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Waltham Fields Community Farm
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CSA NEWSLETTER
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Week 3: June 24, 2013  
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Bike Tune-Ups
Two Saturdays
June 29 & July 6
9am-1pm
At the Farm
$20 Includes basic cleaning & adjustment with Nathan Weston, Waltham Fields Board Member and bike enthusiast!
Proceeds benefit our food access and education programs.
Summer Programs for Youth in our Learning Garden!
Click here to learn more...
Drop-In Volunteers welcome on Mondays (high school and older) and Saturdays (all ages), arrive at 9am sharp.
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From nomnompaleo's blog...Here's what I gathered to serve four people as a side dish:
1 large head of escarole, cut into quarters (or 3 heads of radicchio, cut in half lengthwise)
3 T of ghee, melted
1 T Sunny Paris seasoning
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
Balsamic vinegar
Here's how I made it:
I preheated the oven to 400 F and grabbed a 9x13" glass baking dish. I coated the dish with ghee before putting the escarole in a single layer. I drizzled the remaining ghee over the top of the greens and seasoned with Sunny Paris, salt, and pepper.
I roasted the greens in the oven for 15 minutes before flipping them. After an additional 8-10 minutes, the escarole was finished - tender yet crunchy on the edges.
Before taking the dish to the table, I drizzled on some aged balsamic vinegar. I can't wait to roast some radicchio, too!
Do you have a recipe you'd like to share? We love to include shareholder recipes in the newsletter! Please send it in to Susan Cassidy. |
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CSA pickups will be the same as always 4th of July week! We'll be here 2:30-7:30 PM Tuesday and Thursday and 9-1 on Saturday morning. As our farmer friend Chris Yoder says, "vegetables don't take a vacation."
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.
Lettuce: Crisp and delicious, great for salads galore, or for layering on your favorite burger.
Collard Greens: These big, gorgeous greens can be intimidating, but they are really delicious and easy to prepare. Try chopping them into narrow ribbons and steaming them until bright green, then serve alongside black beans and brown rice with your favorite condiments for an easy weeknight feast!
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Photo courtesy of Saul Blumenthal.
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Swiss Chard: A close relative of spinach, rainbow chard is a farmer's favorite. Chop fine, steam lightly or saute in olive oil and toss with pasta and parmesan for a simple, tasty meal. High in folate, vitam
Green Cabbage: These little beauties are not just for coleslaw -- think tasty tacos, a hearty galette, or even stuffed cabbage on a cool spring night. ins A and C, chard is also wonderful in a frittata or omelet or as a wrapper for your favorite veggies or meat.
Napa Cabbage: These big, healthy heads of crisp cabbage can be shredded for salads or spring rolls or thrown into a stir-fry.
Garlic Scapes: The flower stalk of the garlic plant, scapes are only around for two weeks or so at the beginning of the season. Farmers remove them in a semi-superstitious bid to make the garlic bulb larger, but they are also delicious, with a mild garlic flavor that is perfect raw or cooked. Beets with Greens: Beets are one of those things that most of us didn't grow up eating, but fell in love with when we first tasted them fresh from the farm. The roots and greens are both edible and delicious (just what you needed, right? Another green!). Beets are versatile, whether you use them raw or cooked, in a salad or even a cake!
Escarole: A farmer's favorite from the lettuce family, well known to the Egyptians and ancient Romans, escarole helps make up for the fact that we have a hard time growing mustard-family greens like arugula in the springtime. Traditionally used in soups, the flavor of this versatile green pairs well with rich or smoky flavors like balsamic vinegar, bacon or smoked cheeses. Escarole is also great grilled, braised, or wilted in a spring risotto.
Frisee Endive: Great mixed with mild lettuces, fruits and nuts in a salad. Another spring favorite we won't see again until fall. And a few surprises from Picadilly Farm, the great New Hampshire family farmers who provide us with 100 shares each week!
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.
Possibly some snap or snow peas: Our pea crop was hit hard this spring by a pest called seed corn maggot, a tiny fly that lays its eggs in large-seeded crops like peas. We tried to outsmart them by putting our peas in the ground as transplants this year, but apparently they are a little smarter than we are and found them anyway. (Although why they didn't find the cover crop peas, fava beans or green beans is mystifying even ourUMass entomologist friends. Maybe they like peas in rows.) As a result, our pea crop is a little thin this year. Please help us out by paying close attention to the amounts to pick listed on the PYO board.
Perennial Garden Herbs:
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Photo courtesy of Saul Blumenthal
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Please pick carefully (use scissors), pay attention to signs, and watch your step in the perennial garden. There are many great herbs that are going to be ready later in the season!
Dill and Cilantro: Please use scissors and cut small bunches this week! Cilantro is great in napa cabbage slaw and dill is perfect with this week's beets.
Curly and Flat-Leaf Parsley: Small bunches this week, but it's growing nicely and is virtually weed-free thanks to our wonderful weed crew!
