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June 11, 2012
| CSA Distribution Week #1
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Waltham Fields Community Farm
CSA Newsletter
 
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What's in the shares this week
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This list is prepared before we harvest 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.
Mix-and-Match seven items this week from the following list:
Lettuce: fresh and tender, this green leaf lettuce is the first of the season. We aim to make lettuce available each week all season long. Spinach: You wouldn't think so, but spinach is a tricky crop to grow. It's fussy, disease-prone and likes a lot of fertility. Not too much water, not too little water... you get the picture. This spring's spinach is lovely, and we are grateful. Garlic Scapes: The flower stalk of the garlic plant that many farmers traditionally pull off in an attempt to make the plant put its energy into the bulb, garlic scapes are essentially a waste product that have become an early-season star. Use them just like you would fresh garlic -- they are delicious raw or cooked.
Bok Choy: Enjoy these firm large heads of bok choy now -- you won't see them again until fall.
Escarole: A farmer's favorite from the lettuce family, 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.
Frisee Endive: Great mixed with mild lettuces, fruits and nuts in a salad. Another spring favorite we won't see again until fall. Kohlrabi: Here it is, the alien vegetable with the funny name. It comes in green or purple, but the color is really only skin-deep and there's no taste difference  that we can recognize. After you peel it, it is extremely versatile: Sliced thin in salads or spring rolls, arranged on a crudite plate with your favorite dip, layered with Gruyere and green apple on a simple sandwich, or braised in a savory sauce, this vegetable does it all (see recipes for more ideas). Kale: Dan says this is our most beautiful spring kale ever. We grow the familiar curly kale as well as the more robust black Tuscan variety (hint: alsocalled dinosaur kale for those of you for whom this might be an incentive). Both are delicious steamed as a simple side dish, chopped raw into a salad, or cooked in any number of recipes. Swiss Chard: Colorful and packed with folate, vitamins A, K and C, magnesium, potassium and fiber, chard is one of the healthiest vegetables we grow -- good thing it's also one of the most tasty. Use it in frittatas and pasta dishes, soups and casseroles, or use the leaves to wrap rice and meat combinations or salmon.
Radishes: delicate and colorful, French breakfast radishes are the earliest of the three varieties we grow. They have an earthy, slightly sweet and spacy flavor that's perfect in salads, on crudite plates or in any number of cooked recipes. And a farmers' choice of a few other surprise items throughout the week!
Pick-your-own crops this week: |
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Quick Links
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Events and Programs | |
Children's Learning Garden Programs!
Registration is now open for our well-loved summer programs! Sign up for Garden Explorers, Farmer for a Week and more by clicking on the link above.
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Frisee Endive | |
This recipe comes to us from the Cool Beans CSA by way of Hilary (thanks, Hilary!).
one head frisee
1/4 c maple syrup
2 T lemon juice
1/2 cup-ish stale bread crumbs
olive oil
salt, pepper
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Cook bread crumbs until crisp and golden brown, about 4 minutes.
Transfer to a bowl and stir in zest and a pinch of salt.
Wipe out skillet, then add 2 T oil and cook 15 seconds. Increase heat to medium-high and sauté frisée until slightly wilted, about 2 minutes. Off heat, stir in lemon juice, syrup, 1/8 t salt, and 1/4 t pepper.
Serve topped with bread crumbs.
Do you have a recipe you'd like to share? Just send it on in -- please do let us know where you found it so we can reference the source.
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What to Bring to CSA Share Pickup |
This year's CSA pickups will take place in our new barn! See you there!
The first CSA pickups of the season will be:
- Tuesday, June 12 2:30-7:30 PM
- Thursday, June 14 2:30-7:30 PM
- Saturday, June 16 9 AM-1 PM
Bring grocery bags to carry home your veggies, produce bags if you like them, scissors for pick-your-own herbs, a picnic, friends, family, well-behaved dogs on leashes (just not in the CSA barn, please) and a big hello for your farmers!
If you are a weekday-only shareholder, please plan to pick up on Tuesday or Thursday.
