Week 10

There has been a big push on the farm in the past couple weeks to prepare for the fall and beyond. This weekend we brought in reinforcements from the city (thanks Ashley and Eric!) to help weed in the strawberry beds so that we can have healthy productive plants next June.  Last week we weeded all the fall beets and most of the carrots and we are now concentrated on hoeing our fall brassicas including cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale and collards.  Every year we look for areas we can improve and this year we wanted bigger Brussels sprouts! So, we planted our seedlings earlier, weeded and hoed the plants thoroughly, and gave them a boost with some organic fertilizer to get them on track. The progress we've made in the past week towards preparing fall crops is particularly important because our crew will decrease in number as the summer winds down. This is Matt's last week helping bring in the harvest as he is off to college at the University of Virginia. We appreciate the boost he gave us this summer and hope he comes back to visit. We are pretty sure he will think of the farm whenever he eats arugula or lettuce, his Tuesday morning harvest specialties!

Brussels sprouts and fall carrots

In the CSA this Week

• Heirloom Tomatoes- These tomatoes are funky colors and shapes but full of flavor! We grow the varieties Cherokee Purple, Prudens Purple, and Striped German. Heirloom varieties were not bred for productivity, looks, or ability to ship so they are trickier to grow and store but are well worth the effort.
• Red slicing tomatoes- Coming in strong this week!
• Summer Leeks- The first leeks of the season are a summer crop called Chinook. Leeks were an infamous June weeding project so our crew is excited to see their efforts in the CSA, farm store and on their dinner plates!
• Watermelon
• Baby bok choy
• Tatsoi- A mild flavored green that is great for salads!
• Arugula
• Red Russian Kale
• Eggplant
• Peppers - green and purple bells.
• Cucumbers
• Summer Squash
• Zucchini
• Celery
• Carrots
• Lettuce

CSA PYO:

• Cherry tomatoes
• Hot peppers - jalapenos, serrano, capperino, ancho
• Beans - green and yellow wax
• Herbs - Genovese basil, Thai basil, parsley (we are working on weeding the bed so the parsley should be easier to find this week!), thyme, and sage
• Sunflowers

In the store:

In addition to the crops listed above, we should have mustard greens, Blacktail Mountain watermelon, and Verrill Farm sweet corn.

Ratatouille

Adapted from Ratatouille by Martha Rose Shulman at the New York Times. Featured in the article For Vegetarians at the Cookout

1 1/2 pounds eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

3 tablespoons olive oil

Salt

3/4 pound (2 medium) onions, thinly sliced

4 to 6 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

3/4 pound sweet peppers, cut into slices about 3/4 inch wide by 1 1/2 inches long

1 1/4 pounds zucchini, sliced about 1/2 inch thick (if very thick, cut in half lengthwise first)

1 pound tomatoes, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped

1 bay leaf

1 to 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, or 1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Freshly ground pepper

2 to 4 tablespoons slivered or chopped fresh basil, to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the cubed eggplant in a large, heavy flameproof casserole. Toss with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and salt to taste. Place in the hot oven, and roast uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring from time to time until the eggplant is lightly browned and fragrant. Remove the casserole from the oven, cover tightly and allow the eggplant to steam in the hot casserole while you pan-cook the onions, peppers and zucchini.

2. Heat a tablespoon of the remaining oil over medium heat in a large, heavy nonstick skillet. Add the onions. Cook, stirring often, until just about tender, about five minutes. Stir in the peppers and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until the peppers have softened and smell fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in half the garlic, and cook for another minute. Season with salt and pepper, and transfer to the casserole with the eggplant. Heat the remaining oil in the skillet, and add the zucchini. Cook, stirring often, until tender but still bright, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the remaining garlic and mix together for a minute until fragrant. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and transfer to the casserole. Add the tomatoes to the casserole along with the bay leaf, thyme, oregano, and more salt and pepper to taste. Toss everything together, and place over medium-low heat. When the vegetables begin to sizzle, cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring often, for 30 to 45 minutes until the mixture is juicy and fragrant and the vegetables are thoroughly tender. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve warm or cold, preferably the next day. Stir in the basil shortly before serving.

