Full Circle Farm- Davis,Ca

CSA harvests starting back up and we keep planting, keep planting

2012-01-31T22:17:00.000-08:00

Our CSA harvests are starting back up this week. Hard to believe our little winter break is already over and we are getting back into regular harvests....though we are ready, its always nice to be at the point of harvest with our crops after we have put so much effort into taking care of them and watching them grow. Its amazing how fast some of these vegetables can go from being little seeds into a harvestable crop ready to be turned into dinner.

Below are various photos from our recent work. During our time off from harvesting we have been planting, planting and planting. Good mantra for farmers to stick to...just keep planting, keep planting, keep planting.

planting in the greenhouse! Soon there will be little carrots growing here. We planted these so that we'll have some to harvest a little earlier that those out in the field. This photo was taken the day that they were planted and now they are just starting to germinate!

This is our beet experiment. They were transplanted from seed flats. We are hoping that since they started in the greenhouse before they went out into the field they will have a head start on the others that started in the field. So far so good...we'll see how they compare in a few weeks.

Beets transplanted next to a bed of cabbages in the front garden.

Here is the front garden next to the produce stand. This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago, now all those beds are full of little plants!

2012 CSA starts up in February!

2012-01-18T20:00:00.000-08:00

Our 2012 CSA starts up in just few weeks. Our first delivery will be on Thursday, February 2nd. We are now delivering our CSA on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Therefore, we will be back to regular deliveries of twice a week by February 7th. We are now taking new memberships for the winter/spring CSA.
Our first baskets will start off with lettuce, greens, radishes, dried fruit, citrus and dried herbs. Baskets will usually have about 12 different items, designed to serve 2-4 people for a week depending on their diet. By mid-February we plan to have a greater variety of greens and root vegetables available, then before we know it we'll have fresh herbs and the asparagus should be ready to harvest.
The baskets are $22/basket and we ask new members to sign up for at least 4 baskets so that they can get a feel for the ups and downs of the membership. After a trial period members are asked to pay for at least 8 baskets and if they pay for 12 baskets the 13th is free! Write to us for more information and to reserve a membership, fullcircledavis@gmail.com

some little farmers....

2012-01-18T10:53:00.000-08:00

these are some great photos from last November....

our daughter does her best to be helpful or at least she does her best to get involved....sometimes it all works out just as good as we could hope for. Here are some photos of her and some of her friends enjoying their time around the farm.

New Beginnings in 2012 -a letter to our CSA members

2012-01-18T10:51:00.001-08:00

This is an email we recently sent out to our CSA members explaining the transition our farm is going through right now. After the new year our entire production will be relocated and regular CSA deliveries will restart in February.

Dear CSA members,

As you know the end of our fall season is upon us which is bringing many new and exciting changes for our farm. After our last harvest of our holiday CSA baskets we will be packing up the farm and moving on to a new phase of our production. We will be relocating to Pacific Start Gardens which is exactly the same distance from Davis, but north towards Woodland on Road 99.

We will be starting a joint venture with the operations of Pacific Start Gardens, but will still be operating as Full Circle Farm. While everything will be grown on the land of Pacific Star Gardens, which is certified organic by Yolo County, our operations will be separate while still working collaboratively. This collaboration is for the benefit of both farms, which translates into benefits for our CSA members. Pacific Star Gardens has long been known for their U-pick fruits, melons and winter squash, their presence at the farmer's markets that has included early tomatoes and melons, and now that will all be incorporated into the Full Circle CSA.

While we have enjoyed the challenges of growing food in the class 3 soils we have here on Road 95 and cultivating with minimal use of tractors, we are excited to move on to much better soils that will produce much better vegetables and the use of equipment that will aid in our weed and pest control as well as give us a chance to salvage our aching backs.

We believe that Pacific Star Gardens, which is truly family operated and owned by Robert &Debbie Ramming, is an ideal match for Full Circle Farm. We share similar visions for the future of family farming and ideas for how we can best produce food for our CSA members.

Our passion and love for sustainably grown food will continue and grow with this new phase of our farm. We greatly enjoy the privilege of growing food for our loyal CSA members and we look forward to continuing this relationship with you as we transition into the new year. Over the next few weeks we welcome you to come visit us here on the land where your food is currently being grown. Then once we are settled in on road 99 we welcome you to come visit and see our new location of production. Our winter 2012 CSA will be starting in early February and we are now taking reservations for memberships. Current CSA members have priority until we open up registration which will begin in early January. CSA basket price will remain the same at $20 per basket, but we will be offering some new options of home or office deliveries for an additional fee and we will also now have multiple pick up sites that you can choose from. More information on all of these details will be coming soon.

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments regarding the CSA membership or any aspects of our production.

Thank you so much for your support! Keep eating your veggies…

Catherine, Kobi & Uriya -- Full Circle Farm

We have moved!

2012-01-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

Yes, we have moved over to road 99 just north of Davis. We are now growing our produce at Pacific Start Gardens. So far this has been an amazing experience for us to move and we hope the same will be for our produce. We have not yet had a first harvest at our new location, but we are so excited to see what the new soils and growing conditions are going to bring for our plants.

This new production location is complete with new soils and equipment. We were previously very happy to prepare all our vegetable beds by hand, digging up each individual bed with a fork and then following through with a rototiller. Though, now that we have the aid of a tractor we feel that our time is being used much more efficiently and that is very rewarding.
We also have access to huge amounts of row cover that is doing a great job at keeping out little seedlings warm on these cold nights. As you can see in these photos we are also now taking advantage of wind breaks that will hopefully slow down those chilling winds that can cause so much damage on the plants. It will really be great to see the differences that all these changes are going to make in the quality of our vegetables!!!! The first harvest should be in just a couple of weeks, can't wait to see what we get!

Roosters & Hens for SALE!!!

2011-11-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

We are selling some much loved roosters and older hens.

Most of the roosters would be best for meat(birds sold live), age ranges from 6 months-2 years, most selling for $10-12
Some roosters will be great for breeding and guarding a small flock, those are being sold for $15
All of the roosters hatched on farm, various different breeds.

Some of the older hens, age ranging from 2-3 years, are being sold for stock(birds sold live) or egg layers for a backyard flock that doesn't need highly productive hens. These birds are being sold for $8. Various different breeds, about half of these birds are from a hatchery and the other half hatched on farm.

Please email fullcircledavis@gmail.com with any questions, requests for photos or to schedule an appointment to come take a look.

some photos from the past month....

2011-10-24T22:09:00.000-07:00

we have been so busy lately around the farm we've had little time to take photos and even less time to write about them, but here are some photos from the past month.
back in early october we took advantage of the warm weather and did lots of sun drying. we got some great sun dried tomatoes and figs from that warm weather.
this is our back field...only the corn is really visible here. we've been harvesting from that corn patch for the past few weeks. its a little wormy, but we think that it tastes great for corn this late in the season and taking care of those worms organically is way too time consuming for us. hopefully our CSA members don't mind and agree that its worth it to have a few worms!

Fall CSA membership & U-picks!!!!!

2011-09-15T21:53:00.000-07:00

Right now we are accepting new members for our fall CSA. Anyone who starts their membership by next week and signs up for 12 weeks will receive one basket free!!!! Also, membership who refer a friend that signs up for at least 4 weeks will also receive a free basket!! yippee for baskets of veggies!! Receive a basket full of yummy fruits and veggies such as today's baskets that included: eggplants, cucumbers, green beans, apples, pears, melons, figs, chard, oregano, large tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, pepperocinis, and garlic.

We are also harvesting lots and lots of tomatoes and figs lately. Come out to the farm to pick some up or better yet pick your own. We are taking appointments for the weekend!!! Out in the fields right now there are heirlooms of many types, cherry and an abundance of paste tomatoes. Its the time for sauces and canning!

The Voodoo Fix playing on the farm this Sunday, Sept. 11th

2011-09-06T21:57:00.000-07:00

The Voodoo Fix along with Marlene Marlene, Honyock, and Sonada Malay will be playing out at the farm this Sunday. The Voodoo Fix are on tour playing on organic farms around the country. They are coming from the LA area and hope to bring awareness and support to organic farms. There will also be some artisan goods for sale and produce to sample. Music starts at 5 and will end around 10. There is a $10 requested donation at the gate. Kids under 10 free.

write to us with any questions...fullcircledavis@gmail.com

some favorite fun recipes of the season.....

2011-08-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

cucumber fruit salad-chop up equal amounts of pears, apples, plums, melon and cucumber, sprinkle with lemon juice and let chill. This is great with some fresh mint, basil and/or yogurt. This is an easy side to any meal.

black eyed peas with summer veggies -put two cups of black eyed peas and 4 C. water in a crock pot or on the stove on low heat. Add one onion cut in large chunks, a few cloves of garlic or garlic powder, sprig of any fresh herbs you like(sage & oregano are good), a tsp. each or paprika and cumin. Let that cook for a few hours or if you happen to soak the beans let it cook for about an hour. Then add large chunks of tomatoes, summer squash, peppers, rutabaga and carrots. Let it cook until vegetables are tender, about another hour or so on low heat

roasted summer veggies -cut up equal amount of carrots and rutabaga in equal sized chunks, you can also do some potato in the same way. Cut up the same amount of summer squash in large chunks. You may want to also add some large pieces of onion and cabbage wedges. Toss all with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, some other seasonings of choice (cumin, turmeric, herbs, etc.). Then put them all in a baking dish and back until veggies are tender, about 30-40 mins. usually on 350F. For some variations you can try adding a little beer, wine, apples, peppers and other veggies. Also, something we like to do is to add some nuts and feta cheese about 10 mins. before it is all done and mix that together.

cucumber fruit punch -put lots of cucumber and whatever fruit you like chopped into chunks into a blender. add some water and lemon juice, or a little of whatever juice you might have around, then blend all together. You may want to add a little maple syrup or honey. Fresh herbs, such as mint, would also be really nice. Then take the pulp filled blended juice chill and serve with sparkling or soda water to taste.

fruit popsicles -this recipe is up to you, but take whatever chunks of fruit you have around and we recommend some chunks of cucumber, put them all in a blender with a little lemon juice. We also recommend adding some yogurt or coconut milk, otherwise add a little more juice. Blend until smooth. Add some maple syrup or agave to sweeten to taste. Then pour in cups and start to freeze. After about an hour insert sticks or spoons to the middle. Allow to freeze completely before eating. Some fun things to try...add some basil or other fresh herbs, black pepper can also be a nice alternative. For adult taste you can add just a little wine instead of juice.

What's new around the farm?....

