September 24, 2012
CSA Distribution Week #16
  green fields  

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: 

 
ChardIt's back!  Swiss chard makes a repeat appearance in the shares this week.   

Collard GreensTender and delicious, collards are an underappreciated member of the greens family.  Give them a try -- they'll be around for the rest of the season. 

Carrots

Beets

Purple Top Turnips
Very different from their sweet salad relatives, purple top turnips are an earthy, distinctively autumnal vegetable.  Try them in soup or braised as a side dish for a tasty roast chicken or beef. 

Lettuce:  A mix of greens and reds.
 
Mustard Greens:  A spicy addition chopped into a salad, also great sauteed with some garlic, tomatoes and lemon juice!  Or tasty on grilled cheese sandwiches too.

Arugula:  A fall favorite, this crop of arugula looks lovely in the field.  We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.  Our friend Katy makes a delicious fettucine dish with pancetta, heavy cream, parmesan and arugula from Under the Tuscan Sun; it's so easy and tasty, it's hard to believe -- perfect for an easy weeknight meal and so good even kids love it.

Spinach:  It rained last week, so the spinach is just beautiful.  Enjoy it while it lasts!

Escarole and radicchio:  These tasty chicories flourish in cool weather.  They make great salads, are delicious in soups, and make a great side dish for steak or chicken.  They are also lovely wilted and put on a grown-up grilled cheese.    
 
Cabbage:  More beautiful heads of fresh, tasty cabbage are ready to come out of the fields.  You can make cabbage rolls, a tasty grilled cabbage slaw, or an autumnal salad -- there are lots of options for these sweet, crisp beauties!

Napa Cabbage:  Kimchihot and sour soup, tasty summer rolls or sweet slaw are just a few ideas of great seasonal meals to make with napa. 

Bok choyThis beautiful fall crop is tasty and full of vitamins. Use it in stir fries, a tasty seafood curry  or as a side dish for grilled chicken.
 
Broccoli and cauliflower:  We're right at the beginning of our final broccoli planting of the season, so you may see it in smaller amounts as we harvest the first early heads.  It should pick up again before the end of the season.  This should be just the beginning of an abundant fall cauliflower harvest.   
 
Radishes

Salad Turnips:  These round white beauties are great raw, simply sliced on a crudite plate, or roasted in a hot oven until the outsides are brown and crispy and the insides are what Dan calls "molten sweet turnip candy".  These are all that Sutton wants to eat for dinner these days! 
   
Potatoes:  Keep the taste of summer going with a delicious potato salad, or just stock up on this staple!
  
And farmers' choice of a few surprises 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    
  • Green beans -- the final crop of the year is on! 
  • Hot peppers -- many types! 
  • Tomatilloes 
  • Husk cherries
  • Cherry and plum tomatoes are winding down, but there are still quite a few out there if you're willing to hunt around!  
  • Flowers  
  • Raspberries: Spotted wing drosophila, the new scourge of the Northeast organic berry grower, is back.  This tiny fruit fly lays its eggs in ripening fruit.  You can soak berries in salty water to make larvae float to the top in order to use the berries in a recipe like raspberry freezer jam.  The larvae are not harmful to consume, but most people prefer to forgo the added protein.  

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Quick Links

 

WFCF CSA Info & Pickup Times 

 

Weekday shareholders:  Please remember to pick up on Tuesday or Thursday evenings!  This becomes even more critical during the fall months.  Email Amanda at the beginning of the week to request a one-time switch if you need to.   

 

WFCF Recipes

 

Events and Programs

 

Save The Date

 

Seed Saving Workshop with WFCF member Brian Madsen. Sat., Oct. 20, 2-4pm. Registration required.

 

Cabbage Hot and Cold

Shareholder Donna is a big fan of cabbage -- she sent in two recipes. The first is from her friend Liane:

Cabbage Slaw
Mix together:
1 c. sliced thinly & chopped green or red cabbage (about 1/4 of a medium-ish head) 
1 c. cooked wheat berries
1 c. sweet/tart or tar apples
1/2 c. dried cranberries

Blend together:
1/4 c yogurt
1/4 c mayo 

Mix all, and enjoy!



