Waltham Fields Community Farm
local food for everyone
Waltham Fields Community Farm
CSA Newsletter 2018
Week 7 of 20
PICKUP DATES & TIMES

COME ONCE ON ANY OF THESE PICK UP DAYS
Wednesday, July 25th, 2:00-6:30pm
Thursday, July 26th, 2:00-6:30pm
Saturday, July 28th, 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.
Job Posting: Bookkeeper and
Office Coordinator

Would you love to work on a non-profit farm, promote local agriculture, education & food access? WFCF is currently receiving resumes for the position of Bookkeeper and Office Coordinator! Please see description of the position for more details and instructions for applying.
Register your children for
Fall Education on the Farm Today!

(ages 2-4 + caregivers) Thursdays or Fridays, 9:30-10:30am

 BRAND NEW! Saturdays on the Farm
(ages 5-9) Saturdays, 9am-12pm

(ages 13-18) Saturdays, 9am-12pm
Field Station Tour with WFCF & Waltham Land Trust

August 25th, 1:00-2:30pm
Come on out to the Waltham Fields Station and learn about our rich history! Sonja Wadman of the Waltham Land Trust will be speaking about the history of the site, followed by a tour of the Waltham Fields Community Farm fields, to see what we've been working on today!
Meet in the parking lot outside the barn and behind the main building, at 240 Beaver Street, Waltham MA.
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):
Lettuce
Collards
Kale or Chard
Carrots
Beets
Cabbage
Eggplant
Cucumber
Summer squash
Zucchini
Fresh eating onions
Potatoes

Pick Your Own (PYO): dill, cilantro, basil (green, purple & Thai) & 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 Seven: Neck Deep
by Erinn Roberts

We’re on the cusp of summer exploding on the farm, which in some ways feels a little behind given all the heat waves we’ve already endured.  But slicing tomatoes are ripening by the day, peppers are sizing up and watermelons are sweetening. In other words, this is the time of year when farmers hold their breath.  Until about November. How the season shapes up really hangs in the balance of the next few weeks. Will we get hit with an early arrival of late blight in our area? Will bunnies/coyotes/groundhogs find the watermelons/eggplant/sweet potatoes…?  And what about the weather? Too much rain and cloudy skies facilitate spread of disease in most crops and just when we were starting to worry about it being too dry, we’re faced with a wet 10 day forecast. (We’re a bit like Goldilocks when it comes to rain.)

This past week was spent getting our house in order before the summer explosion: another line of string went on the slicing and pick-your-own tomatoes to keep them trellised and off the ground, the garlic crop was harvested(!),  fall broccoli and cabbages were transplanted and we weeded, weeded, weeded. In fact, we hosted a great gathering of local farmers through the CRAFT network to talk all about our weeding strategies and learn about some others as well.  CRAFT is a regional alliance of local farms aimed at enhancing the training of beginning farmers. We had a nice turnout of new and familiar faces and enjoyed two hours of talking about nothing but weeds. It was a good opportunity to think more objectively and analytically about weed management and maybe even learn a new trick or two.

On the stand we’ll continue to see new potatoes for the next few weeks assuming the rest of the varieties do as well as the Red Gold that we harvested last week.  We’re moving into our Ailsa Craig fresh-eating onions, which are large, yellow globes perfect for burgers and the grill. Beets and carrots should be available consistently through the fall, and all plantings are looking great.  Cukes, summer squash and zucchinis will be coming out of our Weston fields soon, so hopefully they will produce as generously as our Lyman planting has. Our spring planting of collards and kale have been taking a hit from one of our worst pests--the flea beetle--so bunches may be moving towards the lighter end of things.  We’re also seeing a lot of damage on Swiss chard from leaf miner (that’s what makes those gray-ish tunnels on the leaf), but we should be moving through this generation of the miner soon. And in order to make up for a very poor showing from our spring peas, which got hit hard by seed corn maggot, a pest that eats the sprouting seeds, we’re hoping to try for a fall planting of at least snap or shell peas.  

All in all the season is moving along pretty well and farm staff are neck deep in the work.  Once tomato harvest starts, we’ll be eyeball deep, so I guess we should enjoy this last bit of time while we have it!

Enjoy the harvest,
Erinn, for the farm team
WHAT'S IN THE BARN 

Confections from Trillfoods!

Desserts and snacks worth savoring. Try our rotation of these wonderful goodies made with care, in small batches and with local and organic ingredients when possible: Beezcotti (Crunchy butter wafers edged in caramelized wildflower honey, for dessert or wine & cheese.), Double Ginger Molasses Miracles (Celebrating a natural miracle: organic blackstrap molasses, plus a Trill crust.) & Ice Cream Sandwiches!

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.
Summer Squash and Basil Pasta

Serves 4
Ingredients:
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 2 pounds assorted summer squashes, quartered lengthwise, sliced
  • Kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon Aleppo-style pepper, plus more for serving
  • 12 ounces paccheri, ziti, or other large tube pasta
  • 2 ounces Parmesan, grated (about ½ cup), plus more for serving
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • ½ cup basil leaves

Instructions:
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium. Cook garlic, stirring occasionally, until very lightly browned around the edges, about 4 minutes. Add squash; season with salt. Cook, tossing occasionally, until squash begins to break down and gets jammy (they may start to stick to the skillet a bit, which means you are there!), 12–15 minutes. Toss in 1 tsp. Aleppo-style pepper.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until very al dente.

Transfer pasta to skillet using a slotted spoon or spider and add ½ cup pasta cooking liquid. Cook pasta, adding 2 oz. Parmesan in stages along with more pasta cooking liquid as needed, until sauce coats pasta and pasta is al dente. Toss in lemon juice and most of the basil.

Divide pasta among bowls and top with more Parmesan and Aleppo-style pepper and remaining basil.
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.
Waltham Fields Community Farm Staff

Year-Round Staff:
Stacey Daley, Interim Executive Director
Marla Rhodes, Volunteer & Development Coordinator
Erinn Roberts, Farm Manager
Anna Kelchlin, Assistant Farm Manager
Alexandra Lennon-Simon, Education Director
Lauren Trotogott, Farm Stand & Distribution Manager
Kamelia Aly, Bookkeeper & Office Coordinator

Seasonal Staff:
Equipment Technician: Tim Cooke
Assistant Grower: Ivory Nava
Field Manager: Janelle Plummer
Greenhouse Manager: Naomi Shea
Field Crew: Ezra Nava, Ebony Nava, Phil Musen, Anastasia Strayton
Weed Crew: Hassan Ragy, Emily Saperia, Jesse Simmons, Chelsea Wang
Distribution & Outreach Assistant: Janet Calcaterra
CSA Distribution Team: Joy Grimes, Jessica Kauffman, Olivia Newhall-Thayer, Emily Saperia, Edward Wakefield, Chelsea Wang & Natalie Zeunges
Learning Garden Educators: Megan Curran, Autumn Cutting, Leslie Kay, Nellie Rodgers, Anna Vellante
Waltham Fields Community Farm
(781) 899-2403
Connect with us
Waltham Fields Community Farm | 240 Beaver Street, Waltham, MA 02452