2011-08-11T00:38:00.000-07:00

The summer months are so active around the farm....so what's been new lately? We've been harvesting apples like crazy....Also, sooo exciting, the tomatoes have been producing all different types of yummy fruits for our munching pleasure.

Apples tend to have a natural variation in productivity from year to year and we are so lucky to have a productive year. We do have some issues with the coddling moths, but we are pleasantly surprised that all our efforts to combat these little, tiny buggers are finally paying off.

Our tomatoes have been slow to ripen with this cool weather. Thankfully we are getting at least one warm day here and there which is helping so much to get those fruits to plump up nice and juicy.

So what is out....the blackberries are almost gone! This is always so sad for us. Its exciting when a fruit or vegetable fades out for the year because it means that there are so many new ones on the horizon, but its sad to know that there is a long wait again for that wonderful taste...especially when we are talking about these sweet little berries.

So what is next....we've been watching the figs. There are starting to drupe. At least one of our trees will have fruit to harvest starting in just a few days!!!! The Asian pears have also started to ripen up this week and they are in full swing.

Summer Picking....come on out to the farm and pick your own!

2011-07-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

Yep the fruits are stilling ripening and we are welcoming pickers out to the farm every weekend now. This weekend pickers are filling up containers of blackberries and baskets of apples, cucumbers, summer squash and more.
Soon we'll also have Asian pears, tomatoes, figs and maybe even peppers and basil for the picking. We are taking appointments for picking on Friday, Saturday and Sundays...maybe even a week night if we have enough available, so its always worth asking. Send us an email to set up an appointment, fullcircledavis@gmail.com
We plan to host pickers for the next month or more until there just isn't enough left to pick. For anyone interested in picking large amounts for making preserves or cooking for a party, we happily give reduced prices for large quantities.

Bounties of fruit explode in the CSA and for the picking

2011-07-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

Lately our berries and fruit trees have producing juicy, tasty fruit non-stop! This time of year all the fruit trees get going and its amazing how much fruit we have all around the farm. Our CSA members have been enjoying strawberries, blackberries, apricots, figs, plums and even a little tease of peaches over the last few weeks. This week all CSA members received both berries, figs and either apricots or plums. We are also going to start hosting berry U-pick by appointment.

FARM PICNIC FUNDRAISER....happening this Sunday, schedule of activities!

2011-06-24T12:24:00.000-07:00

This Sunday is our Farm Picnic Fundraiser!
Help us raise money so that we can sell our CSA veggie baskets at a reduced price this summer to families greatly in need of fresh produce. For every $10 we raise we will be able to sell a basket of produce to a family in need for one week. We hope to provide vegetables on a weekly basis to families in Davis for at least 10 weeks this summer.
We'll open up the farm at 2 for everyone to come enjoy the activities and music. There will be a limited amount of food for sale, we encourage picnicking and bringing all your comforts that you will need for an afternoon of fun at the farm!
24830 County Road 95 -directly across from the Yolo Airport & West Plainfield Fire Department
Requested donations; Adults $5 and children $2

Music Schedule
2.15 Karen Crane of Music Together with interactive children's music
3.15 Rebecca & Marcel keyboard & vocal duo
4.00 DJ
4.45 Zapato Viejo playing traditional & contemporary Latino rhythms
6.00 Stout Rebellion unplugged Irish rock
7.00 Hey-Nows! with indie pop & folk
8.00 DJ

Activity Schedule
2.00 Chicken Feeding
3.00 Berry Farm Tour -$2 additional fee, we'll end the tour with berry picking, limited space so reservations recommended
3.30 Feed the Goats
4.30 Cooking Demos
5.00 Chicken Feeding
5.30 General Farm Tour

Please email fullcircledavis@gmail.com for questions or to reserve a spot for the Strawberry Tour!

Recipes of the Week

2011-06-21T00:16:00.000-07:00

Every week our CSA members receive an email along with their veggie baskets. In these emails their receive the list of what is in the basket that week, along with other various bits of information regarding the latests happenings around the farm. Then it ends with the "recipes & ideas" section. This is truly the most useful information in the email. This helps the members use their vegetables when they are stumped or as I would rather say "uninspired". This also gives some general information about some vegetables in the basket.
So this week this is our "recipes & ideas" section.....

beet arugula salad with escarole -boil 1-2 beets until tender, then rub off the skin and chop them into small chunks. Strip arugula leaves from the stem, pluck off the flowers, you'll want a large handful. Then finely chop escarole into thin slices until you have 1-2 cups, depending on your taste. Then mix all together. Top with roasted nuts and either a sprinkle of olive oil & goat cheese or a creamy dressing.
spicy mashed carrots (&/or turnips) -steam 3-5 carrots, cut in chunks, until very tender. Then put them in a bowl or pan with 1-2 T. butter or oil of choice and start mashing. Then add some honey to taste, likely 1 T. will do. Crush as much dried pepper as you like, get it fairly fine with some flaky pieces, then mix it in. If you really like garlic, try adding a couple of large cloves well crushed. Salt & pepper to taste.

fresh garlic -try cutting up the cloves with out pealing them, the skin usually just peals itself away or is still tender enough to eat.
keep the greens -if you have trouble keeping the greens looking nice, try treating them as if they were cut flowers. Give them a fresh cut at the stem/base, then put them in a cup or vase of water. This works well for nearly any greens...kale, collards, broccoli, arugula, beet greens, turnip greens, etc.

............................................................................................................................
Just in case you are wondering this is the full list of fruits & vegetables that are in the baskets this week; carrots, beets w/ greens, turnips w/ greens, escarole, salad mix, flowering arugula, collard greens, kale mix, plums, boysenberries, dried spicy peppers, fresh garlic, broccoli florets w/ leaves

The baskets look like spring as summer heat is sinking in!

2011-06-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

This week in our CSA veggie baskets it looked like the vegetables were coming straight out of mid-March, with the exception of boysenberries. Since the weather was so cool the past few weeks our spring vegetables have really been flourishing. Now as the weather is changing that will likely not last long. Luckily the cucumbers, summer squash and beans have been loving this heat and are growing without wasting a minute.

Photos here are of our broccoli plants that are producing beautiful little florets, the luscious turnip greens with perfect balls of golden turnips and our weed filled bed of carrots.

We have two beds of kale, filled mostly with red Russian and lacinato/dino kale. For right now they are full of healthy leaves, but we'll have to give them lots of water to keep them that way.

Our baskets this week included a mixed kale bunch, lettuce mix, artichokes, arugula, carrots, parsnips, radishes, a bunch of collards, dried spicy peppers, fresh garlic, broccoli florets, escarole, beets, turnips and boysenberries!

June 26th....new date of Farm Picnic Fundraiser

2011-06-06T23:31:00.000-07:00

come out to the farm on June 26th and let's all keep our fingers crossed that the weather cooperates to give us a beautiful farm day!
more or less the day will be planned just as it had been, but we'll give an updated schedule as the day approaches.
until then....

Farm Picnic Fundraiser Postponed

2011-06-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

Our Farm Picnic Fundraiser that was scheduled for today is postponed due to the weather forecast of potential thunderstorms and heavy rain.
The skies just don't understand that its not suppose to rain in June, where is the sun??!!
No need to get too sad, we will reschedule for later in the month with nearly the same activities and music.
Come out and join us on the farm later in the month when we hope to have a sunny and warm June day!
Check back in for more details or email us at fullcircledavis@gmai.com

Farm Picnic Fundraiser this Sunday -June 5th, schedule of music & activities

2011-06-02T13:47:00.001-07:00

This Sunday is our Farm Picnic Fundraiser. We are all crossing our fingers for good weather, but if it happens to rain on us we'll move the activities into the barn.
Help us raise money so that we can sell our CSA veggie baskets at a reduced price this summer to families greatly in need of fresh produce. For every $10 we raise we will be able to sell a basket of produce to a family in need for one week. We hope to provide vegetables on a weekly basis to families in Davis for at least 10 weeks this summer.
We'll open up the farm at 2 for everyone to come enjoy the activities and music.
There will be a limited amount of food for sale at the farm, we encourage picnicking and bringing all your comforts that you will need for an afternoon of fun at the farm!
2430 County Road 95 -directly across from the Yolo Airport & West Plainfield Fire Department
Requested donations; Adults $5 and children $2

Music Schedule
2.15 Karen Crane of Music Together with interactive children's music
3.15 Rebecca & Marcel vocal and keyboard duo
4.00 David Campos solo
5.00 DJ
5.30 Zack & Brenden pair up on guitars
6.00 Stout Rebellion unplugged Irish rock
7.00 Hey-Nows! with indie pop & folk
8.00 DJ

Activity Schedule
2.00 Feed the Chickens
3.00 Strawberry Farm Tour -$2 additional fee, we'll end the tour with strawberry picking, limited space so reservations accepted
3.30 Feed the Goats
4.30 Cooking Demos
5.00 Feed the Chickens
5.30 General Farm Tour

Please email fullcircledavis@gmail.com for questions or to reserve a spot for the Strawberry Tour!

What's new in the CSA basket?

2011-06-01T00:20:00.000-07:00

This week in our veggie basket CSA members received cherries for the first week of the year. This year the cherries will not be as abundant since they had to be heavily pruned this winter because of disease and we've also been fighting off the birds much more than we have had to in the past. We unfortunately harvested the cherries this week a little early hoping to save them from the feasting birds.
For the last few weeks our members have also been receiving strawberries in their baskets. We hope the strawberries will continue for a few more weeks, just depends how they will hold up in this strange weather. Our strawberries are not as big and not always as beautiful as other that might be around, but they are tasty!
This week our members also received a lettuce mix, head lettuce, fennel, artichokes, kale, braising mix, arugula, garlic, radishes, and Italian parsley.

Farm Picnic Fundraiser on June 5th!

2011-05-22T23:02:00.000-07:00

little puffs of fluffy cuteness....we have new chicks on the farm!

2011-05-11T00:36:00.000-07:00

Yep, there are some tiny little puffs of fluffy cuteness here at the farm. Yesterday our order of chicks arrived at the post office from Iowa. They hatched two days ago and were shipped overnight to us. We had tried to order them from hatcheries nearby, but could not get the breeds we wanted or they weren't available for delivery when we wanted, so we had to go with a reliable hatchery far off in Iowa. Besides the distance away, they do a great job with these little chicks. We bought a few breeds for their dependable laying abilities, such as the Pearl Leghorn. Otherwise were simply because that's what we want, for example the silkies that we ordered were to help out our silkie rooster that is very lonely for some companions. Though, the silkies are good layers of small eggs and they are very good at sitting on eggs, so maybe someday these little silkies will mother some chicks for us.

