Please join me in welcoming Miriam Stason, our newest Farm Manager, who joined Dan Roberts, Erinn Roberts, and Zannah Porter in mid-August in guiding the farm operations of Community Farms Outreach - operating both Waltham Fields Community Farm and Lexington Community Farm. While Miriam jumped right into the agricultural work alongside her fellow Farm Managers and our fantastic crew members, we've also made time for her to receive orientations from Alex around our education programs, Marla around our volunteer and development efforts, and Lauren around food distribution. With many years of experience working for farms and organizations with a strong commitment to food assistance and social justice, Miriam brings a wealth of expertise and core values that will no doubt serve us well. Her positive attitude, friendliness and collaborative nature are sure to help us maintain high quality production and strong community relationships. We look forward to all of you having a chance to get to know Miriam yourselves. Stay tuned for a more complete introduction in the Farm Friends newsletter to come out later this week, and see below for some of Miriam's initial observations about what's happening in the fields. 

Sincerely, Claire Kozower, ED.

Abundance

By Miriam Stason, Farm Manager

I feel lucky to be a part of this place. This is my third week at WFCF I am thankful to have landed at this organization and on this farm where the abundance of the harvest is a reflection not just of a favorable growing season, but also of an abundance of hard work, knowledge and care.

We have entered a period of continual harvest. To us growers in the field it feels as if the tomatoes turn red on the plant as quickly as we harvest them, the zucchini seem to double in size when we turn our heads, the melons secretly ripen in the field down the street out of site and the collards show us that there are no limits to the space they can span.

We are at the height of the summer vegetables: tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers and eggplant. They are still going strong, but will begin to taper as the temperatures dip and the plants tire. The fall crops are more and more on our minds, as we continue to cultivate, plant and think about the upcoming distributions. On Saturday a group of volunteers cleared out the high tunnel and soon we will plant crops in there for the Winter Share and food access donations.

As it goes, while most of the crops have grown beautifully this season, there are others that struggle. Many shareholders have asked about pesto basil. This season we have been hit with Basil Downy Mildew, a disease which has become prevalent in this region in the past five years. Downy Mildew spores are prolific and spread rapidly, making it difficult to manage. The Thai Basil remains unaffected by the disease, so if you have not picked any yet, please do. 

Click here for a yummy Thai basil pesto recipe.