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Weekly CSA Newsletter: June 18-24, 2006(Week #2)In This Issue:
1. This week's share may include
2. Pick-Your-Own Crops
All shareholders are invited to pick your own from 9 AM to 7:30 PM on Sundays and from 3 PM to 7:30 PM on Thursdays. Please visit the PYO station near the red shed for locations of crops and all PYO tools and materials. 3. What are... Garlic Scapes?The flower stalk of hardneck garlic, scapes are one crop that you'll rarely see in the grocery store. We harvest them when they are tender and delicious. Slice up the whole stalk and use it like garlic, either raw or lightly sautéed. A real treat in pasta or potato salads, frittatas or other spring dishes. 4. Introducing the TRADE BOXMany of you are aware that all of the produce left over at the end of our CSA distributions, along with additional vegetables that we harvest fresh, is donated to our hunger relief partner organizations here in Waltham, Cambridge, Somerville and Boston. So you shouldn't worry if you can't pick up your share one week, or if you just don't like radishes - everything that we harvest finds a home. But, just to add some additional choice to our CSA shares this season, we're introducing the 'Trade Box', which is a spot for you to drop off something you don't want and, hopefully, pick up something that someone else doesn't want but you enjoy. You don't have to put something in to take something out each time - we hope that over the course of the season folks will take some and give some. 5. Notes from the FieldSomeone at last week's pickup mentioned that the story about the goose eating the cauliflower was a funny one. Yup, real funny. I've got a couple of better ones this week. Meryl and Jen went over to our Lyman Estate Field to harvest spinach for the first distribution on Sunday. It was pretty early in the morning, probably about 8 AM. When they got there, they saw 6 parent geese and 27 baby geese munching on the arugula. When they ran after them to chase them away, the flock of geese parted to reveal a ground hog, who had been sitting contentedly in the center of the group, eating away. Now you know what happened to the arugula. Meanwhile, our third planting of carrots was invaded by two giant mama snapping turtles on Tuesday morning. After trying out some sample holes that apparently just didn't feel right, the two turtles dug deep nest holes in the carrot beds and laid 10-12 glistening white eggs in each hole. The internet says the eggs should hatch in 50-60 days (also about the planting-to-harvest window for carrots in a warm year). That should make for interesting cultivating. Otherwise, things are going fine on the farm. We're set back a little by the (still more) rain the first week of June, and the fact that cold soils have not encouraged the growth of our warm weather crops. So far we're 9 inches over the average rainfall for this time of the year according to the National Weather Service, which seems about right to me. Luckily for us, our soil dries out quickly and we can usually get back on it within a couple of days to start cultivating, planting and preparing beds again. We do have one field that is still soaking wet, and probably will be for another couple of weeks, which means we've had to shift some crops around to accommodate the wet weather. We're grateful to have the option. You should be seeing chard, beets, and (hopefully) carrots some time in the next few weeks. We're working on replacing a planting of watermelon and muskmelon that succumbed to another kind of maggot during the rain last week. When nighttime temperatures are up in the 60s instead of the 50s, crops should start to take off and grow like crazy. In the meantime, I'll try to keep the stories coming. Amanda Cather, for the farm staff 6. Why I Joined the CSAby Marie Colantoni Pechet This is my first year as a member. As to why I joined...I heard of the Waltham CSA for a few years and knew a few members, but still hesitated. Then this year, I subscribed to Boston Organics and was happy with the food I received from that organization. There are a few similarities...food is great and wholesome, and you don't know what you will be getting. It then seemed logical to take the next step, and get closer to the source of our food. I love that there is such a short time between picking and eating, that we can see how the food is grown, and that it is local. I am looking forward to this growing season! 7. Recipes
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