents:

1 lb Santa Rosa Plums

1 ½ lbs Early Girl Tomatoes

1 lb Purple Majesty Potatoes

¾ lb Mixed Summer Squash

1 bu Carrots

1 bu White Spring Onions

1 bu Curly Kale

Important Holiday Schedule Announcement!

All members with Wednesday CSA deliveries scheduled for 7/4 (next week):

 Your boxes will be delivered to your regular pick up site on Tuesday July 3rd.

There will be NO CSA DELIVERIES ON WEDNESDAY JULY 4TH.

Box Notes: New this week: the early girl tomatoes have returned! We are very pleased to be harvesting these once again after 28 years of growing this favorite flavorful variety. And we’re so pleased to have Santa Rosa plums in quantity. The fruit set was dense this year, with each plum sizing up much bigger than previous years.

Wishing you a Happy 4th of July this week. Erin created a special veggie box this week a red, white and blue theme (red: Early Girl Tomatoes, white: onions, blue: potatoes). Please welcome Christian as our new CSA manager. We said a sad goodbye to Erin who has been at the farm for a few years. She’s heading north to cooler climes and going back to her northwestern roots. Farewell Erin and welcome aboard Christian!

Field Notes: A wildfire started Saturday afternoon around 2 pm. It has grown to a 44,500 acre wild land fire that is only 3% contained as of Monday am. The farm, crops and residents are safe as the irrigated valley floor is moist and protected. While the smoke. ashes and flames in the hills have been scary, we are feeling safe but remain on high alert for any major wind changes. Thank you to all the fire fighters, from San Juan Bautista to Orange County to LA to Nevada County (from everywhere) from all levels of government (there are 1000 of them on scene!) for protecting us and our homes!

Event Announcement: The Hoes Down Harvest Festival isn’t happening this year. The event organizers decided to take a break. The festival will resume in October 2019.

Web Store Highlights:

 To celebrate the summer cook-out season: Spare Ribs are on sale!

Only $8/lb. (down from $10/lb.)

You can now order a Frog Hollow Farm CSA box (or two!) for delivery with your Riverdog Farm CSA Veggie box, or web store order. The Frog Hollow fruit is CCOF-certified organic. The catch: you must make your one time or weekly order no later than Sunday at midnight for delivery the coming week. Frog Hollow fruit boxes come packed full of 3-4 varieties of exceptionally tasty, seasonal, tree ripened stone fruit. Summer fruit boxes contain 7 lbs. of mixed CCOF-certified organic stone fruit that include many varieties of peaches, plums, nectarines and pluots. Visit their web site: www.froghollowcsa.com to learn more about their CSA program, farm, ethos and fruits.

Each Fruit Box is $27.75

 

June 25, 2018 Veggie Box News

Box Contents:

1 lb. Mixed Summer Squash

1 bskt. Mixed Medley Cherry Tomatoes

1 lb. French Fingerling Potatoes

1 bu. Basil

1 bu. Carrot

1 lb. Red Onions

1 hd. Savoy Cabbage

1 bu. Green Chard

Important Holiday Schedule Anouncment!

All members with Wendsday CSA deliveries scheduled for 7/4 (next week).

 Your boxes will be delivered to your regular pick up site, on Tuesday July 3rd.

There will be NO CSA DELIVERIES ON WEDNESDAY JULY 4TH.

Box Notes: Basil, French Fingerling potatoes, and Summer Squash are making their first appearances in the veggie box this week. The French Fingerlings (and fingerling potatoes in general) have a waxier texture than the Yukon Gold or German Butterball potatoes. They make great hash browns (grated and cooked in oil in a skillet) because they hold their form. They also make a great potato salad for the same reason (not crumbly). 

Field Notes: We experienced a heat wave over the weekend with temps reaching up to 106 degrees and a power outage Sunday night due to a downed power pole along State Route 16. Then the wildfires started just north of the farm in Lake County but we are out of harm’s way and it hasn’t gotten too smoky. Luckily, this week’s forecast is expected to be cooler with temps in the low and mid 90s. The winds have slowed down too so hopefully, the wildfires will get under control.

