Fall Learning Garden programs
We have a few spaces left in our Garden Explorers After School program for children in Grades K-2, which meets 6 Tuesdays, from 9/18-10/23, from 3:30-5pm. Learn more!
Just 1 space left in our Little Sprouts program for caregivers and children ages 0-4.
Register now!
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Upcoming Events in the Community
Waltham Day on the Common
Sat., Sept. 15th, 10am-3pm. At the intersection of Main St. and Moody St.
Join the Waltham's Mayor, Jeannette McCarthy, for her annual picnic on the Common - a fun celebration of the Waltham community. Stop by our table which we will be sharing with Healthy Waltham.
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Mayor McCarthy recently lent a hand distributing vegetables at our special Outreach Market for low income residents in need. |
Boston Local Food Festival (BLFF)
Sun., Oct. 7th, 11am-5pm on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in downtown Boston.
Presented by the Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts, the 3rd annual BLFF moves to its new location this year and promises to delight local food enthusiasts with chef vendors, farm products, specialty foods, live music, hands-on activities and more! |
Recipe of the Month -
Husk Cherry Apple Butter!
We are blessed here at the farm to have many talented chefs among our members and shareholders, one of which is Tammy Inman. Maybe you've seen her spectacular carrot cake she makes for our Sprout Silent Auction Fundraiser each year, or maybe, like us, you're a fan of her blog - Food on the Food - always a source of inspiration for seasonal recipes presented with humor and creativity!
What could be more perfect right now than her Husk Cherry Apple Butter, adapted from SimplyRecipes.com
Ingredients:
- 4 apples
- Pint of husk cherries, papery husks removed (about 1/2 cup of fruit)
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 1½ cups sugar
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- ½ tsp. allspice
- Pinch of cloves
- Pinch of salt
Directions:
- Cut apples in half,
then into thick wedges (keep peels on and cores intact as they add flavor and pectin).
- Add apples, husk cherries, cider vinegar, and water to the pot.
- Bring to boil and
simmer, covered,
until soft (about 20 minutes).
- Mash up the mixture and process it through a food mill set over a bowl (or you can press it through a sieve with a wooden spoon).
- Add sugar, spices, and salt to the apple butter, and cook over medium-low heat,
uncovered, for about an hour until thick and darkened.
Makes enough to fill 3 small jelly jars.
Recipe can be doubled!
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WISH LIST:
Farm:
- Scissors!
- Long-handled shovels
- Clean 5-gallon buckets w/ lids, food grade
- Fork lift
Education:
- Garden Carts, any size
- Collapsible Stepping Stool
- Dish/Hand Towels
- Short ladder
- Volunteers for Waltham Farm Day
Office:
- USB Hard Drive (external drive) 500GB or higher
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WALTHAM FARM DAY
FREE Public Event!
Saturday, Sept. 22
2-5pm
At the Farm
240 Beaver St., Waltham
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Field Crew Members Anna Linck, Kathering Murray, David Taberner, and Alison Denn storing their pumpkin harvest for Farm Day! |
- Bike-powered cider pressing
- Tractor climbing
- Meet the Hawke family's chickens and bees
- Seed art and face painting
- Recipe sampling
- Lend a hand pulling stakes and cleaning onions
- PYO carrot patch and pumpkins for sale!
Free Trolley from the Waltham Common, overflow parking at the Warren Ball Field at the corner of Beaver St. & Waverly Oakes. BRING YOUR FRIENDS and help us celebrate local agriculture and Massachusetts Harvest for Students Week! |
Our Fabulous Fall Fundraisers
All proceeds support our charitable
food access and education programs
All of October - Eat at The Elephant Walk in Waltham: Enjoy lunch or dinner anytime throughout October and 3% of sales will be donated to us!
Celebrate Food Day with WFCF, Elephant Walk, and Frances Moore Lappé! Tues., Oct. 24th, 6:30pm. The Elephant Walk restaurant in Waltham is generously hosting a benefit dinner with special guest Frances Moore Lappe, groundbreaking author and living democracy advocate! Your $45 includes three-course family-style meal made with WFCF's organically-grown produce, and words of inspiration from Frances. Limited to 60 people.
Reserve your seats now!
Learn more about Food Day by clicking here!
The Crusha: Sat. Nov. 3rd, 1-4pm. Take a turn on the bike-powered apple cider press. Join WFCF Board Members and fellow local farmers Meryl LaTronica and Chris Yoder for this wonderful event. Bring your own take-home container or a mug for drinking fresh from the press. Donations appreciated based on your discretion/consumption! All are welcome!
