StrawberriesPhontoTomatoesMaudeUmaSunflowerPeppersA&ZCherry TomatoesApplesPippin Cabbage LeafPotatoes FloweringApplesRed Sunflowers3 GenerationsChicoryCrimson CloverMaude FaceshotTeam in BroccoliRadicchioRomanescoArtichoke FlowerStrawberry in HandZinniasZ Harvest Basket3 GenerationsJos Tree DannyBeetsRoberto LacinatoBrusselsGreensCleo Red PepperRomaineFavas3 AbreastCaneberriesChardBasketsKids on MaudeRhubarbFarmstandGiant PumpkinsJules Asian PearShiroZ CauliCarrotsBouquetKids TransplantingJack and Lily Cover Crop GerminatingGraffiti

Interested in our 2026 CSA?

Thanks for your interest! Sign-ups for the 2026 Season (28 weeks from June-December) will begin in February/March.

 

If you're interested in joining the CSA, please add your name to our WAITING LIST so we can contact you when sign-ups begin.

 

If you have SNAP (an Oregon Trail card), you're eligible for Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB), which will pay for half of your Valley Flora CSA share! 

 

Newsletter: 

Valley Flora - Growing Good Food for Local Folks

Founded in 1998 with a deep commitment to ecological and organic farming practices, Valley Flora is a mother-and-two-daughter collective nestled on the banks of Floras Creek near Langlois, Oregon. Together with the help of our draft horses, a handful of fantastic employees, one little tractor, trillions of soil microorganisms, thousands of pollinators, and 12 kilowatts of solar power, we grow hundreds of varieties of organic vegetables, berries and fruit to feed our rural, coastal community year-round. We rely on crop diversity, compost, cover crops, and crop rotation to keep our farm healthy and thriving both above and below ground, and our love of the Floras Creek valley – the fertile loam and the river that runs through it - inspires us to farm with the next generation in mind, and the next.

For the past fifteen years we've been committed to strengthening our community-based food system on the remote southern Oregon coast and improving access to fresh fruits and vegetables for local families. We partner with a statewide organization to access Double Up Food Bucks for our CSA members who have SNAP benefits, we accept Farm Direct coupons at our farmstand, and we make weekly deliveries of fresh produce to local foodbanks and community fridges. We also operate a small foodhub, collaborating with a number of other local farmers, ranchers, bakers and wildcrafters to bring the best of the Southcoast to our customers, and to supply our 140-member CSA, farmstand, local foodbanks, and a number of stores, restaurants and co-ops up and down the coast. 

THANK YOU for Speaking Up! One More Day to Submit Testimony on HB 4153!

Since Wednesday's action alert about the "Farm Store" bill I've been keeping tabs on the testimony submitted for HB 4153. Our little community might be small, but dang if it ain't MIGHTY!

Over 62% of the testimony submitted so far is in opposition to the bill with close to 1000 testimonies submitted from around the state. That's a lot of Oregonians voicing their opinion, but most strikingly a very large percentage of those testimonies have come from the Southcoast: Gold Beach, Port Orford, Langlois, Bandon, Coos Bay, Coquille. Our peeps!

Thank you so much for springing into action - swiftly and in amazing numbers - to oppose this bill! It's making a difference in Salem. 

So much so that our state Senator and co-sponsor of the bill, David Brock Smith, called me yesterday in hopes of changing my mind about HB 4153 (and yours as well). But the more I've learned about HB 4153 - and I've been doing some homework the past couple days :) - the more this is clear: while the bill is sure to benefit some large-scale agritourism operations who want to expand their music venue or sell more donuts, it will simultaneously kill most of our local, family-run farmstands - Crooked Creek, Wildwoods Gypsy, Hartnell Haven and others up and down the coast who are feeding our community and making life here on the Southcoast more awesome. It could also inadvertently drive up the price of farmland as big parcels are purchased for lucrative agritourism enterprises rather than the agricultural production of food, fiber and forage.

Senator Brock Smith insisted to me that this bill would actually help Valley Flora because we are just big enough to meet the acreage/sales requirements specified in the bill. But the fact is, it'd be at the expense of our farming friends and neighbors and that's simply not OK. We're in this to build a strong food system on the Southcoast - to grow real food for real families  - and we're driven by a set of core values: to tend the land and feed our community with care, and to make the world a healthier, more connected, resilient, just and vibrant place. The more of us who share that ethos - farmers and eaters alike - the more the vision becomes real. We're stronger together.

So no, Senator Smith, I do not want to benefit from a bill that will put other small farmers out of business. And no, Senator Smith, I do not support a bill that will undermine the visionary land use laws that have protected and supported Oregon agriculture for over 50 years. HB 4153 is not the answer.

If you have not submitted testimony yet, we have until 1 pm TOMORROW (Friday, February 6th) to do so. Also please consider reaching out to Senator David Brock Smith directly to share your thoughts about his bill: Sen.DavidBrockSmith@oregonlegislature.gov

They're listening in Salem right now, so thanks to everyone for speaking up!

 

Once again, here's a template and instructions for submitting testimony:

Testimony Information for HB 4153

HB 4153 is not good for small farms - speak up to demand a better solution for Oregon’s farm stands. This bill contains a provision that states that a parcel zoned EFU (exclusive farm use) for Farm and Forest use cannot have a farmstand unless:

  • The parcel is 80 acres or more and has at least 45 acres in production
  • The parcel is 40-79.99 acres and has at least 25 acres in production
  • The parcel is 20-39.99 acres and has at least 15 acres in production
  • Is less than 20 acres and either
    • Has at least 10 acres in production, or
    • Has cumulative gross sales of at least 
      • $40,000 (in the current text) or 
      • $10,000 (in the proposed amendments -1, and -2) from farm products in the last 2 years.

This would close existing farm stands who are following the law right now but are too small to meet these requirements. This bill replaces all current language around farmstands implying that folks with an honor system stand at the end of their driveway supplied with garden overflow (zucchinis in August, a couple pints of berries, or a sign saying eggs $6!) would be outlawed by this approach. Why are we giving more privileges to large land owners and telling small operations that they are not allowed to have a farmstand?

Limiting who is allowed to participate in farm stands/stores because of their size is counter to the spirit of community food systems. Why are we penalizing small farmers for not being able to afford more land, being early on in their farm business journey, or telling folks that they aren’t allowed to gather the community at their farm because they are small?

Join us to oppose HB 4153 and demand a more inclusive solution. Oregon communities love their small, homegrown farmstands and we don’t want to sacrifice them for the ability of a few larger land owners to host more events. A solution for Oregon’s farm stands should uplift us all.

Testimony Instructions - DEADLINE 2/6/26 @ 1PM

Here is how you submit written testimony:

  • Go to this link
  • Select HB 4153
  • Enter your information
  • Select OPPOSE on the position on this measure
  • Feel free to use the template below to write up your statement. You can either copy and paste it into the text box, or make a copy and download it as a PDF to submit.

PLEASE CUSTOMIZE THIS TEMPLATE IN THE FIELDS MARKED IN YELLOW! Testimony that includes your personal story is much more effective than a boiler plate statement. Tell these legislators how you feel!

*************************************************************************************************************

Co-Chairs Helm and Owens, Vice-Chair Finger McDonald, and members of the House Committee on Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water:

My Name is NAME and I am a FARMER/RANCHER/COMMUNITY MEMBER/FARM STAND OPERATOR in TOWN. I am writing to you today to express my opposition to HB 4153. Farm stands are a vital part of connecting the public with our food system and building an understanding of what it takes to go from field to fork. But HB 4153 would restrict who is allowed to have a farm stand, replace current definitions with Farm Stores, and give large land owners privileges at the expense of small farm stands in Oregon. We need to find a better solution.

I care about this because.....

Consider answering some of these questions or using these statements as a jumping off point in your testimony:

I operate or frequently go to a farm stand that would not meet the acreage requirements in section 2.2 of the bill.

Small farms need to have the same opportunities to sell their produce as larger farms.

Why is small farming important to you? What is the value of small operations in your community?

Why should large acreage farmers gain privileges at the expense of smaller acre farmers?

Why should a small farm be any less legitimate than a large farm when it comes to defining farm use?

What do farm stands do for your farm business or community?

What does it mean for you, your farm and your community if the primary purpose of a farm stand becomes agritourism events, not the sale of farm products?

We are asking you to not place a higher burden on the smallest farms. This bill takes away opportunities from small land holders and farms in order for larger operations to be able to host more events. This is not a good bargain for Oregon and a better deal must be found.

 

Thank you,

NAME

ADDRESS

Newsletter: 

Action Alert! Save our Local Farmstands!