We’re excited to be growing sweet corn again this year! We’ll start the sweet corn harvest in about 10 days. During the 3 drought years, we decided to not grow sweet corn due to its heavy water requirements. After last year’s heavy winter rainfall we were able to grow sweet corn and are doing it again this year. Always popular at the farmer’s market and in the CSA boxes, sweet corn is a summertime favorite. Also, eggplant and sweet peppers are soon to come.

Event Announcement: The Hoes Down Harvest Festival isn’t happening this year. The event organizers felt they needed a break so the festival will resume in October 2019.

Web Store Highlights:

To celebrate the summer cook-out season: Spare Ribs are on sale! Only $8/lb. (down from $10/lb.) 

You can now order a Frog Hollow Farm CSA box (or two!) for delivery with your Riverdog Farm CSA Veggie box, or web store order. The Frog Hollow fruit is CCOF-certified organic. The catch: you must make your one time or weekly order no later than Sunday at midnight for delivery the coming week. Frog Hollow fruit boxes come packed full of 3-4 varieties of exceptionally tasty, seasonal, tree ripened stone fruit. Summer fruit boxes contain 7 lbs. of mixed CCOF-certified organic stone fruit that include many varieties of peaches, plums, nectarines and pluots. Visit their web site: www.froghollowcsa.com to learn more about their CSA program, farm, ethos and fruits.

Each Fruit Box is $27.75

 

June 18, 2018

Box Contents:

1 bu Carrots

½ lb Almonds

1 lb Mtn. Rose Potatoes

1 bu Curly Kale

1 lb Yellow Onions

1 bu Basil

1 bu Green Dandelions

1 bu Chioggia Beets

Box Notes: We’re including 2 bunches of greens in your veggie box this week because the greens season is almost over. We’re thrilled to share that the cherry tomato and frying pepper harvest started last week, unexpectedly early. We will include them in the veggie boxes soon. The cherry toms and peppers usually start in early July but due to mild spring weather and early transplant-ability, the small tomato fruit started to mature very early. Summer squash will also be starting very soon. We are looking forward to the full swing of the harvest of the summer crops.

Field Notes: For June, other than the 102 degree day we experienced last week, the daytime temperatures have been mild. The conditions are perfect for the ripening of the Santa Rosa plums, the tomatoes, the summer squash, the peppers, and the eggplant. Our water supply for the summer looks good too. Reliable water releases from Indian Valley Resevoir and Clear Lake are keeping the Cache Creek water levels high enough to ensure a good irrigation flow. Despite a lower than average rainfall year, the reservoir levels are high enough for the water district to release water into Cache Creek until the late fall.

Web Store Highlights: 

To celebrate the summer cook-out season: Spare Ribs are on sale! Only $8/lb. (down from $10/lb.)

Big news! We are excited to announce a new partnership with our fruit farming friends at Frog Hollow Farm. You can now order a Frog Hollow Farm CSA box (or two!) for delivery with your Riverdog Farm CSA Veggie box, or web store order. The catch: you must make your one time or weekly order no later than Sunday at midnight for delivery the coming week. Unfortunately no fruit delivery is available on Tuesdays at the Napa Fatted Calf. Frog Hollow CSA boxes come packed full of 3-4 varieties of exceptionally tasty, seasonal, tree ripened stone fruit. Summer CSA boxes contain 7 lbs. of mixed stone fruit that include many varieties of peaches, plums, nectarines and pluots. Visit their web site: www.froghollowcsa.com to learn more about their CSA program, farm, ethos and fruits.

Each Frog Hollow Fruit box is $27.75

June 11, 2018

Box Contents:

1 bu. Carrots

1 lb. Broccoli

1 lb. Russian Banana Fingerlings

1 bu. Green Chard

1 bu. Red Torpedo Spring Onions

1 lb. Scarlet Queen Turnips

1 bu. Red Beets

1 hd. Green Cabbage

Box Notes: Each year, we grow many varieties of potatoes. The favorites include the Yukon Gold, the German Butterball, the Yellow Finn and the fingerlings. The yield/harvest is great this year. This week’s veggie box features the Russian Banana Fingerlings, a variety that San Francisco Specialty Produce describes as having “soft, gold flesh that cooks to a fluffy texture and has a full-bodied, buttery, and nutty taste”.  All of our potato varieties are currently “new”, meaning that they’ve just come out of the soil, the skin has not yet set so no need to peel the skin, it’s so thin and tender, it’s barely there.

