Farm Updates, Last Week of Late Fall CSA and Bulk Orders

Those of you on the farm or driving past this week will notice a big change: construction of a high tunnel (also know as a hoophouse) has begun! We received a grant from NRCS to build a high tunnel on the property and since we are still busy harvesting, we hired the folks at Adam’s Greenhouse to build it for us. The work they’ve already accomplished in a day and a half would have taken us several weeks (especially since we would have to juggle the high tunnel construction with harvesting and putting the farm to bed for the winter). The new structure will allow us to grow tomatoes in a protected environment. The benefits include increased yields per square foot, protection from disease, earlier and longer production, as well as improved fruit quality. You can imagine we are very excited about this new development! You can see a smaller structure behind the main high tunnel. This is a structure we are constructing ourselves from used parts we purchased from another farm. We will finish the smaller house this spring and hope to plant our first crop of ginger! We have ordered seed from Hawaii and are excited to try out this flavorful, heat loving crop next year.

Before we get too caught up in plans for next year, don’t forget those of you in the Late Fall CSA have your last pick-up this week (Thursday 11am-6pm or Saturday 9am-3pm) and Fall bulk order pick-ups will be Saturday from 9am-3pm. Look for monthly farm updates from us throughout the winter, as well as more info soon about a December farm stand pop-up (likely December 8th)!

In the CSA:

• Watermelon radish - These tasty radishes are white and green on the outside and red inside, making them a colorful addition to winter salads and sliced veggies for dipping.

• Shallots - This relative of the onion has a flavor of red onion with a hint of garlic. Transitional.

• Salad turnips - They are less spicy than radishes and sweeter than purple top turnips making them great for eating raw in salads. They can also be lightly sauteed, with or without their greens.

• Popcorn - We distribute the popcorn on the cob. You can either place it in a paper bag and pop it right off the cob in the microwave, or you can rub two cobs together to dislodge the kernels and pop it in a pan.

• Black futsu pumpkins - These pumpkins are a dark color while growing in the field but now that they are ripe they are orange inside and out! Transitional.

• Lettuce - These mini heads are the last salad greens of the season!

• Kale

• Cabbage

• Brussels sprouts

• Potatoes - Both Peter Wilcox (purple skin, yellow flesh) and Elba (yellow skin, white flesh) this week. Transitional.

• Sweet potatoes - Transitional

• Leeks - Transitional

• Onions - Transitional

• Garlic

• Butternut - Transitional

• Carrots

• Rutabaga

• Purple top Turnips

Roasted Black Futsu with Jasmine Kale Rice

by Green Girl Eats

• One medium black futsu squash, quartered and sliced

• Olive oil

• Salt & pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon paprika

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

• 1 cup brown jasmine rice or other fragrant variety, prepared according to instructions
  2-3 whole cloves

• 2 tablespoons fennel seeds

• 1/4 cup golden raisins

• 1 1/2 cups of kale (any kind), finely chopped

• 1/2 cup dry toasted pumpkin seeds, from your pumpkin of course

Start by getting that squash in the oven. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and arrange your squash pieces (skin on) in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Toss them in your olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, cinnamon and cayenne until evenly coated. Transfer to the oven for about 35-40 minutes or until the squash has softened and easily peels away from the skin, rotating halfway through.

Meanwhile, get your rice started according to package instructions. Add your cloves, fennel seeds, salt and pepper to taste and just a touch of olive oil. As always, I'm super partial to the jasmines or basmatis. I don't know, they just add a little something extra and make the food feel a little fancier, plus they pair beautifully with the headier spices like cinnamon and cloves. 

In a small skillet over low heat, add your (rinsed and dried) pumpkin seeds. These will toast up quickly and can burn if you don't watch them closely. Stir them often until just barely browned, then remove from the pan and set aside.

When the rice is just about done, stir in your chopped kale. You want to just wilt it down, not cook it, so wait until you're just about ready to serve. Toss in your golden raisins. Serve alongside your beautiful slices of black futsu and top with your toasted pumpkin seeds. You could peel the skins off of the pumpkin before serving, but that way you may risk losing a lot of the glorious goodness within them (and the skins are edible!).

Classic Potato Pancakes

by Andrew Friedman, Epicurious December 2005

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium onion, peeled

• about 3 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled

• 2 large eggs

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter

• Applesauce and/or sour cream, for serving

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 200°F. Place 2 nonstick baking sheets in oven.