Do you love coming up Floras Creek to pick strawberries in the summer and get veggies from the Valley Flora Farmstand? Do you look forward to fresh bagels, organic produce and eggs from Hartnell Haven Farm each week? Do you rely on Wildwood Gypsy's raw milk, baked goods, and fresh produce? 

We love these thriving little hubs of our local food system - and we know many of you do, too - but they are suddenly under threat by a new bill (HB 4153) being considered by the Oregon legislature. The bill would limit who can operate a farmstand based on acreage and sales, essentially elbowing out small scale farms and producers like us. It's a very bad bill for small family farmers, local eaters, and our community food system as a whole. 

There is a hearing for this bill TOMORROW, February 4, at 1 pm in Salem. We need as many people as possible to submit testimony AGAINST this bill and hopefully stop it in its tracks. Testimony can be submitted up until Friday, February 6th at 1 pm.

We've included some additional background from Friends of Family Farmers (FOFF), below, plus a template for submitting testimony.

Please take action to protect our local farmstands and voice your support for small-scale, local family farming! 

 

Testimony Information for HB 4153 Hearing on 2/4/26

HB 4153 is not good for small farms - speak up to demand a better solution for Oregon’s farm stands.

This bill contains a provision that states that a parcel zoned EFU (exclusive farm use) for Farm and Forest use cannot have a farmstand unless:

  • The parcel is 80 acres or more and has at least 45 acres in production
  • The parcel is 40-79.99 acres and has at least 25 acres in production
  • The parcel is 20-39.99 acres and has at least 15 acres in production
  • Is less than 20 acres and either
    • Has at least 10 acres in production, or
    • Has cumulative gross sales of at least 
      • $40,000 (in the current text) or 
      • $10,000 (in the proposed amendments -1, and -2) from farm products in the last 2 years.

This would close existing farm stands who are following the law right now but are too small to meet these requirements. This bill replaces all current language around farmstands implying that folks with an honor system stand at the end of their driveway supplied with garden overflow (zucchinis in August, a couple pints of berries, or a sign saying eggs $6!) would be outlawed by this approach. Why are we giving more privileges to large land owners and telling small operations that they are not allowed to have a farmstand?

There is more to this proposed bill and you can read FOFF's whole position here. We want to find solutions for farmers to diversify their income but this bill is a step backwards. Limiting who is allowed to participate in farm stands/stores because of their size is counter to the spirit of community food systems. Why are we penalizing small farmers for not being able to afford more land, being early on in their farm business journey, or telling folks that they aren’t allowed to gather the community at their farm because they are small?

Join us to oppose HB 4153 and demand a more inclusive solution. Oregon communities love their small, homegrown farmstands and we don’t want to sacrifice them for the ability of a few larger land owners to host more events. A solution for Oregon’s farm stands should uplift us all.

 

Testimony Instructions - DEADLINE 2/6/26 @ 1PM

We have a chance to raise our voice and demand a better solution. There is a hearing for this proposal on 2/4/26 in the Oregon State House Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water. You can submit written testimony up to 48 hours after the hearing. We want to make sure that the members of this committee hear from small farms and community members who would lose access to beloved farm stands or be excluded by this bill.

Here is how you submit written testimony:

  1. Go to this link
  2. Select HB 4153
  3. Enter your information
  4. Select OPPOSE on the position on this measure

Use the template below to write up your statement. You can either copy and paste it into the text box, or make a copy and download it as a PDF to submit.

PLEASE CUSTOMIZE THIS TEMPLATE IN THE FIELDS MARKED IN YELLOW! Testimony that includes your personal story is much more effective than a boiler plate statement. Tell these legislators how you feel!

*************************************************************************************************************

Co-Chairs Helm and Owens, Vice-Chair Finger McDonald, and members of the House Committee on Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water:

My Name is NAME and I am a FARMER/RANCHER/COMMUNITY MEMBER/FARM STAND OPERATOR in TOWN. I am writing to you today to express my opposition to HB 4153. Farm stands are a vital part of connecting the public with our food system and building an understanding of what it takes to go from field to fork. But HB 4153 would restrict who is allowed to have a farm stand, replace current definitions with Farm Stores, and give large land owners privileges at the expense of small farm stands in Oregon. We need to find a better solution.

I care about this because

Consider answering some of these questions or using these statements as a jumping off point in your testimony:

  • I operate or frequently go to a farm stand that would not meet the acreage requirements in section 2.2 of the bill.
  • Small farms need to have the same opportunities to sell their produce as larger farms.
  • Why is small farming important to you? What is the value of small operations in your community?
  • Why should large acreage farmers gain privileges at the expense of smaller acre farmers?
  • Why should a small farm be any less legitimate than a large farm when it comes to defining farm use?
  • What do farm stands do for your farm business or community?
  • What does it mean for you, your farm and your community if the primary purpose of a farm stand becomes agritourism events, not the sale of farm products?

We are asking you to not place a higher burden on the smallest farms. This bill takes away opportunities from small land holders and farms in order for larger operations to be able to host more events. This is not a good bargain for Oregon and a better deal must be found.

 

Thank you,

NAME

ADDRESS

 

Newsletter: 

Our Winter CSA is Underway!

This is Week 2 of Winter and We Be Grubbin' Some Salad!

  • Winter Lettuce Mix
  • Radish Microgreens
  • Celery
  • Yellow Potatoes
  • Radicchio (really pretty chopped up, soaked in cold water, spun dry and combined with the lettuce mix for a festive salad)
  • Carrots
  • Leeks
  • Autumn Frost Winter Squash
  • Red Beets
  • Purple Daikon

Apologies for the late send on the newsletter today - it's that time of year when I'm juggling a million things on my desk at once: crop planning, seed orders, farm crew applicant interviews, improvement projects, taxes, and oh so much more! I might be making better progress at my desk were it not for all the SUNSHINE. Sheesh! What we really need is for it to pour rain for a few weeks so I can get the 2026 crop plan done and the summer CSA sign-ups launched, but instead it's been a fair-weather hustle in the field while the skies are blue: a big harvest for CSA and our wholesale customers this week, seeding in the greenhouses, mowing, prepping and planting early spring cover crops, pruning.... ("boredom" was not a word invented for farmers).

Goal Numero Uno is to get priority CSA sign-ups launched early next week for our returning members, SO: if you were a 2025 CSA member, keep your eyes peeled for a direct email from us early next week with sign-up info for the upcoming 2026 Summer season!

Goal Numero Dos is to find a great new member of the VF team for the upcoming season. To that end, we are HIRING! Valley Flora serves as a Host Farm for the Oregon Farm Corps Apprenticeship program and we typically bring on one new Apprentice each season, towards the greater goal of traning and equipping a next generation of regenerative farmers. Oregon Farm Corps (OFC) is a phenomenal organization and so far we have been graced by three fantastic Apprentices over the years (one of whom, Jen Nelson, is still with us - how lucky are we!?!). If you or anyone you know would be interested in the program, OFC is currently accepting applications. You can also apply to work with Valley Flora without going through OFC: please read the job description then email us: 1) a cover letter describing why you would like to work at Valley Flora, 2) your resume, and 3) three professional references. 

And meanwhile, serve yourself up some of that winter "face-slapping" salad (Abby, the queen of perfect baby greens, likes to make fun of our wild winter lettuce mix - which, for the record, she had no part in creating. It is defnitively NOT Abby's Greens, but hey: salad beggars can't be chosers in January).

 

Newsletter: 

The LAST WEEK from Valley Flora!

In the Final CSA Share:

  • Celeriac
  • Red & Gold Beets
  • Purple Brussels Sprouts
  • Shallots
  • Carrots
  • Red Potatoes
  • Tetsukabuto Winter Squash
  • Chioggia Radicchio

This is it! The last haul for 2025! Thank you all so much for your support of the farm, and for being part of our CSA family this year! It is truly a joy getting to spend our days growing food for you!

We want to know what you thought of the season, so please fill out our CSA Member Survey and share your feedback. Your input will help us feed you even better next season!

The other thing you can do online right now is help ensure that everyone in our community has access to a CSA share, regardless of income.

As many of you know, Valley Flora offers a SNAP CSA option that allows low-income families to sign up for our CSA with SNAP and leverage Double Up Food Bucks to cover half the cost of their share. It’s an amazing program that makes VF produce more accessible to everyone in our community, no matter what their financial circumstances are. This program is made possible through our partnership with the Pacific Northwest CSA Coalition (PNWCSA), which processes SNAP payments and secures Double Up Food Bucks for our members.