In this photo you can see a little turken, the naked necks. We bought more of these after being happy with our turkens we bought last year. They lay nice large brown eggs. We also bought some other breeds such as the buttercups just because they are good reliable layers in all weather. Other breeds that we bought were for they laying ability, but also they are better in hot weather or we just felt that they would be an interesting mix to add to our flock.

tomatoes in the ground....it won't be long!!

2011-04-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we started putting tomatoes in the ground. A bit late, but with all the rain in March we had no choice, but wait for the ground to dry out. Then with the help of some friends we started putting the little seedlings in the ground the first week of April. Now we have put a total of 8 beds in the ground and by the end of all our plantings we should have over twenty beds totals.
This row in the photo above is a few different varieties of cherry tomatoes. We plant as many different types of tomatoes varieties as possible, but make sure to include cherries, slicers, paste and all sorts of heirlooms.
This photo above is a variety called Eva Purple. We are timing our plantings so that we will have groups of plantings producing in full flush at different points throughout the summer. With this planning we hope that we'll have a constant supply of all the different types we hope to have.
In these photos you can see the difference in size between these various rows. This photo above was one of the first rows to be planted, so the plants are bigger than some of the others that were just planted today or last week.

Goats! little ones, big ones & pregnant ones...we have goats!

2011-04-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

Last week an agreement with a friend down the road was solidified with the arrival of her goats. She is starting a milking goat operation, but doesn't have the necessary space for housing the baby goats and the pregnant goats and our goat Kooza needed company. We were also planning to get milking goats, so now we get the milk and the goats, but our friend is doing most of the work. Hopefully once her operations get to a greater capacity we'll be able to help sell the milk through our CSA or to any of our friends of Full Circle. This sweet little goat's name is Jill, she is a jumper. She is a couple months pregnant, but so far it doesn't seem to be slowing her down. I think she likes the view of the hills from up there.

This is also Jill with another one that is 4-5 months pregnant and the little baby there in the middle. They are all so cute! These goats are dwarfs, so they are much easier to control and they still give lots of milk for their size.

This is our lovely Nubian Kooza. She is so happy to have a herd again and this time she is the alpha....rather than her previous herd where she was the one being pushed around.

Oh look at this little cutie peeking through the fence. He is so cute! These little guys are so tiny they are similar to having a medium sized dog and they behave a little like one as well. We love having them around, such a nice change after a few months of not having a herd and of course babies are always fun to watch.

Weekly veggie CSA baskets are changing into spring

2011-04-13T21:33:00.000-07:00

Lately our veggie baskets have been transitioning into spring. There has been a nice mix of vegetables from the winter along side the newer vegetables of spring. These spring vegetables were really growing slow during all those heavy rains of a few weeks ago, but they have finally taken off. Our members have been enjoying some new items such as French breakfast radishes, dill, spring lettuce mix, arugula, lettuce heads, escarole, fennel, leeks, green garlic, asparagus and also some of veggies that were growing all winter -mustard greens, kale, chard, beets and lots of tasty dried fruit. Soon the baskets will also have some other new items such as spinach, strawberries and artichokes....just a few more signs that spring is in full bloom and summer is just around the corner.

the first chicks of the season!

2011-03-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

Less than a month ago we noticed this black hen sitting on eggs in the hay pile. Since she was already sitting there on her eggs for an unknown amount of time we decided to not interrupt. Then two and a half weeks ago these darling little chickies hatched, our first hatch of the season! Luckily they came out during a couple days of sun that we received so we let them be on their own until the weather started to change. At that time we moved them into the barn where they were living until yesterday afternoon when they moved outside to our small chicken tractor. The photo above is when they are just a few days old. Such cute little fluff balls. Then below you can see the changes in their fluff, they actually have a few feathers starting to come in. The two photos below are when they are ten days old.

Yesterday they moved into their new home out in the chicken tractor and they immediately started to peck at the soil. Their mother has been taking good care of them and they know exactly what to do now that they have access to grass and soil...peck and scratch, all day!

Spring veggies come to our CSA

2011-03-29T23:25:00.000-07:00

Last week our Veggie Basket members started to receive French breakfast radishes. These are very small, mild and tender radishes. As you can see in the photos, after all these rains we've had many of our radishes are splitting. Hopefully they all mature and we get them out of the ground before we loose much more....or the sun could just stay out and they should be fine!

Radicchio was a new item in the baskets this week. These beautiful red leaves are great fresh or slightly cooked. We suggested to our members that they should try putting them on the grill.

The other new and exciting item in the baskets this week was a spring salad mix. These greens are a combination of baby arugula, red & green oak leaf lettuce and lolla rosa lettuce. About 1/4 of the mix is arugula, so its has wonderful flavor while also the tenderness of the baby greens. It goes great with the radishes and the citrus that was also in the baskets.

Stormy weather leaves us with a mess to clean up

2011-03-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

This was the beautiful scene at the farm on Sunday afternoon after the big storm had passed through. At one point there was a double rainbow in the sky. We'd love to be seeing these clearer skies again as we are waiting for this current storm to pass. These are our beds of pea seedlings, radishes that we started harvesting this week, carrot seedlings and newly transplanted kales on Sunday afternoon. Towards the south ends of the beds all the plants are under water. If you look closely, you can see the blue wheel barrow and the pump that is moving water into the reservoir there to the south. Luckily by Monday this water was gone, but its just be all being covered in water again as this new storm is raining on us.

More young plants under water....here is lettuce, beets, arugula and more all struggling to last through the storms.

Here you can see the asparagus popping up from the pools of water.

Our orchards are also flooded with large pools of water.

Kobi is observing the flooded areas and making plans for who to drain all this water over to our reservoir.

This is our field to the west that is completely flooded. We'd like to be tilling this field right now and transplant in our little tomatoes that are sitting in the greenhouse ready to go.

There is a pump working to drain this water, but as the rains keep coming down we're not sure how long its going to take to really get this water out of this field. Hopefully with the expected sun next week it will have a chance to dry out and we can actually start thinking about taking a tractor in there.

Chickie Treats...these are some happy chickens!

2011-03-16T23:08:00.000-07:00

Our egg laying chickens are happily snacking on kitchen scraps of carrots, beets, radishes, greens and old bread loaves. These scraps are coming from local restaurants. They set aside the scraps from their kitchen for us to take back to our chickies a few times a week. These hens are often getting leftovers from some other local kitchens, so what would normally be going into the trash can now help to keep our ladies happy and laying those tasty eggs. These hens, and some roosters, are in the midst of a feeding frenzy on the tasty veggie pieces. This is a great connection to restuarants for the hens and in return they lay amazingly yummy eggs.

Check out these pretty ladies. They peck and scratch the scraps almost constantly until it is nearly gone. Usually the scraps that we dump for them are completely gone in a few hours, its amazing how fast they work through everything.

Crazy determined celery and asparagus

2011-03-16T22:43:00.000-07:00

This is likely the most beautiful celery that we have ever grown. We have this one little patch that survived the summer in the greenhouses when it didn't get planted last spring and then was finally put in the ground this past Sept. on just a whim that it might be able to do something. It got stuck in a bed on the edge of the field and was forgotten for most of the winter. Then somehow out of the 3 foot grass there was beautiful celery. Not enough for more than one or two weeks in the CSA, but its been a while since we've had celery at all and these plants are gorgeous. Maybe we should always just forget about our celery and let the grass take over, seems to have worked this time.

The asparagus has been coming up out of the ground little by little for about 4 weeks now. It was just enough to put in the CSA as a teaser, but then this week it finally started to really push itself up. Hopefully it will now be an item in the CSA baskets for a couple of weeks, we'll just have to wait and see if it keeps going with this same vigor.

The fruit trees are flowering...is it spring?

2011-03-03T00:17:00.000-08:00

Our almond trees started to flower a few weeks ago. As you can see below they are in full bloom, but the timing with the weather changing from wet to cold and then wet is really hurting their chances to get pollinated. Our trees need all the time possible for the bees to come pollinate. Right now we don't have any bees living on farm, so we are relying on neighboring hives. There are bee lures in all our trees to help encourage their visit.
These photos were taken just after the rains cleared up.

These pluot trees have hardly any blossoms left after all the harsh weather. Hopefully we'll still get some of these fruits, they are so tasty!
Below you can see the apricots have also been opening their buds. Its interesting in the orchards to watch the different varieties as they open at different times and rates, this is the only apricot tree that is in full bloom.

Here are some plum trees with the pluots in the background. There blossoms are the most recent to have opened.

Veggies of the week...a winter medley

2011-02-23T23:30:00.000-08:00

This week in our CSA veggie baskets we had a winter medley of fruits and vegetables. In the basket this week our members enjoyed receiving lemons, tangerines, oranges, prunes, spearmint, Italian parsley, broccoli spears with leaves, red mustard greens, bok choi raab, cabbage, leek, and dried summer squash.

In the winter our baskets include a lot of greens, some root veggies, dried produce from the summer and lately some generous Davis residents and even some CSA members have donated citrus from their backyard trees.

A look into a bag of greens -a glimpse of red mustard, a large bunch of broccoli spears with the leaves (all is yummy!) and bok choi raab.

Eggs, eggs, and more eggs....our little ladies are working hard!

2011-02-16T09:33:00.000-08:00

As the weather has been getting nicer our little feathered ladies have been working every day without much of a break. It has been amazing to see the egg production to go from just 6 or a little more a day in mid-late December to the last couple of weeks when we started getting over 30 a day. Now the last week they are laying 40 or more a day and we expect that will go up even a bit more. Our next obstacle is to get all the eggs safely to the refrigerator. The trick is to break the hens habits of cannibalizing the eggs. Every day we have lost any where from 4-6, sometimes more, eggs from hens pecking at the shells and causing cracks and holes.

Out in the chicken tractor we have 12 hens and a rooster. They are great layers! Every day we get usually 10-12 eggs from these hens. They must be happy with all the fresh vegetation they get as we move them every morning.

International visitors tour the farm

2011-02-15T21:21:00.000-08:00

Last week we hosted a group of international visitors for a tour here at the farm. They were touring the United States as guests of the State Department. The group consisted of delegates from countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. As you can see in this picture our tour included the greenhouses, but they also got to learn about our production and use of worm castings, the benefits of cover crops, our use of the chickens to help transition our fields to new crops and our vegetable and egg CSA. They were very interested in the various different types of crops we grow for the CSA and what we plan to sell to restaurants. The CSA was a new concept to most of them, so they asked a lot of questions about how we found our members, what we did to develop relationships with the members to help them connect to the farm and other decision making that takes place in the management of a CSA.

