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.
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... |
What Do We Do With
Eggplant? Two Delicious
Ideas...
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Eggplant Caprese with
Tomato-Basil Vinaigrette
On
the grill 1 pound eggplant, trimmed, cut
crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds Olive oil
(for grilling) 1 large plum tomato (about 4
ounces)
For the
dish 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil plus
sprigs for garnish 1 tablespoon white wine
vinegar 1/4 cup olive oil 2 (7- to 8-ounce)
balls fresh or buffalo mozzarella cheese, drained,
thinly sliced 2 pounds (about 4 large) heirloom
tomatoes (preferably assorted colors), thinly
sliced
Preparation Prepare
barbecue (medium heat). Arrange eggplant slices on
baking sheet. Brush both sides with oil and
sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill until
slightly charred and tender, turning occasionally
and moving to cook evenly, about 5 minutes.
Transfer to foil-lined baking sheet. Grill plum
tomato until skin is charred and split, turning
often, about 5 minutes. Transfer to sheet with
eggplant and cool. Core plum tomato; place in
blender. Add chopped basil, vinegar, and 1/4 cup
oil. Blend until smooth. Season with salt and
pepper. Transfer to small bowl. DO AHEAD
Eggplant and dressing can be made 2 hours
ahead. Let stand at room
temperature.
Overlap eggplant
slices, cheese slices, and heirloom tomato slices
on individual plates or large platter. Sprinkle
with salt and pepper. Drizzle salad with dressing
and garnish with basil sprigs.
from Bon Appétit, July
2007
Tori
Ritchie |
Spicy
Eggplant Spread with Thai
Basil
|
Taste-tested at the
farmers' potluck. Makes about 2 cups.
1
pound eggplant, any variety 1 1/2 tablespoons light
brown sugar 2 tablespoons rice wine
vinegar 1 tablespoon mushroom or
dark Chinese soy sauce 2 to 3 serrano chiles,
finely minced 3 tablespoons dark
sesame or roasted peanut oil 3 garlic cloves,
minced 3
tablespoons chopped basil Salt
Roast the eggplant in an
oven at 425 degrees until it's soft to the point
of collapsing, 30 to 40 minutes for a large
Italian eggplant (may be less for smaller
eggplants), allowing the skin to char in places to
give the skin a smoky flavor. Remove to a
colander to cool. Peel -- don't worry about
stubborn flecks of skin -- and coarsely chop the
flesh.
Mix the sugar, vinegar,
soy, and shiles togather. Heat wok or
skillet over high heat and add the oil. When
it begins to haze, add the garlic and stir-fry for
30 seconds. Add the eggplant and stir-fry
for 2 minutes, then add the sauce and fry for 1
minute more. Remove from the heat and stir
in the chopped basil. Taste for salt.
Mound the eggplant in a
bowl and garnish with small basil leaves and
sesame seeds. Serve with croutons or
crackers.
from Deborah
Madison's Vegetarian Cooking
for
Everyone.
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Welcome
to the 2007 Harvest Season!
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Share pickups at
the farm are:
- Tuesday, August 7, 3-7:30 PM
- Thursday, August 9, 3-7:30 PM
- Sunday, August 12, 3-7:30 PM
Share pickups in Somerville are Tuesday
August 7 from 5-7 PM.
Bring bags for your pickup if you have
them! We
have enough bags at the farm for a while, thank
you to all who have
contributed.
Bring your own household compost if you
don't mind the walk to the compost piles.
Thanks to everyone who has brought
compost! |
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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.
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Pick your own crops this
week
- Basil (Thai, lemon, red, sweet)
- Epazote
- Parsley
- Beans
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Plum Tomatoes
- Hot Peppers
- Tomatilloes
- Husk Cherries
- Flowers
- Perennial Herbs (that's work share Jim
Dailey weeding the perennial garden below --
thank him for his great work if you see him on a
Tuesday!)
CSA shareholders can visit
the farm to pick your own 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.
Important Note on Pick-Your-Own
Crops -- Please Read!
Several shareholders have mentioned to us
that it seems like a few folks are picking more
of the pick-your-own crops than the white board
at the red kiosk suggests. This makes it
very tough for others to find crops,
particularly by the end of the night.
Please make sure
to follow these simple guidelines when doing
pick-your-own:
1. Read
the white board BEFORE you harvest a crop.
2.