Unfortunately, PNWCSA funding for 2026 is in jeopardy. In the past, they’ve mainly been funded by USDA grants, but as you can imagine, those have all evaporated. They are currently running a fundraising campaign through the end of the year: Nourish families. Support farmers. Strengthen communities.

We launched a fundraising page for PNWCSA last week and in a few short days our incredible community has raised $2,675 towards their total goal of $15,000!!! Not only that, the VF community has already surpassed our $2500 fundraising goal AND we are currently PNWCSA's number one fundraiser for their campaign! I was blown away when I saw that today. It brings tears to my eyes that our little rural community can rally with such gusto around things that make a huge and beautiful difference in people's lives. THANK YOU!

If you haven't donated yet, there's still time and there's still need (PNWCSA is about $5000 towards their $15,000 goal): Please consider making a donation to help this incredible non-profit continue their critical work throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Without PNWCSA, the SNAP CSA program wouldn’t exist in our remote corner of the Oregon and dozens of low-income families wouldn’t have access to farm-fresh produce. PNWCSA makes our food system on the Southcoast more equitable, more accessible and more awesome! Please support them during this time of need so we can keep our entire community well-fed. 

Finally, for the data junkies among us, here's the annual snapshot of the CSA share value over the past 28 weeks. We officially hit the $1000 value mark at Thanksgiving, so the last two weeks of food have been "bonus."  Our CSA members are the heart and soul of this farm, and in our world food is love, so we hope you feel EXTRA loved!

Thank you all for the support, and to those of you who are joining us for the Winter, we'll see you in January! If you're looking forward to signing up for our 2026 season, we'll be reaching out to all 2025 members in late January with priority sign-up info. In the meantime, enjoy cozy season!

 

Newsletter: 

Call to Action: Please Support Healthy Food Access for Low Income Families!

As many of you know, Valley Flora offers a SNAP CSA option that allows low-income families to sign up for our CSA with SNAP and leverage Double Up Food Bucks to cover half the cost of their share. It’s an amazing program that makes VF produce more accessible to everyone in our community, no matter what their financial circumstances are. This program is made possible through our partnership with the Pacific Northwest CSA Coalition (PNWCSA), which processes SNAP payments and secures Double Up Food Bucks for our members.

Unfortunately, PNWCSA funding for 2026 is in jeopardy. In the past, they’ve mainly been funded by USDA grants, but as you can imagine, those have all evaporated. They are currently running a fundraising campaign through the end of the year: Nourish families. Support farmers. Strengthen communities.

Please consider making a donation to help this incredible non-profit continue their critical work throughout the state by visiting our PNWCSA fundraising page here.

Without PNWCSA, the SNAP CSA program wouldn’t exist in our remote corner of the state and dozens of low-income families wouldn’t have access to farm-fresh produce. PNWCSA makes our food system on the Southcoast more equitable, more accessible and more awesome! Please support them during this time of need so we can keep our entire community well-fed. 

Thank you, and we hope you're enjoying those 10 pound cabbages this week!

 

Newsletter: 

Week 27 from Valley Flora!

In this week's penultimate share:

  • Lacinato Kale
  • Carrots
  • Purple Daikon Radish
  • Butternut Squash
  • Curly Parsley
  • Leeks
  • Red Cabbage
  • Radicchio - Rosalba or Costarossa

We're back after a yummy week of food and fun times with family and friends. Highlights included taking our Chicago family to experience the Redwoods for the first time ("WHOA," said the 10-year olds as they craned their necks skyward), going for a run up Elk River and seeing a bunch of spawning salmon (always magical), hiking Humbug (party of 18, ages 6 to 75), plenty of walks & runs in our beautiful backyard (Floras Lake, Port Orford Heads, Cape Arago), and a morning of riding horses and meeting baby lambs at the farm. So grateful to have had that time together, especially as some of our elders get older.

It's great to be back in the field this week, particularly because we are harvesting Rosalba, my all-time favorite radicchio. It's as pink as one of Glinda's gowns (yes, we also saw Wicked 2 last week). You won't find this one in a grocery store, since it's such a specialty variety. So special that even my cousins in San Francisco who are radicchio devotees can't find it at their local farmers markets (instead, they fill their cooler with it every Thanksgiving when they visit so they can enjoy Valley Flora Rosalba from now until the new year). As far as radicchios go, Rosalba is a little high maintenance (also not unlike Glinda): it needs cold weather to turn pink, it's a little finnicky in wet weather, and it likes to head up in all kinds of unique ways (which means it's not very uniform but is still stunnifying, if I may borrow - or invent - a Glinda-ism). For all those reasons, we might end up short on it this week and if we do it's possible you'll see another new variety in your tote instead, Costarossa. This one comes in shocking pink: a beautiful foot-ball shaped head with vibrant magenta ribs and fuschia leaves. I've been delighting in this trial variety this Fall and hope to grow a little more of it next year to share with the world. This is the radicchio variety that my other cousin - who lives in NYC - stashed in her suitcase for the flight home, and thus the Valley Flora radicchio diaspora spans coast to coast...).

Both Rosalba and Costarossa make a stunning bowl of winter salad (remember to ribbon it up and soak it beforehand if you don't like the bitter flavor).

We'll be bringing you your final two CSA deliveries for the 2025 season this week and next week on our regular Wednesday/Saturday schedule. Mark your calendar!

  • Last delivery for Coos Bay and Farm members will be Wednesday, December 10th
  • Last delivery to Bandon and Port Orford on Saturday, December 13th

Enjoy the last bit of the season!

P.S. If you are one of the people who receives a 10.5 lb red cabbage this week, we sincerely apologize. We fully acknowledge that this could be overwhelming, or create space issues in your refrigerator, or throw your back out while you try to heft your vegetables home. We are pretty sure this is flood effect: all that new sediment from the March "disaster," transformed into four times more cabbage than usual. :) 

Newsletter: 

Week 25 from Valley Flora!

In this week's "Thanksgiving" share:

  • Brussels sprouts
  • Parsnips
  • Carrots
  • Shallots
  • Celery
  • Yellow Potatoes
  • Treviso Radicchio
  • Autumn Frost Winter Squash
  • Aromatic Herbs - Rosemary and Bay Leaves

Hello everyone, and happy early THANKSGIVING! As a reminder, the farm will be closed next week and there will be no CSA delivery to any of our pickup sites on 11/26 or 11/29. The farmstand will also be closed next week. We hope you all have a wonderful and delicious Thanksgiving while we take a little break from the heavy lifting and muddy root washing!

The good news is, you're getting an abundant share this week with all kinds of things that will hold for a week (or more) if you want to save them for you TG feast: potatoes for mashing, parsnips and squash for roasting or pureeing, shallots for gravy-ing, Brussels sprouts for shaving or steaming or searing, celery for stuffing, and aromatics for infusing.

(There are so many culinary verbs for this most wonderful of holidays!)

Par for the Thanksgiving course - because it's a staple on our holiday menu, and because some folks have no idea what to do with parsnips - I have to share the legendary recipe for Roasted Winter Squash and Parsnips with Maple Syrup Glaze and Marcona Almonds. Parsnips are usually the ugliest crop we grow, but they are ever-so-slightly less ugly this year, thanks to a new variety we trialed called "Panorama." A little whiter, a little less cankered, a little nicer in shape, but still totally in need of a good veggie peeler :). Please forgive and know that the beauty of this vegetable lies beneath the skin.

Another parsnip recipe that's popular among our crew - a "must-bake" every year when we start yarding them out of the mud - is the Parsnip, Date and Hazlenut Loaf with Meyers Lemon Glaze, courtesy of Joshua McFadden's Six Seasons Cookbook.

After such a warm Fall, I was delighted to find real frost on the windshield this morning, which will trigger our Brussels sprouts - and all other Brassicas - to sweeten up. It'll also turn our flouncy, gorgeous Rosalba radicchio a deeper shade of pink. For that aesthetic reason alone I decided to hold off on harvesting it this week (normally we harvest it for your Thanksgiving share). We're sending you a heavy head of Treviso instead and you'll get Rosalba the first week of December, at which point she will hopefully be pinker than Pepto-Bismol! You might give this very seasonal treviso recipe a try: Radicchio and Roasted Delicata Salad. It calls for Delicata squash but if you don't have any left from last week then a peeled Autumn Frost, which is the specialty butternut variety you're getting this week, would be just as good - or better. 

(If you still need convincing about radicchio, maybe you'd be willing to listen to what Martha Stewart has to say about it? She learned to love it in prison, where they served it for every meal.*)

Enjoy the food - and all the dark evening hours we have to cook it these days!