This is Uriya in her wagon as we were waiting for the group to arrive. I didn't get good pictures of them around the farm, so the one photo above will have to represent. We are always excited to give tours around the farm. Sharing what we do is one of the most important aspects of farming at Full Circle. Yes, we are here working to grow tasty, healthy and sustainably grown food -but, we are always learning from Full Circle and we want others to learn from what we are doing and we always welcome anyone to come learn with us.

Cover crop in transition to a field of tomatoes

2011-02-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

This field has been in cover crop for the past few months -fava, vetch, peas, and oats all growing to add nitrogen and carbon to our field that will be growing tomatoes in just over a month. Before we let the chickens in this field it was lush with four foot tall vegetation.

The chickens have been working through the field for over a month scratching it down and pecking away at the vegetation and insects which is helping us before we till. Most importantly they are pooping as they eat. This poop is a valuable source of nutrients for our crops. We will till it in with the residue of the cover crop and then by mid-late June this field should be producing tasty tomatoes.

This is a great help to us as we prepare the fields for vegetables, but it also gives our chickens a great life. They enjoy a varied diet of healthy plants and insects as well as the exercise and sunshine, all of which contribute to making those amazingly tasty eggs.

The cover crop is also fun for little people. There's nothing like running through a field of plants that are over your head!

Daikon & lemongrass soup and fava pesto -the featured CSA recipes of the week

2011-01-31T22:25:00.000-08:00

Some veggies in our CSA baskets this week are white icicle daikon radish with beutiful greens, lemon grass and fava greens...of course there was much more, but these were the veggies featured in the recipes that we are sending out to our members this week.
daikon greens & lemongrass miso soup -saute about half an onion sliced in sesame oil or vegetable oil, when it starts to soften add 2-3 cloves of garlic in halves or quarters, then also add about 4 cups of water and 3-4 lemon grass leaves pulled apart, but keep them in large pieces. Get the water to a boil and turn it down, add 1-2 T. grated fresh ginger or you can use dried powder, also add a cup of brown rice or if you prefer noodles add them as directed on the package. Let this simmer until rice is nearly cooked, then add the daikon root if you like along with any other root you might want to use. Then its time to add some soy sauce to taste, about 3-5 T., cook a few more minutes and add 4-5 handfuls of well chopped daikon greens and any other greens you would like. Let this cook a few more minutes, you may want to add more water depending on how much broth you want. Taste broth, you may want to add more soy sauce or any other ingredient you like. Then add 2-4 T. miso just before you are ready to eat. This is a wonderfully soothing soup for anyone suffering from a winter cold.

Here is a photo of a lovely icicle daikon radish pushing up out of the ground. Besides being tasty these roots are great for helping us break up our clay soil.

This is a photos of the tender fava leaves, once harvested referred to as the greens, and the white flowers that will become the tasty large beans. Anything with fava is a nice sign that spring is on its way. These tender leaves make this recipe so tasty...

fava greens pesto -2-3 cups of fava leaves, washed, 1/3 cup of pine nuts (you can also use seeds or walnuts for a local food alternative), 2 garlic cloves (chopped), 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until creamy. Toss with pasta or spread on baked polenta.

Oh and Uriya had to get in there, she's hanging out in the field munching on some broccoli raab flowers that opened to show off their bright yellow petals. Not exactly what most of us want in our raab, but Uriya doesn't mind.

The Asparagus is Coming!!!

2011-01-24T23:17:00.000-08:00

....get ready....here it comes..... yes, the asparagus is coming -right out of the soil. It is a bit early, this warm and sunny weather must be encouraging it to pop up out of the ground.

Most of our asparagus is purple, as you can see in the photos. The majority of it is just starting to emerge, so it will be a couple of weeks before our CSA members will be seeing it in their baskets. Usually the harvest will go on for 6-8 weeks, but because our patch is so small our members might only see it in there baskets for 3-4 weeks. Though we do have great plans to increase our patch someday, hopefully in the next year!

Uriya eating an asparagus stock just after she picked it right out of the field.

This might be turning into her new favorite veggie to help with around the farm. She even got down and tried to bite it out of the ground when we weren't looking -little rabbit!

Happy New Year -our first full week of production in 2011!

2011-01-12T16:32:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year folks! This week we kicked ourselves back into gear and got ourselves going with planting, seeding and our first CSA harvest of 2011! We've been planting some more brassicas for the spring, peas, fava beans and pulling out weeds like crazy -after all this rain they are taking over the fields.
This week our CSA members received a beautiful winter basket that included....
our last week of fuyu persimmons, Jerusalem artichokes(aka. sunchokes), sundried tomatoes, poc choi, fennel bulb w/ leaves, beets w/ leaves, broccoli spears w/ leaves (yes, it is all edible and yummy!), butternut squash, curly parsley, fresh oregano, white icicle daikon radishes and a red radish mix.
So great to be back and a wonderful holiday season break. We can't wait to see what lies ahead in 2011...hopefully we'll start getting a little better weather here soon, we could use the sunshine!

Root Veggies and Green Tomatoes for the Winter

2010-12-27T20:52:00.000-08:00

Our CSA members have been enjoying many weeks of sweet potatoes...mostly garnet taters. We have been so pleased with our harvest of these tasty taters this fall and we finally got them all out of the ground a couple of weeks ago just in time for all the rain that recently fell on us.

We also started to harvest Jerusalem artichokes (aka. sunchokes) a few weeks ago, so our CSA members also enjoyed a few weeks of these tasty roots before we took a break for the year. These funky looking roots are a little unusual for some to get to know, but once a household is comfortable incorporating them into their meals its hard to imagine a time before their existence in the kitchen. They are very similar to a potato with more flavor and more creamy, but thicker skin that has a nice crunch when fully cooked.

Our last tomato harvest was at the end of November -nearly all green tomatoes that is. These green tomatoes have been in the CSA baskets nearly every week since, such a nice way to say goodbye to tomatoes for the year.

Last week of regular veggie basket delivery until 2011

2010-12-14T09:16:00.000-08:00

This week is our last week of regular veggie basket delivery for 2011, we will resume our regular deliveries the week of January 10th. Though, don't forget about our special Holiday Veggie Basket delivery on the 21st of this month. We are offering large holiday quantities of vegggies specifically harvested with the holiday spirit. This holiday basket will be our usual 12-15 items, but in larger quantities, all for $30.

This is our baskets we delivered yesterday...oh those vegetables look good; beets, broccoli, arugula, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, green tomatoes, hachiya persimmons, braising greens, cabbage, spring mix baby greens, icicle daikon radish, jalapenos, rosemary, and oregano. This was our first harvest of broccoli and we plan to have lots of florets to harvest for the baskets in the new year. It is the last baskets of persimmons and jalapenos, likely the last baskets with green tomatoes as well. We should have a few more weeks of sweet potatoes in January and many weeks of winter squash if all goes right.

Lucy the goat -we loved having you around...thank you for everything!

2010-12-02T20:20:00.000-08:00

This week we are thankful for the life of our past goat Lucy. She feel ill on Sunday and after a vet visit on farm she was moved to the UCD vet clinic where she spent two days before it was determined that we would not be able to help her condition. We still do not know exactly what happed to our beloved Lucy, but it was some sort of intestinal obstruction. She was a great grazer, very feisty and energetic.
She will be missed, especially by her sister Kooza who has been uneasy for days now as she tries to understand what happened to Lucy. Thank you Lucy for your life that you shared with us here at Full Circle.

Winter greens are here!

2010-11-12T10:50:00.000-08:00

For the past month or so our winter greens have really been taking off. Our CSA members are enjoying a variety of greens every week that include red mustard, tatsoi, rainbow chard, collard greens, broccoli raab and all sorts of baby greens.

We have really been proud of the tatsoi this fall. It has been such a beautiful color of deep green and much larger than those we've had in past years.

We have also been harvesting some of our baby red and green cabbages, though most of our cabbages won't develop heads until after the new year, so look forward to more cabbages in 2011!

Rain or Shine Potluck

2010-11-10T22:03:00.000-08:00

So as our events tend to go...our Sunday potluck was not blessed with the most beautiful weather. Around 12.30 the rain was coming down fairly hard, but right at 1.00 the sun came out and so did a couple of our CSA member households to join us here at the farm. Perfect timing to sit outside to enjoy our meal and for the kids to run around in the puddles.

We enjoyed a great lunch together, walked around the farm and of course fed the chickens. Our tasty lunch included the usual beans with FCF herbs & brown rice (this time white beans with split peas), sweet potato casserole, muhamarha, croissants with zataar, tomatillo salsa & chips, fig cookies, mole enchiladas and FCF herbal tea.

The rain did come down us a bit, but that just moved us into the barn for more conversation and food. We always love spending time with our CSA members, showing them where their food is grown and answering any various questions that they might have about the farm & the vegetables.

Farm Potluck -this Sunday Nov. 7th

2010-11-04T22:33:00.000-07:00

This Sunday we are hosting a farm potluck open to all who want to learn more about what we are doing over here at Full Circle -or really anyone who just wants to enjoy a really great meal with some great company in beautiful scenery. We have invited past and present CSA members to join us as well as any interested community members.

The potluck lunch will start at 1.00 -we'll provide beans, rice, coffee and herbal tea along with our favorite seasonal dishes to share, so bring a little something tasty to add to the mix.

Then we'll follow that up with a farm tour and some fun farm activities...This is all assuming we don't get blasted with the expected rain that has been predicted. Cross our fingers that we all can enjoy a lovely farm afternoon together eating each other's yummy foods.

Please write us an email with any questions, we'd like to have RSVPs by Sunday morning at 9.00 so that we know how much to prepare.
See y'all Sunday here at the farm!

Fall CSA Veggie Baskets -such a great diversity!

2010-11-02T22:40:00.001-07:00

Right now we are in the midst of our fall CSA veggie basket season....an amazing diversity of vegetables during the shift of seasons.
In the baskets this week our members are enjoying:
basil
tomatoes
sweet & spicy peppers
eggplant
summer squash mix
tomatillos
baby mixed greens
braising greens
garlic
pomegranate
chiogga beets with greens
parsley

In the recent past weeks our members also received cabbage, tatsoi, lettuce mix, arugula, rainbow swiss chard, red mustard greens, collard greens, cucumbers, melons, turnip greens, baby pok choi and fresh oregano & spearmint.

Taste of the Farm....a quick look back and so many thank yous!

2010-10-16T15:25:00.000-07:00

Taste of the Farm was just a couple of weeks ago, so lets take a look back... It was a beautiful 100F fall day out at Full Circle. Thank you so much to all of you who ventured out in the heat for an afternoon of farm fun.
An especially great big thank you to Pedrozo Cheese, Drinkwell Softers, Massa Organics, and Pachamama Coffee.....we love you! Also, big thank you to Jay for the awesome photos and everyone else who chopped veggies, served, set-up and cleaned up....we couldn't have done it without you!