Please harvest ONLY the crops that are listed on
the white board. Some crops may
have a yellow and green sign in the field to
delineate where they are (for example, we've
marked all the hot peppers so people know where
the jalapenos begin and end) but may not be
ready to harvest yet. Please use the white
board as the final word, NOT the list in the
newsletter, which is just our best guess on what
will be ready over the course of the week.
3.
Please harvest ONLY the amount of each crop that
is listed on the board. Some crops
are limited when they are first coming in, and
some continue to be limited so that there will
be enough for everyone on all three harvest
nights. If you harvest only the amount we
suggest, there will be abundant pick-your-own
for everyone. Please also keep in mind
that there are 310 other shareholders in the
fields. If there is no amount listed, you
can assume that that means "take what you'll use
this week."
Please let us know if you have any questions
about pick-your-own, or if you see someone else
who might have questions. You can also let
us know if we're running low on a crop or if
there is abundance beyond what our limit might
suggest. We're happy to help clarify
things in the
field! |
Crop
Updates
This past week
marked the real transition on the farm from
early summer to midsummer crops. By the
end of the week, our earliest block of tomatoes
was really producing, along with our bell
peppers. We plant tomatoes in three
blocks, and our middle block contains most of
our heirloom varieties. These are looking
beautiful, and you should begin to see them in
the share in a week or two.
Fall crops on the farm are
looking good so far, including the big block of
fall carrots that Vinny, Anna, Josh and Sara are
weeding in the photo on the left, along with
beets, parsnips, radicchio, celeriac, collards,
kale, fall broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower,
and leeks. It's always hard to imagine
that we'll want these autumn comfort foods
during the heat of summer, but we'll be glad for
them after the tomatoes have passed!
We
harvested our garlic anad most of our storage
onions last week. Peek in the greenhouse
to see these crops curing -- we store them for
two weeks to dry down the remaining green tissue
and make them store better. We need to
keep about 300 pounds of garlic for seed for
next season -- you should see the rest in the
shares soon.
Our cucumbers, summer squash
and melons continue to struggle at the Lyman
field. Squirrels and rabbits have joined
the woodchucks in nibbling our squash, making it
unmarketable. The squirrels climb over the
fence into the field and eat the actual
flowers of the squash plants so
that the plants are unable to produce
fruit. It's very frustrating to walk down
a 400 foot row of summer squash and end up with
three zucchini! The woodchucks are taking
one or two bites out of each unripe watermelon
as it lies in the field, creating an entry point
for disease and causing the fruit to rot.
We also caught a skunk in our havahart trap last
week -- what a surprise for us and for
him! He was released unharmed despite the
fact that he, too, eats vegetables. It
looks like we need to reconsider our plans for
these well-protected fields for future
years given the intense pest pressure from the
surrounding woods.
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Comings and Goings on the
Farm
This is the last
week for the Children's Learning Garden
program's collaborations with the Waltham Parks
and Recreation department and Cambridge
Adventure Day Camp. It has been incredible
to watch the children learn in and care for the
farm's children's garden, while also making use
of the fields as an outdoor
classroom. We are so grateful to CLG
coordinator Mark Walter and all the volunteers
who worked with him -- particularly Judy Fallows
-- and to our farm interns, who helped make the
program a success this season.
Read more about the Children's
Learning Garden...
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Local Farm and Food
Events
August 8-10,
Hampshire College, Amherst: Northeast
Organic Farmers' Association Annual
Conference. Workshops on sustainable
living, preserving food, and, of course, organic
farming, along with a great fair, contradance
and zydeco extravaganza. Our farmers will
be there! More information at NOFA's website.
August
9-12, Boston: American Community Gardening
Association Conference. More information
at ACGA's
website.
September 8, Pickling with
Salt: Part of NOFA's practical skills
workshop series. More information at the calendar at
NOFA's
website.
September 21-23, The Maine
Organic Farmers and Gardeners' Association's
annual Common Ground Country Fair, Unity, ME.
More information at MOFGA's
website. |
We Are Looking
For...
A few good local
farms to partner with to offer additional
products to our shareholders in upcoming
seasons, including eggs, dairy products and
meat. If any of you are associated with
farms that might be able to connect with us,
please let us know by contacting our farm
manager, Amanda Cather, through the link
below.
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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 Mark Walter, Children's
Learning Garden
Coordinator
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