By Alyssa
Last night, driving home in the dark, I saw a badger in the driveway! At first, I thought it was an opossum because of its shape and size, but as it turned toward my headlights I saw its squat little face and its black-and-white striped snout. It seemed to be having a conversation over dinner with a large owl, who flew away as I approached. I was on the phone with a friend, and they started laughing at me because I was so excited. I have lived and worked in several places where badger signs are present. But I had never seen a badger! They are nocturnal and live underground, so it is far more common to see signs of their lives than it is to see the animals themselves.
This time of year, when we are tilling and planting and rushing to fill the fields, it is especially easy for me to get laser-focused on the goings-on of the farm. My attention is on the fields and the lives being lived in those spaces. But there are so many other lives being lived here, in all those nooks of the farm to which my daily labors never bring me: in the grasslands; in the groves of eucalyptus; in the ponds, the creeks, the ditches. Like the little wild mint that grows in the drainage ditches here that smells like my childhood – it grew in the creek and the old road behind my grandparents’ house where we would look for tadpoles after school.
The last time I was up at the pond, there were strings of frog eggs floating in the shallows. As they hatch into tadpoles and become frogs, they may never know I exist. They may live out all the dramas of their lives right there on the muddy shore without ever knowing what we do in the fields below. But the way we do our work here matters. The choices that Seth and Sarah have made throughout the years to work with the land rather than against it – to work without pesticides, to practice rotational grazing, to maintain biodiversity in the fields, to restore the watershed that flows out by the tunnels... All those choices and more are what hold the space for all those other lives, all those other worlds. Our work, our stewardship of this land, feeds far more than just you and me. I may never cross paths with all of our neighbors, but when I do, I hold those meetings close to my heart.
Upcoming Event: Farm Potluck Friday May 5/30 at 6:00 pm
Open Field Farm 2025 | The "ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW" guide for members
CSA Barn Hours:
Summer hours: 2:30-6:30 pm!
Pick List:
Eggs
Cabernet Red and Cortland Yellow Onions
Fresh garlic
Fava Beans
Scallions
Kale
Lettuce Mix Tuesday, Spinach Friday
Parsley
Ground and Whole Dried Hot Peppers
Herbal Tea Blends
Pick your own flowers and herbs (from the herb garden and perennial field)
Sonora Wheat Flour
Beef Bone Broth (Made by Olla Products)
Saltonstahl Olive Oil
Revolution Bread for sale on Tuesday and Friday
We also have new items for sale in the barn!
Open Field Farm youth t-shirts, adult sweatshirts, and tote bags with a new log designed by Cici. We love them and hope you do too. We are also open to suggestions about other items: adult tees, hats, and more.
Plus we have gorgeous naturally tanned sheepskins!
Fava beans and greens with ground lamb and onions
I love fava beans in the spring. They come when we have little other food, and they are so verdant and delicious. While laborious, the shelling of them can either be a lovely meditative solo task, or a festive communal effort. This weekend, my friend did the fava bean labor while I cooked the rest of the meal. I stir fried some blanched and shelled favas with whatever greens I had on hand, a lot of garlic, and a lot of mint and parsley. I served that over rice with ground lamb that I had cooked with a massive onion, some sumac, and my favorite spice blend to use with our meats, Sonoma Spice Queen’s Ethiopian berbere blend. It is a splurgey spice, but worth it! I love it with both our lamb and our beef. Some more herbs to garnish, and some toasted pine nuts, too.