Thank you musicians!

2010-10-16T13:38:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for all the fabulous music at Taste of the Farm! We loved you all!Jesse strumming the guitar

Tessa waiting for her next line

Jocovia (of Sonada Malay) keeping the beats with his friend on top of the lyrics

Then Seracy(of Sonada Malay) was on stage with the un-named rap artist friend (sorry no-name)

Marisol is on top of those drums
Tessa, Jesse & Marisol have got it going on

Daniel, aka. Lucky, is having a good time singing away in the heat

Alyssa is rocking out her soulful tunes

Zack & friend share their folky melodies

Zack holds nothing back...even in the 100F sun!

Thank you all so much, hope to see you again out at Full Circle!!!!

This Sunday -Taste of the Farm

2010-09-22T15:24:00.000-07:00

Come out to the farm for an afternoon of great food and music in the Full Circle gardens. We will also have a sukkah decorate to welcome guests in celebration of Sukkot. From 3-about 6 we will have a few different groups of folk inspired musicians playing for you and then at around 6 Sonada Malay will end the day with their neo-soul tunes. Food samples will include cheese & fruit, wheat berry salad & rice pudding from Massa organics, Pachamama Coffee, Full Circle herbal tea, tomatillo salsa & seasoned pinto beans with chips and baba ganouj.

CSA Veggie Baskets this week

2010-09-17T09:04:00.000-07:00

In the baskets this week there were signs of fall. The tomatoes have slowed way down in their production and the insects are really getting them in this cool weather. The baskets did get nice bags of red pear tomatoes. They also got some really nice heads of baby cabbage and radishes that are new to the baskets for the fall. There are still the summer goodies, the baskets had lots of figs, plums and nice, big moon & starts watermelon. There was also a mix of cucumbers, summer squash, eggplant, sweet & spicy peppers, and okra.

Taste of the Farm -September 26th

2010-09-08T15:39:00.000-07:00

On the afternoon of September 26th we will be opening our gates to welcome all food lovers, friends and family out to the farm. We will be offering tastings of various fruits and veggies as well as prepared foods using our vegetables. There will be cheese tastings and much more, including a great line up of musicians...watch for the details to come.
Please email fullcircledavis@gmail.com with questions or to reserve a ticket!

Sundrying madness

2010-08-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

Oh tomatoes, prunes & figs! So good fresh, but oh so good dried in the middle of a cold and wet winter.

We are doing as much sun drying as possible these days. The tomatoes, plums, and figs are in full production so we are cutting them up and laying them out to dry. We are drying all types of tomatoes. The smaller ones and the Roma types are the best, bit we just really love the aesthetics of the big heirlooms as then dry out in their star shapes.

These heirlooms have been drying for two days in heat that has been highs of 106F, so we expect it will just be one or two more days before they are sufficiently dried out.

We have also been experimenting with drying summer squash....I think its a winner. They are tasty just as is, but we know if seasoned or tossed in some soup they will really be nice in the middle of winter.

These bright yellow ones are a golden paste variety, really tasty and beautiful fresh, but they also look great once dried. These tomatoes have been drying for just one day in the triple digit heat.

Chickens hard at work to prepare the veggie fields

2010-08-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

Three chicken tractors, small, medium and large, are currently housing about 70 chickens plus a mother and her 7 chicks out in our south veggie field. The chicks that hatched in late April and early May are at work in the large movable coop, then in our newest addition the medium sized coop there are about 12 laying hens making themselves at home, and in the oldest and smallest chicken tractor there is a mother hen and her 7 chicks that are nearly three weeks old.

Mother hen and her chicks when they were about two weeks old.

This is our newest coop. It is designed to hold 10-12 laying hens. Kobi and Marisol built this chicken tractor out of various materials laying around the farm -its as beautiful as a coop can be! They used light weight pipes as much as possible for easy moving and there are five laying boxes in the back as well as space for roosting.

This is our largest movable coop. It was originally designed to house the broiler birds, but for right now its doing a good job keeping our young ones safe while they help prepare the field for winter crops.

These chickies were born in late April and early May...not too long and they'll be laying eggs for us! For right now though, they are great at scratching up the weed seeds, munching away at the weeds and pooping of course!

Cooking at the Farm -For the Love of Tomatoes!

2010-08-13T00:40:00.000-07:00

COOKING AT THE FARM...For the Love of Tomatoes-we will soon be offering tomato inspired cooking classes. Class will be very hands on, including harvesting the vegetables and preparing them into a full meal. All classes are a suggested donation of $25. Class schedule is:

Sept. 3 Classic Italian -we'll bake in the wood fired earthen oven and cool off with fresh salads

Sept. 19 Middle-Eastern flare -we'll cook those tomatoes into the richest and tastiest of middleastern dishes as well as enjoying the lighter side of fresh tomatoes

Sept. 25 Salsas to dance for -fresh, boiled or roasted-its all goes well with some beans, tortillas & musica

Oct. 9 Spanish amor -from pureed in soup to saucy over potatoes... we'll be falling in love

Write to us, fullcircledavis@gmail.com, for more details.

U-Picks every Saturday through Labor Day weekend

2010-08-11T10:19:00.001-07:00

This Saturday will be the first of four Saturdays through Labor Day weekend that we will be open for U-picks from 9-noon. The focus of the U-picks are the heirloom tomatoes, so many varieties all for $2 a pound or for $1.50 a pound when pickers get more than 10 pounds. Of course we will also have many other veggies and maybe fruit for the picking each week. Most likely we will always have summer squash, green beans, cucumbers, peppers and maybe even melons & berries.

The out of control green beans

2010-08-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

We have these beds of green beans that are totally out of control, but its working for right now as they are producing plenty of beans! These beds were first seeded with corn and beans, Then more corn, then more beans, eventually we had enough germinate to have the beds full, but by that point they were crazy with a bit of corn and a few different varieties of beans. Luckily its been working out and we're just trying to get them weeded and tied up as best as possible. There is also some random volunteer veggies popping up. A tatsoi and mustard mix that we call mustsoi is all over the place. Again, it has been working out, as we weed it they are put into the CSA or become dinner for us here at the farm.
See the random corn and mustsoi plants amongst the beans.
The beans are trellised and tied to get some sort of order and control going for easier harvesting.

Potatoes....it wouldn't be summer without them!

2010-07-31T15:24:00.000-07:00

Out here at Full Circle we love to grow all sorts of potatoes. Big, little, red, yellow, blue, creamy, round & crooked. Lately we've been slowly digging them out of the ground. Maybe it was the cool spring and late onset of summer heat or just something else, but these potatoes are taking sweet buttery ole time.

Our potato harvest is also a little smaller than we had hoped for this year because of the cool and wet spring. Some of our beds flooded in those late rains, very unexpected, so unfortunately those potatoes completely died or have produced very little. Fortunately though, much of those that did survive look beautiful and oh are they tasty!

U-picking out at the farm -finally our first U-pick of the summer

2010-07-31T14:55:00.000-07:00

This morning we hosted numerous u-pickers out at the farm. They picked cucumbers, berries, summer squash, tomatoes, basil, watermelon, chard, green beans, jalapeno peppers and sunflowers. As usually the tomatoes and fruit were the most popular. Here are some U-pickers checking out the peppers and sunflowers. As the u-pickers roam around the farm they learn about what is ready to harvest, what is growing right now and how to harvest the vegetables at their best.

That's a serious sunflower looking down on Hirochi.

This mammoth sunflower is going to bring us some yummy seeds before too long!

Thanks Jordan!

2010-07-20T23:50:00.000-07:00

Jordan was here at Full Circle for the past two months interning. She helped with all aspects of the vegetable and fruit production, but she especially liked to help harvest for the CSA and scare off the Killdeer birds that were nesting in the tomatoes, as you can see below.

These are some farm photos that she graciously shared with us. Thanks for all your help Jordan! A lovely bunch of apricots.

The little piggies and that squishy, slimy snout.

Squash blossom.

Basil leaves, all clean and ready to eat.

Yep, that's a hot air balloon. Frequently they pass right over the farm, a nice early morning sighting.

That's Peter Pan, he's a big boy that just doesn't know what to do with himself.

The oh so tasty strawberries that just keep going and going, maybe we'll just be harvesting strawberries all summer. I think strawberry harvesting might be what Jordan enjoyed most here at FCF or maybe it was munching the berries as a mid-morning snack that was keeping her attention.

CSA member potluck picnic at the farm

2010-06-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

Marisol and Jordan with CSA member Yan fill up their plates with all the yummy food. We invited all our CSA members out to the farm for an early summer potluck picnic and farm tour. We provided our farm favorits of beans and Massa brown rice with herbs, some of the other dishes included fruit salad and a chilled veggie saute. Of course it just had to be the hottest day of the summer so far, but by dinner time we were relaxing in the shade and swapping our favorite seasonal recipes. Lots of talk about how we like to use turnips and kale.

Uriya hanging out with us on the stage as we eat dinner. Below Sachiyo, Hirochi and Catherine take a quick moment for a photo.

We took a walk to our sunset spot, such a nice view of the hills as the sun goes down. Here are Catherine and Kobi in a photo taken by Sachiyo our good friend and CSA consultant.

A sizzlin' summer sunset....you can almost see the heat in the air.

A week of tomatoes

2010-06-19T01:14:00.000-07:00

This week we dedicated much of our time to the tomatoes. Pulling out weeds, hoeing the bind weed -our greatest pest to date, tying them and mulching. Its a lot of work right now, but the reward is just around the corner. Many of our plants have green fruit just waiting to ripen. Getting them all tied up before the fruit ripens can sometimes be back breaking when you are doing one row right after another. Marisol is in the photo here tying up some heirlooms, this row might be some brandywines. Soon we hope to have all the rows mulched with straw to help prevent the weeds from coming back over their long stay in the ground.

Looking good, staked and tied.

Uriya is checking the soil...

and taking time for an apricot break.

Beans & Greens Pie

2010-06-18T15:48:00.000-07:00

This is the beans & greens pie that we baked a few nights ago in the earthen oven. It has a layer of home cooked pinto beans on the bottom, a layer of cheese (this time it was Parmesan), leeks, green garlic, and then a thick layer of chopped greens with a corn bread batter poured over top.

The corn bread spreads out through the veggies and into the beans. This holds it all together to form a nice pie. It only took about 40 minutes to bake in the oven. You can also use a thicker corn bread batter, but that will sit on top of the greens a little more, so then you need a cheese that will hold all the veggies and beans together.

As you can see it turned out to be a hearty dinner that went well with a nice green salad that we made -it was topped off with basil, feta, apricots and walnuts.

