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June 27, 2011
| Distribution Week #3
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Waltham Fields Community Farm
CSA Newsletter
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What's in the share this week... | |
This list is prepared before we harvest 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.
This week will mark a transition from spring into summer. Because of the cool, rainy weather, many summer crops are not quite ready, or are coming on in small quantities, while spring greens are still bountiful and tasty. Some crops may be available only in very small amounts this week, while some may not be ready until the end of the week. Enjoy this crazy quilt of a harvest!
Mix-and-Match eight items this week from a list that may include:
Pick-Your-Own Crops
You are welcome to harvest the PYO portion of the share during any daylight hours, 7 days a week. Please check the board at the little red kiosk for information on amounts, locations and picking instructions. Remember, you can pick one time per week but it doesn't necessarily have to be at the same time you are picking up your share.
- Snow peas -- these are coming on strong and look great
- Sugar snap peas -- we didn't get great germination on these this spring, so they'll be off and on until about 4th of July
- Cilantro -- not just for salsa; try it in this light soup paired with Swiss chard
- Basil
- Fava beans -- you need a lot of favas to make a meal... Think of ours as a flavorful, protein-filled addition to a salad rather than as the basis for a main course
- Herbs and flowers in the perennial garden
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Quick Links | |
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| Fresh Pasta with Arugula, Peas, and Lemon (and Garlic Scapes!?) | |
Sent in by shareholder Laurie, from the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, 5/29/11.
¼ C olive oil 2 cloves garlic [or scapes] minced 1 ½ tsp minced fresh thyme 1 Tbsp grated zest & 2 Tbsp juice from 1 lemon 1 C peas 1 lb fresh linguine or fettuccine [365 brand whole wheat linguine worked well] ½ C crème fraiche 2 C (packed) arugula 1 C grated Parmesan, plus extra to pass at table salt & pepper 1/3 C chopped fresh mint
In small skillet over medium heat, heat 2 Tbsp oil. Add garlic and cook,stirring, until fragrant, about 1 ½ min. Add thyme, lemon zest, peas;continue to cook, stirring, until peas are warm (3 min. for frozen peas, lessfor fresh). Set aside off heat.
Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Before draining,reserve ½ cup of cooking water and set aside.
In a large, warm bowl, immediately toss the pasta, garlic-pea mixture,crème fraiche, arugula, 1 cup Parmesan, salt & pepper to taste, and lemonjuice, adding pasta cooking water a little at a time, as necessary, for thepasta to be moistened and saucy (you won't need the full ½ cup). Add most of the mint, and toss to combine.
Drizzle with remaining olive oil, sprinkle with remaining mint, and serve atonce, passing grated Parmesan.
Do you have a favorite recipe you make with farm produce that you'd like to share!? Send it on in! |
| Story Time |
On June 28th, July 5th, and July 12th there is going to be a story time at the Farm from 3:45 to 4:30PM. The story time will be run by Boudicca Hawke (age 11).
Weekly Themes
June 28th, Cavies! (With a little hairy guest!)
July 5th, Plants! (Bring a pot if you like, and we'll plant a seed when we're done.)
July 12th, Bugs! (You can bring a little jar for bugs if you want!)
About Boudicca Hawke
Boudicca Hawke is president of the local 4-H club "Poultry Peeps" and has done story time as a community service project for 3 years now and has had much fun and success. For more information on 4H activities in Waltham, call 781-899-7116.
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| Notes from the Field |
I... am... not... going... to... talk... about... the... weather. OK, yes I am, a little. We did need the rain. I admit it, I did say that. And when the forecast called for a quarter to a half an inch, I thought that would be pretty good. But we got almost 2 inches last Wednesday, then another inch and a quarter over the next three days. Well, you know that -- you were there. But really, it was a lot of water. So much water, combined with those cool temperatures, puts us uncomfortably in mind of 2009, when a wet, cool early summer led to some devastating disease pressure later in the season. We're hoping that history will not repeat itself so soon, and that this water and cool temperatures will only lead to slightly delayed squash and cucumbers and beautiful greens for another week.
But enough about that -- more about our farm crew.
 | | Larisa and Lauren |
Each year, we are fortunate to work with a few people who are passionate about becoming farmers and are at a point in their careers where our operation can be useful to them. Our assistant growers, who work the entire growing season with Waltham Fields, are a critical part of our farm team. They drive tractors, pound stakes, pull weeds, transplant and seed crops, harvest and harvest and harvest, and manage CSA distributions, which is where many of you will probably have the most contact with them. Many of our past assistant growers are now farmers in their own right (check out our "where are they now?" page for some stories). This year's AGs, Lauren Weinberg and Larisa Jacobson, are as fine a pair as we have had on our farm.
Lauren comes to us from her recent work at Adamah, a farm and fellowship program at the Isabella Freedman Retreat Center in Connecticut. She had many roles at Adamah, including the Sap Queen, Pickle Apprentice, and Field Apprentice, all of which have contributed to her wide knowledge about food production and preservation. While she had never driven a manual transmission vehicle, let alone a tractor, before she came to WFCF, she had made more kim chee and sauerkraut than many of us have ever seen -- in a kosher kitchen where goat yogurt and chevre shared space (but never utensils) with 50 gallon barrels of pickling crops. We appreciate Lauren's thoughtfulness and thoroughness on the farm, along with her appreciation of the beauty and the spiritual side of the work that we do.
Larisa was most recently at UC Davis, where she completed a master's degree in International Agricultural Development and spent time working on biodigester projects in Guatemala, along with teaching and working on the student farm at Davis. She has tons of "secret" skills and knowledge, including welding, fiddle playing, assembling cultivators from miscellaneous parts, and community organizing, among others. She won us over in her application with her vivid description of hitting an irrigation upright with the loader bucket of her tractor -- and fixing it, possibly the only time when a farm equipment accident has led directly to someone getting an interview on our farm. Despite this story, Larisa is a skilled equipment operator who is getting the hang of all the big and little pieces that help our farm go. Her sense of humor and intense work ethic also come in handy.
In addition to our assistant growers, our farm team is rounded out by our field crew, who start next week (more about them later) and a group of work sharers who staff our CSA pickups, make sure your CSA newsletter is legible and functional, take care of our perennial herb and flower garden, and help us in the fields. They each have fascinating stories as well, and histories with the farm -- some long, some short, but all wonderful. We could not do this without them.
CSA Distribution Coordinators: Joy Grimes, Natasha Hawke, Amy Henderson, Eileen Rojas, Priscilla Sneff, Aneiage van Bean
Perennial Garden Angel: Sabine Gerbatsch
Newsletter Editor: Susan Cassidy
Field & Greenhouse Work Shares: Naomi Shea and Kate Mills
Enjoy the harvest, everyone.
-- Amanda, for Andy, Erinn, Dan, Larisa and Lauren |
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Waltham Fields Community Farm Staff
Claire Kozower, Executive Director
Jericho Bicknell, Education and Volunteer Coordinator
Deb Guttormsen, Bookkeeper and Tech Coordinator
Marla Rhodes, Development Coordinator
Amanda Cather, Farm Manager Dan Roberts, Field Manager Erinn Roberts, Greenhouse & Field Manager Andy Scherer, Field Manager Larisa Jacobson, Assistant Grower Lauren Weinberg, Assistant Grower Lukas Best, Rachel Dutton, Shira Tiffany, Laura Van Tassel, Weed Crew
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