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Waltham Fields Community Farm
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CSA NEWSLETTER 2015 - Week 9 of 20
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ORGANIC PEST MANAGEMENT & ID FOR GARDENERS
This Saturday, August 8th
3:00PM - 4:30PM
Walk the fields with Sue Scheufele from the Extension Vegetable Team and Farmer Zannah to identify common vegetable pests and discuss organic controls.
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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
Cabbage
Lettuce
Swiss chard
Collards
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Summer squash
Bok choy
Red long onions
Peppers
Pick Your Own (PYO):
Remember to only pick the amount listed on the PYO description sheets found at the PYO Station and follow the signs & directions in the field. A taste or two is okay while you're picking but in order to have enough for everyone please refrain from snacking extensively out in the fields. If an area is roped off, it is closed to PYO.
Basil, dill, cilantro, chiles, beans, cherry tomatoes & perennial herbs and flowers.
SPRING RECIPES
We have a ton of great recipes on our website, including
thirteen different suggestions for cucumbers!Click here to check them out!
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NOTES FROM THE FIELD -
Solanum tubersum
From Zannah Porter, Farm Manager
New potatoes are one of my favorite summer treats. They may be one of
yours as well. It is with a heavy heart that I inform the potato lovers among you that our summer potato crop is a dud this year. The cards were stacked against these little hidden treasures early on. We planted our potatoes in early May at our Weston site. At that time of year we can generally expect steady spring rains. Unfortunately this year we received very little rainfall. Looking back at weather data I can see that we received less than two inches of rain in April and May combined. This is not enough precipitation for potatoes to thrive.
In addition to not receiving enough rain our potatoes also became infested by Colorado Potato Beetle (CPB) in June. The beetles eat the plant foliage and heavy populations can do a lot of damage to a crop. Between the lack of precipitation and the damage caused by the CPB the potato plants were not able to produce many tubers.
Several members of the Field Crew voiced their excitement when we first
began harvesting potatoes. Their excitement was short lived. To their credit their spirits have remained high as we slog through yet another bed that yields only thirty pounds of potatoes.
Unfortunately, the CPB also likes to eat the foliage of eggplant. This year I
made the mistake of planting the Eggplant next to the potatoes so it did not take the CPB long to find the tender young transplants. I have been able to manage the CPB in the eggplant and we started harvesting last week.
Some of the other crops that we are growing at our Weston site this year are; bell peppers, sweet peppers, cantaloupe, watermelon, onions and sweet potatoes.
Fear not, we will have potatoes this fall. As part of our partnership with
Picadilly Farm we will start receiving potatoes from them in September.
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| | CPB damage on eggplant foliage. |
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| | Watermelon at Weston Fields. |
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| | Dark skies but no rain at Weston fields. |
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WHAT'S IN THE BARN
Carlisle Honey from New England Beekeeping
The farm stand at WFCF finally has honey! Come stock up on honey harvested from New England spring blossoms and summer wild flowers. New England Beekeeping maintains 500 hives located in Central and Eastern Massachusetts as well as Southern New Hampshire and Vermont. Owner/operator, Rick Reault has also enjoyed teaching the art of beekeeping for over 15 years, providing strong hives for successful pollination to local growers. We carry 1 pound jars of Light and Dark - for $8.75 each.
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)
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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.
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SAVORY SUMMER COBBLER
Shared by Shareholder Barrett Reinhorn from the Cookbook Cheap and Good, about eating well on a food stamp budget.
Ingredients:
3-4 medium zucchini or summer squash, chopped into bite-sized pieces
3-4 large tomatoes, canned or fresh, chopped into bite-sized pieces
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 scallions, finely chopped
1 lemon, zested
¼ cup fresh basil (optional)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
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Photo from the
Cheap and Good Cookbook.
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Topping
1½ cups all-purpose or whole-wheat flour
½ cup cornmeal
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ cup sharp cheddar, grated
½ cup butter
1 cup milk
Directions:
Put the butter for the topping in the freezer for 30 minutes. Set the oven to 425 °F. Lightly oil an 8" x 10" baking dish (or any baking dish that will accommodate the mixture) and pile in the vegetables, garlic, scallions, lemon zest, and basil. Pour the olive oil, salt, and pepper over top and mix it up with your hands. Bake the vegetables for 25 minutes while you prepare the biscuit topping.
For the topping, measure out the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, pepper, paprika, and cheese into a bowl. Mix it up! Once the butter is frozen, use a box grater to flake the butter into the flour mixture. Gently massage the butter into the flour with your fingers until it's crumbly but still clumpy. Add the milk and quickly bring the dough together. Don't knead the dough: lumpiness is fine and results in flaky topping. Put it in the fridge until the vegetables come out of the oven.
Once the vegetable mixture has cooked for 25 minutes, quickly top it with small clumps of biscuit dough. The vegetables should still be visible in some areas. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the vegetables are bubbly and the topping is lightly browned.
Top with some more cheddar and some chopped herbs, then enjoy! For a variation, swap the zucchini for eggplant. Chop the eggplant into bite-sized pieces, salt them, and set them aside for 30 minutes before continuing with the recipe as you would with the zucchini.
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Waltham Fields Community Farm Staff
Year-Round Staff:
Seasonal Staff:
Assistant Grower: Anna Kelchlin
Farm Assistants: Tim Cooke, Dan Roberts, Naomi Shea
Farm Stand Assistant: Leo Martinez
Field Crew: Anna Hirson-Sagalyn, Roy Kresge, Jack Leng, Claire Penney, Evan Rees
Weed Crew: Anna Blaustein, Leo Martinez, Gina Masciovecchio, Annie Nguyen
Learning Garden Educators: Sadie Brown, Autumn Cutting, Rebecca Fennel, Alannah Glickman
Summer Interns: Cassandra Baker, Alisa Feinswog, Ali Rabideau, Jesse Simmons
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