There are many variations of the pie that are possible -black beans are good, different types of cheeses and any greens -chard, kale, beet greens, spinach, turnip greens, broccoli.....

Yummy!

Beautiful Brassicas!

2010-06-05T22:42:00.000-07:00

One nice thing about a wet and cool spring, the brassicas are beautiful! We had some trouble with these cauliflowers when they were young, but look at them now, gorgeous! Our spring broccoli is also coming in looking much better than expected. Usually this time of year we have these crops in hopes of getting a small harvest that will be a nice treat in the CSA, but it looks like this season it will be a few nice treats. We are also looking forward to some a nice cabbage harvest in the next few weeks, there is a bed of purple cabbages that is really looking nice.

These baskets last week also had kale, chard, cherries, strawberries, celery, spinach, green garlic, leeks, onions, fava beans, snap peas, lettuce and sage.

Oh, and the baby basket. We think we're pretty good at growing babies as well. This is Uriya hanging out in a basket with some vegetables after a CSA harvest.

Our Greenhouse -with the new addition!

2010-06-03T23:06:00.000-07:00

In early April the new addition of our greenhouse was completed! We have been so excited to have this additional greenhouse space, especially space that doesn't leak. The new addition doubled our greenhouse space and since it is made of all double paned glass it is extra protective for those little seedlings. All of the materials for this portion of the greenhouse were collected from area businesses. They were going to toss out all this glass and wood, but we turned it into a useful structure. Our intern at the time, Zeb, was the mastermind behind the design and most of the construction. There is some earthen clay that was used in a few places where it was more difficult to patch with wood which also gives good insulation. Then there are also four flaps that can open to allow for ventilation on those hot days. We have overhead sprinklers set up for easy watering which also goes out to the shade house that is directly next to the greenhouse. It has been such a great help to have this new greenhouse. Now we have so much more space to start seedlings, hopefully this winter it will hold up to the test of the rain and cold!

Herbs and flowers all around us

2010-05-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

Calendula flowers! A great edible flower that has been in bloom all around the farm for the last couple months. Sometimes we toss few of these in the salad mix we put in the CSA baskets for a little extra color.

Check out these baskets from last Thursday! So many herbs and flowers. There is lavender, flowering thyme, fennel leaves, parsley, cilantro, sage, oregano, spearmint, lemon verbena....beautiful and tasty! In addition to this wonderful herbs some of the latest and greatest in the baskets have been strawberries, cherries, peas, fava beans, kale, lettuce, mixed salad greens, celery, artichokes, chard and spinach. Frequently we'll even finish off the baskets with some dried fruit, dried tomatoes or Massa organic brown rice.

Lavender flowers being prepared for the CSA baskets. These bunches are being put in fresh, but sometimes we also dry them so that we can add them to the baskets at times when there are not fresh herbs or flowers around.

and we have more chickies!

2010-05-13T16:53:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, on Saturday, we were surprised to see a big blondie mama strutting around with 8 little chicks. We had no idea she had gotten out and started sitting on eggs. Then yesterday we were surprised with a few more chickies. First in the morning we saw a black hen emerge with 6 chicks, she wasn't as much of a surprise since about a week ago we realized she was hiding in the grass out in our backyard. Then by afternoon there was a white and black hen scratching around the herb garden with her 11 little ones! She was also not as much of a surprise since she was discovered sitting there last Friday by some students in a farm tour group that was visiting the farm. Though, even if we catch them sitting on eggs its always a surprise on the day when they do hatch and a surprise to see how many of them actually make it through the whole ordeal. This is what happens when you give your hens space, they want even more space and then wander off to hide on top of a pile of eggs. Usually this works out for the best, but unfortunately we know many of these chickies will turn out to be males. That means we’ll have to do something about all the roosters that our little farm just can’t support. The Black & White Mama with her day old 11 chickies that hatched on May 12th.

Blackie Mama with her 6 day old chickies that hatched yesterday morning, May 12th.

Blondie Mama with her 8 chickies that hatched on May 8th.

Way to go all our new Mamas, we're proud of you!

Egg layer chickies have arrived!

2010-05-05T22:28:00.000-07:00

Check out our baby egg layers! Sooo cute! They hatched on April 30th in Iowa and were shipped to us over night. On May 2nd we brought them to the farm and started helping them to get settled into their new home. I think they are happy and cozy in their little box, but in a few weeks we hope to have them out in the fields helping clear away the bind weed and slugs in our veggie beds where we hope to put next winter's crops.

There are 38 total chicks, but these little girls are just so small its amazing what a tiny clump of fluff they are when they hang out together. Can you see the bare necks? These chicks are called Turkens, as adults they will look a little like turkeys and lay large eggs. We also have some Partridge Rocks, Silver Laced Wyandottes, Buff Oringtons, and a general mix of layers that we are sure includes Leg Horns, Rhode Island Reds and some Barred Rocks.

In about 6 months we expect that they will start laying some eggs. Though it won't be until about a year from now that we will see their true potential. With this group of girls we will significantly increase the amount of eggs that we have for sale. Our current hens are of various different ages and breeds so at times of the year we have a significant amount of eggs for sale, but it varies drastically from season to season. Hopefully we will also have more consistent egg laying once these little chickies mature.

Spring farm tours with Davis elementary students

2010-04-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

Last week we hosted our first farm tour of the season. This tour was for an awesome group of second graders from Davis. We will have a few more for elementary students this spring as well as frequent visits from UC Davis students. In the photos the kids are digging in the fields to see what is hiding below the surface and Marisol is helping the kids collect eggs and tell them some fun chicken facts.

This group of students got to visit our greenhouse, egg layer chickens, walk around our vegetable fields, dig in the soil, spread compost, play in the worm bin, plant some seeds, pet and feed the goats along with seeing other sites around the farm. These kids really loved seeing our different stages of composting and finding familiar and unfamiliar vegetables in our gardens. One activity that always gets the kids excited is when we let them smell, touch and taste herbs from the garden. These plants can be so familiar and also unusual to some of the kids, they always get excited about plants they can eat.

The planting of summer crops

2010-04-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

So lately here at Full Circle much of the focus has been on our transition towards summer. (see photo of Marisol and Sarah planting peppers a couple weeks ago). In the ground right now we have many tomatoes, tomatillos, basil, and some peppers with much more needing to be planted. Unfortunately we have not yet gotten to the eggplants, but that's next on the list. We also have cucumbers, melons, and summer squash in the hoop house and hopefully soon we'll have them in the fields. There are a few beds of potatoes growing and soon there will also be beans! This time of year there is so much to do, from transplanting to weeding, sowing seeds and laying irrigation, it never seems to stop. We just keep our eyes on the prize...that first big juicy sweet tomato that we will sink our teeth into, before we know it that tomato will be right there, ripe on the vine!

What to do with all those vegetables?....

2010-04-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

In our CSA email that is sent out with every basket we always include recipes and ideas about how to use the vegetables. Often this includes statements such as "use X vegetable and/or X vegetable", or "use a lot or little of X depending on your taste", or all sorts of variations on what is supposed to be a recipe. Well that's because there are so many ways you can prepare these vegetables, substitutions are great or vary the amounts. It's just so hard to write a recipe and leave it at that. Recently our CSA members have been getting a nice variety of fresh herbs, dried fruits, and greens, so below is what we suggest they do to have some fun with these great foods. Hopefully it inspires creativity rather than confusion.
some ideas and recipes....
-yesterday I enjoyed an amazing cheese sandwich that was topped off with finely chopped spinach and mustard greens or one of my all time favorite sandwiches is with any white cheese, fresh mint and other herbs/greens, sprinkle of olive oil, salt, pepper and to seriously top it off squeeze in some walnuts!
-toss together a green salad of lettuce, spinach, frizee mustard, and finely chopped fresh herbs such as fennel leaves, oregano, parsley, or cilantro (chopped fresh asparagus would be good in this salad). you could also make a nice dressing with the some sundried fruits (soaked for a few minutes first) blend in a food processor with some olive oil, vinegar and the green garlic (or fresh herbs)
-cook your favorite beans with the spicy peppers and shortly before they are done toss in some finely chopped sundried tomatoes and/or fresh oregano leaves
Enjoy!

Hoop House Wonders

2010-04-06T10:31:00.000-07:00

To the east of our apricot orchard and west of our north vegetable field we have what some might consider a little bit of an eye sore. Though, this little structure is providing our vegetable basket CSA members with some beautiful produce. Right now we are harvesting gorgeous heads of lettuce and leafy spinach from inside this little plastic covered hoop house. The delicate leaves of lettuce and spinach can grow without the blasts of wind gusts and heavy down pours of rain that tear those plants apart. It also gives them a little warmer temperature and keeps them drier during those heavy rains, all attributing to much healthier and more attractive plants.
We also have little seedlings of zucchini, yellow summer squash and cucumbers growing in there that we hope will be producing fruit by the end of April. These little plants are very sensitive to cold nights and heavy rains, so by growing them under the protection of the plastic they are able to thrive earlier than they would be able to out in the fields. Hopefully our CSA members will be finding these wonderful vegetables in their baskets soon as the first sign of the summer vegetables to come!

Turnip Topped Farm Veggie Pie

2010-03-30T01:20:00.000-07:00

So a few nights ago this was our dinner. It was thrown together with numerous random veggies and such that we had around, but it turned out awesome. It had the very versatile half whole wheat crust which was then folded up on the sides, but really any crust would do. Then french green lentils, onions, garlic, thyme, oregano, sage and parsley. Along with chopped carrots, kale, chard, and mustard greens. All the veggies and lentils were tossed with nutritional yeast, soy sauce and a little oil before going into make the filling. If dairy isn't a problem then some cream or cheese might go well with the filling. Finally it was topped off with mashed turnips. The turnips were steamed in chunks then mashed with margarine, but of course they could have been mashed with butter and cream. It would have been a little better if the turnips would have been peeled first, but it didn't take away from it too much.

the cover crop goes down so tomatoes can grow up

2010-03-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we passed a major event in our growing cycle, the cover crop was mowed down and tilled under. Normally we do very little work with a tractor, but once and often twice a year we have some big events that really need that extra power and speed. Over the weekend Kobi mowed and then tilled the cover crop, so that in about a week we can transplant in our seedlings of tomatoes, eggplants and peppers. We were very happy with the cover crop this winter, very thick with fava beans, peas and vetch. All of these nitrogen fixing plants are adding much needed nutrients to the soil. The area of our fields that was home to the tomatoes and eggplants last summer was left fallow for the winter and will be where we soon will start to plant cucumbers and melons. This is a rotation that we are starting to develop. It is only in the second season, so we'll just have to wait and see if we are happy with the results.
We also tilled some compost into beds that will very soon be planted with potatoes. Unfortunately its a little later than we would have liked to be starting the potatoes, but with the wet weather and the timing of having a tractor around this is when we could make it happen. That's just how things happen. Hard to believe that soon we'll be staking, tieing and then harvesting tomatoes. Then as it consistently gets a little warmer it will be time for cucumbers, melons, green beans and basil. This is an exciting time at the farm, transition to summer veggies!

