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August 20, 2012
| CSA Distribution Week #11
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Waltham Fields Community Farm
CSA Newsletter
 
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What's in the shares 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 the following list:
Kale: Kale should be around for most of the rest of the season. Enjoy all three 'Red Russian', 'Winterbor' (curly) or 'Dinosaur' (Tuscan) varieties!
Swiss Chard: Colorful and packed with folate, vitamins A, K and C, magnesium, potassium and fiber, chard is one of the healthiest vegetables we grow.
Collard Greens: Tender and delicious, collards are an underappreciated member of the greens family. Check out some recipes and give them a try -- they'll be around for the rest of the season.
Lettuce: Green "Nevada" and red "Magenta" & "Cherokee" varieties
IPM Sweet Corn from Verrill Farm
Beets: We have many plantings of beets and carrots throughout the season. We always harvest a planting with the tops on first, and then clear it by harvesting with the tops off. For that reason, you'll sometimes see beets bunched and sometimes loose by the pound; both types are fresh, sweet, and delicious.
Carrots: The latest stand of carrots have tops that are poor for bunching, so you'll continue to see them loose on the stand.
Zucchini: We grow three different types of zucchini: the traditional green, a beautiful gold variety, and an heirloom variety called Costata Romanesco ('Roman Rib'), which is tasty even when it's very large, which, because it can hide easily in the giant leaves of the plant, it often is.
Summer Squash: The traditional yellow 'Slick Pik' is joined by the green and yellow patty pans and the beautifully striped 'Zephyr'. All are delicious on the grill, sauteed in butter, or made into summer's best enchiladas for a special meal.
Cucumbers: After a tremendous season, this may be the final week for the cukes!
Eggplant: Long, thin 'Orient Express', dark purple 'Italian' style globes, and tiny, beautiful 'Fairy Tale' eggplant are all tasty on the grill, in baba ganoush, or in ratatouille (see recipe at right). Try them all and see which one is your favorite!
Celery: Our celery is smaller, greener and more strongly flavored than the blanched white celery you traditionally see in the grocery store. It is perfect in potato or pasta salads, where it adds a tantalizing crunch, soup stocks, or other recipes where you want the texture and flavor of celery.
Green Peppers: The beginning of a crop that should take us into early October. We planted our red peppers a little later this year to try to avoid the pepper maggot fly, so we're not planning to see those until September. For now, enjoy these beautiful green peppers in ratatouille or gazpacho!
Tomatoes: The harvests have been heavy this past week. Though we had to take down 2 beds of heirlooms in an attempt to stave off the late blight from spreading, we're keeping our fingers crossed for another good, heavy week.
Okra: Delicious on the grill!
Mustard Greens: The beginning of the transition from summer to fall crops is usually marked by these delicious "greens" (though some this week are purple...) A spicy addition chopped into a salad, also great sauteed with some garlic, tomatoes and lemon juice!
Melons: Tasty 'icebox' sized yellow and red watermelon.
And a farmers' choice of a few other surprise items throughout the week!
Pick-your-own crops this week:
Please note that when harvesting pick your own, you'll often find the easiest and most abundant picking at the middles and far ends of the beds.
- Perennial garden herbs
- Basil
- Dill
- Parsley
- Hot peppers: jalapeno and serrano, maybe a couple new surprises this week
- Tomatilloes
- Husk cherries
- Cherry and plum tomatoes -- please harvest only if plants are dry
- Flowers
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Quick Links
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Events and Programs
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Indian Vegetarian Cooking with CSA shareholder Meena Kothandaraman
Fri., Aug. 24, 5-7pm
Click here to learn more!
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Kids Corner: Okra
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NAME: Okra also known as Lady's finger and Gumbo.
FAMILY: Mallow.
NUTRITION: Okra is low in calories, and is a good source for dietary fiber and vitamins A, B, C, and K.
FUN FACT: Okra was cultivated by the ancient egyptians. Mature (old) okra is used to make paper or wood.
RECIPE: Mom's Fried Okra
- 20 medium pods okra
- 2 eggs (duck is best)
- 1 cup cornmeal
- ½ cup flour
- Garlic salt
- Cayenne pepper
- Cilantro
- White pepper
- Olive oil (enough to fry in)
Cut okra into quarter inch slices. In a small bowl beat the eggs. In a medium bowl mix well all dried ingredients.
Dip okra in the egg then dredge through the cornmeal mix.
Fry until golden brown and enjoy.
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Winter Shares and Fruit Shares for Sale! | WFCF has a very few of our own delicious winter shares for sale for $200! Purchase one now to make sure you keep receiving tasty, organically grown veggies through the end of the year.
Both primary shareholders and split share partners (secondary shareholders) can purchase their own winter shares, but please make sure we make a note of who is purchasing the share when you sign up! Winter shares consist of four distributions of a range of seasonal vegetables, including winter greens, cabbage, onions, leeks, carrots, turnips and other storage crops and include a selection of winter squash and potatoes from Picadilly Farm. These shares are a delicious way to celebrate the late-season harvest!