Also don't forget: there are still two more weeks of the CSA season after Thanksgiving. Confusing, I know, but we'll be back with more food for you the week of December 1st. There's still lots of goodness to come before we call it a wrap. In the meantime, all our gratitude!

 

*just kidding

Newsletter: 

Week 24 from Valley Flora!

In this week's CSA share:

  • Fennel - fat and juicy, as good as it gets!
  • Celeriac - featured Fall item this week! We turn to the Brits for inspiration in this creative and totally vegetarian twist on a burger: Celeriac Steak Burgers with Fennel Slaw
  • Red Potatoes
  • Head Lettuce
  • Collard Greens
  • Red Beets
  • Carrots
  • Leeks
  • Delicata Squash

On Rotation:

  • Cauliflower

Winter CSA Sign-Ups are Live - Priority Sign-up for Current CSA Members Ends Saturday 11/15!

If you're a current CSA member and want to sign up for our Winter CSA, now's your moment! You should have received a couple direct emails from us with a link to sign up. If you are currently a member and did not get an email, reach out so we can send you the link!

Our priority sign-up window ends this Saturday, November 15th, at which point we will offer any remaining Winter Shares to our farmstand customers and the general public.

Keep in mind we offer half as many CSA shares in the winter, so space is limited. We give our current CSA members first dibs on Winter Shares - so don’t delay, reserve your Winter Share today!

(Sidenote: our farmstand is closed from January to May and we scale back our deliveries to stores and co-ops, so the Winter CSA is the best way to get the full and freshest diversity of Valley Flora produce through the winter months).

Reminder: No CSA Deliveries the Week of Thanksgiving!

Mark you calendar, there will be no CSA delivery on Wednesday, November 26th or Saturday, November 29th. The farm crew will be on Thanksgiving break. Regular CSA deliveries will resume the week of December 1st.

Farm Photo of the Week

I've never seen a praying mantis in the act of creating her egg sac, but this Sunday while gathering apples for cider pressing the kids discovered this one high up on a south-facing fencepost:

I LOVE encountering praying mantises on the farm, both because they're the most regal of insect creatures and because they're wonderful allies as beneficial predators of other pests. We find their spray-foamy egg cases all over the farm in the fall and winter, but seeing one being laid inspired me to look it up on Ask Extension:

"The adult female mantis lays her massive egg case, known as an ootheca, on twigs, stems, rocks, or even the sides of buildings or fence posts. Ootheca comes from the Greek word "oo," meaning egg and the Latin word, "theca," meaning a cover or container.

For the female, the location requires only that it will hold her body weight and is somewhat vertical.

After laying, the ootheca quickly hardens in preparation for a winter slumber, and the mother will die shortly after. These egg cases, which we tend to find in fall and winter, are light brown, about 1.5 inches wide and look like foam insulation. Within each foam-like ootheca are dozens or hundreds mantis eggs that can survive the perils of winter because of their foamy insulation.

If they must be removed from a wall, transfer them to a sheltered place. Never put an egg case on the ground; the eggs inside will be consumed by ants.

When springlike temperatures greet us, we can expect some 100 to 200 praying mantids to hatch or emerge from each egg case, starting their journey to find insects, which may include their brothers and sisters. Most of the mantises that hatch from an egg case will die from starvation or cannibalism. They are territorial and by the end of the summer, usually, only one adult remains."

With those kind of survival odds, makes me appreciate every mantis even more! Also makes me kinda glad not to be one :)

Newsletter: 

Week 23 from Valley Flora!

In the CSA Share this Week:

  • Italian Parsley
  • Carrots
  • Winter Crisp Lettuce
  • Red Onions
  • Sweet Peppers - this is probably the end of 'em for the season (tear rolls slowly down cheek)
  • Winter Kohlrabi - the biggest and the sweetest kohlrabi we grow!
  • Butternut Squash - it's a great week for a pot of soup
  • Purple Mini Daikon Radish
    • This is my favorite radish of the year. Peel them if you want less spice cuz the heart is all sweet, crrriiiispy, juicy goodness. Beautiful sliced crosswise across the girth - a pretty purple starburst awaits inside!
  • Marinanta Radicchio
    • The first radicchio of the season, with three more varieties on deck in the coming weeks. This is a specialty variegated type that I refer to as the "iceberg of radicchio." I always do a little radicchio coaching for our CSA members when the season begins because lots of people have never eaten it and some people are put off by any trace of bitterness in vegetables. Radicchio is bitter to varying degrees, depending on the variety. Some people love that, but if you are averse there is an easy fix: just cut up your radiccio into ribbons or salad-size pieces, soak it in cold water for 10 minutes, and then spin it dry. That'll take all the bitterness out, leaving you with beautiful, colorful, tasty "winter lettuce" that stores for a looooong time in a plastic bag in your fridge (it's easy to prep the whole head at once and then reach into the bag for ready-to-go salad all week). THEN, TOAST UP SOME CROUTONS AND MAKE THIS SALAD DRESSING, and feast! This is our go-to winter salad, and we eat it almost every night from now until February, kids included. There are also recipes that call for cooking radicchio greens - in risotto, pasta, with meats, etc. The cooking process also mellows out the bitter flavor. You'll generally find that when eaten raw, radicchio gets paired with sweet fruits, salty nuts, strong cheeses, and bright citrusy dressings - which all comes together in a truly delicious way. This is a good overview of the many directions you can go with radicchio, in case you need some inspiration besides my go-to salad suggestion above: 25 Radicchio Recipes

The November/December Calendar: No CSA Delivery the Week of Thanksgiving

A reminder that we will not be delivering CSA shares the week of Thanksgiving, on Wednesday 11/26 or Saturday 11/29. Our farm crew gets the week off! We will be packing you a Thanksgiving-inspired share the week prior so that your kitchen is stocked with key staples like potatoes, squash, fresh herbs, parsnips, celery, Brussels sprouts and more for your holiday feast.

We will resume regular deliveries the week of December 1st for our two final weeks of the CSA season. Our last week of CSA deliveries will be Wednesday, 12/10, for Coos Bay and Farm members, and Saturday, 12/13, for Port Orford and Bandon members.

Winter CSA Sign-Ups are Live!

The end of our season is on the horizon, but never fear: the Winter CSA starts in January! All current CSA members are invited to sign up for our Winter CSA between now and November 15th! If you are a current CSA member, check your inbox for a priority sign-up email from Valley Flora, sent earlier this week on Monday.

After November 15th we’ll offer any remaining shares to our farmstand customers and the general public. Keep in mind that we have half as many CSA shares available in the winter, so space is limited. Don’t delay - reserve your spot today! 

Newsletter: 

Week 22 from Valley Flora!

In the CSA Share this Week:

  • Head Lettuce
  • Green Cabbage - Savoy or Smooth
  • Spinach
  • Red Onions
  • Carrots
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Poblano Peppers
  • Spaghetti Squash

On Rotation:

  • Romanesco - going to our Coos Bay members at last! Thanks for your patience, and enjoy the edible, delicious fractals!

Winter CSA Sign-Ups Coming Soon! 

We are almost ready to start signing folks up for our Winter CSA season! Our Winter season runs from January to May with pickup sites at the Farm, in Bandon and in Coos Bay. We'll be emailing all of our current CSA members directly in the coming week with sign-up info, so keep an eye on your inbox. We offer half as many Winter Shares as we do Summer Shares, so space is limited. We give our current members priority sign-up, and if there are any spots left after that we offer them first to our farmstand customers and then to the general public.

***Due to the current government shutdown and the freezing of SNAP funds, our ability to enroll members in the SNAP/Double Up Food Bucks program for the 2026 Winter CSA is TBD pending restoration of SNAP benefits. If you have SNAP and want to participate in the Winter CSA, please plan on signing up but know that we may have to figure out an alternative payment plan if SNAP funding remains frozen. We are heartbroken that this might impact our ability to provide fresh veggies to all families in our community and we will continue to advocate for the restoration of SNAP funds.*** 

The 2026 Winter CSA will start on Wednesday, January 14th, and continue every other Wednesday until May 20th, for a total of 10 CSA deliveries during the winter/spring months. Each share is abundant and diverse and will include a mix of the following as the season progresses: carrots, beets, potatoes, leeks, onions, shallots, micro greens, salad mix, kohlrabi, radicchio, chard, kale, collards, spinach, purple sprouting broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, artichokes, lettuce, arugula, salad turnips, radishes, winter squash, spring raab, early zucchini, spring onions, herbs, and more!

If you are currently a member of our CSA, keep an eye out for a direct email from us in the next few days that will contain sign-up info. If you want to sign up, we encourage you to do so quickly while Winter Shares are still available.