Take a look at our CSA FAQs if you have any questions about CSA pickups. If you are splitting a share, please remember that your entire share needs to be picked up at once every week. |
Notes from the Field: "A Better Weird"
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This is what Dan Kaplan, an organic farmer in Amherst, called this spring's growing conditions. Weird, yes. Very hot in April, then cold in May, then hot and dry, then cold and dry, then cold and wet. Unlike last fall's wet and wet, this spring's roller-coaster-ride temperature and moisture variations seem to have been generally OK for vegetable crops so far. This past week, with nighttime temperatures down in the 50s, put the brakes on many crops that had seemed on track for the first harvest. So our lettuce is a little more petite than usual at this time of year, and beets, radishes, napa cabbage, sugar snap peas and scallions will have to wait for next week -- something to look forward to!
 While this spring's weather is definitely a "better weird" than the fall, it's still weird, and it seems to be what we all have to get used to as vegetable farmers these days -- extreme and unpredictable weather seems to have become the new normal. As farmers, we're inveterate gamblers -- we roll the dice every season by putting tender, carefully cultivated seedlings into carefully prepared soil at the utter mercy of all the elements. What we do is inherently risky. We try not to take stupid risks (like planting tomatoes in April) and try to hedge against some of the more damaging conditions by using wise organic techniques like crop rotation, cover cropping, row cover and timing crops to help outsmart pests. And your support as CSA shareholders helps mitigate some of the anxiety that comes with this new weirdness, since everything we grow already has a home, and we don't need to worry about being first to market with cucumbers or tomatoes in order to get the best price. Still, with every year a new game, with new pests like the spotted wing drosophila and the potential for region-wide disease outbreaks like the late blight epidemic of 2009, with all the weird weather and constant change -- are we farmers still having fun?
We are.
This spring has been a deeply satisfying one on our farm. Whether it's new land opened up at Gateways Farm in Weston thanks to Andy's knowledge and skill, new cultivating equipment and new uses of old equipment helping us control weeds better than ever thanks to Dan's knowledge and skill, beautiful transplants coming out of the greenhouse at the perfect time to go into the ground thanks to Erinn's knowledge and skill, interesting experiments with new pest control methods and shiny silver onion mulch, or the quick learning curve and general awesomeness of our farmers-in-training, Sutton and Zannah, we are enjoying our work and the rhythms of the farm season. Our weed crew started last week, and even in training these four dedicated young women have had a big impact on the weeds in the fields. Even when our to-do list is long and the days feel longer, we are grateful to be able to do the work we do in this unique spot, so close to the city. We are excited to share it with you this week. Welcome back to your farm.
Amanda (for the farm crew) | |
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Waltham Fields Community Farm Year-Round Staff
Claire Kozower, Executive Director
Kim Hunter, Education & Volunteer Coordinator (on maternity leave)
Fan Watkinson, Interim Education & Volunteer Coordinator
Amanda Cather, Farm Manager
Andy Scherer, Gateways Field Manager
Dan Roberts, Field Manager
Erinn Roberts, Greenhouse & Field Manager
Marla Rhodes, Development Coordinator
Deb Guttormsen, Bookkeeper & Tech Coordinator
Assistant Growers
Sutton Kiplinger, Zannah Porter
Field Crew
Alison Denn, Anna Linck, Katherine Murray, David Taberner
Weed Crew
Becca Carden, Kathryn Cole, Annabelle Ho, Meghan Seifert
Learning Garden Educators
Rebecca Byrd, Alison Dagger, Ian Howes
Work Sharers
Graphic Design, Neva Corbo-Hudak
CSA Newsletter, Susan Cassidy
Learning Garden Maintenance, Rebekah Carter
Container Garden, Dede Dussault
Perennial Garden Maintenance, Sabine Gerbatsch and Amy Hendrickson
Farm Work, Naomi Shea
CSA Distribution Coordinators: Joy Grimes, Natasha Hawke, Deepika Madan, Eileen Rojas, and Aneiage Van Bean
www.communityfarms.org 781-899-2403 |
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Waltham Fields Community Farm | 240 Beaver Street | Waltham | MA | 02452
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