Rotkohl
A German red cabbage recipe which also uses apples (but minus Bauchspeck for us). My German friends serve it over mashed potatoes.

2.5 oz. bacon, either American or German "Bauchspeck", chopped (optional!) 

1/2 c. onion, diced

4 c. shredded red cabbage, about 1 lb.

1/2 c. dry, red wine

1/2 c. apple juice

1 T. sugar or agave nectar or honey

1 bay leaf

4 cloves

Ground black pepper

1 apple, peeled and quartered

 
Preparation:

Brown bacon in a dutch oven. Add onions and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the cabbage and cook for 2-3 minutes. Pour in red wine and juice to deglaze, add the spices, sugar and apple.

Simmer on stove top for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. Keep the liquids one finger width (1/2 inch) deep, adding apple juice or water. Adjust seasonings. Serve hot.

 

Note: This recipe freezes well. Make it once, serve it twice. I put it in freezer bags and press it flat (1 inch) so that it thaws quickly. I can also break off 1 serving and keep the rest frozen.


Do you have a recipe you'd like to share? We'd love to include it in our next newsletter! Please send it in to Susan Cassidy. And thanks in advance! 
Notes from the Field

 "We come and go, but the land is always here.  And the people who love it and understand it are the people who own it -- for a little while." 
-- Willa Cather, O Pioneers

This week we say goodbye to our amazing field crew, Alison, Anna, Dave and Kat.  This week's notes from the field are Anna's reflections on her time at WFCF.  We will miss them all so much!

OnionsIt's official: it's fall time on the farm.  It's those cool mornings when you can feel the dew soak into your bones.  There is a refreshing air through my body.  It's an awareness that life has gained more wisdom from just having gone through another summer of full growth.  It is now time for a slow and steady ripple towards rest and renewal.  Overall plants are producing less due to the decreased hours of day light and cooler night temperatures.  The last of the tomatoes, okra, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, garlic, onions are getting harvested, pulled, cured, cleaned, mowed, and if time permits cover cropped.  However, some crops are just beginning to thrive.  It's time to shine for the brassica family.  Broccoli, broccoli rab, collards, kale, cabbages, turnips, mustard greens, and arugula.  There is a unique tranquility upon our earth.

 

Farm machineryAs a field crew member, who experiences the farm in an intense manner starting in mid June and getting ready to leave this upcoming week, I am grateful and inspired by farming and the people at WFCF. With no concrete idea of the larger operation before beginning my position, I have been a long term visitor of the farm, but a visitor who is like a long lost relative, extremely welcomed by powerfully inspiring people. Yes, I have learned so much about farming, first about the basics of vegetable plants and all the steps it takes to get the vegetables to both the members and our outreach market goers. I never realized the intricate harvesting methods, the time for seeding in the greenhouse, transplanting with water wheels and fish fertilizer, critical weeding periods, tractor work and all its implements. I have learned an enormous amount about giving life and living life. I will never forget that day, while working the CSA distribution, when the sky was dark and a burst of rain showered the entire farm. Everyone gathered in the barn, huddled together with veggies in hand, when that thick and full rainbow with every ray of color suddenly appeared over the farm, seeming to end in directly in our tractor shed.  It was magical as we all stood together in awe!

 

I guess what I am trying to say is that Waltham Fields Community Farm is truly a special place.  It sparkles with passion and compassion.  It has been much more than a seasonal job for me, but a community.  A place of health and rejuvenation and a place of working towards bettering the lives of others through food.  I have been forever changed.  Thank you to the farmers Amanda, Erinn, Dan, Andy, Zannah, and Sutton, and of course my fellow crew members Alison, Kat, and Dave, for your energy and drive to give your all.  See you on the farm!

 

-Anna

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  

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