Braised Bok
Choy |
This recipe is
similar to the one in From Bangkok to Bali
in 30 Minutes, by Theresa Volpe Laursen and
Byron Laursen (Harvard Common Press,
2003).
2 lbs. baby
bok choy or mature bok choy 2 T extra virgin
olive oil 1/2 cup chopped red onion 1/2 t
salt 1/2 t white pepper 2 T seasoned rice
vinegar (available in the Asian section of your
grocery store, or from specialty Asian markets)
1. Trim the
base of the bok choy, then chop off the leaves.
Cut the base in half lengthwise, then cut the
halves crosswise on a diagonal into
1/4-inch-thick strips. Cut the leaves crosswise
on a diagonal into 1 1/2-inch-wide
strips.
2. Place a
large wok or a pot large enough to hold all the
bok choy over medium heat. When it is hot, add
the olive oil and rotate the wok or pot a bit to
coat it evenly. When the oil is hot, add the
onion and stir-fry until softened, 2 to 3
minutes. Add the bok choy and season with the
salt and pepper. Cover and cook until tender,
stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Stir in
the vinegar and serve hot.
Serves 4 to
6.
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Farm
Wish List
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Used rain gear in good
condition (all adult sizes welcome!)
5
gallon buckets, preferably with
lids
Tools: shovels, metal rakes
(not leaf rakes), and pitchforks
55
gallon containers
Ethernet hub or
switch with 8 ports supporting 100Base-TX
or
higher
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Welcome to the 2008 Harvest
Season!
CSA
Pickups at the Farm this Week:
- Tuesday, June 10 from 3-7 PM
- Thursday, June 12 from 3-7 PM
- Sunday, June 15 from 3-7
PM
CSA
Pickup in Davis Square (for
pre-registered shareholders
only):
- Tuesday, June 10 from 5-7
PM
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What's In the Share This
Week
Please note: this list is prepared
the week before you receive your share.
Some guesswork is involved! We do our best to
predict which crops will be ready to harvest,
but sometimes crops are on the list that are not
in the share, and sometimes crops will be in the
share even though they're not on the list.
- Lettuce:
tender red and green butterheads, speckled
'trout' type, and maybe some others!
- Spinach:
delicious raw or cooked lightly. Try Dan
and Erinn Roberts's farmers' lunch:
sauteed spinach with mushrooms, onions and sharp
provolone.
- Bok
Choy: a delicious Asian green,
not spicy but flavorful in simple stir-fries
with ginger and garlic
- Possibly...Tatsoi:
another rmild-flavored Asian green, tatsoi is a
shareholder favorite, and can be eaten raw in
salads or added to a stir fry or light
soup
- Arugula:
spring and fall classic on the farm.
Spicy, nutty and delicious in salads, with
pasta, or in quiches or frittatas. Arugula
is rich in iron and vitamins A and C.
- Napa
Cabbage: Sometimes called Chinese
cabbage, Napa has a delicate flavor that is
wonderful shredded in salads or sauteed in
stir-fries.
- Radishes: we grow
"french breakfast"-style red and white striped
radishes as well as multi-colored "easter egg"
varieties. They are similar in flavor.,
but the french breakfast radishes are slightly
more delicate than their rugged round
cousins.
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Pick-Your-Own Crops This
Week
Shareholders are
welcome to pick-your-own during daylight hours
Mondays through Thursdays and Sundays. Check the
white board on the red kiosk for PYO
information.
- Chives with Blossoms
- Mint
- Sugar Snap Peas
- Maybe a strawberry or
two?
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Notes
from the Field
Welcome back to the farm! We've had
a busy spring in the fields and are excited to
share the fruits of our labors with you once
again. Throughout the season, in the
"Field Notes" section of your CSA newsletter,
you'll learn more about the farm crew and the
process of growing food using all organic
methods. You'll hear your farmers' worries
about weather and groundhogs, and hopefully come
away with a greater understanding of what it
takes to produce lots of food on a little bit of
good land in a small, diverse city. We
hope that you also catch the ongoing note of
gratitude in this column; we try to convey what
a privilege it is to be able to do this work
that we love.
