What’s Inside This Week?
August 6, 2026
Essentials Box
- Slicing Cucumber, 1.5lbs, $6.00
- Lettuce Mix, 8oz, $5.00
- Parsley, 3oz, $3.00
- Roma Tomatoes, 1pt, $4.00
- Stone Fruit Mix, 1lb, $4.00
Original Box
- Essentials Box, plus:
- Lemon Cucumber, 1.5lbs, $6.00
- Basil, 3oz, $3.00
- Lettuce Head, 1ct, $3.00
- Garlic, 2ct, $3.00
Hearty Box
- Original Box, plus:
- Arugula, 8oz, $5.00
- Red Cabbage, 1ct, $4.00
- Grapes, 2lbs, $8.00
New: Community Garden Work Days!
We’re now hosting community garden work days right here at the farm — essential weeding, garden maintenance, and seasonal chores, with real hands-on time in the dirt alongside our crew. The first one kicks off Friday, August 14th, 8:30–11:00am, and it’ll be mostly weeding to get us started. From there, work days will continue weekly on Mondays, same time.
Open to farm box subscribers (active or on hold) and farm stand shoppers. Sign up here →
Field Notes
We donated the last of our tomato starts and some strawberry plants this week to the Lompoc Resilience Garden, a community food and education project led by C4 Lompoc (Collective Cultures Creating Change) at the First Christian Church on W. College Ave. It grows fresh produce for local food pantries and serves as a neighborhood gathering space — exactly the kind of project we love supporting with the extras we can’t use ourselves. You can read more about it through Legacy Works Group here.
Some of our own oversized zucchini found a good home too — straight to the chickens, courtesy of our three littlest farm kids, who took the job very seriously.
The three littlest farm kids, delivering an oversized zucchini straight to the chickens.
Friday was a big one for the pollinator project — the kids helped plant Hedgerow 3 around the grassy field at the Farmhouse. We got 60 plants in the ground, mulched, and Jeremy has been spending his time getting the irrigation installed to keep them all watered. Next step is seeding the Wildlife Habitats we’ve already planted, and then we move on to the remaining five zones.
Wyatt on post hole digger duty, making room for new plants.
Getting dirty is the funnest part, according to Waylon.
Wade and Zoe raking mulch over the new plants, with Waylon doing his own version of helping.
Everest supervised the whole operation from his favorite new spot — a bed with a front-row view of his grassy field getting a hedgerow. He seemed pleased with the direction things are headed.
Everest, supervising from his new bed. Highest standards, lowest effort.
Wyatt ran the farmers market booth with us on Friday — setup, breakdown, and even some sales. He’s loving it, and it’s looking likely he’ll be helping at the Sunday market soon too. It’s a good feeling watching the next generation start to take ownership of this work.
Wyatt working the farmers market booth — setup, breakdown, and sales all included.
And finally, a new addition to the farm family. We rescued a black and white tuxedo kitten from the creek this week. Our neighbors had bottle-fed a stray litter but couldn’t keep them all, so a few were released back outside. We nearly caught this one with a bowl of feed, but ended up needing a trap to finish the job. His name is Smokey — a little nod to our old cat Bandit, and the movie that inspired his name. Welcome to the farm, Smokey.
Smokey, freshly rescued from the creek and settling into his new home.
Storage Tips
Cucumbers: slicing cucumber, lemon cucumber → fridge crisper, unwashed; use within 5 days.
Greens: lettuce mix, lettuce head, arugula → wrap in a towel, bag in the fridge; use within 5–7 days.
Herbs: parsley → damp paper towel, bagged in the fridge; use within 4–5 days. Basil → jar of water on the counter, never the fridge.
Nightshades: roma tomatoes → counter, never the fridge; use within a few days.
Alliums: garlic → cool, dry, dark place with airflow; do not refrigerate.
Brassicas: red cabbage → fridge crisper, loosely bagged; keeps 1–2 weeks.
Fruit: stone fruit mix → counter to ripen, fridge once soft; use within 2–3 days. Grapes → fridge, unwashed until ready to eat; keeps 1–2 weeks.
Roma Tomato & Basil Bruschetta
Roma tomato basil bruschetta is a five-ingredient classic that depends entirely on the quality of what goes into it — which makes this week’s box the perfect moment for it. This roma tomato basil bruschetta comes together in twenty minutes and disappears even faster.
Ingredients
- 1 pint roma tomatoes, diced small
- 1/3 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, divided (1 minced, 1 whole) — or more, to taste
- 3 tbsp olive oil, plus more for bread
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 baguette or crusty bread (or focaccia), sliced
- Optional: shaved Parmesan or burrata
Instructions
- Combine diced tomatoes, basil, minced garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Let sit at room temperature 10–15 minutes so the flavors meld.
- Meanwhile, brush bread slices with olive oil and toast under the broiler or on a grill pan, 2–3 minutes per side until golden.
- While the toast is still warm, rub each slice with the whole garlic clove — it grates naturally against the toasted surface.
- Spoon the tomato mixture generously over each slice, letting some juice soak into the bread. Top with Parmesan or burrata if using.
- Serve immediately — roma tomato basil bruschetta is best eaten right away, before the bread softens.
Why roma tomatoes make the best bruschetta
Roma tomatoes are the right choice for bruschetta because of their structure — they have less water and fewer seeds than a slicing tomato, which means less liquid pooling and diluting the topping. That density is exactly what you want piled on top of toasted bread: concentrated tomato flavor without a soggy result.
The technique that separates good bruschetta from great bruschetta is small but important: rubbing the warm toast with a raw garlic clove instead of mincing garlic into the topping. The heat of the bread grates the garlic naturally, releasing just enough sharp flavor into the crust without overwhelming the fresh tomato and basil on top. It’s a classic Italian trick that takes seconds and makes a real difference.
This roma tomato basil bruschetta topping is also worth making beyond the bread — spoon it over grilled chicken or fish, toss it with pasta, or eat it straight with a spoon while the tomatoes are at their peak. It won’t last more than a day or two before the tomatoes break down, so plan to eat it the same day you make it.
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2026-08-06 CSA by Megan_Raff
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