August 8, 2011
Distribution Week #9
eggplant

Waltham Fields Community Farm

CSA Newsletter

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What's in the share this week...

This list is prepared before we harvest 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.   

 

Mix-and-Match nine items this week from a list that may include:  

Pick-Your-Own Crops   

You are welcome to harvest the PYO portion of the share during any daylight hours, 7 days a week. Please check the board at the little red kiosk for information on amounts, locations and picking instructions. Remember, you can pick one time per week but it doesn't necessarily have to be at the same time you are picking up your share    

 

Whew!  PYO Crops have been hit hard by dry weather.  We will do our best to get them weeded and watered this week and we hope you'll be patient with us as they recover.  We should be on track again soon! 

  • Cilantro  
  • Thai, purple and Italian basil  
  • Dill
  • Flat leaf and curly parsley
  • Green beans (with any luck!) 
  • Herbs and flowers in the perennial garden and flower patch  
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Plum tomatoes
  • Hot peppers 

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Quick Links

 

Upcoming events at the Farm

 

Empty Bowls Dinner
Saturday, Sept. 10th, 5-7pm
Rain Date: Sept. 11
$30/person 
Limited to 100 guests

 

A soup supper outside on the farm featuring handmade bowls by Farmer Andy for you to eat from and go home with.  All proceeds support our food access/hunger relief work.

 

Click here for full details and ticket purchase information.

 

Save the Date: 
Waltham Farm Day
Saturday, Sept. 24th, 2-5pm
FREE event, open to all
Join us in celebrating MA Harvest for Students Week and farming in Waltham!  More details to come soon.
Escarole Braised with Cannellini Beans (with 2 variations)

Shareholder Kathy writes in...I have a tasty, easy, filling recipe for braised escarole with cannellini beans that I made with a head of escarole from the farm a few weeks ago. Since then, I've discovered I can substitute other vegetables for the escarole. For two weeks in a row, that's what I've done as I've unpacked my vegetables the night I've brought home my share, and it's come out great. (My husband agrees.) Below is the original recipe, with the substitutions I've tried so far.

 

Escarole Braised with Cannellini Beans
from All About Braising by Molly Stevens

 

1 head escarole
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (I use less)
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (I use big pinch Aleppo chili)
Salt and pepper
1 19-oz can cannellini beans (white kidney beans)
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

 

Tear escarole leaves from the head and wash well. Slice into strips 1-1/2" wide. 

 

Combine oil, garlic, and red pepper in a large lidded skillet over medium heat. Warm just until garlic becomes fragrant and golden around the edges, but not dark brown. Add escarole a handful at a time, until it's all wilted. (I push the wilted pieces to one side and keep adding raw pieces where they can touch the pan.) Season with salt and pepper.

 

Drain and rinse the canned beans. Add to the escarole along with the stock. Cover and cook at a low simmer for 20 minutes. I like to serve this over a piece of sour-tasting toast, e.g. Trader Joe's whole wheat Tuscan pane.

 

Substitution #1: Instead of wilting escarole, I sauteed thinly sliced fennel, spring onions, garlic, cut-up green beans, and diced yellow zucchini. Then I added fresh dill and the other ingredients in the recipe and braised it for 20 minutes. I served it over Israeli couscous (similar to pasta). 

 

Substitution #2: I pre-boiled curly kale for around 5 minutes in salted water and then drained it and chopped it coarsely. I sauteed onion, garlic, and baby potatoes cut in half. Then I added the kale, fresh dill, and the cannellini beans, stock, etc., from the recipe, braising for 20 mintues. I served it over Israeli couscous.

 

Do you have a favorite recipe you make with farm produce that you'd like to share!? Send it on in!

Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) 2011 Summer Conference
August 12 - 14 at UMass Amherst

Keynote Speakers: Eric Toensmeier, Perennial Edibles Expert, and Dr. Ignacio Chapela of UC Berkeley, GMO Activist.  Over 200 Workshops on Organic Gardening, Farming, Food Politics, Permaculture, Homesteading, Landscaping, Draft-Animal Power, Alternative Energy, Livestock, Cooking, and more! Hundreds of Vendors and Exhibitors. Live Entertainment. Children's and Teen Conference. Country Fair and Farmer's Market. Silent Auction. 

This year NOFA is proud to partner with the Draft-Animal Power Network. Spend the weekend or come for the day.  Activities for all ages!

To register: www.nofasummerconference.org  Email: info@nofasummerconference.org
Call for more info: 978-355-2853
 

Notes from the Field:  One Thousand Pounds
tomatoes... of tomatoes. That's what we picked last Friday. Yellow 'Taxi', 'Orange Blossom', 'Japanese Black Trifele', 'Pruden's Purple', 'Paul Robeson', 'Jet Star', 'Early Girl', 'Cherokee Purple'... the beautiful names, colors and flavors of one of our favorite harvests of the year rolled in all afternoon. It sounds like a cliche, but there's nothing quite like a ripe tomato in August.

... of watermelons. That's about what the coyotes have eaten this week. They began this disturbing behavior last year when it was so dry and they were thirsty. They may have been a little thirsty last week, but with all the puddles of irrigation water around, I think they just have a taste for the melons. They seem to get them just a few days before we would have harvested them; they work at them with their teeth and roll them around until they break off the vine, then claw and bite them until they get them open and completely empty them of juicy, sweet flesh. Then they leave the green rind as a calling card in the field for us to find in the morning. We spent one night last week at the farm in a tent, which was beautiful, in its own way -- and no more watermelons disappeared that night. But even my very understanding family can't spend every night camped by the melons, so we ordered an electric fence and have been making do day by day with huge quantities of chili powder from Patel Brothers on Moody Street. Unfortunately, it seems like our wily friends might have a taste for chili-melon slush (sounds pretty good, actually). We'll see what's left in the morning.

... of food is what we've been taking each week to our Outreach Market, which opened July 13. This market, which takes place not far from Patel Brothers each Tuesday evening until October, is a way for our farm to get our produce directly to the lower-income folks who live nearby. Anyone can come to the market and fill a bag with vegetables for $5. Some pay with cash, some with SNAP, which we began accepting this year thanks to a partnership with the Waltham Farmers' Market. We also partner with many local direct-service organizations to provide vouchers for a free bag to many of their clients. Last week, we gave away a record 72 bags of produce at the market. On July 28, the Boston Globe reported that doctors at Boston Medical Center "are seeing more hungry and dangerously thin young children in the emergency room than at any time in more than a decade of surveying families." One thousand pounds. It's the least we can do. 
 
Enjoy the harvest.

-- Amanda, for Andy, Erinn, Dan, Larisa and Lauren

Waltham Fields Community Farm Staff
 

Claire Kozower, Executive Director

Jericho Bicknell, Education & Volunteer Coordinator

Amanda Cather, Farm Manager

Andy Scherer, Field Manager

Dan Roberts, Field Manager

Erinn Roberts, Greenhouse & Field Manager

Marla Rhodes, Development Coordinator

Deb Guttormsen, Bookkeeper & Tech Coordinator

 

Assistant Growers/Farmers in Training:

Larisa Jacobson, Lauren Weinberg

 

Farm Crew:

Rachel Dutton, Andy Friedberg, Courtney Giancaterino, Rachel Kaplan, Shira Tiffany, Laura Van Tassel

 

Learning Garden Educators:

Marie Benkley, Rebekah Carter, Kristin Cleveland, Dede Dussault, Paula Jordan

 

Summer Fellow (from Stanford's Center for Public Service):

Joanna Rosene-Mirvis

 

www.communityfarms.org          781-899-2403  

 

Waltham Fields Community Farm | 240 Beaver Street | Waltham | MA | 02452