By Autumn Fuentes - Member since 2017
I feel so grateful for our membership at Open Field Farm. We are always so impressed by the delicious bounty - the flavor and quality of the produce reflect the care and hard work of all the farmers. Whether we are enjoying roasted root veggies or fresh spinach salad or milky oats tea or a tasty steak or a bouquet of heritage flowers on our table - each product has the taste of the earth - our Sonoma County - in it. Thank you, Farmers!
But my newest gratitude toward Open Field Farm is for the peace I find walking the hills. Over the past few years I have committed to a daily practice including a solitary walk in nature combined with a yoga routine compiled of my friends’ favorite yoga poses. This practice was born during Covid with all its change. Too much change really. My mother began to loose her long battle against breast cancer which has been heartbreaking and all-consuming. My old doggie Cosmo passed over the Rainbow Bridge - Doggie Heaven got a good one. And our neighborhood open space meadows of sanctuary were sold and fenced off.
Navigating these changes has been very challenging - I know this is a common story. So many friends and family members have been facing huge challenges. Facing Those-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named battles (I’m reading Order of the Phoenix with my youngest son Jake right now). Too many of us have had to face a new day with new determination again and again. I’m past being surprised by the persistence of these challenges and battles around me. Instead I’m impressed by the resilience I see every day in the smiles and hugs of my friends and family.
And for my resilience recharge I now often turn to Open Field Farm. As they say, when one door closes, another one opens. If I hadn’t lost the convenience of our neighborhood nature walk I would never have explored the idea of walking at Open Field Farm. As I turn up the driveway of Open Field I can feel my sadness and heaviness lift. As our doggie Roxie and I start to walk from my car out into the fields I can feel my focus shift. Internal dialogues about daily challenges are replaced with wonder as the Red Tail Hawks circle and call overhead. Sadness and apathy are replaced by gratitude as the sun shines on my face and the wind blows through my hair.
I’ve explored many parts of Open Field Farm. The walk to the pond, the walk to the grandmother oak, the walk to the quarry. The eucalyptus trees always have a glorious group of birds - sometimes I’ve even been lucky enough to spot owls. The seasonal creek has been flowing beautifully with all the rain this winter and spring. I do always make considerations for the farm - I mostly keep Roxie leashed so she doesn’t take off across the meadows chasing jackrabbits, of course I always triple check for the location of the beef herd and I always pick up after Roxie. These considerations keep my time at Open Field peaceful and stress free.
And so to wrap my thoughts of gratitude for Open Field Farm and how it always opens my heart I’d like to share a quote from Thoreau, one of my mother’s favorite authors. My time at Open Field Farm has helped me navigate my grief over loosing her by reminding me that nature has inexhaustible vigor. Thank you, Open Field Farm.
“We can never have enough of nature. We must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor, vast and Titanic features, the sea-coast with its wrecks, the wilderness with its living and its decaying trees, the thunder cloud, and the rain which lasts three weeks and produces freshets. We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.” — Henry David Thoreau, "Walden"
CSA barn hours:
Summer hours: 2:30-6:30 pm (starts the week after daylight savings in March)
Winter: 2:30-6 pm (starts the week after daylight savings in November)
Pick List:
This week, the list is still slim. We will have lettuce mix (and maybe some lettuce heads) and radishes next week. Mideast peace cucumbers and strawberries are coming as well, but mostly small tastes to start. After next week, it should start increasing, although I cannot predict how much and how fast.
Eggs
Cortland Yellow Onions
Joan Rutabaga (Last week!)
Fresh garlic
Regiment Spinach
Basil
Sonora wheat flour and wheat berries
Herbal Tea (Blends are done until the fall)
Whole Dried Chile peppers (Please bring your own jars!)
Pick your own flowers and herbs
Saltonstall Olive Oil (Please bring your own jars!)
Revolution Bread: Fresh bread on Tuesday and Friday (Frozen bread available.)
Open Field Farm 2023 | The "ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW" guide for members
Quick Slaw Recipe
We love making this in our house!
We take a fun selection of root veggies from Open Field - Parsnips, Carrots, Celery Root, Beets etc.
We clean them.
We grate them using a cheese grater.
If your kids are open to the idea of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc. they make a delicious addition - sadly our kids aren’t.
Then we make a custom salad dressing - balsamic vinaigrette usually or honey mustard. Mix it all together and YUM!
The leftovers are also lovely after sitting in the dressing in our fridge for a couple days.