Waltham Fields Community Farm
CSA NEWSLETTER
 Week 17:  September 30, 2013                          Like us on Facebook  Visit our blog 
 
In This Issue

WE NEED YOUR PLASTIC BAGS & DRAWINGS FOR OUR FARM DAY COMMUNITY ART PROJECT on Oct. 5, 2-5pm

 

There will be a bin in the CSA barn to collect your bags this week.

 

Or drop them by the farm office.

 

Bags of all colors wanted - and join us on Farm Day to recycle them into public art!

 

Want to participate even more? Draw the outline of your favorite bird that might be spotted on the farm and drop it off or email it to us by 10/3.


HERITAGE BREED

PIG LOTTERY

CLOSES TUESDAY OCT. 1st at 12pm

 

See the block below this week's recipe for info...


Upcoming Events

 

ALL OF OCTOBER: Eat at Elephant Walk in Waltham!

We are delighted to be the October beneficiary, with proceeds from lunch, brunch and dinner at The Elephant Walk's Waltham location supporting of our work. Enjoy a fantastic selection of French and Cambodian food.

 

FARM DAY

Sat., Oct. 5

2-5pm

Free event on the farm celebrating local agriculture and Massachusetts Harvest for Students Week. Live music & farm fun! All are welcome - bring your friends and family!

See our website for more details, including a list of participating organizations offering activities and this year's event sponsors. 

Volunteers Wanted, please contact Kim.

  
See above block about plastic bags and drawings needed for our Farm Day community art project. Bring us your materials!    
 

MAKE YOUR OWN BABY FOOD WORKSHOP

Sat., Oct. 12

10am-12pm

  
Join Kim Hunter, Waltham Fields Educator and mother of two young ones growing up on lots of farm-fresh food, as she shares her favorite tips and engages you in hands on preparation of vegetable purees.
  
Click here for full details and registration info.

FOOD DAY BENEFIT DINNER AT THE ELEPHANT WALK
Thurs., Oct. 24
6:30pm
 
Join us for a special meal & conversation around Food Day principles.
Click here for registration info.
 
2014 CSA Shares 
This is the time of year when we usually begin asking you to put down a deposit to renew your CSA share for 2014. Instead, this year, watch this space for a link to a brief survey to gauge your interest in some changes we're considering for next season. We hope to create a share that provides even more flexibility and satisfaction for you, while continuing to deepen the relationship between all of our CSA shareholders and Waltham Fields Community Farm. We hope to have the survey ready to go by next week!
 
What's In the Share This Week
Each week, we do our best to predict what will be available in the CSA barn and in the fields.  The CSA newsletter is prepared before we start harvesting for the week, so sometimes you'll see vegetables in the barn that weren't on the list, and sometimes vegetables will be on the list but won't make it to the barn.

Arugula
Mustard Greens We know, lots of people are scared of these big, beautiful bunches. But these are farmers' favorites for a reason. They are as easy to cook as spinach (we wilt them for lunch every day), and their tangy bite eases with cooking, leaving a flavorful green that's packed full of vitamins. They are great wilted and chopped on a grownup grilled-cheese sandwich, in a white bean soup, as a pasta topping, or a simple side dish with some garlic and lemon. No, my kids won't eat them either. But guess what? More for me.
Kale  
Sweet Frying Peppers
And a few other surprises from Picadilly Farm.

Pick-Your-Own Crops This Week 
Pick-your-own fields are open to all shareholders any day of the week during daylight hours. Please check the pick-your-own stand for maps and a list of available crops, along with amounts to pick. Please harvest only in labelled rows, and pay close attention to the amounts you harvest in order to ensure that there will be enough for all shareholders. 

Cilantro 
Dill 
Parsley 
Tomatilloes
Perennial Garden Herbs & Flowers: Please pick carefully (use scissors), pay attention to signs, and watch your step in the perennial garden.  

Okra in Tomato & Pepper Sauce
 
A recipe from Shareholder Debra who writes... On Tuesday at the distribution someone asked me what I do with the okra in my share. Here is the recipe I have used several times this summer. It is perfect for warm weather eating, absolutely delicious, and almost everything in the recipe can be found in our shares. The flavor is intriguing, a bit sweet and sour at the same time. To top things off, the okra does not get slimy. This recipe could turn okra-haters into okra worshippers!  
 
The first time I had a dish like this came from a shopping trip to Arax, on Mount Auburn Street in Watertown. It was one of a selection of ready-made veggie dishes they offer for sale. I suppose it would be just like grandma made, if you had an Armenian grandmother. I like the ready-made dishes at Arax so much that I hunted down a cookbook with a similar selection, Armenian Cuisine by by Aline Kamakian and Barbara Drieskens. As with many of the other recipes in that book, for the most part the ingredients are easy to find. The two exceptions red pepper paste and Aleppo pepper. For those you will probably end up making a trip to Arax, or, if you prefer, to Sevan or Massis, which are steps away from Arax and also specialize in Armenian and Middle Eastern food. The red pepper paste is sold in jars in a range of heat levels. There are a variety of brands from Turkey. The Aleppo pepper is sold with the other herbs and spices. It is a mild ground chile pepper and has become a favorite in my every day cooking. I use it instead of paprika in dishes that I want some color and a gentle bit of heat
  
This dish is even better the next day!

