Waltham Fields Community Farm
CSA NEWSLETTER 2016
Week 2 of 20
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In This Issue
PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THE FOLLOWING CLOSED DISTRIBUTION DATE

Distribution will be closed on Saturday, July 2nd due to the holiday, but we will be open for pick up on Friday, July 1st instead. Please plan ahead. Pick Your Own will still be open. We will be open Wednesday (6/29), Thursday (6/30) and Friday (7/01) from 2pm until 6:30pm of that week. 

Drop In Volunteer Hours are cancelled on Saturday, July 4th. 
CSA PICKUP DATES AND TIMES
 
COME ONCE EACH WEEK ON ANY OF THESE PICK UP DAYS
Wednesday, June 15-Oct. 19, 2:00-6:30PM
Thursday, June 16-Oct. 20, 2:00-6:30PM
*OPEN FOR DISTRIBUTION FRIDAY, JULY 3RD 2:00-6:30PM*
Saturday, June 18-Oct. 22, 9AM-2PM

Any shareholder is welcome to pick up on any of the above days! You don't have to let us know when you're coming. Feel free to switch back and forth from week to week if that works best for you, or choose a day and stick to it for most of the season. We'll be happy to see you whatever day you come to the farm.
Operation Crop Mob, Part 1

When: This Saturday, June 18th 9am-12pm

Where: Waltham Fields Community Farm, 240 Beaver St. Waltham, MA

What: Calling all friends of the farm and friends of friends, come on out as we mob the fields and weed for a few hours. Light refreshments to follow.
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):
Farmer Erinn & last week's green garlic. Photo cred: Farmer Anna. 
Lettuce
Swiss chard
Spinach
Garlic scapes
Kale
Bok choy
Frisee
Radish

Pick Your Own (PYO): 
Snap peas & Perennial garden.

SPRING RECIPES
We have a ton of great recipes on our website, including eight different suggestions for garlic scapes! Click here to check them out!
NOTES FROM THE FIELD
Week 2: Push and Pull

The past week has been all about finding our harvest rhythm again and these smaller early harvests make it a bit easier for us to do that.  Just like that, full days that can be dedicated to bed prep, transplanting, cultivating or greenhouse work are gone.  Harvesting is rewarding work and this transition is a great one to be in the midst of, but it does take some more mental gymnastics and shifting of expectations to juggle all of the other work needed to ensure we have crops to harvest in 6, 12 or 20 weeks from now.  Now that the CSA has begun, we'll be harvesting every morning, working together to get in tender greens before the heat sets in and hustling through the late morning to wrap things up by lunch.  Time flies in the afternoon as we race to get in transplants, put plastic mulch down for another round of cucumbers or seed 30 trays of Swiss chard in the greenhouse.  All throughout the mornings, I'm invigorated when I look out across a field to see weed crew extricating kale from giant amaranth or teasing tiny carrots away from just germinating lamb's quarters.  They came out of the gates strong this past week and hand weeded or hoed roughly 10,000 row feet... 
...in other words, they weeded 
almost 2 miles of the farm! 
Dan took advantage of the great cultivating weather we've had (hot, dry, windy) and zipped around killing weeds with the Super As, then took it down a few notches to flame weed the carrots, which is most effective when walking at a snail's pace.  In the words of Robert Frost, we have many more miles (of weeding) to go this season, and your help would be such a boost if you can make it out to Crop Mob this Saturday.  We're hoping for a critical mass of volunteers to make a big impact on our weed population, so come on out to the farm if you have some free time between 9am-noon this Saturday.  Stay a little while after for some tasty snacks from Basil Tree catering.  The difference that a few extra hands can make during the beginning of weed-bonanza season is tremendous and helps make our crops healthy and vigorous; it also helps our weed crew stay happy! 

This week's share will have some beautiful red and green butterhead lettuce and Swiss chard, both of which we hope to have on the stand pretty consistently throughout the season.  Garlic scapes and radishes will make their debut, and will be an option in your share the next couple of weeks.  I'm a big fan of the chicory family and heads of frisee will be the first of a few crops from that family that we'll be harvesting over the coming weeks.  (If you don't like it raw try it sautéed with garlic scapes, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.) Kale, bok choy and spinach will round things out.  On the horizon we've got a few nice plantings of beets coming on, along with some very baby summer squash that should be ready for picking soon.  Pick your own crops are coming along nicely and we'll see some more peas and herbs added to the list soon.  For this week though, I hope you enjoy the quintessential taste of early CSA with the sugar snap peas.  I also hope you'll find some stillness and solace in the quiet rows of green and coming abundance while you're out in the fields this week.

With Gratitude,
Erinn, for the farm team

Weed crew members left to right: Annie, Jenny, Jack & Becca.  
WHAT'S IN THE BARN 

Waltham Fields Community Farm branded cutting boards from 
  
Are you or the cook in your life in need of a new cutting board to chop, mince and julienne all of the wonderful vegetables you are picking up in your share? Check out our handcrafted and personalized cutting boards for sale in the barn. Boston Handyworks, a social enterprise of Pine Street Inn, is an amazing non-profit that provides job training and transitional employment to those that have experienced homelessness and have therefore been estranged from the work force. The trainees at Boston Handyworks produce high-quality wood products, such as these beautiful cutting boards. And they are branded with our logo! All proceeds go towards funding the Boston HandyWorks training program, providing education, training, and resources to help rebuild lives. 