Field Notes: June has been mild so far, knock on wood. The Santa Rosa plums are ripening beautifully. Our onion crop has sized up and will be harvested in late June for curing. The great thing about onions is that they are less perishable than the other delicate crops we grow. The onions will keep for months once they are cured in burlap sacks in the field. Stored in a cool, dark place the onions stay fresh for quite some time. We will feature them in the veggie boxes throughout the summer as a staple cooking item and will bring them to each of our 4 farmer’s markets weekly. One of my favorite, most vivid memories is a beautiful onion harvest scene: while visiting farmer friends at Livepower Community Farm in Covelo, there were onions, single layer on pallets for ventilation, drying on the dirt floor of a barn. The onions were huge orbs with dark yellow skins. It was in the late summer and we went to the Eel River to cool off. We tried to grow the same variety the following year but ours never got quite that big. This year we might come close to the size of those magnificent onions.                                         

Web Store Highlights:

To celebrate the summer cook-out season: Spare Ribs are on sale! Only $8/lb. (down from $10/lb.)

Big news! We are excited to announce a new partnership with our fruit farming friends at Frog Hollow Farm. You can now order a Frog Hollow Farm CSA box (or two!) for delivery with your Riverdog Farm CSA Veggie box, or web store order. The catch: you must make your one time or weekly order no later than Sunday at midnight for delivery the coming week and unfortunately no fruit delivery is available on Tuesdays at the Napa Fatted Calf. Frog Hollow CSA boxes come packed full of 3-4 varieties of exceptionally tasty, seasonal, tree ripened stone fruit. Summer CSA boxes contain 7 lbs. of mixed stone fruit that include many varieties of peaches, plums, nectarines and pluots. Visit their web site: www.froghollowcsa.com to learn more about their CSA program, farm, ethos and fruits.

Each box is $27.75

June 4, 2018

Box Contents:

1 bu. Basil

1 hd. Napa Cabbage

¾ lb. Shelling Peas

1 lb. Broccoli

1 bu. Carrots

2 lb. Fresh Red Onions

1 bu. Green Curly Kale

Box Notes: Welcome June! June is the month when we begin to harvest many first-of-summer crops. Basil is one of them that everyone gets excited about. This fragrant, deep green herb flew off the table at our Saturday Berkeley Farmer’s Market where we had 20 bunches of the first harvest. Our last spring planted broccoli crop is coming in now. It’s a bit later than we hoped so the warm weather is making the heads a bit lighter in color but the flavor is still good.

Field Notes: One of our favorite customers, Camino Restaurant is celebrating their 10th anniversary by coming to the farm tomorrow for a tour and lunch. They will visit the packing shed, greenhouses, laying hen set-up and pigs. Thank you www.caminorestaurant.com/ for the weekly support of the farm for the whole decade that they’ve been open. We appreciate their commitment to the farm with their dedication to buying produce and pastured pork from us. They like to keep their menu fresh and seasonal by sourcing veggies and fruit harvested the day before delivery.

Web Store Highlights:

Tons of new items in the web store! New potatoes, braising greens, fresh onions and cabbage. There are also new pork shares available. Keep an eye out for the June Web-Store Highlights newsletter coming out with all necessary details and enticing photos soon.

To celebrate the summer cook-out season: Spare Ribs are on sale! Only $8/lb. (down from $10/lb.)

Pastured meats – chicken and pork – are also available via the web store. Riverdog Farm’s specialties include our pork sausage (many flavors), whole Poulet Rouge chickens, and bacon cured and smoked by Roundman’s Smokehouse in Ft. Bragg. Follow this link to our online store to see all of the farm direct products you can add to your csa delivery this week: https://csa.farmigo.com/store/riverdogfarmcsa

Upcoming Valley Events:

Cache Creek Lavender Festival:

JUNE 9 - 10, 2018 -3430 MADRONE STREET, RUMSEY, CA 95679

weekend of family fun in the fields! Harvest your own lavender, taste wines from Capay Vineyard, enjoy lavender ice cream & lemonade, listen to live music. Free admission.

