Waltham Fields Community Farm
CSA NEWSLETTER 2015 - Week 15 of 20
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In This Issue
Sunday, September 20th
Team Waltham Fields Community Farm will take to their bikes this Sunday and they could use your help! 
The event, supports Waltham Fields Community Farm and 13 other hunger relief organizations in their food assistance fundraising efforts. 
 
Click Here to check out our team page and SUPPORT OUR TEAM!
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):
Photo Credit: Naomi Shea

lettuce
carrots
beets 
bell peppers
sweet peppers
eggplant
tomatoes 
collards
kale
Swiss chard
leeks
radishes
salad turnips
green cabbage

Pick Your Own (PYO):  
***PYO will be closing at 1:30pm on Saturday, Sept 26 for Farm Day Activities! Please join us for free fun!

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 all 500 shares, please follow the allotted amount.

Cherry tomatoes, plum tomatoes, husk cherries, chiles, perennial herbs and flowers. Tomatillos may take a break this week but will be back soon.  
 
Stay tuned, the flower fields will be open soon for vegetable shareholders.  Details are coming in the next newsletter. 

WINTER SHARES AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE 
You can purchase a winter share at any CSA pickup or on our website.  Winter shares consist of a range of hearty greens and storage crops and are distributed over the course of 3 Saturdays: November 7, November 21 & December 5, from noon to 4pm. Cost is $200.  For more info or to sign up online, check the CSA link on our website.
 

NOTES FROM THE FIELD Moving into Fall
This week's Notes are by Roy Kresge, part of our stellar field crew.  Roy's been a great addition to the farm and built a quick camaraderie out in the fields with light-hearted humor and a deep appreciation for the beauty and oddities of farming and nature.

It's finally happening - the chill in the early morning air is gently nudging summer aside as the fall weather arrives.  Long sleeves and even a whisper of sweaters can be spotted among the plantings if you look close enough.  Even as our most iconic summer crops are still rolling in, the maples leaves redden and fall at our feet.  Not to be outdone or humiliated just yet, the summer has chosen to retaliate with a couple of days in the mid-nineties, just in case we forgot.  But it's meteorological shenanigans like this that have made our okra one of the biggest underdog hits of the year!

This is a great year for watermelon.  We really can't emphasize enough how much we've been enjoying it.  I've seen a melon stop unstoppable people in their tracks, rendering them useless until all the juicy nectar-flesh has been meticulously lifted from the rind.  I've seen people who hate watermelon grow to love watermelon.  The supreme tastiness of this stuff is not to be taken lightly.  It's deadly serious and commands our full reverence in its presence.  The watermelon itself is a loyal servant of the unrelenting summer sun, as it leads us to remember that we, too are indentured to the brutal heat, forced to be thankful for it and the delectable fruits that it yields.  Even as the heat subsides, the melons continue to ripen, ensuring that many months from now, the uncomfortable air of this summer will be fondly remembered and measured in juiciness, not degrees Fahrenheit.

And now it's time for our brassicas to step up to center stage.  The recent rainfall has given our already-enormous plants a much-deserved boost into the fall.  Crowns of broccoli are beginning to eagerly peak up into the world, and the collard greens boldly challenge any conventional fridge to contain them.  Our kale plants have grown taller than anyone might have guessed, and they're barreling towards the colder seasons with determination and a great sense of purpose.  It bodes well for the remaining weeks of harvestable weather.

Other signs of the changing seasons are visible everywhere you look.  Where robust squash and zucchini once sprawled, the first seedlings of our winter cover crop are emerging.  All of our storage onions have finally been brought home to cure and settle in for the winter.  And if you look really closely, it seems like the tomatoes might be considering slowing down with their middle age.  But not just yet.  They're still happily producing all the fruit that we can possibly pick.  And so even as the plants wake up every morning to a chilly dew coating their leaves, the recent (and forecasted) midday heat makes it clear that this summer is choosing to go out with a bang, not a whisper.

Roy, Field Crew


Above: Roy, Claire, Anna, Zannah and Anna enjoying a watermelon harvest
Below: Anna modeling a torso-sized collard bunch

WHAT'S IN THE BARN 

 

The Farmer's Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Enjoying Your CSA and Farmers' Market Foods by Julia Shanks and Brett Grohsgal

  

Ever find yourself eagerly electing fruits and vegetables at the farmers' market or CSA pick up that you've never cooked with before but can't wait to explore? Find easy to use recipes and helpful cooking tips with almost anything you might be grabbing off the stands. Also included are vegetable storage tips, a recipe index by meal course and produce descriptions on the flavor profiles and culinary uses of a wide variety of herbs, fruits and vegetables.  

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)
.
PIZZA CHICKEN

Serves: 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts, each cut into 4 thinner breasts
2 oz goat cheese with herbs
1 bell pepper, sliced into strips
1/2 onion, cut thinly into rings
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup Italian cheese mix, shredded
fresh oregano
salt/pepper

Directions
Heat 2 skillets over medium heat with 1-2 tablespoons in each.  Season chicken breast with salt/pepper.  Place chicken in skillet and cook for about 3 minutes. In the other skillet, place bell peppers and onions, toss frequently until softened.  Flip chicken to the other side and cook for an additional 3 minutes, until golden brown (or until internal temp reaches 165ºF).  

Spread 1/2 oz goat cheese on each chicken breast.  Top with sauteed bell peppers + onions, cherry tomatoes, fresh oregano and 1-2 tablespoons Italian cheese.  Place under your broiler until cheese is melted.  Garnish with a bit more fresh oregano.
 
SUMMER RECIPES
We have a ton of great recipes on our website, including eleven different suggestions for bell peppers!  Click here to check them out!
Share Pick Up Questions
More questions about share pickup?  Check out our CSA FAQs!  You can also contact Lauren Trotogott, our Distribution Coordinator.
Quick Links
CSA INFO & PICK UP TIMES
Waltham Fields Community Farm Staff

Year-Round Staff:
Shannon Taylor, Executive Director
Marla Rhodes, Volunteer & Development Coordinator
Erinn Roberts, Farm Manager
Zannah Porter, Farm Manager
Alexandra Lennon-Simon, Education & Outreach Coord.
Lauren Trotogott, Distribution Coordinator
Rebekah Lea, Bookkeeper & Office Coordinator
Claire Kozower, Org. Assistant

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
Learning Garden Educators: Sadie Brown, Autumn Cutting, Rebecca Fennel, Alannah Glickman

www.communityfarms.org
240 Beaver Street
Waltham, MA 02452