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Waltham Fields Community Farm
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CSA NEWSLETTER 2015 - Week 13 of 20
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3 Routes...1 Great Cause!
Waltham Fields Community Farm is honored to be selected by Three Squares New England to host a team for the Ride for Food on Sunday, September 20th. The event, in its fourth year, 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 ONE OF OUR RIDERS f
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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):
Kale
Collards
Lettuce
Chard
Arugula
Eggplant
Bell Peppers
Tomatoes
Melons-canteloupe or watermelon
Potatoes
Carrots
Beets
Pick Your Own (PYO):
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 everyone please refrain from snacking extensively out in the fields. If an area is roped off, it is closed to PYO.
Parsley, cherry tomatoes, plum tomatoes, husk cherries, tomatillos, hot chiles & perennial herbs and flowers.
PICK YOUR OWN FLOWER SHARES STILL AVAILABLE
Pick two bouquets a week (10-15 stems each) for 3 more weeks for only $10 a week. Shareholders can expect a diverse offering of flower varieties, including zinnias, cosmos, everlastings, sunflowers and asters. Sign up and pay cash or check at the Distribution Barn cash register this week!
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NOTES FROM THE FIELD -
Shannon's First Notes
From Shannon Taylor, Executive Director
Simply put, I love being on a farm. Growing up at the end of my family's Michigan farm gave me a deep appreciation of attachment to land, open space and community. Both of my parents came from farming families and I have wonderful memories of selling plants alongside my grandparents at Detroit Eastern Market as well as horrible memories of weeding the enormous garden with my brother...we didn't have the same view as Leo, from last week's notes! But I never grew tired of the quarter mile bike ride to the farm house and the flavor of those garden vegetables. It was worth the work.
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Shannon's family farm in MI
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While studying music therapy in college, I started working in the food service industry. I found this work fascinating and it fueled my insatiable appetite to learn about the history, business, anthropology and even the politics of food. The more I learned, the more I realized that our larger food system is broken and I began to think of how I could make a positive contribution. This led me to my first CSA share at the Food Project in Lincoln, MA. Before I even got out of the car, I was hooked. Here was the familiar feeling of land, open space and community with the enhancement of education, shared fate and commitment to fix our broken food system. Now, I could not only fuel my fire, but I could begin to kindle one with my son by taking him to the farm every week and sharing my deep appreciation of this lifestyle with him.
Since that first CSA share 9 years ago, I have been dedicated to supporting local farms, creating a lifestyle centered around fresh, healthy food and educating the community on this passion. I have spent the majority of my professional life in food service at Whole Foods Market working in a variety positions, most recently Marketing Team Leader and Community Liaison for the Fresh Pond store. Whole Foods Market is how I came to learn about WFCF and partnered to provide cooking classes on the farm, share samples at Farm Day and host the Youth Crew for a store tour and cooking class...basically trying to get on the farm as much as I could! After the discovery of such an amazing farm doing really great things (and closer to home!), I signed up for a work share last year and joyfully spent Thursdays in the CSA distribution barn, filling up bins and spending hours deciding which vegetables to take home.
You probably have guessed by now that I am thrilled to be on the farm every day! I am incredibly thankful to the staff and Board of Directors for the incredible opportunity to serve them and the Waltham Fields community. These first two weeks have been fantastic! There have been field trips to fields, farm and equipment tours, harvesting onions and transplanting lettuce with a volunteer group and loads of information sharing. I learned about flame weeders, dibblers and irrigation pump infrastructure. I ate an awesome, home-baked pie brought in for a birthday celebration. And I have met so, so, so many fantastic people. I am indebted to Claire Kozower for taking the time to thoroughly orientate, train and give me a solid, well-organized start. She is an incredible resource as well as an amazing person and I value every minute with her.
As the season rolls on, I look forward to meeting everyone and listening to your experiences, ideas and stories about Waltham Fields Community Farm. Please feel free to stop in to say hi or send a note. The thriving WFCF community is a huge part of what makes the farm such a special place! The farm is the heart that makes all of our food access and education programs possible and I love to see our community out on the farm enjoying the food, land and each other. It's a great place to be.
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| | One of our Distribution Work Shares, Deepika (left), and Shannon during a CSA pick up. |
-Shannon
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WHAT'S IN THE BARN 
Hand knitted Market Bags
lovingly made and donated to WFCF by long-time member and shareholder,
Debbie von Rechenberg
Hand-crocheted market bags for sale at the
 merchandise section of the farm stand. Never be without your market bag again! Two different styles available, one with its own pocket so it can easily be stored. All proceeds aid our food access and education programs! $15 each.
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)
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Early in the season, crops for sale to the public will be those that we have an abundance of and later in the season, if production is going well, we hope to operate as a full-fledged farm store with a wide range of vegetables available to the public during our weekly CSA distribution hours.
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CARAMELIZED CHERRY TOMATO SAUCE
Adapted from The Farmer's Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Enjoying Your CSA and Farmers' Market Foods, FOR SALE IN THE BARN
This recipe was originally created for Restaurant Nora in Washington, DC.
Ingredients
3 pints ripe or over-ripe cherry tomatoes and/or cubed bigger heirloom tomatoes
2 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 - 1 tsp fresh orange zest
fresh herbs of choice (but NOT dill)
1 Tbs minced garlic
2 Tbs minced onion
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp Kosher or sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Directions
1. Mix together tomatoes, sugar, orange zest, half the fresh herbs, salt, pepper, garlic and onions.
2. Attentively broil, not bake, in an oven until the skins of the top tomatoes have just blackened. Remove from broiler, and stir in other half of the above chopped herbs, or fresh herbs of your choice. Add balsamic vinegar, and taste for any further need for salt or pepper.
3. The sauce is outstanding served atop otherwise mundane chicken, fish, shrimp, or vegetarian dishes. It freezes well, but taste after thawing for addition herb, vinegar, or salt needs.
SUMMER RECIPES
We have a ton of great recipes on our website, including
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Waltham Fields Community Farm Staff
Year-Round Staff:
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
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