We currently have two different styles: 
"The Hector" circular 12" Diameter, .5" thick for $34.95
"The Sylvester" rectangular 7 x 10 x .75 for $19.95

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 (22% of what we grow - which should amount to $80,000 of produce for low-income households this year)
.
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.
Frisée aux Lardons

Ingredients
¼ pound bacon, cut into 1½×¼×¼-inch strips
1 tablespoon white vinegar
Kosher salt
2 duck eggs
1 garlic scape, minced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 medium head frisée, torn into bite-size pieces
Fleur de sel
Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions 
Add enough water to a large, heavy sauté pan to come to a depth of 1 inch. Heat over medium heat to a bare simmer. Heat a small, heavy sauté pan over medium-low heat until hot but not smoking. Add the bacon and fry, tossing frequently, for 7 to 8 minutes, or until rendered.

Meanwhile, crack each egg into its own ramekin. Add the white vinegar and a generous pinch of kosher salt to the pan of water. Gently slip each egg from its ramekin into the barely simmering water and poach for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the desired doneness. Using a wire skimmer, remove the eggs to a paper towel-lined plate and drain.

When the bacon is rendered, remove it to a plate. Add the garlic scape to the pan and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes, or until crispy and fragrant. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the oil, red wine vinegar, and mustard. Immediately toss together the frisée, bacon, and dressing in a large bowl and season to taste with fleur de sel and pepper. Arrange the salad on individual plates, top each with an egg, and serve immediately.
IMPORTANT SHAREHOLDER INFORMATION

 

What's in the Share  
Each week, we'll send out a CSA newsletter on Tuesday letting you know our best guess for what will be in  share, for the items we're harvesting for you as well as for pick-your-own crops. All shareholders need to check in with us in the Distribution Barn before picking up their share. 

Our first shares will start out smaller and grow with the season. Choice will be more limited in these earlier weeks but we'll start to see more bounty roll in later in the month.

If it's your first time picking up a CSA share let us know when you check in and we'll help guide you through your first pick up.  Also, please feel free to ask us questions anytime.  We're here to help you!

 

Bring Your Own Bags or a Box 

Please remember to bring your own bags or a box to the farm to pick up your CSA share!  We strongly encourage the use of reusable bags/boxes for all vegetables on the farm. If you forget your bags or want some really great ones, we have reusable Waltham Fields Tote Bags for sale in the barn for $4, with proceeds supporting our food assistance and education programs.

  
Pick-Your-Own Crops
All shareholders are welcome to pick-your-own anytime during daylight hours, and you don't have to do your pick-your-own when you pick up the rest of your share. Like last year, each PYO crop will have a number assigned to it. We'll have a sheet of paper available each week with a map and a list of crops that are available to harvest on it, along with the amount allowed and harvest tips. Then just look for the corresponding number in the field to pick your own! PYO sheets will be available at all times at the PYO kiosk on the south side of the Distribution Barn. Please respect the quantity limits so that there is enough for everyone!  

For flowers, our vegetable shareholders will be able to pick some of the flowering plants in the perennial gardens and there will be two weeks at the end of the 20-week season when shareholders are given access to our annual flowers for picking.  If you're a flower lover though and haven't purchased a flower share yet, we still have some left.  Flower shares offer 10 weeks of picking two bouquets per week for $100 (just $10/week for a bounty of food for the soul)!  Click here to learn more about flower share purchase.

If You Need to Miss a Pick Up
If you can't pick up a share one week, we are not able to allow you to double up on another week.  But you can send friends or neighbors to get your veggies on any week you can't make it yourself.  Have them check in under the last name of the primary shareholder for your share.  You don't need to let us know they're coming.  They will just check in under your name at the CSA barn.  If no one picks up your share, the veggies will be included with our weekly donations to hunger relief organizations.  

Balances Due
All fees were due by June 1st, including share balances and maintaining current membership with our nonprofit organization. If you're not sure if you still owe money for your CSA share or membership, check your email for a notice from our Bookkeeper and Office Coordinator, Kamelia Aly. Credit card payments are no longer accepted for share payments. Please send in or drop off your check made out to WFCF.

For Those Splitting a Share
If you are splitting a share, please remember that you need to pick up the whole share at one time each week. It is NOT acceptable for one partner to come at one time and pick up half of the share and another to get the other half later. You'll need to coordinate with your share partner to figure out how to divide the share up, either by taking alternate weeks, meeting up at the farm to pick up the share together, etc. 

Dogs on the Farm
Dogs are welcome on the farm but are not allowed in the CSA barn or in the vegetable fields per health department regulations. Dogs must be leashed and owners must clean up after them
  
Share Pick Up Questions
More questions about share pickup?  Check out our CSA FAQs!  You can also contact Lauren Trotogott, our Distribution Coordinator.
Quick Links
Waltham Fields Community Farm Staff

Year-Round Staff:
Shannon Taylor, Executive Director
Marla Rhodes, Volunteer & Development Coordinator
Erinn Roberts, Farm Manager
Anna Kelchlin, Farm Manager
Alexandra Lennon-Simon, Education & Outreach Manager
Lauren Trotogott, Distribution Coordinator
Kamelia Aly, Bookkeeper & Office Coordinator

Seasonal Staff:
Assistant Grower: Janelle Plummer
Greenhouse Production Supervisor: Naomi Shea
Equipment Supervisor: Dan Roberts
Field Crew: Heidi Blake, Allison Ostrowski, Gabrielle Weiler
Weed Crew: Annie Carter, Jenny Grossman, Jack Spiva, Rebekah Waller
Learning Garden Educators: Autumn Cutting, Alannah Glickman, Jack Leng

www.communityfarms.org
240 Beaver Street
Waltham, MA 02452