A typical winter share, late February...

Enjoy the bonus sunshine this week!

Zoë

Newsletter: 

Week 21 from Valley Flora!

In the CSA Share this Week:

  • Kale
  • Carrots
  • Fennel
  • Leeks
  • Lettuce
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Yellow Potatoes
  • Watermelon Radish
  • Pie Pita Pumpkins

New Things to Know Things About this Week!

  • Watermelon Radishes - This is what's inside those pale whitish-pinkish-greenish roots! A hot pink heart encircled by a greenish-white rind, slice 'em into half moons to make miniature watermelon snacks. All the spice is in the skin/rind, so you can meter out your level of picante as you see fit: peel for sweet and crunchy, leave unpeeled for some added punch. Great raw, lovely pickled. 
  
  • Pie Pita Pumpkins - The Sugar Pie Pumpkin in your share this week is multi-purpose: it has hull-less seeds that will roast up into tasty little snackable pepitas, AND it has sweet meat ideal for homemade pumpkin pie. OR, of course, you can carve it for Halloween. It is a pumpkin after all, and it is nearing 10/31 after all... If you decide to carve it, you can still save the seeds and enjoy half of Pie Pita's culinary purpose.

Newsletter: 

Week 20 from Valley Flora!

In the CSA Share this Week:

  • Delicata Squash - probably the most beloved of all winter squash varieties, thanks to its delectable sweet flavor.
  • Sweet Peppers - at their peak, but will start tapering next week, so enjoy 'em while you can!
  • Carrots
  • Red Beets
  • Tomatoes
  • Onions
  • Apples - Liberty and Sweet Sixteen from our very diverse orchard!
  • Head Lettuce

On Rotation:

  • Purple Cauliflower
  • Broccoli

We are hustle-bustle these days, dancing with the rain to get all our storage crops out of the field (beets, potatoes, squash) and sow as much of the farm to winter cover crops as we can before the window closes (usually the 3rd week of October is our deadline for getting our Rye/Vetch/Clover/Phacelia mix established for winter). Cover crops are the foundation of soil health on the farm, providing organic matter, nitrogen, and erosion control, so its our top priority at this time of year to get as much of the farm planted to them as possible. But before we can sow cover crops, we have to get the cash crops out of the way, which makes for some fun choreography in the Fall as we strategize our to-do list in sync with the forecast. We need dry weather to harvest most of our storage crops and to prep the ground, and then we need rain to help germinate the newly-seeded cover crops. This fall has been magically perfect so far, giving us sunny days throughout the week and then welcome weekend rain. Couldn't ask for more! Here's a pic of Jack and Lily and the crew, making it all happen in the potato field. What a team!

Newsletter: 

Week 19 from Valley Flora!

What's in the Box this Week?

  • Spinach
  • Poblano Peppers
  • Hakurei Turnips
  • Carrots
  • Eggplant
  • Head Lettuce
  • Red Onions
  • Sweet Peppers Galore!
  • Cucumbers

On Rotation:

  • Broccoli
  • Romanesco Cauliflower

You know how I take a pic of the CSA share each week and paste it at the top of the newsletter? Well hands down, October is my favorite month for snapping CSA photos. The collision of summer and fall veggies adds up to peak diversity, and the rainbow of colors can't be beat. This week there are some new things, and some surprises (even for us!):

  • Hakurei turnips and spinach - making their return for Fall!
  • Broccoli - some of you got it last week, others this week
  • Romanesco Cauliflower - some of you are getting it this week, others in the next week or two. We have two staggered plantings and can't supply the whole CSA at once from a single planting, so be patient if you don't see it this week! In case this is a new one for you, this is what you're looking for in your tote (wonderful nutty cauliflower-esque flavor, yummy cut into florets and roasted with olive oil and salt)
  • Persian cukes: we sowed an experimental late planting in August inside our high tunnels and are experiencing a modest but wonderful extension of the cucumber season thanks to that!
  • Sweet peppers galore! They're at their peak in the field right now, and I hope you're as happy about that as I am! If 9(!) peppers is too much for you in a week, you can save them for later in the simplest way: chop them up and throw them in a freezer bag. Come winter, you can grab a handful and add them to soups, chili, enchiladas, anything! Same goes for the poblanos if you can't find time to work them into your menu in the next couple weeks. 

Enjoy the cornucopia!

Newsletter: 

Week 18 from Valley Flora!

In the CSA Share this Week:

  • Carrots
  • Celery
  • Eggplant
  • Yellow Onions
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Red Potatoes
  • Asian Pear Medley
  • Lacinato Kale
  • Acorn Winter Squash

On Rotation:

  • Broccoli

NOTES ON THIS WEEK'S HAUL:

Celery: Nothing says "hope springs eternal" like Valley Flora celery. For twenty years I've been trying to figure out how to grow big, fat, juicy heads of celery like the ones from California that you see at the grocery store. We've tried everything: trialing countless different varieties over the years; giving it twice as much water as anything else (celery is a bog plant and likes a ton of h20); layering on extra compost; using drip irrigation versus overhead (overhead was a disaster last year when the entire planting got a water-borne foliar disease in the middle of summer and bit the dust). If the goal is grocery store celery, I still haven't cracked the code. But if the goal is flavorful and fibrous, we're acing it. For some reason, what comes out of the Valley Flora fields is not so much your blanched, mild, plumped-up, ants-on-a-log stuff; it's more like a crunchy herb that makes great soup base. All to say, this would be my kitchen tip of the week: skip the cream cheese and use your celery as the foundation for your next scrumptious dinner by making a killer mirepoix instead.

Sweet Peppers: Our outside pepper production is hitting its peak so you're seeing new red, orange and yellow sweet Italian peps this week. All the peppers you've received to date have come spilling out of Bets's greenhouses, but those have tapered off in perfect timing with our outdoor planting. Peppers are my favorite food, so I'm one happy little pepper pig these days. :)

Asian Pear Medley: Fun stuff, you're getting all three of our currently-ripe-n-ready Asian pear varieties this week - so you can run your own little taste test and decide which is your fave! The light yellow one is Nijiseiki (same as what you got last week). The darkest copper-skinned one is Chojuro, with rich butterscotchy flavor and denser flesh. The more freckled gold one with a copper blush is Yoinashi, which has some of the best traits of Nijiseiki and Chojuro combined (juicy and refreshing with great depth of flavor).

Winter Squash: The first in our winter squash lineup for Fall, you're getting two kinds of Acorn squash: Night Shift (the dark green one with the orange spot) and Starry Night (the colorful speckly one). There are lots of things you can do with Acorn squash, but honestly I tend to revert back to the most simple of all: lobbing them in half (careful you don't lob off a limb in the process!), scooping out the seeds, and baking them face down on a cookie sheet in a puddle of water until soft and steamy. Then grab a spoon, delight in watching a pat of butter melt in your Acorn boat, and scoop away. 

LAST WEEK OF ABBY'S GREENS SALAD SHARES!

Sad but true, this is the final delivery of Abby's Greens Salad Shares this week. You should be able to continue to find her greens at the farmstand, the Langlois Market, McKay's in Bandon, the Port Orford Co-op and maybe Coos Head (?) as long as the season allows.

NEW FALL FARMSTAND HOURS: WEDNESDAYS ONLY FROM 11:30 to 2:30

As of this week, our farmstand is now operating on a Wednesday-only schedule for the remainder of the season (until mid-December when we close for winter). Remember, you can place a pre-order for farmstand goodies, or feel free to drop in and shop any Wednesday, 11:30 to 2:30 (the only exception is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, November 26th - we will be closed that day). Some seasonal items are not available for pre-order, like winter squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, zucchini, etc, but we keep the display well-stocked so you can grab those items when you arrive.

Thanks for supporting the farm, whether you're a farmstand shopper, a CSA member, a co-op/grocery store customer, a restaurant diner, or all of the above! We wouldn't be here without you all!

xoxo

Newsletter: 

Week 17 from Valley Flora!

  • Cilantro
  • Carrots
  • Eggplant
  • Fennel
  • Lettuce
  • Red Onions
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Asian Pears - The variety is Nijiseiki, sweet & juicy! We're having a bumper Asian Pear year and hope to bring you a sampler of all four of our varieties in the coming weeks!

I'm back from the beautiful Wallowas, a horsepacking trip that skewed slightly more eventful than usual: we were 17 miles deep in the wilderness when the rain and thunderstorms rolled in on Sunday, 9/13. Hours later, my mare, Lily, started suffering from colic, and in our attempts to keep her moving through the storm in hopes of saving her life she kicked me in the chest. The good news? The horse survived, we were able to finish out the last three days of our trip, and when I got home I learned that I only had one - not two - broken ribs! 