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EGG SHARES AVAILABLE
Farmer David Petrovick at Caledonia Farm in Barre is willing to expand his flock of layers and build an additional chicken house if there is enough interest from folks at Waltham Fields Community Farm. If you would be interested in purchasing a 25-week share, including 1 dozen eggs/week for $150, please indicate your interest by e-mailing farmer Dave at caledoniafarm@charter.net. If there is sufficient interest, Dave will visit with the shareholders in Waltham and initiate egg share CSA contracts to deliver to Waltham Fields Community Farm on your vegetable pickup day. Caledonia Farm will consider delivering year 'round as well if the sharers express interest. Any and all questions would be welcome -- email Dave!
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 FARMERS TO YOU
We have officially launched a Farmers To You pickup site at Waltham Fields Community Farm and food delivery begins this week. Thanks to all of the pioneer families who are getting their first orders on Thursday! The partnership between Farmers To You and Waltham Fields Community Farm is a great way that both organizations are working to build a trustworthy and secure local food system that will last into the future. Every order delivered to the Farmers To You pickup site at Waltham Fields Community Farm is a direct financial contribution to the Farm's mission of promoting local agriculture and food access. Each week, two dollars from every order is donated to the Farm's non-profit activities. Farmers To You is seeking a pickup site host to help with the order distribution on Thursdays from 5:00-7:00. Receive credit for food and help your community with picking up their orders, returning bottles, and getting questions answered. Be in touch for more information - info@farmerstoyou.com.
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NOTES FROM THE FIELD: Solstice
(All photos courtesy of Saul Blumenthal)
 The sun stood still last week at the northernmost point in its travels up the sky. The weekend full moon was huge, the closest to the earth it will come this year. A double rainbow graced the sky after a brutal thunderstorm pounded the fields with yet more rain. We plowed under the spring's cover crop, driving the tractors through fields of purple and white vetch and pea flowers under a perfect blue sky to prepare the way for the fall's broccoli and cauliflower. Must be summer.
The beautiful weather at week's end was a balm to farmers to whom the spiritual exercise of waiting and acceptance does not come easily in the rain. Dan, Sutton and Zannah jumped on the tractors to cultivate everything in sight, and the weed crew followed behind to clean up what was left. We were grateful once again for our well-drained sandy loam soils as the sun and light breeze quickly dried them out and left them perfect for planting and cultivating.  The field crew, who had their first few days with us last week, proved that they are up to the task, picking beautiful bunches of greens and radishes and transplanting chard, rutabaga and beets for harvest later in the season. We ferried a thousand tomato stakes to the fields at the Lyman Estate, ready to tie up the robust, stout tomato plants that escaped their brush with the pythium soil fungus during the wet weather and now stand as tall as our knees. We released our first batch of beneficial parasitic wasps, to try again to cut down on the fuzzy yellow bean beetle larvae that can decimate a bean planting. We seeded a summer buckwheat cover crop on a fallow field even as we turned in our spring cover crops. Fava beans grew. Carrots and squashes lengthened and fattened. Pigs seemed hungrier than usual once the rain stopped and they could forage outside again. The sun stands still, but farmers and vegetables don't.
 Still, there is a subtle shift in the tasks of the season at the solstice, despite the fact that weeding, planting, harvest and field preparation continue. The twin hurdles of the summer -- staking and tying tomatoes and planting the big block of fall brassicas -- are still before us. As those finish, we'll turn our thoughts and bodies to the summer's heavy harvests: summer squash and cucumbers in July, eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes in August. The fruiting crops remind us that the energy of summer is in ripening, maturation, the work of completion and fulfillment that tends towards the autumn seed. The quick growth of the crops (and weeds!) on sunny summer days is almost visible to the naked eye. Vegetable plants are building their framework, adding on daily, growing above and below the soil during these longest days, resting at night to prepare for more growth, more stretching, more expansion during the day. And although we farmers sometimes barely notice it in the full business of the season, the solstice is an immovable marker on the wheel of the year. It comes, and passes, whether we observe it or not. The crops tell us. The sun tells us. Our tired bodies remind us. Summer's work is upon us.
Enjoy the harvest,
Amanda, for the farm staff: Andy, Erinn, Dan, Sutton, and Zannah
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Deb Guttormsen, Admin and Tech CoordinatorMarla Rhodes, Development AssistantAmanda Cather, Farm ManagerErinn Roberts, Greenhouse and Field ManagerDan Roberts, Field ManagerSutton Kiplinger, Assistant Grower Zannah Porter, Assistant Grower Andy Scherer, Farmer Hector Cruz, Maricela Escobar, Amber Carmer Sandager and Lauren Trotogott, Field Crew Lizzie Callaghan, Sage Dumont, Maggie Haaland, Jesse Santosuosso, Weed Crew Mikaela Burns, Andrea Coughlan, Matthew Crawford, Farm Educators
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