Note: Winter shares are distributed on Saturday afternoons in November and December. Please make a note of the distribution days to make sure you will be available to pick up your winter share!  2012 Winter CSA Share pick-ups will be as follows: Saturday, November 3, 1-4 PM
Saturday, November 17, 1-4 PM
Saturday, December 1, 1-4 PM Saturday, December 15, 1-4 PM Autumn Hills Orchard Fruit Share WFCF is partnering with Autumn Hills Orchard again this year to offer 9-week fruit shares, beginning in late August. Autumn Hills, an 84 acre orchard operation in Groton, Mass., grows over 30 varieties of apples, as well as peaches, plums, pears and grapes. For $70, fruit share customers will receive 9 weeks of a half-peck (or equivalent value if not apples) of what's in season and picked to order. Fruit shares are picked up at WFCF when you pick up your vegetable share. To sign up, just pay by check or cash at any CSA pickup this week. Here's a sampling of what CSA shareholders have received in past seasons: Early Season: Peaches, Bartlett Pears, Ginger Gold, Paula Red, Gala
Mid-Season: Italian Plums, Cortland, Macintosh, Empire, Cox' Orange Pippin, Spencer, Golden Delicious, Bosc Pears, Concord Grapes
Late-Season: Macoun, Mutsu, RI Greening, Spigold, Suncrisp, Red Delicious, Ida Red We typically feature two or three varieties each week - but sometimes we mix it up a bit depending on the week and what's available. Autumn Hills is open for pick your own during September and October. We also partner with CSA farms in Eastern Massachusetts and deliver fresh, picked to order, tree fruit as well as grapes to customers on a weekly basis. Our farm is three rolling drumlin hills and has panoramic views of the hills and mountains of Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire - very good land for growing apples! Our staff has years of experience in farming responsibly and sustainably and we are careful to employ good farming practices. We are "extreme" followers of Integrated Pest Management techniques and consult regularly with UMass Extension and other agricultural experts to grow the best fruit possible. Learn more about us at www.autumnhillsorchard.com. |
| Notes from the Field: Thank You and Good Bye to the Weed Crew | |
 Today in Amanda's stead I reserve this space this week for a thank you and a good bye. This is the last week that our 2012 Weed Crew, Annabelle, Becca, Katie and Meghan, will be with us and the sadness I feel is deep and real. As some of you may have noticed, this can be a weedy place. We are dealing with a legacy "weed seed bank" whose size would make Citigroup blush (see: "Too big to fail"). Some three years ago we decided that it was necessary to add a four-person crew that would be responsible expressly for hand weed control. This crew spends five mornings a week for three of our weediest months on their hands and knees pulling, prying, wrenching, levering, sometimes hoeing and occasionally, virtually tweezing weeds from the soil. All so that our crops might thrive. They bring airflow to congested beds where disease may have flourished, access to light, so that tender plants don't have to reach and become leggy, and limit competition, so that plants becoming established have their nutritive needs satisfied. They are also the people on the farm that direct our drop in volunteers during the week. They act as ambassadors for the farm, explaining the tasks for the day, keeping people moving and motivated during hot, dry, cold and wet weather. They answer questions about the farm and organization, all while focused on the task at hand: Kill Weeds.
This is no small feat. It is work that can be redundant and can feel thankless, particularly if one loses sight of its importance. It can be very difficult to remember that this work, done as maintenance between transplant and harvest, so significantly impacts our yields, ease of harvest and overall efficiency, and therefore our CSA share at the stand and ultimately the food access work that we do in our community.
 We have been fortunate to have three crews in a row that were all fantastic. But this year's crew has set the bar very high for all Weed Crews to follow. This bunch has been all business from day one; nose down, bell to bell, efficient, team driven and fastidious. They don't posses the level of hate for our weeds that some in the past have (I'm looking at you Kenny...) but these four have been the model of incredible consistency, always ready to go in the morning, always up for the task, no matter how daunting, always with a smile and a quick inquiry about the work they'd be doing or what else was going on that day on the farm. They quickly learned every technique we taught and applied them thoughtfully, efficiently and briskly, but most of all thoroughly. This crew does clean work, I mean immaculate.
It is hard for me to actually believe that they have been with us now for eleven of their twelve weeks. It is more difficult for me to picture life without them. Annabelle, Becca, Katie and Meghan - I thank you personally for your season of hard work and the spirit with which you toiled. You will be missed. Really.
Enjoy the harvest. Dan, for the farm crew |
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Waltham Fields Community Farm Year-Round Staff
Claire Kozower, Executive Director
Kim Hunter, Education & Volunteer Coordinator
Amanda Cather, Farm Manger
Andy Scherer, Gateways Field Manager
Dan Roberts, Field Manager
Erinn Roberts, Greenhouse & Field Manager
Marla Rhodes, Development Coordinator
Deb Guttormsen, Bookkeeper & Tech Coordinator
Assistant Growers
Sutton Kiplinger, Zannah Porter
Field Crew
Alison Denn, Anna Linck, Katherine Murray, David Taberner
Weed Crew
Becca Carden, Kathryn Cole, Annabelle Ho, Meghan Seifert
Learning Garden Educators
Rebecca Byard, Alison Dagger, Ian Howes
Work Sharers
Graphic Design, Neva Corbo-Hudak
CSA Newsletter, Susan Cassidy
Learning Garden Maintenance, Rebekah Carter
Container Garden, Dede Dussault
Perennial Garden Maintenance, Sabine Gerbatsch and Amy Hendrickson
Farm Work, Naomi Shea
CSA Distribution Coordinators: Joy Grimes, Natasha Hawke, Deepika Madan, Eileen Rojas, and Aneiage Van Bean
www.communityfarms.org 781-899-2403
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Waltham Fields Community Farm | 240 Beaver Street | Waltham | MA | 02452
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