A broken rib and doctor's orders not to lift anything would be a whole lot worse news in September - the heaviest hefting time of year - if it wasn't for our new pallet fork set-up on the tractor. This year our whole crew is enjoying the miracle of hydraulics as we bring the winter squash harvest in using macro bins. These pallet-sized bins slide onto the tractor forks, enabling us to drive through the field and load each squash variety into a macro, stack the macros in our greenhouse for curing, and then snap a lid on for fall/winter storage. You'll be seeing winter squash in your CSA tote soon, maybe as early as next week.

With real rain in the forecast, we're in high gear this week to bring in the rest of the squash, dig as many potatoes as possible, and try to get ground prepped and seeded to winter cover crop. The Fall dance with changing weather, which is often a sprint against rain, has begun!

Newsletter: 

Surprise! Week 15 from Valley Flora

I told you there wouldn't be a newsletter this week because I was supposed to be gone on a horsepacking trip, but due to thunderstorms in the mountains our adventure got postponed a few days. That means you get a newsletter this week but not NEXT week! Here's what's popping at Valley Flora right now:
  • Last of the sweet corn
  • Eggplant - enough to make it the centerpiece of a meal! Our crop is peaking right now but will begin to taper off over the next couple weeks.
  • Rossa di Milano red onions
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Painted Purple Potatoes
  • Tomatoes
  • Poblano Peppers

On Rotation:

  • Head Lettuce
  • Napa Cabbage (should be in this Friday's CSA totes and next Tuesday's)

Meet EVie, our New Delivery Van!!!!

Since the first seed went in the ground at Valley Flora, our bottom-line vision has to been to make the world a better place. We want to feed our community well, to steward this piece of land with utmost love and care, and to tread as lightly on our planet as we can. We have made one conscious choice after another to realize that vision as a community-based organic farm, whether it's forging partnerships with Double Up Food Bucks to make our CSA accessible to low income families, or us using draft horses in the field, or hosting fieldtrips for local schoolkids, or obsessively planting cover crops and making compost to build healthy soil. We took a huge leap towards realizing our vision in 2018 when we put a 12 kW solar array on the roof of our barn, which provides all the electricity for our coolers, irrigation pumps, greenhouse and packout facility. We dreamed of someday switching to an electric delivery van that could be powered by our PV system, but in 2018 that technology was still nascent and cost prohibitive to our little business.

Then, unexpectedly, the stars aligned a few weeks ago when three things suddenly happened at once:

1) With the end of EV incentives looming, we were approached by a dealership about buying an EV Sprinter van that had been sitting on their lot for over a year. They needed it gone before the incentives expired in September and offered it to us at close to half price. That got our attention, but even at a steep discount it was still too much money for the farm.

2) USDA funds that had been allocated by the Biden Administration were released belatedly to eligible farmers. The program was intended to help specialty crop farmers like us get their product to market.

3) The Bandon Dunes Charitable Foundation awarded us a $5000 small grant to help with the purchase the EV van.

And just like that, we found ourselves driving EVie home and plugging her into our solar array at the barn at the end of August. Now all of Valley Flora's produce is delivered thanks to the sun! For us it's an amazing realization of a long-time dream and we are deeply grateful to the Bandon Dunes Charitable Foundation and the USDA for their help in making it come true!

The VF solar array - and the barn, greenhouse and delivery van it powers!

And Finally, A Word from Emo, the Eggplant:

Hi everyone, um, I'm Emo and, um, I know maybe not all of you like eggplant, but um, I just wanted to say maybe you should try me, because you know, sometimes there's things you think you don't like but then you try them and you're like, wow, this is actually kind of good, you know? So maybe, um, you can try a recipe with me, instead of, you know, putting me on the curb or tossing me in the compost, cuz some people think I'm nice, well at least, um, I know of one person, and there's enough of me this week to make something special like that dish that's called Moussaka, or whatever, you know? Anyway, never mind, um yeah, I guess I'll go now.

 

Newsletter: 

Week 14 of Summer Abundance from Valley Flora!

In the CSA totes this week:

  • Carrots
  • Sweet Corn
  • Cucumbers
  • Eggplant
  • Cilantro
  • Cipollini Onions - very pungent when raw (get ready to cry!), incredibly sweet and flavorful when cooked down (get ready to swoon)
  • Hot Peppers
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Zucchini
  • Tomatoes

On Rotation:

  • Bunch Greens (collards)
  • Head Lettuce

All the Fixins' to make Pico! If you're a fan of fresh salsa, you've got all the ingredients at your fingertips this week to make a batch of Pico de Gallo: tomatoes, hot peppers, onions, cilantro - and if you want to jazz it up a little more, sweet corn and sweet peppers. The recipe below will yield about two cups of fresh salsa. Chop it all up and gently toss tomatoes, cilantro, onion, hot pepper, garlic and 1 tablespoon lime juice in a small bowl; season with salt and more lime juice if necessary. Let sit, uncovered, to let flavors meld, about 10 minutes. All that's missing is the chips!

  • 3 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
  • ¼ cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, finely chopped
  • ¼ white onion, chopped
  • 1 jalapeño or serrano chile, finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, finely grated
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, plus more as needed
  • 1½ teaspoons kosher salt 

CALENDAR CORRECTION! I scrambled the dates last week when I mentioned the full Hwy 101 closure the weekend of September 19-21. Due to the closure we will be delivering ALL BANDON CSA TOTES to Well Within on Friday, September 19th instead of Saturday, September 20! Our goal is to have them at the pickup site by 7 pm on 9/19. Apologies for any confusion, and thank you to the CSA member who brought it to my attention.

No Newsletter Next Week: I'll be in the Wallowa Mountains with my horses next week, so there won't be a newsletter going out next Wednesday. General email response time might also be more delayed than usual as my crew juggles all the balls in my absence. Thanks for your patience while your farmer gets a little dose of beautiful wilderness in the high alpine :)

Newsletter: 

Week 13 from Valley Flora!

In this Week's CSA Box:

  • Sweet Corn
  • Carrots
  • Cucumbers
  • Eggplant
  • Parsley
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Tomatoes
  • Zucchini
  • Walla Walla Sweets

On Rotation:

  • Head Lettuce (for Wednesday)
  • Bunch Greens (chard or collards for Saturday)
  • Strawberries (Saturday got 'em last week, Wednesday gets them this week)

 

The Eggplant Cometh!

Here it comes, that time of year when CSA members start leaving their eggplant in free boxes on the curb. But wait, not so fast! I'm gonna try this new recipe for dinner tonight: Eggplant Dal (courtesy of the New York Times Cooking, slightly adapted to add a little extra zing and oomph and pizazz). There's also always eggplant parmesan, bab ganoush, grilled/broiled/air-fryed eggplant, marinated eggplant with tahini, and chermoula eggplant (maybe one of my all-time favorite things to eat at this time of year). Try some of those recipes and before you know it, ya'll will be clamoring for extra eggplant in your share!

Highway 101 Closure September 19th -21st

If you haven't heard, ODOT is doing a big culvert replacement project under Hwy 101 near Four Mile in September. The highway will be fully closed in both directions from 9 pm Friday, September 18th to late Sunday night, September 21st. This closure will impact our routine Saturday delivery to Bandon. If you are a Bandon CSA member, please note the following important changes to our delivery schedule that week:

  • We will deliver all Bandon CSA shares on Friday evening, September 18th instead of on Saturday, September 19th. We hope to have all CSA totes at Well Within by 7 pm.
  • If you live south of the road closure and cannot make it to Bandon to pick up your share on Friday evening, please email us by Wednesday, September 17th and we will hold your CSA tote in our walk-in cooler for pickup at the farm on Saturday.
  • We will send another reminder email to all Bandon CSA members as the date draws near.

Our farmstand will also be closed that day, due to limited accessibility from the North.

Thanks for your understanding as we work to ensure that everyone gets their produce that week!

Newsletter: 

Week 12 of the Summer CSA!

In This Week's CSA share:

  • Sweet Corn
  • Carrots
  • Green Beans
  • Zucchini
  • Cucumbers
  • Hot Peppers - Jalapeño and Serrano
  • Tomatotes
  • Summer Crisp Head Lettuce
  • Gold Beets

On Rotation:

  • The first eggplant of the season!

Happy Hens at Valley Flora!

Jen and Teresa, two of our awesome VF crewmates, teamed up together this season to start a little pastured egg side-business at the farm. Starting in June they began retrofitting an old trailer frame that was rusting away in a corner of the farm.