This spring we've
been sowing seeds, spreading compost,
transplanting, cultivating crops -- all the
things we generally do in the spring.
We've also been managing more cover crops and
green manures than usual, thanks to good fall
growth in 2007. Growing our own fertility
on the farm, by planting crops that we turn back
into the soil instead of harvesting them, is one
of the best things we can do for our soil as
organic farmers. We use five primary green
manure crops, often combining a grain and a
legume for their organic matter, weed
suppression and nitrogen benefits: oats
and field peas are planted in the fall and
winter kill, providing a "blanket" for the soil
over the winter and a nice clean field for early
crops in the spring, while winter rye and hairy
vetch produce tons of biomass in the early
spring in fields where we plan to plant crops
around the first of June or later. Most of our
rye and vetch has been turned in with the
tractor in the past two weeks, but you can still
see it on the fields edges here and there, with
lovely purple flowers on pea-like vines, usually
winding around tall stalks of rye.
We
also plant field peas early in the spring to
help provide nitrogen for fall broccoli and
cabbage crops. Right now, you can see peas
growing in our back field, preparing the soil
for the fall crops that we'll plant in early
July. Buckwheat, a
fast-growing warm-season cover crop, suppresses
weeds, attracts beneficial insects, and acts as
a soil conditioner, bringing up important
micronutrients and adding organic matter to the
soil. You can see buckwheat growing in our
new raspberry field as well as in the back of
our center field near the farm equipment -- in a
few weeks you'll be able to recognize it by its
beautiful white flowers that will be loved by
our resident honeybees.
Managing cover
crops, of course, takes some care -- they need
to be sowed, harrowed in, and then monitored
carefully to make sure we turn them in at the
right time to provide maximum soil benefits
without making seeds and becoming weeds
themselves. We've enjoyed the extra work,
since it feels like a way of giving back a
little to the soil from which we coax so much
production each farm season.
Take
a moment as you walk around the farm this spring
to appreciate the crops we don't harvest -- the
ones that help our food crops
thrive!
Amanda
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2008
Farm Crew: Andy
Scherer
Each week, we'll
highlight one of the farmers and helpers who
bring you the vegetables that you enjoy from the
farm. This week, the spotlight is on our
Assistant Farm Manager, Andy Scherer. (Andy's
third from the left in this photo.)
Andy
is deep into his second season with WFCF.
He came to us from a position as an afterschool
program teacher at the Cambridge Friends School,
a job that allowed him to farm part-time as
well. Andy worked at Lindentree Farm in
Lincoln and Hutchins Farm in Concord following a
season helping out at a farm in Wisconsin, and
brings a huge amount of learning from these
experiences to his work with us. He is
also an accomplished potter, musician, and
contradancer.
Andy manages WFCF's
very important relationships with our hunger
relief partner agencies, including Sandra's
Lodge, the Waltham Red Cross and Salvation Army,
Food for Free and the greater Boston Food
Bank. He has developed and will also
manage our new outreach market in downtown
Waltham beginning in July. Andy also
coordinates our volunteer program, making sure
that the more than 1200 people who come to the
farm have a positive and productive experience
with us. Andy is an incredible teacher,
patient and clear in his training, and our
assistant growers and farm crew value his
presence on the farm.
In addition to all
this, Andy is a huge contributor to our
efficiency and organization in the fields and
greenhouse. His skills at all our farm
tasks, as well as his ability to prioritize and
keep the big picture of the farm in mind, make
him a critical member of our staff. His
sense of humor and collaborative work style have
helped us build a very respectful but never dull
team on the farm. We are extremely
fortunate to have Andy with us for another
season.
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Warmly,
The
Staff of Waltham Fields Community Farm
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Amanda Cather, Farm
Manager Meg Coward, Executive
Director Debra Guttormsen,
Administrative and Finance Coordinator Paula
Jordan, Children's Learning Garden
Assistant Jonathan Martinez, Assistant
Grower Dan Roberts, Farm Crew Erinn
Roberts, Assistant Grower Andy Scherer, Assistant Farm
Manager Mark Walter, Children's Learning
Garden
Coordinator
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