What a beautiful week of weather! The warmer temperatures have allowed the fields to dry out allowing us to make headway in planting garlic and leeks. Not to mention, it also brought a bit of cheer to our team to be out in the sun in our t-shirts. Ah, January in California!

Our greenhouses and nursery side of the farm also saw a big push this week with seeding for spring crops. April 15th is the big target at our new Petaluma home (Live Oak Farm) with respect to frost and transition of starts to safer outdoor conditions. High tunnels have been crucial aides in getting our greens and other crops like this week's Tokyo Turnips and Dinosaur/Tuscan Kale a push through winter rains and cold temperatures. In this week's box we also celebrate the last of the our heirloom garlic (Purple Cherokee). The remainder we have started planting as green garlic. We can't wait to see this crop in the spring and share its own nuance and recipes then.

Apologies to those observing "Dry January", but it has been a minute since our last cocktail recipe and a bounty of winter Meyer Lemons plus the addition of spearmint in this week's CSA seemed primed for a well-deserved libation. Enter this week's Meyer Lemon Mint Julep recipe. Once the Meyer Lemon simple syrup is made, just add mint sprigs and your favorite bourbon and you're well on your way to a tasty cocktail. Cheers!

Don't miss our return to Bay Grape Napa for a collaborative farm meet & greet and wine pouring with Stirm Wines and the Bay Grape team!

Join us TOMORROW, Saturday January 15th from 2-6pm. See flyer below or visit our Events tab on our website for more info. Come say hi and have a glass of wine or warm plate of veggies with your friendly farmers! We're excited to break away from the farm and meet our community. See you there!!

Don't forget to tune into this week's edition of our CSA music playlist. Link to our Spotify playlist is attached below to join...

We celebrate the sun's return with The Beta Band's Dry the Rain. Carol Cool (what a name!) offers a reggae spin off a disco classic by Diana Ross with Upside Down. Sister Nancy also adds to the reggae vibes with Transport Connection. The funk is alive again with a double dip from the father of funk, George Clinton and two favorites Unfunky UFO (Parliament), and Ain't That Funkin' Kind of Hard On You? (Funkadelic, ft. Kendrick Lamar, & Ice Cube). With lyrics like "You've got all that is really needed to save a dying world from its funk-less hell", how can we resist a Meyer Lemon Mint Julep, fresh farm vegetables, turning up the speakers and dancing in our kitchen?!? Enjoy your weekend and the groove!

This and other past newsletters from this CSA quarter can now be found via our website at UmbelRoots.com. In the case of wanting to revisit a recipe, produce guide, or past playlist they are all collected here under the Newsletter Archive tab. We will continue to update each week.