WFCF Benefit Concert at Brandeis University: Sun. Nov. 4th, 3pm. Join WFCF members Barbara Cassidy and Eric Chasalow for the Barbara Cassidy Band's CD-release concert for Leaving Things the Way I Found Them, featuring: Barbara Cassidy, Eric Chasalow, Bob Nieske, David "Goody" Goodrich, Dave Mattacks & Joe Kessler, with special appearances by: Peter Mulvey & Pesky J. Nixon!
Get Your Tickets Now: $20 ($15 is tax deductible). A limited number of "Friend of the Farm" tickets will be sold for $40 ($35 tax deductible) and include preferred seating and a signed CD.
The concert will be held in the Slosberg Music Center at Brandeis University in Waltham, where Eric teaches! We are delighted that Barbara and Eric have chosen to have their concert proceeds benefit the farm, and look forward to seeing you there.
Tempo Bistro Brunch:Sat. Nov. 10th, 11:30am. Join us for a local foods brunch at Waltham's own Tempo Bistro, prepared with our organically-grown produce. More info and reservation details will be available soon!
Flatbread Pizza Company Fundraiser:Tues, Dec. 14th. at Flatbread's Somerville location, 45 Day St. Davis Sq. Part of the day's pizza sales will go to us! Please bring your friends and family out for some brick-oven pies and check out the bowling lanes too.
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Lessons from the
Container Garden
From Dede Dussault
 | | Basil-infused Tomatoes - A container garden creation! |
Late summer, what a wonderful time in the Waltham Fields Container Garden! Still harvesting summer's abundance, with the promise of fall crops to come. I think the plants benefited from the increased attention they received, as well as the sunnier location this year.
We had many crops in abundance, including eggplant, celery, green and purple pole beans, husk cherries, hot and sweet peppers, sweet and white potatoes, lots and lots of greens, and tomatoes. Speaking of tomatoes, this year we grew three varieties in the container garden. The Sungold cherry tomato plant was right below a couple of bush basil plants, and some of the branches overlapped, resulting in tomatoes that actually grew and matured inside a basil plant. The naturally basil infused tomatoes that resulted were indescribably delicious. This was an accident this year, but it's given me an idea. Careful placement of plants in a container garden could result in all kinds of deliciously flavor infused tomatoes. Tarragon or anise flavored tomatoes, anyone? I also tried a couple of dwarf tomato varieties, Tiny Tim and Totem. Both plants were perfectly suited to container gardening, only about a foot tall, and prolific producers. The Tiny Tim had very bright red, small cherry tomatoes with a slightly thick skin, good firm texture and an excellent flavor that made them perfect for any kind of salads. I used some in a pasta salad and got lots of compliments. The Totem tomatoes, however, were a big disappointment, with a mushy texture and little flavor. I would definitely use Tiny Tim again in a container garden, and I'm eager to try other dwarf varieties in the future.
Herbs and flowers were everywhere in the container garden, as part of theme containers and as companion plants to improve the health and flavor of vegetables. The Mediterranean themed planter had Greek oregano, thyme, and bush basil, with a couple of varieties of mint nearby. In addition to the basil and tomatoes I mentioned earlier, chamomile was planted with the cucumbers, and snapdragons and cosmos kept the celery company. The blue-purple ageratum in the bathtub will be found in any garden that I plant, as a tribute to my grandfather, a homesick Nova Scotian farmer who helped me plant my first garden. They also help repel mosquitoes!
It was another good year for one of my favorite container crops, potatoes. I always put landscape cloth on the bottom of the container to keep the roly-polys and other pests out, and so far it's always worked. The potatoes come out so perfect and unblemished! A new container garden crop this year is sweet potatoes. The tubers aren't harvested yet, but the vines are abundant and beautiful. I plant to harvest them on Farm Day; come by and see them as well as the fall crops that are coming along -Romaine and red lettuce, baby lettuce mix, Asian greens mix, Italian dandelion, Kale, bok choy, and mustard spinach. My goal is to eat a different type of green every night! |
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Waltham Fields Community Farm Staff
Claire Kozower, Executive Director Kim Hunter, Education & Volunteer Coordinator Amanda Cather, Farm Manager Andy Scherer, Farm Manager, Gateways Dan Roberts, Field Manager
2012 Seasonal Staff
Assistant Growers: Sutton Kiplinger and Zannah Porter
Educators: Rebecca Byard, Rebekah Carter, Alison Dagger, and Ian Howes
Field Crew: Alison Denn, Anna Linck, Katherine Murray, and David Taberner
Weed Crew: Becca Carden, Kathryn Cole, Annabelle Ho, and Meghan Seifert
Outreach Market Asst.: Kathryn Cole
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