Join our Board of Directors! |
Waltham Fields Community Farm is a nonprofit run by a volunteer board of directors. We are currently recruiting board members to start serving in January, 2009. We are especially seeking candidates who have one or more of the following qualities:
Please contact Kathy Diamond by email or by phone (617-926-6025) if you think you might be interested or would like to learn more about the board. |
Beet and Goat Cheese Bites |
This is actually from Cooking Light -- one shareholder's kids scarfed these down!
3/4 pound beets (about 2 medium) 1 cup water 1 T balsamic vinegar 1 t grated lemon rind 1 t fresh lemon juice 1/4 t sea salt 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
Cheese spread: 1 (5-ounce) package goat cheese 1 T light mayonnaise 2 t minced fresh tarragon 1/8 t freshly ground black pepper 1 garlic clove, crushed 24 (1/2-inch-thick) slices diagonally cut French bread baguette, toasted
Preheat oven to 375. To prepare beets, leave root and 1 inch of stem on beets; scrub with a brush. Place beets in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish; add 1 cup water to dish. Cover and bake at 375° for 45 minutes or until tender. Drain and cool. Trim off beet roots; rub off skins. Cut beets lengthwise into quarters, and cut each quarter crosswise into 9 (1/8-inch) slices.
In a medium bowl combine the vinegar, rind, juice, salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add beets; toss gently to coat.
To prepare cheese spread, combine goat cheese, mayonnaise, tarragon, 1/8 t pepper, and garlic in a small bowl. Spread each baguette slice with 1 t cheese mixture; top with 3 slightly overlapping slices of beet.
|
Bring us your compost! |
Bring your own household compost if you don't mind the walk to the compost piles. Acceptable compost ingredients include all vegetable and fruit scraps, eggshells, bread crusts and coffee grounds. Please, no other animal products. Thanks to everyone who has helped us build our compost piles!
|
Local Raw Milk Buying Group Seeks Coordinator
|
A group of interested buyers are looking to start a purchasing group to buy milk directly from Robinson Farm, a certified raw milk dairy located in Hardwick. Robinson Farm is in the process of transitioning to certified organic status. This group would have no official connection with Waltham Fields Community Farm, but could include buyers from within and outsideWFCF's CSA.
The group is looking for a coordinator to make it all happen! The coordinator will need to work out transportation and distribution processes between Robinson Farm and milk buyers. The legalities of purchasing raw milk are very specific in Massachusetts, and the coordinator will need to make sure that the buying group operates within those guidelines.
If you are interested in coordinating the group, please contact WFCF CSA shareholder Linda Robinson. Linda, who has no official affiliation with Robinson Farm, has done some great research into how other buying groups have organized and can share that information with a potential coordinator. | |
Welcome to the 2008 Harvest Season!
CSA Pickups at the Farm this Week:
- Tuesday, August 5 from 3-7 PM
- Thursday, August 7 from 3-7 PM
- Sunday, August 10 from 3-7 PM
CSA Pickup in Davis Square (for pre-registered shareholders only):
- Tuesday, August 5 from 5-7 PM
|
|
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.
|
Pick-Your-Own Crops This Week
Shareholders are welcome to pick-your-own during daylight hours Mondays through Thursdays and Sundays. Please remember to check the white board on the red kiosk for up-to-the minute PYO information.
|
Notes from the Field Water on the Fields
After last year's dry July and August, it's only appropriate that this season is filled with water -- lots of it. Two weeks ago we got six inches of rain in a week, in storms filled with noise and mud that seem to have spared our fall carrots, just beginning to sprout from tiny seeds in the soaked ground. The rain is great for the fall crops -- kale and broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, beets, carrots and fennel -- that are growing away in the fields. It makes it tough for us to cultivate and weed -- seems like every afternoon as we prepare to weed, another thunderstorm emerges from the west. Erinn and Jonathan are doing an amazing job using our Super A cultivating tractors, Gus and Gretta, to keep on top of the little weeds every chance they get. Weeds that have escaped them, however, are growing just as vigorously as the crops.
Lots of water can also mean lots of disease, especially in crops where a dense leaf canopy (or a lot of weeds) hold in moisture. Our tomatoes and peppers will probably be impacted most, but melons, squash and cucumbers are also susceptible, particularly during the damp, cool nights that we've had recently. These nights are great for sleeping, but they also mean that melons and tomatoes are ripening slowly on the vine. Some hot, sunny weather and slightly warmer nights would be ideal for sun-ripening these tropical crops while dampening the disease pressure (if you're making requests to the weather gods).
Our big fall transplanting push is over. From here on out, we'll be planting mostly successions of lettuce, spinach and fall roots and greens like radishes, salad turnips and arugula. We'll also be starting to plant our fall cover crops, thinking hard about what crops will go where next year and seeding appropriately. A combination of oats and field peas will go on where early crops will grow next year, while winter rye and hairy vetch will be seeded before next year's melons, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. Watch for the tiny spikes and swirls of the cover crops emerging in seemingly empty sections of the fields, as well as underneath growing crops, over the next few weeks. Planning ahead and building up healthy soil for next year's crop is one of the keys to successful organic production, and we're improving at it every year.
Okay -- got to go kill some weeds while it's sunny.
Enjoy the harvest.
Amanda
| |
|
The Staff of Waltham Fields Community Farm
Amanda Cather, Farm Manager Debra Guttormsen, Administrative and Finance Coordinator Amanda Jellen, Farm Crew Paula Jordan, Children's Learning Garden Assistant Claire Kozower, Executive Director Jonathan Martinez, Assistant Grower Dan Roberts, Farm Crew Erinn Roberts, Assistant Grower Andy Scherer, Assistant Farm Manager Mark Walter, Children's Learning Garden Coordinator
|
|
|