After many weekends and late evenings of running power tools, voila, they turned it into a mobile chicken coop!

Then, by cover of darkness they rustled some hens, purchased from Sondra Aguirre who used to supply eggs to the farmstand and has been downsizing her operation. They set the flock up with electric netting so the hens can graze on our fallow fields and forage for all things delicious: grass, insects, and all the veggie scraps a chicken could possibly eat.

It's been so fun to watch their project come to fruition and see another little farming enterprises bubble up at Valley Flora thanks to the passion and energy of young, aspiring farmers. So proud of them! And believe it or not, we're kinda loving the new early morning rooster soundtrack. It pairs nicely with the braying donkey.....:)

You can find Jen and Teresa's rainbow-colored eggs at the farmstand every Wednesday and Saturday - and when you buy them you can feel good knowing that you're supporting the next generation of organic farmers and all their wonderful dreams. xoxox

Newsletter: 

Week 10 from Valley Flora!

In this Week's CSA Share:

  • Strawberries
  • Red Cabbage
  • Walla Walla Sweet Onions
  • Green Beans
  • Zucchini
  • Cucumbers
  • Carrots
  • Broccoli Shoots (one last broccoli bonus!)
  • Head Lettuce - note, this week's variety is a new trial called "Concept." It's a cross between a romaine and a summer crisp and supposed to be great for the heat of summer. We were very excited about it until last week when it began to develop some tip burn at the leaf margins as it finished sizing up. The heads are huge and luscious, but not quite perfect due to this cosmetic issue. We probably won't grow it again next year since widespread tipburn is the kind of thing that will get a variety axed from our lettuce program. Hopefully you can find plenty of good salad in these mondo heads anyway. We have one more planting of it coming up in a few weeks; hopefully that one will perform better than the first.

On Rotation:

  • Basil

For the Love of Bees

Much of what we grow on the farm would not be possible without bees. Are you excited to see strawberries in your share this week? Without bees, no strawbs. Thrilled to find peaches at the farmstand this week? Without bees, no peaches. Love those plump zucchinis and slicing cukes? Yup, thank the bees. And even the things that aren't fruits - this week's cabbage, broccoli, carrots, onions - would not exist without the help of bees who pollinate seed crops so that we can grow them again next year. There are all kinds of bees and other Hymenoptera at Valley Flora, including the European honeybee, the big, bumbling bumble bee, ground bees, wasps, and mason bees (a big thanks and a shout-out to our longtime, devoted CSA members, Mike and Linda Dobney, who introduced three mason bee colonies to the farm this spring).

We do everything we can to support the bees on the farm, knowing full well that they are working for us around the clock and we couldn't do this without them. The most important and fundamental thing is that we're organic. That means we never spray any insecticides, herbicides or other chemicals on the farm - not even organically-approved ones (because even some of those are neurotoxic to bees). The other important thing: we try to provide something for them to eat year round. In the spring when the whole world - and the orchard - is in bloom, it's easy. In the summer, we grow flowering cover crops like buckwheat and phacelia; we grow cut flowers (our flower patch is in full riotous bloom right now and open for u-pick!); and we leave crops like broccolini and cilantro in the ground long after we're done harvesting them so they can bloom and support the bees. In the winter things are a litte leaner for the bees - and they have fewer opportunities to feed when it's cold and raining - so we let all our overwintered Brassicas (kale, broccoli, cabbage, etc.) bolt and bloom to help provide forage for the bees through the hardest part of the year.

Bees are struggling in many parts of the world due to toxins pervasive in our environment, but we would like to hope that Valley Flora will forever remain a haven for them. Here are a few images of bees at work on the farm, and the fields where they are foraging right now to help bring you your weekly abundance:

European honeybee foraging on a buckwheat bloom.

A mass planting of summer buckwheat.

A honeybee helping itself to a Phacelia flower.

Our broccolini in full bloom this week, with a bumblebee coming in for a crash landing center-right.

Bumblebee coming in hot, European honeybee already on the scene!

Bees in the greenhouse citrus and on the flowering artichokes - working their magic in every corner of the farm.

Enjoy the bee-autiful bounty this week!

 

Newsletter: 

Week 9 - it’s Summertime - from Valley Flora!

In This Week's CSA Share:

  • Last of the broccoli until Fall!
  • Carrots
  • Cucumbers
  • Parsley
  • Head Lettuce - we're into "Summer Crisp" season now: leaf lettuce meets iceberg = crisp, succulent & sweet!
  • Red Long of Tropea Torpedo Onions - a specialty onion from Italy 
  • French Fingerlings - "new" (meaning the skins haven't cured yet) and tender so keep 'em refrigerated in a plastic bag for best storage 
  • Zucchini
  • Fennel

Recipe of the Week: Buttered New Potatos with Fennel

From the NY Times Cooking, yields 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 fennel bulb, about ½ pound
  • 8 red waxy new potatoes, about 1 pound
  • 1½ cups water
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill or fennel fronds

PREPARATION

  • Step 1: Trim the stem and stalk ends of the fennel bulb and cut into ½-inch dice. There should be about 2 cups.
  • Step 2: Trim the ends of the potatoes. Cut them into quarters (or leave small potatoes whole) and drop the pieces into cold water. Drain.
  • Step 3: Combine the fennel and potatoes in a wide skillet and add the water, salt and butter. Bring to a boil and cook, uncovered, about 15 minutes or until the water has evaporated and the vegetables are tender. Sprinkle with dill or chopped fennel fronds and serve.

Bulk Basil Available by Special Order!

Calling all pesto-lovers, the moment is now to place your order for bulk basil! CSA members can log in to our CSA "store," place an order and have your basil delivered to your pickup site in the coming weeks. Orders will be filled on a rolling basis. Order your bulk basil HERE!

August is Teacher Appreciation Month at Valley Flora!

What do all these farm kids have in common? (Other than loving to raid the strawberry patch and dunk at the swimming hole every day?)

They all go to public school. 

Here in this rural pocket of Oregon we are incredibly lucky to have so many talented, dedicated teachers in our schools. But did you know that teachers in the Port Orford/Langlois and Bandon school districts are paid less than all the neighboring districts in Coos and Curry County? At the same time, they face the highest cost of living on the entire Southcoast.

It’s been a challenging time for teachers, particularly in Bandon, and we want to say a big THANK YOU for their service and dedication. In that spirit, we’re making August our Teacher Appreciation Month at Valley Flora. 

If you’re a teacher at 2CJ or Bandon, come on out to the farm for a free bucket of u-pick strawberries and a free bouquet of u-pick flowers on any Wednesday or Saturday in August. Just show your school ID to our staff at the u-pick/farmstand checkout.

You are the heart of our schools, and you make a huge and lasting difference in our kids’ lives. Thank you teachers!

Newsletter: 

Week 8 from Valley Flora!

In this Week's CSA Share:

  • Red Bunch Beets
  • Walla Walla Sweet Onions
  • Broccoli
  • Carrots
  • Cucumbers
  • Basil
  • Head Lettuce
  • Zucchini (not pictured above)
  • Strawberries

On Rotation:

  • Peas (Saturday totes only to even the score for the season - our Wednesday members are ahead on poundage)
  • Broccolini (Coos Bay + Saturday totes only - our Farm pickup is ahead on poundage)

Flowers in Bloom and Open for U-Pick!

Our flower patch has hit its stride for summer and is in coloful bloom: we're ready for you to come tip-toe through everything but the tulips! Dahlias, zinnias, sunflowers, celosia, statice, strawflowers, cosmos, marigolds, rudbeckia, yarrow, snapdrogons, scabiosa and more! We provide clippers and picking tubes - just check in at the farmstand to grab them. Please tread lightly in the flower beds and use the gaps between varieties to move among the rows - that will prevent breakage and damage to the plants. We recommend bringing your own bucket so you can keep your flowers happy on the ride home.

Flower U-Pick is open every Wednesday and Saturday during farmstand hours, 11:30 am to 2:30 pm. Enjoy!

Newsletter: 

Week 7 from Valley Flora!

