Third
Sunday Gatherings |
Third
Sunday Gatherings are back
this season! For those
of you who are new to the
farm or to Third Sunday
Gatherings, they are a
great opportunity to meet
fellow shareholders and
learn about various topics
related to our mission. Each
time, we will start with
a farm-fresh potluck at
five o'clock followed by
a guest speaker.
July 15th - Eat Your
Greens Contest August 19th - Putting
Food By: An Introduction
to Preservation Methods
September 16th - ***TBD***Have
Suggested Topics or
Speakers? -
send them to Alison
Horton.
October 21st - Panel
on WFCF Programs: Hunger
Relief, Education, Volunteers November 18th - Harvest
Potluck - Details
to follow.December 16th - Winter
Solstice - Details
to follow.
For
more information...
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Welcome
to the 2007 Harvest
Season!
Share
pickups at the
farm are:
- Tuesday,
July 10, 3-7:30
PM
- Thursday,
July 12, 3-7:30
PM
- Sunday,
July 15, 3-7:30
PM
Share
pickups in
Somerville
are Tuesday
July 10 from
5-7 PM. Fruit
shares usually
begin around
the last week
in August.
Please check
our website
for more information.
Bring
bags if you
have them!
And bring your
own household
compost if
you don't mind
the walk to
the compost
piles.
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What's in
the shares this
week
Please
note: this
list is prepared
the week before
we harvest
your share.
Some guesswork
is involved:
some things
may be in the
share that
are not on
the list, and
some listed
things may
not be in the
share.
Salad
and Cooking
Greens
Root
Crops
- Carrots
- Beets
- Salad
Turnips
Alliums
Coming
Soon...
Have
you checked out
our ideas on
our Produce Info and Recipes page? Feel free to
submit recipes
and cooking ideas
to us at waltham.csa.news@gmail.com! |
Pick
your own crops
this week
- Basil
- Green
Beans
- Fava
Beans
- Parsley
- Epazote
(a Mexican
herb that is
exceptional
in bean dishes)
CSA
shareholders can
visit the farm
to pick your own
herbs Sunday through
Thursday during
daylight hours. Visit
the red pick-your-own
kiosk in the fields
for a list of available
crops and picking
supplies.
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Comings and Goings on the Farm
This past week was
the first week of
our annual Children's
Learning Garden program. Our
longtime partner,
Cambridge Adventure
Day Camp, returned
to the farm, while
new groups from the
Cedar Hill Girl Scout
Camp and the Waltham
Parks and Recreation
Department joined
lead teacher Mark
Walter and many volunteers,
including Judy Fallows,
Reva Dolobowsky,
Kerri Klugman and
three peer educators
from Waltham High
School.
The visiting children
planted, weeded and
watered, tasted raspberries
and vegetables, and
observed bugs and
flowers in the Children's
Learning Garden and
around the farm. We
are glad to have
our newly expanded
children's program
back on the farm!
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Crop
updates
It's dry - very, very dry on our farm. This
is crunch time
for us, when fall
crops of broccoli,
carrots, collards,
kale and rutabagas
need to be planted,
weeds are still
growing like crazy
and our harvests
are starting to
gain intensity. Extremely
dry weather means
that in addition
to all these tasks,
we need to spend
person time moving
irrigation pipe
on our Field Station
site - and praying
that the crops
at our Lyman Estate
field, which does
not have irrigation,
will make it through
the dry spell. Every
localized shower
or thunderstorm
seems to be missing
us, and as of the
moment when I'm
writing this we
have not had significant
rainfall since
the beginning of
June. In
addition, with
the notable exception
of the last week
of June, it's been
generally cooler
than average -
this is great weather
to be working in,
but it means that
everything grows
more slowly than
it normally would,
and so it take
longer for the
crops to close
their canopy, meaning
more time for weeds
to grow, meaning
more weeding for
us and slower growing
crops for you. As
some folks like
to say, farmers
are never happy
with the weather.
