Coming up at the Farm
A Field Full of Birds Family Program, 8/28, 9:30-11am
There are openings now available for Children's Learning Garden Fall After School Program, Thursdays, 3:30pm-5pm, September 24th-October 29th.
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| Recipes |
We love getting recipes from our shareholders!
Do you have a recipe you'd like to share? Don't be shy -- let us know!
For more information, see our Recipe pages. |
| Fun for the Kids |
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Story Time on Tuesdays, 4-4:45
Boudicca Hawke (age 10) will once again do Story Time on the farm for children of all ages. It will be held each Tuesday from 4:00 to 4:45 at the meeting shelter. She will have a selection of books that are related to farms and the creatures that live on farms, however if anyone has a favorite book they'd love to share, please bring it as she will be happy to read that too.
Fun on the Farm, Tuesdays, 3:30 - 5:00 pm
Kids, please join us for free play, old-fashioned games, story hour (see above), nature drawing (bring supplies!) and a nut-free snack. About once a month, we'll do a special activity such as tour bee hives and chicken coops, inventory birds and insects, make cornhusk dolls and our famous Silly Olympics. Parents, nut free snack contributions would be great! Look for Anastacia near the distribution shed at 3:30. |
| CSA pickup schedule for the week
Tuesday, August
25 from 3-7 PM
Thursday, August 27 from 3-7 PM
Saturday, August 30 from 8 AM to 12 noon | |
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What's in the share this week...
Please note: this list is prepared the week before you receive your share. Some guesswork is involved!  We do our best to predict which crops will be ready to harvest, but sometimes crops are on the list that are not in the share, and sometimes crops will be in the share even though they're not on the list.
- Carrots
- Red slicing onions -- this variety is named 'Desert Sunrise', and it is the first storage type onion we'll distribute this year. These onions have been cured so that they should store very well in a cool, dry spot -- if you can keep from eating them right away.
- Zucchini
- Summer Squash
- Cucumbers
- 'Sangre' red potatoes
- Collards
- Kale
- Arugula
- Salad or braising greens
- Sweet corn from Verrill Farm (subject to availability)
- Italian, oriental and 'fairy tale' eggplant
- Green and purple peppers
- Lettuce
- Yellow or red watermelon
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Pick-Your-Own Crops
 Shareholders are welcome to pick-your-own anytime during daylight hours. Please remember to always check the white board on the red kiosk for updated PYO information. While some crops are available for unlimited picking, most do have a limit -- this will be posted on the white board every week.
- Perennial herbs and flowers (including mint and thyme)
- Flat and curly parsley
- Genovese, purple and Thai basil
- Epazote
- Dill
- Cilantro
- Hot peppers: please remember that although all hot peppers are labelled in the field, only certain varieties are ready to harvest now. Please check the white board every time you harvest in order to make sure that you are not picking peppers that are not ready!
- Green, purple and yellow beans
- Husk cherries
- Tomatilloes
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Shareholder Alec warns "Careful! It's habit-forming!"
Combine and sift: 2 ½ c. flour ½ c. cocoa 2 ½ tsp. soda 1 tbsp. cinnamon
Beat and blend in a large bowl: ¾ c. soft butter (or ½ c. butter + ¼ c. vegetable oil) 2 c. sugar Add: 3 eggs
Beat well, then stir in: 2 tsp. vanilla 2 tsp. grated orange rind (or ¼ c. orange juice) 2 c. grated or shredded zucchini
Alternately add dry ingredients to the zucchini mixture with: ½ c. milk
If desired, stir in: 1 c. chopped pecans or walnuts
Pour batter into a greased Bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 1 hour. Cool in pan 15 minutes, then cool on rack. Glaze with confectioner's sugar icing. |
Learning Garden Work Day
Saturday August 29th 1-4pm
We need some enthusiastic weeders and planters to come help us
get our Learning Garden in shape for the fall. Stop in for an hour or stay
for all three! We appreciate any and all of the help that you can
give.
If you have any questions feel free to contact
Jericho at 781-899-2403 or by email. |
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Notes from the Field
Despite the record-breaking heat last week, the farm was filled with activity. Our weeding crew finished their summer work by starting to rescue the last of our six carrot plantings from giant weeds. Two giant truckloads of storage onions rolled in from the field at the Lyman Estate to cure in the hoophouse. Garlic was topped and sorted. Cantalopes and watermelons were picked, piled in the rows, tossed across the field, and transported in forklifted bins to be carried by tractor to the wash station and stored overnight in the farm office until they could be given out (yes, we need a barn). Our final lettuce and bok choy for the season were seeded in the greenhouse. Broccoli and cauliflower were cultivated and fertilized with fish emulsion and kelp meal. Cover crop seed was spread on the empty beds at the Lyman field and undersown in the fall brassica crops.
 Irrigation pipes rolled down the field for the first time in months, nourishing thirsty broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower, which instantly began to grow. Eggplant and peppers, fed with fish emulsion through the drip irrigation lines, took off at last in the heat and humidity. The cooler bulged at the seams, so full that Dan just shook his head when he saw us bring another full truckload of veggies out of the field to the wash station. All our health-conscious consumption went out the window as we gulped gallons of Gatorade and devoured cases of popsicles and ice-cream sandwiches along with our cucumbers, carrots and messy in-the-field sampling of broken watermelons (yep, that one's ripe... yep, that one too... and that one...mmm). Our once-elaborate dinners were reduced to sandwiches and gazpacho, reluctant as we were to turn on the stove in the evenings. It sure felt like August.
 In the next week, we'll turn the corner toward fall. Each year the signs surprise us by how early they begin -- the drop of acorns, the morning flight of the geese in formation, the premature reddening of the trees that are under stress. For us, these are signals that our harvest is about to change gears: broccoli, leeks, and fall greens will briefly join the fruits of summer in the share before the corn and melons fade into memory and the roots and greens hold sway again. In the meantime, though, we've got these brief, hot weeks of summer to harvest, water, and weed (what? we usually spend days picking tomatoes at this time of year? how do we ever have time for that?!), and keep the field mice, crows, and other beasties away from the ripening melons. At the end of these long, steamy days, we look ahead to the clear mornings of September and know that the autumn and winter are not far off. The early signs of fall remind us to "stock up! bring the harvest in!", and so we do, every year like clockwork, even in the most challenging growing year. Eat well of this season of abundance.
Enjoy the harvest,
Amanda, for the farm crew | |
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Warmly,
The Staff of Waltham Fields Community Farm |
Jericho Bicknell, Education and Outreach Coordinator
Amanda Cather, Farm Manager
Amanda Dumont, Field Crew
Debra Guttormsen, Administrative and Finance Coordinator
Paula Jordan, Spring & Fall Children's Learning Garden Assistant
Sarah Kielsmeier-Jones, Field Crew
Jonathan Martinez, Assistant Grower
Blake Roberts, Outreach Market Intern
Dan Roberts, Assistant Grower Erinn Roberts, Assistant Grower Nina Rogowsky, Children's Learning Garden Teacher Andy Scherer, Assistant Farm Manager Lina Yamashita, Summer Children's Learning Garden Assistant
Ryan Yorck, Field Crew
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