 

 

May 28, 2018

Box Contents:

1 bu. Asparagus

1 bu. Fennel

¾ lb. English Shelling Peas

¾ lb. Little Gem Lettuce

1 bu. Italian Parsley

1 bu. Red Beets

1 bu. Dino Kale

Box Notes: This will be the last week for asparagus. A few cases are still available for purchase in the web store if you haven’t had enough to satisfy your local asparagus craving for the year. The English shelling peas are best taken out of the pod as the pods are too fibrous to eat. They are great eaten raw in a salad, straight out of the bowl or slightly cooked (steamed or heated with pasta). Add a bit of chopped parsley to the pasta and peas and you have a tasty spring meal. This week’s beets are the first harvest from our spring planting of beets. Both the roots and the tops are edible and delicious. Steam or braised the beet greens like you’d cook spinach. This is likely the last of fennel for some time. The bulbs have begun to flower do to the heat this past weekend. The flavor of the fennel bulb is stronger when nearing the flowering stage of its life cycle and so delicious, though flowering fennel can use some added cooking time to soften it. I love grilling the elongated bulbs on low heat for a good 25 minuets and finishing with a drizzle of balsamic reduction.

Field Notes: The greenhouses are full of melon starts and the last seeding of tomato plants. We will soon begin to seed the fall crops of kale, chard, fennel, broccoli and cauliflower in trays in the greenhouse. The plastic that covers the greenhouse during the colder winter months will be replaced with shade cloth, creating a cooler microclimate for the fall crop seedlings. Temperatures are nearing 100 degrees here today. See the recipes below for our favorite salads of the season.

Web Store Highlights:

Case quantity Vegetables available: Last call for Asparagus! Little Gem lettuce, loose carrots and more. Get them while you can!

Pastured meats – chicken and pork – are also available via the web store. Riverdog Farm’s specialties include our pork sausage (many flavors), whole Poulet Rouge chickens, and bacon cured and smoked by Roundman’s Smokehouse in Ft. Bragg. Follow this link to our online store to see all of the farm direct products you can add to your csa delivery this week: https://csa.farmigo.com/store/riverdogfarmcsa

Upcoming Valley Events:

Cache Creek Lavender Festival:

JUNE 9 - 10, 2018 -3430 MADRONE STREET, RUMSEY, CA 95679

weekend of family fun in the fields! Harvest your own lavender, taste wines from Capay Vineyard, enjoy lavender ice cream & lemonade, listen to live music. Free admission.

 

 

May 21, 2018

Box Contents:

1 bu. Asparagus

1 bu. Carrots

¾ lb. Sugar Snap Peas

2 hds. Batavia Lettuce

1 bu. Curly Kale

1 hd. Green Cabbage

.5 lb. Broccoli 

1 bu. Green Garlic

Box Notes: Broccoli, Batavia head lettuce and green cabbage are back! This week’s veggie box is packed with springtime. All the bright green, sweet and crunchy veggies. Broccoli, and other brassicas like kale and cabbage are high in vitamins K, A and C. This will be one of the last weeks for asparagus and possibly peas as well, so enjoy them while they are here and order a case through the web-store if you haven’t already for your freezer.

Field Notes: Today’s high temperature was 87. It feels like the beginning of summer. Temperatures should be up in the nineties next week. We welcome the ease into summer temperatures that we have experienced this spring and hope it continues as long as possible. The transplanting and trellising of tomatoes continues daily. Our tractor drivers are busy cultivating. We hope to begin new potato harvest this week, you can look forward to them in the boxes soon!

Upcoming Valley Events:

Catch Creek Lavender Festival:

JUNE 9 - 10, 2018

 3430 MADRONE STREET
UMSEY, CA 95679

weekend of family fun in the fields! Harvest your own lavender, taste wines from Capay Vineyard, enjoy lavender ice cream & lemonade, listen to live music. Free admission

Web Store Highlights:

Case quantity Vegetables available: Peas! Asparagus! Little Gem Lettuce! Loose Carrots and more. Get them while you can!

Our pastured meats – chicken and pork – are also available via the web store. Riverdog Farm’s specialties include our pork sausage (many flavors), whole Poulet Rouge chickens, and bacon cured and smoked by Roundman’s Smokehouse in Ft. Bragg. We deliver our meat orders frozen to your CSA delivery site.

Follow this link to our online store to see all of the farm direct products you can add to your csa delivery this week: https://csa.farmigo.com/store/riverdogfarmcsa