Today's Veggies Baskets....a typical winter spread

2010-02-11T13:04:00.000-08:00

In today's CSA baskets our members enjoyed finding....

green garlic, arugula
dried basil, parsley
cabbage , kohlrabi greens
red mustard greens
red radishes, fennel
arugula, daikon, bok choi flowers
chard, kale
green garlic, &
broccoli

The recommended recipes for today were:
broccoli and fennel with green garlic-
dice up 3-5 spears of green garlic and half of a medium sized onion, saute in your favorite oil or fat. chop fennel bulb and broccoli into bite-sized pieces add to the cooking garlic/onion. (a nice touch at this point is a dash of red or white wine) cook until slightly soft, then add a handful of chopped nuts -walnuts or pecans are nice. take off the heat and toss with parmesan or feta cheese. serve with bread or on-top of pasta.
simple dried basil pesto pasta-
put dried basil, a few chopped up spears of green garlic in a blender with your favorite nut (pine nuts!), olive oil, and blend, you might need to add a little water and parmesan cheese is nice. toss with your favorite pasta and great to top off with some sauteed veggies!
Enjoy!

Trials and Tribulations of Turnips

2010-02-09T11:20:00.000-08:00

Every winter we hear about the "trials and tribulations" of turnips. Let us help.
Here at Full Circle we love turnips. First they are easy to grow so we always end up with a lot of them around. Second, we just enjoy eating them. For some of our CSA members this may not be the most exciting thing, but there are many great uses of turnips so we hope we can turn this mysterious vegetable into something you happily enjoy regularly on your dinner plate.
To list a few ways we enjoy them here at the farm....turnip latkes, pickled turnips, turnip-ginger chutney, fermented turnip sauerkraut, turnip slaw, turnip hash & eggs, roasted turnips & winter veggies, turnip soup, turnip frittata, mashed turnips & potatoes....and the list goes on.
-You can grate them fresh on top of your favorite green salad. Fresh we think they pair up well with radishes and apples.
- Roast them with carrots, onions and potatoes.
-Chop them up and add them to your favorite veggie soup....especially good in lentil soup.
-Pretend they are a potatoe.....and use them that way (just remember they have more water and less starch, so make up for that little difference)
One of my favorite winter salads:
Grate one large turnip, 1-2 carrots, 1 apple, 1 large radish, and maybe a beet, fennel or some cabbage. Mix all together and add some chopped cilantro, sliced up oranges or citrus of choice. Toss with a light oil and vinegar or lemon dressing, salt and pepper. This is good on its own or to top off a green salad. For variation you can mix in some finely chopped kale or arugula.

find some additional help at...
http://recipes.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Category:Turnip_Recipes
http://www.epicurious.com/tools/searchresults?type=food&search=turnip
http://www.abbyskitchen.co.uk/turnip-recipes.htm

the CSA is back for another year!

2010-01-07T13:58:00.000-08:00

Hey folks,
we are so excited to get 2010 going, our winter CSA vegetable baskets started up again this week!
In the baskets this week our members received: tatsoi, bok choi, turnips w/greens, arugula, cabbage, jerusalem artichokes, red radishes, white icicle daikon radishes, carrots, parsley, kohlrabi greens, and winter squash.
Here are some suggested recipes...
easy yummy jerusalem artichokes: chop up the chokes so that they arenice bite sized pieces, stir fry in a generous amount of veggie oiland minced garlic and/or diced onion until crispy on the outside andsoft inside, salt & pepper to desired taste (good to add some choppedgreens for a few minutes before they are done or toss in some choppedparsley right before eating)
winter veggie coleslaw : Finely chop or grate half-whole head ofcabbage, numerous carrots, one turnip and multiple radishes(any kind). Chop a few T. of parsley, mince a few cloves of garlic and someminced red onion might also be nice. Toss all together with eitheryour favorite dressing or olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice. Wesometimes add a little mayonaise to this with olive oil and lemonjuice. Also good to add finely chopped arugula, tatsoi, bok choiand/or kohl rabi greens. Another nice variation to this that we hadrecently was finely chopped butternut squash added to the slaw.
Swedish cabbage soup: Sauté 2 cups chopped onion in 5 tbs. sweetbutter. After a few minutes, add 2 tsp. whole or ground carraway seedand 2 tsp. salt; cover and let cook over medium-low heat about 10-15minutes, stir occasionally. Add 2 packed cups shredded cabbage and 6cups vegetable stock (or potato water, or plain water) and lots offreshly ground black pepper. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes. Try adding 2 medium sized potatoes or turnips to this recipe for a yummytwist.
don't forget about yummy roasted veggies! winter vegetables are sogood just chopped and roasted until soft, mix in some oil or butter and your favorite herbs!

The last CSA basket of 2009

2009-12-17T15:37:00.000-08:00

Today was our last CSA veggie basket until January. It was a beautiful day to be out picking vegetables, we're happy for the rain, but that sun is so nice! We ended the year with a beautiful basket of veggies.
In their baskets today our CSA members received: garlic, tatsoi, butternut squash, daikons, red radish mix, arugula, kohlrabi greens, kale, beets, bok choi, carrots, cilantro, parsley, and lavender. We'll be back in 2010 with more!

we have a new chicken tractor!

2009-12-11T01:54:00.001-08:00

It's amazing what a few chickens can do...thanks to Maka we have a new chicken tractor that we are using out in the veggie fields. Those chickens are pecking away at slugs, potato bugs, weed seeds and much more. Right now we have two hens and a rooster enjoying a little vacation from the flock over in the coop. We move the tractor down the bed to a fresh location once or twice a day so that the chickens never run out of yummies to eat.

what to do with those winter veggies??

2009-12-07T16:31:00.000-08:00

We imagine our CSA members are often baffled at what to do with all those winter veggies, so here are a couple of our easiest suggestions....
these are great veggies to have roasted -chop up Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, butternut squash, daikons & turnips into large bite sized pieces. put in baking dish, toss oil or butter over top, sprinkle with some minced garlic, salt & pepper, bake until soft. some herbs of your choice and onions would also be nice. sometimes I also like to do this over the top of greens, so I first put some chopped greens in the pan and cover with the other veggies, when doing this it is best to sprinkle a little water over everything.
stir fry daikons (my current favorite) -slice up some daikon radishes, sir fry in veggie oil with minced garlic, chopped onion and grated ginger. add a little soy sauce. eat when soft. good with noodles or rice. you might also want to try adding carrots or greens to this, so good and so simple!

Some Useful Recipes

2009-11-23T13:35:00.000-08:00

These recipes recently went out in our CSA email. They use a lot of veggies that our members frequently get in their baskets and they are easy to alter to specific tastes and to use additional veggies.

spicy greens -saute diced onions/leeks & garlic until soft, add some diced peppers, when all is soft add any spices you like, then quickly stir in some stir fry greens for only 1-3 minutes, salt and pepper to taste (you only want the greens slightly wilted) -carrots, beet greens and bok choi would go well with this for a little variation.
veggie latkas/pancakes -mince some garlic, onion and oregano. grate turnips, winter squash, 1-2 carrots and any other veggies you want to add. mix all together. then add 1-2 whisked eggs and ~1/4 C. flour. mix all together and fry large scoops in hot veggie oil until golden brown. serve with sauteed greens or green salad and yogurt or sour cream.
These are some eggplant greats that go well with many other veggies...
bhagan barta- roast large eggplants whole (pierce with knife and broil on both sides for 15-20 mins) until crispy outside and mushy inside. scoop out insides of eggplant and saute with some diced onion, minced garlic, grated fresh ginger, little coriander, cumin and basically any other curry spices that you like that were all cooking together in a little veggie oil(your preference) while the eggplant was roasting. also good with some tomatoes or sweet & spicy peppers. once eggplant and spices have had a few minutes to cook together, add some yoghurt or coconut milk stir together and cook just a few minutes longer then serve with rice or naan.
baba ganosh- roast large eggplants whole (pierce with knife and broil on both sides for 15-20 mins) until crispy outside and mushy inside.sccop out insides, whisk by hand with a few tablespoons or more of tahini (depends on taste), 2-4 cloves of garlic pressed or minced, juice of 1/2 or whole lemon, salt to taste and sometimes I add some olive oil and top off with some fresh herbs (parsley, cilantro, basil or oregano are good). eat with bread, chips, crackers or veggies. (also good with fresh or roasted peppers)
fried eggplant - dice up eggplant into large bite sized pieces. salt and let sit for a few minutes. heat thick layer of veggie oil in a pan, toss in eggplant pieces and fry until golden brown on all sides. take out and cool on a paper towel or bread slice on a plate. then toss with spices of choice, garlic and herbs of choice -basically any combination seasoning will go well. eat alone or with fresh greens or saute greens with some onion -all goes great together.

Persimmon Pudding

2009-11-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

Lately our CSA members have been getting a lot of hachiya persimmons -the kind that have to be nice and squishy soft before eating. Well I'm guessing they might be getting tired of eating them fresh and maybe they have already made some into chutney, maybe even a soup, but what about pudding! Here's our recipe for Persimmon Pudding. Enjoy!

~6 hachiya persimmons
1 1/2 C. milk
1/4 C. heavy cream
3 eggs
1 T. honey
1/1/4 C. all-purpose flour
3/4 C. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
6 T. butter, melted & slightly cooled
1 C. walnuts (optional)

Butter a 9 in. round cake pan and line with parchment paper
Cut out stems from persimmons, peal off bad parts of skin and put into blender, puree. You should have about 1 1/2 C. of puree.
Add milk, cream, eggs and honey, puree again until smooth.
Sift together dry ingredients. Little at a time mix persimmon mixture with dry ingredients. Then stir in melted butter and waltnuts, pour into prepared pan. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, until set and pulling away from sides.
Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Today's CSA baskets....

2009-11-05T14:25:00.001-08:00

Howdy folks! Today we prepared a beautiful basket of veggies for our members. Thanks to the continued sunshine they received vine ripened tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and basil as well as beet greens, kale, onion, garlic, butternut squash(hip-hip-hooray!!!!), persimmons, arugula, lettuce and radishes. Oh, those are some yummy fall veggies. We love when the vegetables of summer and fall start to blend together, such great combinations. Our recipe for the day was a classic vegetable roast that included the butternut squash, tomatoes, peppers, kale, beet greens, garlic and onions.

