Waltham Fields Community Farm
CSA NEWSLETTER
     Week 4:  July 1, 2013                                        Like us on Facebook  Visit our blog 
 
In This Issue

Upcoming Events

 

Bike Tune-Ups

Saturday July 6

9am-1pm

At the Farm

$20 Includes basic cleaning & adjustment with Nathan Weston, Waltham Fields Board Member and bike enthusiast! 

 

Proceeds from the Bike Tune-up 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. 

Welcome Volunteers!


 

Shredded and Sauteed Collard Greens

 

From Martha Stewart -- check out the video for step-by-step directions

 

Ingredients

1 large bunch collard greens, cleaned, tough center ribs and stems removed (10 to 12 cups)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 t coarse salt
1/4 t red-pepper flakes

Directions
Working with a few at a time, lay collard leaves in a stack. Roll them up like a cigar, and cut crosswise into thin shreds.

Heat oil in a large skillet until very hot. Add collards, little by little, stirring in more as each handful wilts. Sprinkle with salt and red-pepper flakes. Saute collards, stirring, until tender, 8 to 10 minutes.

 



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.


EGG SHARES AVAILABLE

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.  He only needs about 15 more shares to get started!

If you would be interested in purchasing a 25-week share to provide 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!
CSA pickups will be the same as usual during the 4th of July week! We'll be here 2:30-7:30pm 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: More lettuce!  Enjoy!

Carrots: The first of the season, these carrots are small and sweet. Take the tops off to store them in the fridge-if they even make it home! 
 zucchini pile
Zucchini and Summer SquashWe grow several types of summer squash and yellow and green zucchini at our Gateways field in Weston. We'll have limited amounts this week, the beginning of what we hope will be a bountiful harvest of squash for the rest of the season.

Escarole:  It's probably the last week until fall for this delicious early-season farmer's favorite. 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. This week we made a delicious pasta and pizza with it too.

Fennelfennel This ancient vegetable was enjoyed by the Romans.  Now you, too can use it shaved in salads, grilled, roasted, or braised. Fennel can be an accent vegetable with greens and fruit in a salad, or it can be the center of attention in a simple arrangement with parsley and lemon.   
 
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!  Need some other ideas?  Try these! 

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, vitamins A and C, chard is also wonderful in a frittata or omelet or as a wrapper for your favorite veggies or meat. This is a veggie with lots of options for quick meals or fancy dinners. 
 
Cabbage
Green Cabbage:
Probably the last week until fall for green cabbage; we may have some red cabbage as soon as next week.


Beets with Greens:  Beets are one of those things that most of us didn't grow up eating, but fall 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!

Radishes: These are tiny, spicy radishes with lots of flavor, perfect in salads, shredded on tacos with cabbage, or lightly pickled on your favorite falafel sandwich. 

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. 
     
Fava Beans:fava These have many other names including broad bean, faba bean, english bean and horse bean. They are native to the Mediterranean and popular in cooking throughout the world. Young, fresh fava beans can be eaten raw or the pods prepared like green beans. Older, larger beans should be shelled, cooked (in boiling water for a minute or two), and if larger than a thumbnail also skinned. You can lightly salt cooked favas and eat them warm or add them to a myriad of dishes such as pasta sauces, soups, or salads.
 
Cilantro
 
Dill
Parsley 
Perennial Garden Herbs: 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!   
NOTES FROM THE FIELD 
Many thanks to Saul Blumenthal for kindly sharing the exceptional photos below. 

 
thymeThere's a lot of mention of the weather in these Notes from the Field, most of it uncomplimentary.  As many people have mentioned, farmers are never happy with the

 weather. Maybe it's because it affects us so powerfully, physically and mentally, both in our daily work conditions and also in the outcome of the work that we do. It is the most obvious manifestation of nature, the impersonal force with which we struggle to work in concert as organic farmers and by which we occasionally find ourselves blindsided and outwitted. Last week's forecast, beginning with the mini heat wave and ending with the ominous threat of rain, high humidity and cool temperatures (perfect for plant diseases like late blight) was a head-scratcher.  Despite the warm weather and the rain, crops didn't jump the way we had expected them to. Scallions, onions, carrots and squash all stayed pretty small, victims of the drenching rains that washed all the fertility out of the soil two weeks ago. Each morning's harvest was an exercise in trying to make more from less.   

 

While the rain held off in the afternoons, we transplanted successions of cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelons, lettuce, and beets, staked and started to tie tomatoes, spread compost to prepare the fields for our fall broccoli, cauliflower, kale and collard greens, and cultivated, cultivated, cultivated.  Our wonderful field crew, only in their second week, held on through days of intense heat, sudden downpours, and tricky harvests.   

 

daisiesSutton told someone this spring that the only way to drive a tractor straight is to imagine a "zen thread" from your heart to a distant point on the horizon. You let  go of all your attempts to micromanage the tractor's direction and simply sit, hold the wheel, and let the thread pull you forward. As may be painfully obvious from my fretting and storytelling in these field notes, I am the opposite of zen in most things, Irish by heritage and temperament. In farming, as in the rest of my life, I lean towards the messy attachments that lead to suffering and sometimes, to joy. Letting go of those attachments feels scary, like admitting helplessness or apathy. But the wisdom of the zen thread has surprised me this season. When you drive a tractor with the thread, it is not like closing your eyes and throwing up your hands; when you get it right, it is a moment of calm awareness that allows for a nearly effortless straight bed while at the same time allowing you to see the rest of what is happening around you on the farm with a remarkable clarity.  

 

pea When weather conditions are so messy and confusing, it can feel difficult to move forward, to make good decisions on the farm.  So often strategies and systems that worked last year seem to be failing us in this season's funny weather. That makes all my attachments appear in high relief and a deeply unflattering light. As I told Dan last week, "I'm trying to be smart, but I just don't have it in me." That's where the zen thread comes in. We can't control the weather. We have to have enough faith in the almost unconscious wisdom of our own experience and our own hearts to attach our vision to a point on the horizon and let it pull us forward, to the blue days of October. Then we can really be in the moment, responding to what the season asks of us, instead of scrambling around for logical answers in our tired brains. The season is underway. Its momentum will pull us forward, and we will do what we can. Wish us moments of clarity and beauty and calm in the midst of the storms.   

 

Enjoy the harvest,  

Amanda, for the farm staff:  Andy, Erinn, Dan, Sutton, and Zannah
Quick Links

 

www.communityfarms.org

240 Beaver Street
Waltham, MA 02452 
Deb Guttormsen, Admin and Tech Coordinator
Marla Rhodes, Development Assistant
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
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