Using box grater or food processor fitted with grating disc, coarsely grate onion and place in colander set in sink. Coarsely grate potatoes, add to colander, and set aside to drain.

In large mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs, then whisk in flour.

Press potatoes and onion to extract as much liquid as possible, then add to egg/flour mixture. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Using wooden spoon or hands, mix well, but do not overwork.

In heavy-bottomed, 12-inch skillet over moderately high heat, heat 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter until hot but not smoking. Drop 4 scant 1/4-cup portions of potato mixture into pan and flatten with spatula to form four 3-inch pancakes.

Fry until bottoms are golden-brown, 4 to 5 minutes, then turn over and fry until golden-brown and crisp, an additional 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain; season immediately with salt and pepper. Keep warm on baking sheets in oven while making remaining pancakes.

Using paper towels, carefully wipe out pan. Add 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter and fry 4 more pancakes. Repeat with remaining batter, wiping out pan and adding 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter before each batch.

Serve pancakes hot with applesauce and/or sour cream.

Herbed Potato Gratin with Roasted Garlic and Manchego

by Jose Garces, Food & Wine November 2008

• 3 heads of garlic, cloves separated but not peeled

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 quart half-and-half

• 1 tablespoon chopped thyme

• 1 teaspoon chopped rosemary

• Salt and freshly ground pepper

• 5 pounds potatoes, peeled and very thinly sliced

• 9 ounces aged Manchego cheese, coarsely shredded (2 cups)

• 5 ounces San Simón or smoked Gouda cheese, shredded (1 cup)
  

Step 1    

Preheat the oven to 375°. In a 9-inch cake pan, drizzle the garlic with the oil. Cover with foil and roast for 40 minutes, until tender. Let cool, then squeeze out the cloves.

Step 2    

Mash the garlic to a paste and transfer to a saucepan. Add the half-and-half, thyme and rosemary and bring to a boil. Simmer over very low heat until reduced to 3 cups, 20 minutes; season with salt and pepper.

Step 3    

Arrange one-fourth of the potatoes in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Top with one-fourth of the shredded cheeses and drizzle lightly with the garlic cream. Repeat the layering with the remaining potatoes, cheese and cream. Pour any remaining cream on top and press the top layer of potatoes to submerge it.

Step 4    

Bake the gratin for about 1 1/2 hours, until golden and bubbling. Let cool for 20 minutes before cutting into squares and serving.

New items for bulk order, Storage tips and Late Fall CSA week 3

We’re very excited to add sweet potatoes and Elba potatoes (an excellent white storage variety) to our bulk order offerings! Orders are due this Saturday, November 10th, and pick-ups are Saturday, November 17th. We have updated order forms available here. If you’ve already placed an order and would like to add to it, just send us an email! Remember, you don’t need to consume many fall crops in the same week that you get them. You can stock up in your weekly Late fall CSA or with a bulk order, and then feed yourself with Barrett’s Mill Farm butternut in January!

If you’re wondering where and how to store all your veggies, check out our storage guide. Many items like potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic and squash shouldn’t be kept in the refrigerator and will store very well in a dark cool cupboard or pantry for months. If you’re wondering how to prepare your storage veggies, there are some ideas in the storage guide. Also, many of the vegetables we have now are excellent for making soups and stews. See below for two great ideas!

If you’re part of the Late Fall CSA, we are now in our third week, with one more to go! We will continue to have many of the veggies we’ve been enjoying for the past 2 weeks, as well as a couple of new items.

In the CSA:

• Popcorn - We distribute the popcorn on the cob. You can either place it in a paper bag and pop it right off the cob in the microwave, or you can rub two cobs together to dislodge the kernels and pop it in a pan.

• Black futsu pumpkins - This is a new variety for us - we chose it because it stores very well and it looked fun! These are about acorn squash sized and we recommend baking and stuffing them like you might stuff acorn squash. Bonus: the skin is edible! Transitional.

• Lettuce - The heads are small (our last 3 plantings struggled in the greenhouse in the summer heat and then struggled to size up out in the field) but still perfect for making salads!

• Escarole - This green looks like lettuce, but it has a more bitter taste and should be cooked. It is excellent sauteed with olive oil and salt or added to soups.

