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Friends of the Farm-
Happy Friday and welcome back to another week of Live Oak Farm CSA...
Happy 4th of July weekend! With last week's observance of the Summer Solstice, Independence Day this Tuesday, and a spout of hot summer weather this weekend, I think it's safe to say summer is now upon us here in Sonoma County, California!
We are now harvesting some of the season's very first tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers and now blueberries! Blueberries are a celebrated first for us as farmers (and for you too this week as CSA members), with inclusion of a clamshell in this week's box.
A bit of the backstory on this project...in looking to expand + evolve our farming we met Nancy Walters. Nancy, a former veterinarian practicing for years in Occidental turned blueberry farmer established just under an acre of mixed variety blueberries on her property on a western ridge of Occidental, overlooking Freestone in 2011. Nancy is incredibly knowledgeable on the subject of blueberries and we are honored to now be taking the reigns of her blueberry farm, lovingly named White Fox of Freestone. We will be continuing Nancy's commitment to CCOF organic certification, (aligned with our own existing practices), and taking her wisdom & spirit with us as we wrap our arms around this new project.
Blueberries at this site will typically expect first crop around Mother's Day in May. Our first crop arrived end of June this year, matching much other produce in its delay to crawl out of our prolonged winter. That said, we look forward to blueberries in our CSA, farmstand, and farmer's market presence through August, should all go according to plan.
This week you are tasting some of the first Southern Highbush varieties - Patriot & Emerald. Star and Toro are bigger, later ripening varieties still to come.
For our recipe this week we embrace peak summer and bring you a refreshing Blueberry Basil Lemonade! Sorry 4th of July, but I couldn't in good conscious give you another Flag Cake recipe. This recipe is also a nice compliment to the Lemon Basil in this week's box.
Make a night ahead to maximize flavors and get nice & cold for serving the next day. Enjoy all weekend long!
A CSA housekeeping note- we encourage you to pick-up your CSA from our pick-up partners (or the short walk to your front porch) in a timely manner especially on these warmer days of summer. We harvest produce fresh and wish to maximize its life & eventual enjoyment for you our members. Let us know if you will be delayed, or out of town and unable to pick up produce and we can make arrangements.
We and our veggies thank you!
Lastly, we welcome you to enjoy our weekly music playlist..
With a holiday weekend ahead, I too extended the mix from our usual 25-30 tracks of 2 hours of music to 37 tracks and just short of 2.75 hours of music to get you through. There were a few obligatory nods to the holiday at hand with James Brown's Living in America and the introduction of Eye of the Tiger both found via the Rocky IV soundtrack. Keeping it in the city of Brotherly Love, this week's mix features Elton John's Philadelphia Freedom and the collaboration of Quincy Jones & Bill Cosby on Hikky Burr.
Saturday, July 1st also marks the start of this year's Tour de France (which starts its first stage in Bilbao, Spain). Discover some threads of Spanish and French songwriters in this week's playlist to compliment all the red, white, & blue. Enjoy!
All our best from the farm,
Tom & William and Live Oak Farm team
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