1 pound okra
3 tomatoes, peeled and cut in small dice
2 onions, minced
½ green bell pepper, chopped
3 or 4 cloves of garlic, sliced
2 cups water
1 tablespoon tomato paste
½ tablespoon red pepper paste
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 or 3 lemons, juiced
2 teaspoons olive oil
salt and ground allspice, to taste

1. Mix the tomato paste and red pepper paste with the water.
2. If the okra is young and tender, carefully trim the stem ends of the okra to remove the tough outer portion. Otherwise, evenly slice the okra into about ¼ inch or up to ½ inch pieces.
3. Briefly sauté the onions and garlic in the sunflower in over medium heat until the onion pieces become translucent.
4. Add the tomatoes and green bell pepper to the pan. Cook briefly, stirring, until tomatoes and pepper are heated through.
5. Add the water/tomato paste/pepper paste mixture and heat the mixture until it is bubbling. Cook for three minutes.
6. Add the lemon juice and heat until the mixture is bubbling again.
7. Add the okra and cook until it is tender, stirring from time to time. Be very gentle if you are using whole okra.
8. Adjust seasonings. Stir in the olive oil and let the mixture cool.
9. Serve cold or at room temperature. Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves, if desired.
  
Okra flower - a pod yet to come...

 

Do you have a recipe you'd like to share? We love to include your recipes in our next newsletter! Please send it in to Susan Cassidy
HERITAGE BREED PIG LOTTERY
OPEN UNTIL TUES. 10/1 at 12pm
 
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At our Gateways fields in Weston, the peppers are still ripening, eggplant production has slowed, the sugar pumpkins have been made into Watch City Brewery's Pie-Eyed Pumpkin Ale, the bigger pumpkins are now for sale in our barn, and the pigs have grown fat and healthy, raised on a diet of forage crops, vegetable scraps and grain pellets by our Assistant Grower, Zannah Porter.
  
The pigs are a mix of heritage breeds.  They were born in Wellesley this spring and have put on roughly a pound a day, now weighing between 200 and 250 pounds each.
  
For those interested in purchasing half of a pig, we welcome you to enter our lottery.  Here are the details:
  
- Each half will yield approximately 70lbs. of meat (which may increase or decrease a little depending on your butchering choices).
  
- The price of each half is $650, due in full within one week of winners being notified.
  
- The lottery is open to one entry per Waltham Fields Member Household.
  There is no fee to enter the lottery.
  
- Lottery winners will be drawn on Oct. 1st at noon using a random number generator program.
  
- If you are a lottery winner, you will receive an email from Zannah by the end of the day on Oct. 1st with a cut sheet, detailing your butchering options.  If you do not receive an email from Zannah by October 1st, then you were not chosen.  Winner names will not be publicized.
  
- Payment and completed cut sheets will be due by Oct. 8th. 
  
- There will be two pick-ups at the Farm, one for non-smoked meat cuts in late October and one for smoked meat (bacon and ham) in mid-November.
  
READY TO ENTER THE LOTTERY - CLICK HERE!
Questions?  Contact Assistant Grower, Zannah Porter
  
  
WINTER SHARES FOR SALE!

We still have a few WFCF winter shares for sale, now open to our share wait list members and the general public as well as to you all, our current shareholders - so feel free to tell your friends and direct them to the CSA page on our website! 
  
Winter shares are the perfect way to extend your CSA experience through the late fall and eat local (and delicious) for the holidays!  Winter shares are $200.00 and include three pickups at the farm on Saturday afternoons, November 9, November 23 and December 7. We plan for winter shares to represent the tasty bounty of the season, including carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, turnips, radishes, cabbages, lettuces, spinach, arugula, bok choy and kohlrabi, onions and garlic, and winter squash and potatoes from Picadilly Farm. Winter shares are available on a first-come, first-served basis until they are gone!
  
Quick Links

 

www.communityfarms.org

240 Beaver Street
Waltham, MA 02452 
Marla Rhodes, Volunteer & Development Coordinator
Amanda Cather, Farm Manager
Erinn Roberts, Greenhouse and Field Manager
Dan Roberts, Field Manager

Sutton Kiplinger, Assistant Grower
Zannah Porter, Assistant Grower
Andy Scherer, Farmer
Naomi Shea, Field Help

Hector Cruz, Maricela Escobar, Amber Carmer Sandager, and Lauren Trotogott: Field Crew

Lizzie Callaghan, Sage Dumont, Alice Fristrom, and Eli Shanks: Weed Crew

Mikaela Burns, Matthew Crawford, and Fan Watkinson: Farm Educators