Waltham Fields Community Farm
CSA NEWSLETTER 2017
Week 13 of 20
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In This Issue
CSA PICKUP DATES AND TIMES

COME ONCE EACH WEEK ON ANY OF THESE PICK UP DAYS
Wednesday, August 30th, 2-6:30pm
Thursday, August 31st, 2-6:30pm 
Saturday, September 2nd, 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.
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): 




beets
carrots
cucumbers
lettuce
celery
collards
eggplant
kale
loose greens
walla walla onions
bell peppers
radicchio
Swiss chard
tomatoes
zucchini/summer squash (probably final week)

Pick Your Own (PYO): 
Cherry tomatoes, plum tomatoes, tomatillos, chile peppers, husk cherries, cilantro, dill, parsley, edamame & Perennial Garden herbs. 
Not going through all those chili peppers? Dry them for later use.

RECIPES
We have a ton of great recipes on our website, including many different suggestions for tomatoes! Click here to check them out!
LAST WEDNESDAY PICNIC SUPPER 
June's Last Wednesday Picnic Supper with Cellos on the Charles as musical guests.

When: This Wednesday, August 30th, 5-7pm FREE
Where: At the farm
WhatBYOBlanket and picnic supper and enjoy our farm and fields! 
Free ~ all are welcome. 
Banjovillian will be playing old-timey music for our enjoyment.
NOTES FROM THE FIELD
Week Thirteen: Contentment
by: Anna Kelchlin, Farm Manager

These days it feels like all we do is harvest.  It sounds about right for August though.  We are entering the time in the season where summer meets fall, revolving back around to the cooler crops like spinach and radishes that we had in the springtime.  I am excited to announce that some of my favorite greens, arugula and braising greens, are now on the stand.  I highly recommend both!  During this intersection of space and time, the feeling of contentment surfaces a bit more freely for me.  It is comforting to know that the frantic feeling of our spring work is behind us.  Saturday morning was absolutely precious.  It was nice to feel the warmth of a wool sweater and a hot cup of coffee in my hands.  The dew rested heavily on the fall broccoli and cauliflower field.  It is a quiet time of year, at least in my mind.  By 9am the sun pierces through and suddenly it's summer again.  The light is strong, but the air is crisp giving us a hint of fall.
 
As farmers and consumers of food, harvesting is one of the most rewarding activities on the farm, but also one of the most challenging on the body.  Lately my hamstring muscles have been making themselves known and begging me to please get back into a daily yoga practice.  We are on a regular schedule of harvesting our cucurbits (cucumbers, squash, zucchini) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, coupled with afternoon harvests of tomatoes that have proven to be hearty.  The tomatoes definitely took their time to ripen, but now they are in full force.  In my opinion these crops are the most demanding of the body. The fruit is found low on the ground, and can be quite heavy since we harvest them into 5 gallon buckets.  In other words, it's a lot of forward bending. Our beds are mostly 200 feet long and these crops are planted between 18 and 24 inches apart.  So there are at least 130 plants to pick in one bed.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays we harvest eggplant as well as many other veggies like carrots and bunched greens, etc.   As you can see the hours in the week fill quickly and we must motivate ourselves to work with a steady pace.  After harvest, we hope to work on other tasks like the bulk harvesting of our onions and last week the delicata squash.  On Saturday, Janelle led a large group of volunteers and they were able to plant our 5th generation of spinach and another bed of kohlrabi, which will be ready in later September.  Together we seeded another round of radishes in the West Field.  We are nearing our end with planting and seeding in the upcoming weeks. We will begin to sow cover crops on the bare soil patches that are slowing reappearing once fields are fully harvested.  Always more to do and never enough time to do it all.  Balance is a major theme on the farm.
I hope that you are able to feel contentment with the healthy bounty of late summer.  Although our country is experiencing a turbulent time, it's important to find gratitude and support within our community and within ourselves.  This past weekend, I went to see singer and songwriter Valerie June, and with her music she expressed a lot about the inner light that is deep inside each one of us.  If we let it shine through we can radiate that light onto others.  I think about this quite often and how if we find a place of refuge or a place of nourishment that it might be a little easier to let that light come through.  I feel fortunate that there are a few places of refuge in my life and the farm is one of them.  Thanks to my coworkers, friends and supporters of this community farm.
Here's to the bounty and contentment of summer!
For the farm crew,
 Anna 
WHAT'S IN THE BARN 

New flavors of Halvah Heaven!
  
We've restocked on halvah! Find your favorite flavors in the farm store. We have cardamom orange, espresso, maple, silk road again, or try the new vanilla & ginger lemon!




Also, we are beginning to sell our vegetables at retail prices to shareholders as well as the public. Each week, a selection will be available for sale during regular CSA pickup hours. If you'd like just a little bit more of something, now you can purchase it at the cash register. Check our retail chalk board hanging in the barn each pickup to see what's available for sale. Also, feel free to bring friends along if they are interested in buying our produce. Now is their chance to enjoy the bounty!

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)
.
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.
 
Serves: 4 to 6
Ingredients
  • 4 - 6 large heirloom tomatoes
  • 1 large sweet red pepper- halved and seeded
  • 3 zucchini - halved horizontally
  • 2 large shallots - peeled and halved
  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes 
  • 1 large cucumber - peeled, seeded and diced
  • 1 large avocado - halved and sliced
  • 1 large lemon - zested and juiced, reserve 1 tablespoon juice
  • 2 - 3 cloves garlic - chopped
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
  • Kosher or sea salt to season
  • Freshly ground pepper to season
  • Smoked sea salt to finish (optional)
Instructions


 

1. Brush heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, red pepper and shallots with olive oil, then season lightly with salt and pepper. Grill the tomatoes and red peppers for 10 minutes over medium heat and the zucchini and shallots for 5 minutes. Remove them from grill and let them cool slightly.


 

2. Place vegetable mixture, reserving one grilled zucchini, into the blender or food processor and pulse until desired texture is reached. I typically prefer mine chunky, which requires about 5 - 6 pulses. Pour the mixture into a large non-reactive bowl.


 

3. Combine the cherry tomatoes with the 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, sherry vinegar and the lemon juice in the blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Pour mixture into the bowl and combine with the grilled vegetables. Fold in the diced cucumber and diced zucchini to the soup.


 

4. Chill the soup for 4 - 6 hours or overnight. The flavors will become stronger as the soup is allowed to sit. Season with salt and pepper to taste before plating and serving.


 

5. Brush the reserved lemon juice and remaining olive oil onto the avocado slices, then season lightly with salt and pepper. Grill the avocado for about 4 minutes. Allow avocado to cool and dice into 1-inch pieces.


 

6. Serve in bowls topped with grilled avocado, lemon zest and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. If desired, finish with smoked sea salt.

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, Assistant 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
Tractor Operator: Tim Cooke
Field Crew: Stacey Daley, Ebony Nava, Ivory Nava, Allison Ostrowski, Bekah Waller
Distribution & Outreach Assistant: Owen Weitzman
Learning Garden Educators: Autumn Cutting, Jack Leng, Zack Lennon-Simon, Lauren McDermott

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