News from Waltham Fields Community Farm CSA

Amanda Cather <farmmanager@communityfarms.org>
Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 10:04 AM
Reply-To: farmmanager@communityfarms.org
To: Shareholders
local food for everyoneWaltham Fields Community Farm
CSA Newsletter #7
July 21, 2008
In This Issue
What's In the Share This Week
Pick-Your-Own Crops
Notes from the Field
Quick Links
Stock up on Farm Merchandise!
onesie
T-shirts, baby onesies, tote bags, and 2008 Sprout posters will be for sale at the CSA distribution shed on all pick-up days this week. Member prices for t-shirts, onesies and tote bags range from $12-15 per item. Sprout posters are $2, or free with purchase of another item.
Spicy Pickled Okra
From Cooking Light, June 2005.

2 1/2 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
3 T sugar
T kosher salt
1 t white peppercorns
1 t coriander seeds
1 t fennel seeds
1 t cumin seeds
4 fresh dill sprigs
2 green or red jalapeƱo peppers, halved lengthwise
1 1/2 pounds small okra pods

Combine vinegar and the next 7 ingredients (through cumin seeds) in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until sugar and salt dissolve, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in fresh dill sprigs, jalapeƱos, and okra pods. Cool completely; pour mixture into an airtight container. Cover and chill.
Note: Refrigerate okra in an airtight container for up to two weeks.


Many thanks for the recipe suggestions and links you sent in last week -- keep 'em coming!

Need more ideas? Visit our Produce Info and Recipes page.
Bring us your compost!

Bring your own household compost if you don't mind the walk to the compost piles. Acceptable compost ingredients include all vegetable and fruit scraps, eggshells, bread crusts and coffee grounds. Please, no other animal products. Thanks to everyone who has helped us build our compost piles!

Welcome to the 2008 Harvest Season!

CSA Pickups at the Farm this Week:fields
  • Tuesday, July 22 from 3-7 PM
  • Thursday, July 24 from 3-7 PM
  • Sunday, July 27 from 3-7 PM
CSA Pickup in Davis Square (for pre-registered shareholders only):
  • Tuesday, July 22 from 5-7 PM

Many thanks to Eric Wlodyka for contributing to this week's farm photos.

What's In the Share This Week
teepeePlease note:

This list is prepared the week before you receive your share. Some guesswork is involved!

We do our best to predict which crops will be ready to harvest, but sometimes crops are on the list that are not in the share, and sometimes crops will be in the share even though they're not on the list.


Pick-Your-Own Crops This Week
Shareholders are welcome to pick-your-own during scallionsdaylight hours Mondays through Thursdays and Sundays. Check the white board on the red kiosk for PYO information.
  • Basil
  • Parsley
  • Cilantro
  • Green & Yellow Beans
  • Flowers
  • Possibly cherry tomatoes by the end of the week
  • Perennial Herbs (thanks to Sabine Gerbatsch for the great signage in the perennial garden!)
Notes from the Field

There is a Marge Piercy poem called "To Be of Use" that I love and quote constantly. I offer it this week to our farm staff in thanks and recognition of their dedication to getting the job done, and doing it with a degree of excellence and good humor that I am humbled to be a part of. Andy, Erinn, Jonathan, Dan, and Amanda Jellen: thank you.
The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
Warmly,

The Staff of Waltham Fields Community Farm
Amanda Cather, Farm Manager
Debra Guttormsen, Administrative and Finance Coordinator
Amanda Jellen, Farm Crew
Paula Jordan, Children's Learning Garden Assistant
Claire Kozower, Executive Director
Jonathan Martinez, Assistant Grower
Dan Roberts, Farm Crew
Erinn Roberts, Assistant Grower
Andy Scherer, Assistant Farm Manager
Mark Walter, Children's Learning Garden Coordinator
Waltham Fields Community Farm | 240 Beaver Street | Waltham | MA | 02452