Oct. 8 CSA Veggie Baskets

2009-10-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

Its really starting to cool down these days and we're starting to see a change in the vegetables. The cucumbers, summer squash and melons aren't ripening up like they used to and the basil is growing slower. Hopefully well still have these yummy summer veggies around just a little bit longer. Though when they start to die away we can get excited about more cabbage, broccoli ad lettuce! Today's baskets also had sweet and spicy peppers, all sorts of tomatoes, eggplants, tomatillos, and golden beets. Today we had a massive crew out helping to pick the vegetables. A huge thank you to the 16 Japaneses students who rode their bikes out from Davis to help with the harvest. They also helped to harvest extra basil that we will dry to be put in the baskets this winter and okra that was sold for whole sale.

Aug. 3 CSA Veggie Baskets

2009-08-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

Wow! some days our CSA members really get spoiled, but that's exactly what we're here to do. Our baskets today included a few different types of tomatoes, peppers and summer squash. There was also some tomatillos, onion, garlic, chard, golden beets, red potatoes, yellow crookneck summer squash and cucumbers.

July 2nd's CSA baskets and tomorrow's U-Pick

2009-07-02T16:06:00.001-07:00

Today our CSA baskets were bursting with summer!
They included apricots, plums, figs, tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, basil, garlic, onions, kale, beets, rutabaga and carrots. Wow they looked awesome! Right now we are just getting started with the summer bounty, but it looks awesome. Yeah -kale, beets, rutabaga and carrots are not what make most of us think of summer, but we're so excited to still have them around. We actually only mowed down the broccoli this morning -we thank it for a spectacular season -and we do still have a good amount of cabbage out in the field. So it might be summer, but those spring veggies are holding on strong.
To accompany that tomorrow we are hosting our second U-pick of the summer. U-Pickers will have the chance to gather apricots, figs, summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, basil and maybe a couple other goodies. Before we know it the eggplants and peppers will also be in full swing so we'll be full of those as well.

March 12th Baskets

2009-03-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

Your Baskets today:
kohlrabi
turnips
red cabbage
dried figs and apricots
spring onions
parsley
cilantro
dino kale
swiss chard
carrots
spinach
beets

Recipes

Marinated Beets with Parsley.The recipe calls for 8 medium-sized beets about 2 inches in diameter, 2 tablespoons walnut oil (you can substitute extra virgin olive oil), 3 small cloves of well minced garlic (or green garlic cloves and greens) 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fruit vinegar (or cider vinegar will be just fine), 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 cup packed coarsely minced fresh parsley. 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese , and extra sprigs of parsley for garnish. Cook the beets by baking them. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wrap the beets in aluminum foil. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until the beets are very tender. Rinse under cold running water, and rub off the skins. Slice the beets in half lengthwise, and then into very thin half-moons. Place them in a medium-sized bowl. Add all remaining ingredients (except the feta and the extra sprigs of parsley) and mix well. Cover tightly and refrigerate at least 12 hours (preferably 24 hours or more). If you think of it, stir the marinating beets intermittently during this time.4) Serve cold, topped with crumbled feta and small sprigs of fresh mint.

Chinese chicken salad: Start by whisking 3 tbs. hoisin sauce, 2 tbs. peanut butter, 2 tsp. brown sugar, 3/4 tsp. Asian chili paste, 1 tsp. grated ginger, 3 tbs. rice vinegar, and 1 tbs. sesame oil in a bowl; set the dressing aside. Next broil or grill 1 pound of skinless chicken breasts and let cool for about 10 minutes before slicing them thinly. In a large bowl, toss the cooked chicken, 4 cups shredded cabbage, 2 cups shredded carrots, 1 bunch of chopped green onions, and 1/4 cup chopped cilantro with the dressing. Garnish with slivered toasted almonds, shredded wonton wrappers (first baked on an oiled baking pan at 350º for 20 minutes), or crispy Asian noodles and enjoy!

March 5th: In your baskets this week

2009-03-05T10:47:00.000-08:00

scunions
carrots
sundried tomatoe
parsley
cilantro
kale raab
turnips
asparagus
cabbage
romanesco
kohlrabi

recipe:
Cream of Carrot Soup from Healing with Whole Foods

1 tablespoon sesame oil
6 tablespoons flour
5-6 cups hot broth
2 medium carrots, cut into wedges
Sea salt to taste
Parsley

-Cook flour in oil 3-5 minutes
-remove pan from heat and slowly ass broth, stirring constantly
-Add carrots and salt. Simmer until tender. Stir occassionally to prevent scorching
-Garnish with parsley
Serves Six

Directions to Farm

2009-02-27T17:56:00.000-08:00

Directions from Davis: Take Covell west out of town. Turn right (north) on County Road 95. There is a sign for Yolo County Airport just before turn. Continue North approximately 1.2 miles, then turn left at 24830 County Rd. 95. We are directly across from the Plainfield Fire Station.

What's in our baskets this week!

2009-02-27T16:50:00.000-08:00

2/26 Veggies
Lemon Grass ( Can also be dried, used to make tea and here's a link to
a yummy soup recipe
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Vietnamese-Style-Vegetarian-Curry-Soup/Detail.aspx
oregano
daikon
dried fruit
scunions (young spring onions, grown from old onions that have sprouted)
garlic
kohlrabi
broccoli
carrots
cabbage
parsley
cilantro
kale

The "ins and outs" of Full Circle Farm's CSA

2009-02-17T12:02:00.000-08:00

Hello, there! Here is all you need to know about how the CSA works. We've tried to take into consideration how this is for you as well as how it has to work for us and think we've got it just about down:) Thanks for being flexible and understanding and supporting us!

Contact Info
Full Circle Farm
24830 County Rd. 95
Davis, CA 95616

Farm land line: 530.758.1641

Farm email: fullcircledavis@gmail.com

WHAT?
If you're interested in fresh, seasonal, organic veggies for only $20/week! Our baskets are for 2 or more people and are great for sharing. We also are offering free-range, omega-3, fertilized eggs for members! $2 for 1/2 dozen in your basket every week!

Payment
Make checks out to: Full Circle Farm. You can pay for one month or more at a time. You can join any time, it doesn't have to be the beginning of the month.
One month is $80, One month with eggs is $88
Two months is $160, Two months with eggs is $176
Three months is $240, Three months with eggs is $264

We need your payment at least 3 days before you'd like to pick-up your first basket. A check is the only way we can confirm your basket. Sending us an email telling us a check is in the mail is helpful too:)

If you'd like to get a basket every other week we can do that too. Just make the check out for $40, with what weeks you'd like to receive a basket. You can write this on the check or in a note. If you'd like to skip a week because you'll be out of town let us know at least 5 days in advance! We'll give you credit towards another week. If you can't get to the pick-up site or are away on vacation you might try letting a friend pick it up to try it out too.

Email reminders
We send out an email every week to remind you your basket is ready to pick-up. Please read these email! We do all of our communicating through emails and we include new offers and other important stuff in these. Like a weekly recipe suggestion as well as a list of every item in your basket.

When Do I pick-up my basket?
CSA baskets will be dropped-off Mondays and Thursdays between 1pm and 2pm. When you commit to the baskets you commit to one of these days. Hopefully we can accommodate you with the day of your choosing. We are still a small operation and have to limit how many baskets we harvest to ensure a balanced harvest and optimum production. We may only have one of these days available at times, but if you are interested in changing days just shoot us an email or call and we'll try to accommodate you.

WHERE?
The location of the basket pick-up site is on UCD Campus and it's easy to get to and with a free parking spot! It is in the backyard of Agrarian Effort Co-op, apart of the Tri-Co-ops, under the solar panels. It is a large house where a few of our friends live. Everyone in the house is aware of people picking up baskets and will help you find them too. The house is located on Regan Hall Circle off of California Ave., which runs west off of Russell. Here is a map: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=15+regan+hall+circle,+davis,+ca&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.28862,47.460937&ie=UTF8&cd=1&ll=38.546487,-121.754694&spn=0.007535,0.011587&z=16&output=html&zoom=2

After you turn onto California Regan Hall Circle will be on your right. Do not take the first right take the second, both are marked as Regan Hall Circle (because it loops around). You will go down a block or so and there is a driveway on the left that has a hand painted sign near it and a citrus tree. there will be two houses to the right of the drive way and large, one level, dark red buildings to the left of the driveway.
You can safely park your car here. Walk along the path way between the two houses. You will be heading towards "AG Effort" house which is a little off to the left. There is a tree swing in Ag efforts yard and gardens in the front. Head towards the back of the house and look under the large solar panels for the baskets.

Drop- Off/Pick-up Time
We drop off the baskets before 1:30pm and you can pick-up any time after that. The sooner the better to ensure high quality. Especially in the warmer months! Please pick-up at a decent hour, IE: not 1am! Thanks!

Bag your Basket!
Please bring reusable bags to bring your veggies home in. The wooden baskets stay at the pick-up site! Thanks for your cooperation.

What happens if I forget my basket?
If a basket isn't picked up after 24 hours it is donated to the Agrarian Effort Co-op. We cannot give you a refund or another basket, sorry!

Recipes

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What to do with all of those turnips? Used up all your fennel recipes? Here is an awesome recipe packet that Catherine compiled from people at the UCD Student Farm. Just click on the link to browse the alphabetized veggie recipes!

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfnz2n65_4cvpzfg4z

We also include recipes from this packet in our weekly emails to our CSA members. So here is an archive of the recipes for our members.

Welcome!

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Welcome to our blog! We hope this will allow us to share more information about our CSA subscription and get to know others in our community, online and locally. We are a small organic farm in Davis, CA. We're on 40 acres, about 6 acres of veggies, orchard, animals and the rest is being used by a farmer friend to grow oats. There are 7 adults and one beautiful baby, 8 cats, two goats, one ox in-training, and 50 chickens of many varieties. We are not yet organic certified but follow closely to the regulations and hope to be certified at some point in the near future.

What is a CSA?

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CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. In other English speaking countries it is called a "box scheme", and it all started in Japan in the 60's where it was called "teikei," which means "food with the farmers face on it." It is a way for communities to directly support their local small farms by purchasing baskets of produce on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis . The farm puts together a box of seasonal produce, sometimes including eggs, dairy, and meat that are grown and raised on their land for their subscribers. There is little to no loss in this approach because farmers know what and how much to grow, and if one crop fails it doesn't mean a huge financial loss, just that the subscribers will not get that particular item. It also frees up man hours, allowing the farmer to focus on care of soil, workers, and animals.