• Kale

• Cabbage

• Brussels sprouts

• Potatoes - Transitional

• Sweet potatoes - Transitional

• Leeks - Transitional

• Onions - Transitional

• Garlic

• Butternut - Transitional

• Carrots

• Mini daikon radish

Lise’s Dad’s Beef Stew

Loosely adapted from Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon

• 3 or so lbs of stew meat, like chuck

• 2 or 3 cups of red wine

• 1 can beef broth plus 1 can water

• 1 or 2 bay leaves

• 1 tsp thyme

• zest of one orange

• 1 chopped tomato plus 1 tbsp of tomato paste,  or can of diced tomatoes plus ketchup

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• S & P to taste

Brown the beef well in vegetable oil. Put all ingredients in a pot, including from browning pan.

Simmer for 1 hour with lid on. After an hour, add the following:

• Pearl onions, or sliced yellow onion

• Potatoes

• Carrots

• Mushrooms (optional)

Simmer for another hour with the vegetables.

Lentil and Chicken Soup with Escarole and Sweet Potato

by Anna Stockwell from Epicurious.com, February 2018

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cooked chicken carcass (from 1 store-bought rotisserie chicken or homemade roast chicken)

• 1 lb. sweet potatoes (about 2 medium), peeled, cut into 1" pieces

• 3/4 cup French lentils (about 5 oz.), rinsed

• 1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more

• 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

• 10 celery stalks, sliced on the bias into 1/4" slices

• 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

• 1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken (from 1/2 of a store-bought rotisserie chicken or homemade roast chicken)

• 1/2 head escarole, cut into bite-size pieces

• 1/2 cup finely chopped dill

• 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

PREPARATION

1. Place chicken carcass, potatoes, lentils, and 1 tsp. salt in a large pot. Cover with 8 cups water. Bring to a boil over high heat, skimming off any foam, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are fork tender and lentils are cooked through, 10–12 minutes. Discard chicken carcass.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high. Add celery and garlic and cook, stirring often, until celery and garlic are lightly golden brown and tender, about 12 minutes.

3. Stir celery, garlic, shredded chicken, and escarole into soup and cook, stirring occasionally, until escarole is wilted, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in dill and lemon juice; season soup with salt.

Bulk veggie and Thanksgiving pre-orders!

We are now accepting orders for bulk Barrett’s Mill Farm vegetables, as well as local cranberries, mushrooms, honey, eggs, raspberry jam and raspberry vinegar infusion! Orders are due by November 10th and will be available for pick-up on Saturday, November 17th, 9am - 3pm. To place an order, download the form below and either mail it in with your check, or email melissa@barrettsmillfarm.com.

Last week of Farm Store and Week 1 of 4 for the Late Fall CSA!

It was classic fall weather last week for the final Main Season CSA pick-up, with frosty mornings and warm sunny afternoons! We took spent cold mornings cleaning up and organizing storage crops, while afternoons were spent taking advantage of the warmth to harvest and pull plastic as well as seed cover crop in newly cleared areas. We are gearing up to do more of the same this week, in addition to getting ready for the first pick up of the Late Fall CSA Thursday, October 25th. Pick ups for the Late Fall will be Thursdays 11am-6pm and Saturdays 9am-3pm.

This week is the last week of our Farm Store. We will be open regular hours Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm. Now is the time to use up your 2018 Barrett’s Bucks as they do not carry into next season. We will also have bulk order forms available for those of you who would like one last opportunity to stock up before the winter. Forms will be due November 10th for pick-up November 17th. Forms turned in this week may use Barrett’s Bucks for payment.

Late Fall CSA:

• Rutabaga - After years of failed germination we finally have rutabaga this year. Rutabaga are a root crop that can be roasted, boiled, or used in soups. They are similar to turnips but with a creamier texture.

• Honey Nut squash- transitional. These small sweet squash look like mini butternut. We are trying them for the first time this season. Let us know what you think!

• Beets

• Scallions

• Sweet potatoes - transitional. We have quite the variety of sizes (read: giant potatoes!) but all taste equally good! They have a traditional orange flesh and sweet flavor.

• Romanesco cauliflower or broccoli

• Radishes

• Fennel - Transitional.

• Cabbage

• Brussels sprouts

• Carrots

• Peppers

• Butternut squash - transitional

• Pie pumpkins - transitional

• Leeks - transitional.

