We were extremely excited at the end of the day on Monday to have no more produce bins to wash (at least until Tuesday, when we’ll create new dirty harvest buckets and empty out the produce bins for donations to the Boston Area Gleaners!). We’ve been challenged this season to keep up with bin washing, but Sue has been a true hero in chipping away at the backlogs of produce bins we’ve created!
Bin washing isn’t the only thing we’ve felt behind on this year. Some of our crops have about a week or two behind where they were last year. Many farmers in town have reported the same phenomenon. We think this is due to a combination of factors. A cool spring slowed growth early on. A hot and dry summer pulled some of us away from seeding, transplanting and weeding in order to work on irrigation. It also prevented us from doing some tractor work (no one want to create a dust cloud that you then have to drive through!). The heat can also cause blossom drop on tomatoes and peppers, meaning they don’t set as much fruit and several weeks down the line from an extreme heat event you have very few peppers and tomatoes. We’ve also been short-staffed and contending with a serious deer problem, which makes it doubly hard to keep up!
Fortunately, we have a lot of things that are going well in spite of some of this seasons challenges. Our winter squash harvest has been phenomenal! They were planted when things started to warm up, and the upside of a drought is that there was very little disease and so far very little rot. Likewise for our onions. The PYO flower field has also been thriving. The cabbage and broccoli plants look gorgeous thanks to some timely irrigation work. And we had a slow start, but the tomato harvest is finally picking up. This fall looks very promising and we’re excited to enjoy the fruits of all of summer’s labor.
In the CSA this week:
Salanova- Cut lettuce mix is back!
Delicata - These colorful squash have a skin is thin and edible so they are easy to prepare and they have a sweet, slightly nutty flavor.
Scallions
Garlic - This garlic is cured so will keep for months in a dark dry place.
Onion- yellow storage
Green and purple peppers
Tomatoes - Both slicing and heirloom varieties from the field and high tunnel.
Kale - Curly green
Lettuce
Endive - The endive variety we grow has curlier leaves than Belgian endive and we don’t blanche the heads, so they actually look much more like frisee.
Arugula
Radishes - Red round radishes.
CSA Pick-Your-Own:
Cherry Tomatoes
Hot peppers - The habañeros are now open in addition to the other varieties we’ve had all season.
Herbs: parsley, cilantro, dill flowers, sage, thyme, mint, chives and basil.
Sunflowers - Maybe only available on Wednesday (the next planting isn’t quite ready!)
In addition, Regular memberships may choose 2 of the following, and Small memberships may choose 1 of the following:
Shishito peppers
Husk cherries - These small fruit in papery husks are related to tomatoes and tomatillos and have a somewhat tropical flavor.
Tomatillos - They should be picked when the fruit fills our the green husk around it.
Green beans - Picking from a new planting this week!
In the farm store:
Farm store hours are Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm. We plan to have:
The following items that are also in the CSA: delicata, scallions, garlic, onions, green peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, salanova, endive, arugula, kale, radishes, herbs, cherry tomatoes, green beans, husk cherries, hot peppers and tomatillos.
Colored peppers
Carrots
Kabocha squash
Flowers - Wrapped mixed bouquets
Dahlias - We’ll still have some mini bouquets in jars, but we also now have taller stems for wrapped bouquets!
Pinto Gold potatoes from Picadilly Farm in Winchester, NH. This variety has a rich, buttery flavor - a true gourmet potato! Certified Organic.
Raspberries - From Silferleaf Farm just down the road from us! We don’t usually have them every day this week, but we take them whenever we can get them! Certified Organic.
Apples - From Carver Hill in Stow, MA (not organic). McIntosh and Cortland varieties.
Sweet corn from Verrill Farm (not organic)
Mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm - Certified Organic.
Raspberry Jam and Raspberry Vinegar Infusion - Both from Silferleaf. Certified Organic.
Double B Honey - From hives on the property! Not certified organic
Applesauce from Long Run Produce in Boxborough, MA. Certified Organic.
Baer’s Best Beans: 1 pound bags. Grown in South Berwick, Maine. Certified Organic varieties available include: Black Turtle, Italian Cranberry and Light Red Kidney. Not organic: bumblebee, marfax, and flageolet.
Roasted Delicata Squash with Apples
from Love & Lemons
Ingredients:
2 delicata squash, halved lengthwise and seeded, cut into ½-inch pieces
½ cup pearl onions, halved
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
2 tablespoons pepitas and/or pine nuts
2 cups torn kale
6 sage leaves, chopped
Leaves from 3 fresh thyme sprigs
1 small apple, diced
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dressing:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
½ garlic clove, minced
¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard
⅛ teaspoon maple syrup
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place the squash and onions on the baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat and arrange on the sheet so that they’re not touching. Roast until the squash is golden brown on all sides and until the onions are soft and browned, 25 to 30 minutes.
Make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, garlic, mustard, maple syrup, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Set aside.
In a small pan over medium-low heat, toss the pepitas with a pinch of salt and cook until toasted, stirring frequently, for about 2 minutes. Set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the kale, sage, and thyme. Add the warm roasted squash and onions, the apples, half the pepitas, and half the dressing. Toss to coat. Transfer to an oven-safe serving dish. (If you’re making this dish in advance stop here and follow the saving/reheating instructions in the notes below).
Place the serving dish into the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the apples and kale are warm and the kale is just wilted. Just before serving, drizzle with the remaining dressing, and top with the remaining pepitas.