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Waltham Fields Community Farm
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CSA NEWSLETTER 2015 - Week 5 of 20
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FARM TOUR & PIZZA NIGHT 
Thursday, July 9th, 6-8pm
Mark your calendars and join us for a summer evening on the farm. Arrive hungry and order pizza from the Posto mobile pizza oven. Pizzas range from $9-11 and options include classic Margherita (made with our farm-fresh basil), Pepperoni, and a Veggie Special featuring our summer squash, scallions, and garlic scapes! Free tour starts at 7pm. Bring a blanket and your friends! All are welcome!
Also, our farm stand will be open until 7:30pm (CSA Pick Up will close at 6:30pm per usual), selling cold drinks and a selection of products from other local farms and producers (including delicious after dinner treats from Tipping Cow Ice Cream). Our own produce for retail is limited right now, but we hope to offer more later in the season when we're sure our food assistance and CSA share goals are being met. Click here for more information on our upcoming events.
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CSA PICKUP DATES AND TIMES
COME ONCE EACH WEEK ON ANY OF THESE PICK UP DAYS
Wednesday, June 10-Oct. 21, 2:00-6:30PM
Thursday, June 11-Oct. 22, 2:00-6:30PM
Saturday, June 13-Oct. 24, 9AM-2PM
Any shareholder is welcome to pick up on any of the above days! You don't have to let us know when you're coming. Feel free to switch back and forth from week to week if that works best for you, or choose a day and stick to it for most of the season. We'll be happy to see you whatever day you come to the farm.
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WHAT'S IN THE SHARE - Our Best Guess
This is our best guess at this point. Actual crops may vary from what's listed here due to a variety of factors.
In the Barn (Picked for You):
Beets
Bok choy
Green cabbage
Napa cabbage
Carrots
Collards
Fennel
Lettuce
Radicchio
Summer Squash
Swiss chard
Salad turnips
Zucchini
Pick Your Own (PYO):
Remember to only pick the amount listed on the PYO description sheets found at the PYO Station and follow the signs & directions in the field. A taste or two is okay while you're picking but in order to have enough for everyone please refrain from snacking extensively out in the fields. If an area is roped off, it is closed to PYO.
Perennial herbs & flowers, basil, dill, cilantro, parsley and fava beans.
SPRING RECIPES
We have a ton of great recipes on our website, including six different suggestions for fennel! Click here to check them out! |
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From Zannah Porter, Farm Manager
This is Zannah's fourth season with us at WFCF. She began in 2012 in the two-year long Assistant Grower program, where she brought animal farming to the organization for the first time. You may or may not remember hearing about the three not-so-little pigs she watched over, cared for at our Weston property, and took on as her project to provide sustainably-raised pork for a number of our shareholders. Zannah has proved to be a vital component of WFCF with her many extensive skills, such as mechanical knowledge, group leadership and passionate work ethic she carries and instills in others, to name just a few. Last year she assumed one of the Farm Manager positions and is continuing her second year of leadership, scuttling us towards a bountiful harvest so far and strongly guiding our teams of Weed Crew and Field Crew. For this week's Notes from the Field contribution, she writes:
"Rhythm"
It is the fifth week of the CSA. The farm is abuzz with activity. We are still harvesting certain crops for the first time this season. This week the new crop is carrots. Those sweet orange gems that grow from a speck of a seed into a glorious treat.
We are starting to hit our stride on the farm. Finding the rhythm in our work. There is beginning to be repetition. New skills are being honed and perfected. It is at this time of year that I find it easy to get caught up in our work, focusing on the task at hand. This season I have set a goal for myself to try and remember to pause, even just for a moment, and take in the world around me. I am doing my best to record those moments through photography. Here are some of those photos from the season thus far.
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The first harvest of carrots this season.
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Two Forest Foundation interns and some of Field Crew, from left to right: Ali, Evan, Claire, Roy & Alisa.
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Assistant Grower, Anna Kelchlin, laying plastic at our Weston fields.
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Tractor view at our Weston fields.
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A killdeer plover guarding her nest she's made among our crops.
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A view from above: intricate tractor parts.
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Intern Alisa, & Field Crew members Jack & Evan, on a rainy harvest day at our Lyman Estate fields.
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-Zannah
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WHAT'S IN THE BARN
Aqua Vitea Kombucha, Bristol, VT
Aqua Vitea, "the tea water of life," microbrews their kombucha with the passion and commitment to offer the finest quality products as well as positively enhance the well-being and health of individuals and their communities. We currently carry new flavors! Including ginger, black currant and elderberry. Bottles are $3.85 each. A delicious pick-me-up on a hot summer day.
Still Want Rhubarb? 
Fill out this form
to pre-order organic, antique rhubarb from Silvermine Farm in Sutton, MA to pay for and pick up the sixth week of the CSA (Wednesday July 15th, Thursday July 16th, or Saturday July 18th).
All of our retail products are available for sale to the public. For our own produce offerings, we prioritize giving shareholders a good return on their investment and meeting our food assistance goals (20% of what we grow - which should amount to $80,000 of produce for low-income households this year)
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Early in the season, crops for sale to the public will be those that we have an abundance of and later in the season, if production is going well, we hope to operate as a full-fledged farm store with a wide range of vegetables available to the public during our weekly CSA distribution hours.
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FENNEL-CARROT SLAW RECIPE
From "The Farmer's Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Enjoying Your CSA and Farmers' Market Foods" FOR SALE IN THE BARN BOOKCASE!
"This raw salad is absolutely superb: refreshing, light, with clean and crisp flavors, and no aggressive fennel taste. Originally from John Campbell, a former chef of Restaurant Nora in Washington, DC.
Ingredients  1 large or 2 medium fennel bulbs
2 carrots, peeled
3-4 tsp Kosher or sea salt
juice of 1 lemon
freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp olive oil
Optional: 1/2 cup thinly slivered turnip
Directions
1. Slice the fennel as thinly as possible crossways, 1/8-inch to 1/16-inch thick. The entire head and stems are usable. Reserve the frilly leaves and discard any tough parts. Grate the carrots coarsely.
2. Mix the carrots and fennel together in a bowl with the salt. Let sit 25-60 minutes, tossing occasionally. The salt crisps the vegetables.
3. Drain the mix an discard the salty juice that runs out. The mix may now be rinsed if you are averse to salt. Return the slaw to a bowl. Then mince some of the green fennel leaves as finely as possible. Add these, the fresh lemon juice, black pepper, and olive oil to the vegetables. Toss well and chill.
Excellent served alongside vegetarian bean salads or pastas, or with grilled foods."
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Waltham Fields Community Farm Staff
Year-Round Staff:
Seasonal Staff:
Assistant Grower: Anna Kelchlin
Farm Assistants: Tim Cooke, Dan Roberts, Naomi Shea
Farm Stand Assistant: Leo Martinez
Field Crew: Anna Hirson-Sagalyn, Roy Kresge, Jack Leng, Claire Penney, Evan Rees
Weed Crew: Anna Blaustein, Leo Martinez, Gina Masciovecchio, Annie Nguyen
Learning Garden Educators: Sadie Brown, Autumn Cutting, Rebecca Fennel, Alannah Glickman
Summer Interns: Cassandra Baker, Alisa Feinswog, Ali Rabideau, Jesse Simmons
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