• Garlic

• Salanova

Coming up in later weeks of the Late Fall CSA: KN-Bravo radishes (purple daikon), black futsu squash, turnips, watermelon radish, shallots, onions, spinach, lettuce, Peter Wilcox potatoes, Elba storage potatoes, kale, popcorn, and mini daikon radish, as well as more of many of the crops available in week 1.

In the farm store:

This is the last week of the farm store for the season which means it is also that last week to use your 2018 Barrett’s Bucks. We will have most of the veggies listed in the CSA available as well as acorn squash, delicata, buttercup squash, and onions. We also have some decorative items still available: our own gourds and corn stalks, as well as jack-o-lanterns from Verrill Farm. We will also have Fat Moon mushrooms, honey from Double B, raspberry infused vinegar from Silferleaf farm, pastured eggs from Pete and Jen’s, and the last of the organic cranberries from Fresh Meadows Farm in Carver, MA.

Sweet potato cakes

Adapted from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

• 2 ¼ lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks

• 2 tsp soy sauce

• ¾ cup flour

• 1 tsp salt

• ½ tsp sugar

• 3 tbsp scallion, chopped

• ½ tsp fresh chilli, finely chopped

• Lots of butter, for frying

  For the sauce:

• 3 tbsp Greek yogurt

• 3 tbsp sour cream

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• Salt and pepper

• 1 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Steam the sweet potato until soft, then drain in a colander for up to an hour. Meanwhile, whisk the sauce ingredients until smooth and set aside. In a mixing bowl, work all the fritter ingredients by hand - it should be sticky, so if its a little runny, add some flour. Melt some butter in a nonstick pan.

Use a tablespoon to put mix in the frying pan and flatten slightly with the back of the spoon. and fry on moderate heat until you get a nice, brown crust, turning as necessary - about six minutes. Place between two sheets of paper towels to soak up the excess butter. Serve hot or warm, with the sauce on the side.

Farm updates and CSA week 20 (last week for Main Season)

In case anyone was unclear about what season it is, the past few days have made it abundantly clear that we are in the midst of fall! We had our first frost on Sunday morning, though the damage appears to be limited to two beds of peppers and a few eggplant tops here and there. A true killing frost appears to be in store for us in a couple of days, so we are planning to completely pick out our eggplant and peppers early this week. It was a pretty abrupt shift - we have become used to overnight lows in the 50s and upper 40s, but this week there are several nights forecast to be in the low 30s!

For those of you participating in the Late Fall CSA (October 25th - November 17th) or shopping in the store for the next two weeks, don’t worry! Though plant growth has slowed dramatically, there are still plenty of crops that can hold up in the cold for a few more weeks. In fact, cold weather improves the taste of many crops like carrots. Plants start converting starches to sugar in order to keep their cells from freezing, thus resulting in sweeter veggies! Many of the veggies we eat in the late fall (like sweet potatoes, onions, garlic and winter squash), have been harvested and cured earlier in the season, so they are already safely out of the field and in storage. More tender crops like lettuce are tucked under row cover to give an additional couple of degrees of protection from the increasingly cold nights. For those of you who aren’t part of the late fall CSA, we still have a great week planned, and the store will still be open with many late fall crops until October 27th. We are looking forward to seeing you all in the next couple of weeks before we take a breather and begin planning for next season!

Last week, we finally had time to plow and seed cover crop at the South Corey Meadow on Barrett’s Mill Road. We are so excited to start growing in this beautiful spot in future seasons!

This week in the CSA:

• Sweet potatoes - we grew a small crop last year for the Late Fall CSA and they worked out so well that we grew enough to distribute even earlier! Transitional.

• Romanesco cauliflower or broccoli - Romanesco cauliflower is one of our favorite fall vegetables. They have a really unique fractal-like appearance and they have a nutty flavor too! They are a little finicky to grow and it varies widely every year when they are ready, but we generally expect them in late October for the Late Fall CSA. This year they are starting to head up in time for the last week of the Main Season, so there will be a choice between cauliflower and broccoli this week. (Our second broccoli planting is also suffering from alternaria, but looks slightly better than the first one).

• Radishes - there will be a choice between traditional red cherriette radishes or mini daikon, which were a big hit early in the season.

• Fennel - we take a break from fennel in the summer, but we have a fall planting to enjoy this week. Transitional.

• Cabbage - we’ll still have savoy, as well as purple cabbage and a green storage variety.