In the CSA Share this Week:

  • Broccoli
  • Carrots
  • Cucumbers
  • Head Lettuce
  • Sugar Snap Peas
  • Zucchini
  • Dill

On Rotation:

  • Curly Kale (Wednesday members)
  • Rainbow Chard (Saturday members)

Cool as a Cucumber! If you've ever grown your own cucumbers, you probably know how the plants go from zero to sixty practically overnight. This is that week on the farm, so wham!, you've got cucumbers in your tote all of a sudden, and plenty of 'em! I love cukes, always have, and I always wish the season was longer. We've been playing around with how to extend our production window over the past few years by trialing different varieties and planting staggered successions. This season we upped our game and took it to a whole new level by converting one of our high tunnels into a Persian cucumber laboratory. We enclosed the entire greenhouse with insect netting to keep the cucumber beetles out (cuke beetles are our primary cucumber pest, causing cosmetic damage and spreading bacterial wilt, which can kill the plant). Then we installed a vertical trellis system and planted three varieties of Persian cucumbers on two different planting dates. All of the varieties are parthenocarpic, meaning they don't need a pollinator to set fruit (this is critical for indoor production where we've excluded all insects, including our beneficial pollinators). Every week we twist the cucumber vine up the twine and prune off side-suckers to keep all the plant's energy going upwards.

We're a couple months into this experiment, the cukes have hit the roof (literally), and oh baby, what a dream! The fruit is delicious and nearly flawless. We've been getting small to medium harvests since early June - not enough to fill every CSA tote, but a good amount for our farmstand and some wholesale. Production exploded this past weekend with the extra heat at exactly the same moment that our bed of outdoor cukes kicked into gear, which means you've got cukes aplenty this week to make a lovely chilled cucumber salad (this recipe uses your dill and hopefully you have a purplette onion or two still kicking around). I also love riffing on the Asian cucumber salad at this time of year.

It's so fun picking the trellised Persians that we have to force ourselves to harvest the outdoor bed of slicing and pickling cukes first. Hmmm, what sounds more appealing: rolling a cart through a shady greenhouse, happily snipping countless, perfect, smooth-skinned cukes from tidy vines, or stooping over in the hot sun, scrabbling about in scratchy plants for crooked, misshapen Marketmores while dragging a heavy bin. Not to jump to any conclusions before our Persian lab experiment has run its full course, but I wouldn't be surprised if we make the switch entirely next year and say adios to outdoor field-grown cukes.

But in the name of good citizen science, you should help inform that decision: tell us what you think about the three slicing cukes versus the one Persian in your share this week. Is it no contest?

First planting of Persians, June 12th

 

 

Newsletter: 

Week 6 of Summertime from Valley Flora!

In this week's CSA share:

  • Purplette Onions
  • Green Zucchini
  • Sugar Snap Peas
  • Bunch Carrots
  • Fava Beans
  • Green Cone Cabbage
  • Broccoli
  • Cilantro
  • Head Lettuce

Purplette onions, cone cabbage and heavy heads of broccoli are three distinct hallmarks of our passage into a new season on the farm: the season of July! When you eat locally and seasonally in a specific place, the notion of four seasons is completely inadequate. I could probably name at least a dozen "seasons" at Valley Flora, each one made special by its own produce highlights throughout the year. "Summer" is at least three or four seasons unto itself, unfurling between the months of June and September. We've already passed through the initial chapter of it - those first few weeks of the CSA that were marked by radishes, hakurei turnips, leafy greens and butterhead lettuce (a kind of cuspy spring/summer moment). We're headed into part 2 of the summer mini-series now, when things start getting a little denser: Sugar Snap peas collide with our first spring-planted onions; our early cone cabbage makes a one-time appearance; broccoli and zucchini become a weekly staple; soon, tender new potatoes and ample cucumbers will grace your tote; and the head lettuce varieties veer towards heat tolerant summer crisps instead of butterhead. This ephemeral moment will then merge into August, which might strike some as the true, quintessential heart of summer with its tomatoes and corn, green beans and eggplant. Then September when sweet peppers take the stage and we begin a slow, semi-perceptible slide into our long and abundant Fall (also comprised of at least 3 to 4 more distinct seasons).

All to say, there's never a dull moment when you eat with the seasons. There is a wonderful cookbook by Portland chef Joshua McFadden, called "Six Seasons," which takes inspiration from seasonality in the Pacific Northwest. I find that some of his recipes aren't completely congruent with our crop plan, nor does he name quite enough seasons (only 6 when they're could be 12, if only someone would write the Valley Flora Cookbook.....), but it does a pretty good job overall and the recipes are delish. It was given to me by a long-time CSA member, so it came well-vetted by someone who gets one of our totes every single week of the year. I highly recommend it if you're looking to add a cookbook to your collection.

Our copy of Six Seasons, dog-eared and dirty from many a feast!

And because I just can't get enough of the potato patch in bloom right now, a few more pretty pics from our western field this week:

 

Newsletter: 

Week 5 from Valley Flora!

In This Week's CSA Share:

  • Fennel
  • Sugar Snap Peas
  • Collard Greens
  • Butterhead Lettuce
  • Strawberries
  • Dill
  • Bunch Carrots

On Rotation:

  • Broccolini
  • Cucumbers

New this Week: Fennel, Dill and Collard Greens! 

  • People hear "collard greens" and they usually think southern cooking - a pot full of ham hocks boiling away for hours on end. That's certainly one way to do them up, but it's not the only way. Collards don't need to be cooked to death: they can be used interchangeably in recipes that call for kale or chard, or they can be eaten raw. This recipe from Portland chef Joshua McFadden is actually one of my all-time favorite collard dishes, no cooking whatsoever: Shaved Collard Greens with Cashew and Pickled Pepper. I also have CSA members who use them as the outer wrap for salad rolls (you can stuff the rolls with whatever seasonal veg you have on hand).
  • Fennel can be polarizing. It's one of my personal favorites, but for some people it takes time to come around to it's mild anise flavor. I encourage you to give it a chance because you'll quickly discover that it's an incredibly versatile vegetable. You can thin-slice it and go in the bright, citrusy direction of a raw salad, or you can slow-braise or sautee it into a soft, caramelized comfort food that's rich and unctuous. The fronds are also entirely edible, great as a fresh herb for garnish. Here are a few starting points if you need direction:
    • If you like it decadent and delicious, Parmesan Fennel Gratin is probably the best gateway recipe to turn someone into a fennel lover.
    • If you haven't gotten around to your fava beans from last week yet, this is a 5-star recipe poached from New York Times Cooking for Burrata with Fava Beans, Fennel and Celery (you can often find Burrata at McKay's Market in Bandon and probably at larger grocery stores in Coos Bay).
    • And finally, this recipe was shared by my cousin at Thanksgiving last year and has been a hit in our household ever since. I prefer using shaved Pecorino Romano rather than provolone for a little extra salty contrast in the salad.

Have fun playing with your new veggies, and happy 4th of July to everyone! 

 

Newsletter: 

Week 4 of Summer from Valley Flora!

Potatoes in bloom; a new horsedrawn cultivator in action!

In the CSA Share this Week:

  • Sugar Snap Peas
  • Fresh Fava Beans
  • Baby Bunch Carrots
  • Head Lettuce
  • Kohlrabi
  • Basil

On Rotation:

  • Persian Cucumbers
  • Broccolini

Notes from the Field:

This week your CSA tote is loaded with a hefty pile of fresh fava beans, one of early summer's unique and fleeting offerings. Favas are grown as a nitrogen-fixing cover crop in mild climates, but we also grow them intentionally as a food crop. For some of you, this is probably your first encounter so here's a tutorial for how to get to the beans inside and enjoy them once you do: How to Cook Fava Beans and 17 Chefs on their Favorite Ways to Cook Fava Beans. We're having a bumper crop this year - the biggest pods I've ever seen! Flood effect!

Sugar Snap Peas are making their debut this week, with lots more coming! Sugar Snaps are NOT shelling peas - you eat the whole thing, pod and all. I like them best raw or lightly sauteed.

You're getting a double-up on head lettuce this week, thanks to the long days of summer solstice. We're having more cucumber beetle pressure in the lettuce than usual right now, which means we have to strip more of the munched outer leaves. The good news is that what remains is crunchy, sweet hearts - the best part. We plant a new bed of head lettuce every week to supply the CSA and to satisfy the demand for case quanitites at Coos Head Food Co-Op, Port Orford Co-Op, 7 Devils Pub and Alehouse, Barnacle Bistro, Crazy Norwegian, the Langlois Market and more. We also send a lot of lettuce to the Common Good foodbank and the Coos Bay Library Community Fridge each week so we can keep our community in ample salad.

The first carrots of the season are making their way into your tote this week. Carrots will likely be intermittent over the next month because we lost a couple of early plantings to the flood. Fortunately we have strong germination in our later seedings so they'll become a regular fixture once those beds are sized up.

And finally, a happy little baby donkey update, in photos (all's well)!!! Mazzy is a magical creature - part unicorn we're pretty sure - and her mama loves her. If it's not obvious, we do, too:

 

 

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