Our tomatoes and peppers, thanks to soil-warming
plastic mulch and
drip irrigation,
have not been touched
by this drought
or the cool weather. They
are growing fast
and furiously,
with lots of blossoms
and deep green
foliage. Sweet
potatoes and eggplant
are beginning to
take off as well. The
cucumbers, squash
and watermelon
that we planted
at the Lyman Field
are slowly recovering
from their woodchuck
feeding frenzy. We
tried many different
things to help
keep the woodchucks
away, and we have
some hope that
we can hold them
off long enough
to get a good harvest
from those crops
within the next
month or so. |
Notes from the field: Carrots for the wife
Most of you have probably seen Robert, even
if you didn't
realize it at
the time. He's
the tall white-haired
gentleman in
the straw Panama
hat, striding
across the farm
with a distinctive
gait, a little
white dog at
his heels, and
a few cardboard
boxes under one
arm. The
boxes are gleaned
from local businesses
to hold the vegetables
for our hunger
relief partner
agencies. Devlin,
the West Highland
White terrier,
has been Robert's
constant companion
for the past
four years. Robert
has walked Devlin
and his predecessor,
MacGregor, a
legendary hunter
of woodchucks,
around the Beaver
Street and Lyman
Estate fields
since the early
days of Waltham
Fields Community
Farm. He
stops by at all
times of the
day - first thing
in the morning,
at lunchtime,
late in the evening
- but his favorite
time to visit
is during a CSA
distribution,
when the fields
are full of shareholders
and the stand
is full of freshly
harvested vegetables. He
approaches the
distribution
shelter with
his distinctive
hearty greeting
and surveys the
available produce
with a practiced
eye. It
has always been
our informal
agreement that
in exchange for
his box collecting,
Robert can take
home a bit of
produce from
the distribution
stand or from
the field. Until
very recently,
though, no matter
what we had on
offer, he would
look it all over
and take home
only one thing: a
bunch of bright-orange,
summer-sweet
carrots 'for
the wife'.
Robert never referred to his wife, Maryam,
by name when
he talked about
her to the farm
staff. Instead,
he always called
her 'the wife,'
and although
he often added "that
red-headed Irish
Catholic - I'll
never marry another
one", the
bemused tenderness
in his voice
made his words
gentle. After
fifty-two years
of marriage,
two children,
and decades of
work for the
telephone company
and as a Bentley
college policeman,
Robert still
had eyes only
for 'the wife'. After
she became ill
with lymphoma
several years
ago, she could
no longer join
him on his daily
walks around
the fields. He
drove her to
every doctor's
appointment,
and we received
regular updates
on the ups and
downs of her
illness when
he visited the
farm to drop
off boxes or
stroll around
the fields. Each
season, as the
first carrot
planting matured,
we were sure
to see a little
turned-over patch
at the edge of
the bed with
a few twisted-off
tops lying beside
it: evidence
that Robert had
stopped by to
pick up a few
carrots for the
wife.
This spring, Maryam became progressively
sicker.
She entered a nursing
home, and one weekend
morning Robert
said sadly that
he knew that she
would not be coming
home. The
next time I saw
him, he was standing
by the distribution
shelter on a Thursday
afternoon, accompanied
by Devlin and holding
a few boxes, but
looking pale and
stricken. "The
wife is gone," he
said.
"She waited
for me and she
went at just past
one this afternoon. The
last thing, I asked
her, 'are you mad
at me?' and she
nodded, 'yes'. Then
I asked her, 'do
you love me?' and
she nodded, 'yes,
a lot.' I
don't know what
I'm going to do
without her."
In a community like the one that supports
our farm, it
seems like we
are always both
celebrating and
mourning. On
a smaller scale,
we celebrate
the arrival of
the first tomatoes
even as we mourn
the loss of our
summer squash
to nibbling woodchucks. We
are joyful at
the first flight
of the baby barn
swallows and
sorrowful at
the death of
a fledgling killdeer. We
celebrate the
birth of children
and the accomplishments
of our community
even as we mourn
the departure
of friends and
the losses of
our members. When
we are faced
with a love as
great and as
long-lived as
this one which
has suddenly
been profoundly
transformed by
a death, it seems
only appropriate
for us to stand
still, celebrate,
and mourn.
After a few days, Robert returned to the
farm, bringing
boxes and news
of the first
days of managing
without the love
of his life. After
we talked for
a little while,
he walked over
to the vegetables
under the distribution
shelter. He
walked slowly
down the length
of the tables. When
he came to the
carrots, he paused. His
hand lingered
over the bunches,
finally lighting
on a particularly
beautiful one. He
lifted it in
his hand and
walked back towards
me. "She
loved these,
you know," he
said.
Robert made a donation to the farm so that
a memorial
to Maryam Kelliher,
a lifelong
resident of
Waltham, might
be placed here
in her honor. We
mourn and celebrate
her life with
him.
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From
all the
staff at
Waltham
Fields
Community
Farm:
Meg
Coward,
Executive
Director
Amanda
Cather,
Farm Manager
Andy
Scherer,
Assistant Farm Manager
Kate
Darakjy
and Martin
Lemos,
Assistant
Growers
Josh
Levin,
Vincent
Errico,
Anna
Wei,
and Sara
Franklin,
Interns
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