• Brussels sprouts

• Carrots

• Potatoes - Peter Wilcox (purple skin with gold flesh). Transitional

• Eggplant - last week!

• Peppers - last week!

• Butternut squash - transitional

• Pie pumpkins - transitional

• Onions - transitional

• Garlic

• Arugula or salanova - we’ll likely only have salanova on Tuesday and arugula the rest of the week. We had difficulty with lettuce germination in August, which is creating a shortage of both salanova and head lettuce right now. Later plantings did much better and will hopefully size up in time for the later weeks of the Late Fall CSA.

• Baby bok choi

CSA Pick-your-own:

Picking is pretty much done for the season, though there may still be some herbs available early in the week.

In the farm store:

We will have most of the veggies listed in the CSA available as well as acorn squash, delicata, shallots, and spinach. We also have some decorative items still available: our own gourds, corn stalks, and flowers (at least for the beginning of the week), as well as jack-o-lanterns from Verrill Farm. We’ve also got mushrooms (shiitake are back!) from Fat Moon, honey from Double B, organic raspberry jam and raspberry infused vinegar from Silferleaf farm, pastured eggs from Pete and Jen’s, and organic cranberries from Fresh Meadows Farm in Carver, MA.

Sheet-Pan Curry Pork Chops and Sweet Potatoes

ANNA STOCKWELL EPICURIOUS SEPTEMBER 2018

INGREDIENTS

• 4 tsp. mild curry powder

• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

• 1 tsp. light brown sugar

• 2 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, divided

• 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

• 4 (1"-thick) small bone-in pork chops (about 2 lb. total)

• 8 small sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 lb.), scrubbed, sliced in half lengthwise

• 1 cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt

• 3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

• 4 small radishes, thinly sliced

• 1 cup pomegranate arils

PREPARATION

Arrange a rack in top third of oven; preheat to 450°F. Stir curry, pepper, brown sugar, and 2 tsp. salt in a small bowl.

Rub an 18x13" rimmed baking sheet with oil. Sprinkle pork chops and potatoes with spice mixture on prepared pan to evenly coat, then arrange in an even layer with potatoes cut side down.

Roast until pork is golden brown and cooked through and potatoes are deeply browned on cut sides and fork-tender, about 20 minutes. (The pork might finish cooking before the potatoes do; if so, transfer pork to a cutting board and let rest, then continue roasting the potatoes until done.)

Meanwhile, whisk yogurt, lemon juice, and remaining 1/2 tsp. salt in a medium bowl.

Arrange pork and potatoes on a platter. Top with yogurt sauce, radishes, and pomegranate arils.

Do Ahead: Yogurt sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.

Cooks' Note

Small sweet potatoes work best for cooking at the same rate as the pork chops and fitting on one sheet pan since you can tuck them between the chops. If you can’t find small sweet potatoes, use larger ones, cut them into wedges, and turn them halfway through roasting.

Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries

adapted from Mollie Katzen from The Splendid Table

Ingredients

• 2 pounds Brussels sprouts 

• 2 heaping cups whole, fresh cranberries

• 1/4 cup finely minced shallots 

• 2 tablespoons olive oil 

• 1/4 cup balsamic or cider vinegar 

• 2 tablespoons sugar 

• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup 

• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste 

• Black pepper 

Instructions

1) Put on a pot of water to boil, and place a colander in the sink. Meanwhile, trim and halve or quarter the sprouts (unless tiny) and add them to the water when it boils. Let them simmer for 3 to 5 minutes--or until mostly tender-- and then drain them thoroughly in the colander, shaking them dry.

2) Place the cranberries in a large (10- to 12-inch) skillet on the stove, and turn on the heat to medium. Cook them solo for 2 minutes, then stir in the olive oil and shallots. Keep cooking, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes, or until the cranberries begin to pop.

3) Add the drained Brussels sprouts, plus the vinegar, sugar, maple syrup and 1/2 teaspoon salt -- and toss to combine. Reduce the heat to low, and use tongs to arrange as many of the sprouts as your patience permits cut side-down, facing into the cranberry mixture. (This will color them appetizingly, in addition to saturating them with flavor.) Cover the pan, and cook for another 10 minutes -- or until done to your liking -- stirring from time to time to rearrange the sprouts.

4) Adjust salt, if desired, and add pepper to taste. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.