WFCF CSA Newsletter - CSA Week #10

Waltham Fields Community Farm

local food for everyone

Waltham Fields Community Farm

CSA Newsletter 2018

Week 10 of 20

PICKUP DATES & TIMES

COME ONCE ON ANY OF THESE PICK UP DAYS

Wednesday, August 15th, 2:00-6:30pm

Thursday, August 16th, 2:00-6:30pm

Saturday, August 18th, 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.

Winter Share payments were due August 1st.

Please be prepared to pay check or cash at this week's pick-up if you still have an outstanding balance.

You can also send in or drop off your check made out to WFCF at our office, located at 240 Beaver Street in Waltham. Park behind the red brick building, enter the single red door and you'll find our office inside the first door on the right.

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

Dandelion Greens

Chard

Celery

Cukes

Eggplant

Lettuce or Salad Mix

Onions

Bell pepper

Potatoes

Scallions

Squash and zukes

Tomatoes

Watermelon

Cantaloupe from Picadilly

Pick Your Own (PYO): Cherry & plum tomatoes, husk (ground) cherries, dill, cilantro, basil (green, purple & Thai), tomatillos, Italian beans, green beans, hot chilies & Perennial Garden herbs & flowers. (Please don’t cut more than 1/3-1/2 of Perennial Garden herb stems. View the Perennial Garden Handbook here.)

NOTES FROM THE FIELD

Week Nine: Year of the Pepper

by Erinn Roberts

This past week was full of hustle and we’ve officially entered the harvest season. To us, this means lots of bulk harvesting, with use it or lose it crops like tomatoes, watermelons and sweet peppers ripening by the hour. The days of rain that are predicted for the coming week will throw a wrench into the plan for harvesting storage onions for curing, but we’ll do our best and hope that the loss to excessive moisture isn’t too severe. We’ve had an eye turned towards autumn for the past few weeks as we’ve kept watch on how our fall crops are developing, and as with most things in farming, the rain that is detrimental to tomatoes and onions will be just the drink our fall plants have been needing. With all of the hot days we’ve had this summer, our pumpkin patch is already turning orange, so we may be celebrating Halloween in September on the farm this year.

We did our first small watermelon harvest last week in a field of the most beautiful and healthy watermelon plants I’ve ever harvested from. We’ve got a few beds of yellow Sunshine and many more of the icebox-sized pink Sugar Baby. You should expect to see melons consistently on the stand this week and next. We’re continuing to make our way slowly through the fresh-eating onions, which are taking a hit from moisture and weeds, but with the size per bulb the yields are still phenomenal. I hope you’ve been enjoying them in salads, on the grill or on a burger. We’ll hope to get a good haul out of those beds this week to store short term in the cooler. Tomatoes are ripening in earnest now and so long as the skies do clear we should be entering high harvest season for them. The plum tomatoes will be added to the pick-your-own, and despite our best efforts at early trellising and weeding, a beautiful fruit set means that it’s a bit hairy in there. Abundant plants are cascading over their strings and it will take some careful stepping and gentle lifting during your harvest. Fruits are just starting to ripen, but they are large and plentiful. Sweet peppers are starting to come on strong and you can expect a mix of small orange lunch box peppers, long Italia reds and crinkly, thin-skinned Jimmy Nardello. Last Thursday we hit a record bell pepper harvest, bringing in almost 2000 fruits from half the planting. Perhaps it will be the Year of the Pepper.

It is summer indeed, and now is the time to savor those flavors. Before we know it an autumn chill will be in the air and we’ll cycle back to long sleeves and sweater in the morning hours. August is a time for frantic harvesting and quiet scheming, making mental notes of all the things we can do better next year. It’s a funny point in the year, when winter plans are laid bare and the high hopes and over-reach embedded in those plans can fall flat. And yet, and yet. We still dream August dreams of how we can make that brassica cultivation plan, cucumber fertility plan, July transplanting push or onion-harvest timing smoother, more efficient or just plain doable. Farming is unpredictable, overwhelming and challenging, but at the heart of what we do lies a quiet faith and belief in learning from today and doing better tomorrow, each and every day.

Enjoy the harvest,

Erinn, for the farm team

WHAT'S IN THE BARN

Fresh Ovaline Mozzarella from Mozzarella House in Peabody, MA

All Mozzarella House cheeses are made from scratch with raw milk from local dairy farms. A low-heat pasteurization process is used in order to preserve the natural enzymes in milk that are integral to great tasting cheese. No additives are used to increase the natural shelf life of their cheeses. Enjoy with your CSA tomatoes and basil!

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). Cash, check, Mastercard & Visa ($10 minimum for credit) are all accepted for retail items.

Recipes are back on our website! We have vegetable recipes for everything from escarole to tomatillos. Please use this as a resource throughout the CSA season while cooking wonderful meals with produce from the farm! A big thank you to Susan Cassidy for getting them back on the website!

Veggie Egg Breakfast Tacos

Adapted from SweetPeasAndSaffron.com

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil
2 bell peppers chopped
1/2 fresh onion chopped
8 eggs
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 scallion, chopped

To serve

8 six inch corn tortillas 2 per serving (Have you tried Mi Tierra corn tortillas for sale in the barn yet?? Read an article on their story here.)
shredded cheese
salsa

Instructions:

In a large non-stick pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.
Add the bell peppers and onions and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes, or until soft.
While veggies are cooking, beat eggs together with cumin, chili powder, salt and scallions.
Add the eggs to the veggies and cook for 4 or so more minutes, until cooked through.
Remove from heat. Portion out into 4 2 cup capacity storage containers.
Store in the fridge for up to 4 days.
To serve, reheat eggs in the microwave if necessary, then scoop into a tortilla.
Top with shredded cheese and salsa.

IMPORTANT SHAREHOLDER INFORMATION

If it's your first time picking up a CSA share with Waltham Fields, 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

We don't keep a stock of plastic bags. 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. 10-week shareholders may PYO at anytime during their assigned week and may not switch weeks. Stop by the PYO station for a list of what's available, how much to take, and a map of where to find it in the fields. Take these maps into the fields with you & respect the quantity limits so that there is enough for everyone! When you head out into the fields, a sign will help you to know which rows are ready for picking and will also include harvest tips. The PYO station will also provide scissors and pint boxes, but it never hurts to bring your own.

Share Pick Up Questions

More questions about share pickup? Check out our CSA FAQs! You can also contact Lauren Trotogott, our Distribution Coordinator.