Yield: Serves six to eight.

Advance preparation: Ratatouille keeps well in the refrigerator for about five days.

Week 9

Even more summer crops are ready to harvest this week. The first slicing tomatoes are in, as well as a few heirlooms. Eggplant and peppers are becoming more abundant, and we have also begun harvesting one of our favorite summer treats: watermelon! It is still a bit early for melons, but the watermelon harvest was hastened because of some heavy feeding pressure from crows and our local coyote friends. The crows have been pecking holes in the melons during the day and at night the coyotes have been finishing off the crows' leftovers and appear to be using the  unripe softball-sized melons to play fetch with each other.

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Some of the eaten melons culled from the field.

While we appreciate the coyotes' efforts at reducing groundhog, rabbit and mouse pressure on many of our crops, we are not so thrilled about their newly acquired taste for a post-meal dessert! Last week we tried out various strategies to protect the plants and baby melons, but the one that we feel has the most promise involves re-purposing our blueberry netting as watermelon netting. We've also just begun harvesting watermelons in earnest so that we can hopefully enjoy them before the wildlife does. This means that there may be some watermelon that is not fully ripened, but we think slightly under-ripe watermelon is better than no watermelon at all!

In the CSA this week:

• Red slicing tomatoes - just a taste this week, but we should be seeing larger quantities very soon.
• Watermelon - this variety is a red melon called Starlight. We don't grow seedless watermelon, so enjoy some old-fashioned seed spitting contests!
• Eggplant - In addition to the traditional dark purple Italian type, we have a light purple Italian type called Beatrice and a dark purple Asian type called Orient Express.
• Peppers - green and purple bells.
• Cucumbers - slicing and pickling are abundant.
• Summer Squash
• Zucchini
• Celery
• Onions - last of the Ailsa Craig and Red Long of Tropea
• Carrots
• Lettuce
• Red Russian Kale
• Curly Kale - this is the last of the spring planted kale, but the fall kale is coming along really nicely, so it shouldn't be too long of a break from kale chips!

CSA PYO:

• Cherry tomatoes
• Hot peppers - jalapenos and serranos
• Beans - green and yellow wax
• Herbs - Genovese basil, Thai basil, cilantro, dill, parsley, thyme, sage and mint

In the store:

In addition to the crops listed above, we should have some heirloom tomatoes, Red Gold potatoes, cabbage and Verrill Farm sweet corn.

It's a perfect time of year for making ratatouille, but this week's recipe is another from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything (our go-to cookbook!).

Eggplant Fritters

From How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

• 1  1/2 lb eggplant
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley leaves
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and pressed (or throw in half an Ailsa Craig onion if you like!)
• pinch cayenne (or dice up a little Jalapeno!)
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs or all-purpose flour
• Neutral oil for deep-frying
• Lemon wedges for serving

Trim and peel the eggplant, cut it into chunks and blanch it in boiling water until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain well, pressing down on the colander to make sure it's dry. Pulse in a food processor. Beat the egg in a large bowl and then add eggplant, parsley, Parmesan, garlic, cayenne, bread crumbs and salt to taste.

Put at least 2 inches of oil in a deep pan over medium heat - bring the temperature to 350F. Drop the fritter batter into the hot oil, about 1/4 cup or large spoonful each. Cook the fritters about 4-6 minutes total, turning once, until nicely browned on both sides. Drain the fritters on paper towels. You can keep fritters warm in the oven at about 200F until all the batches are done. Serve with lemon wedges.

Week 8

When the cherry tomatoes, eggplant and peppers begin to come in we know that we are in the height of summer.  It might sound obvious but sometimes on the farm we need to stop and appreciate the current season because we are so often thinking ahead to ensure that future harvests are on the way. All the beautiful colors coming out of the fields (and into our kitchens!) this week has helped us appreciate the present. Don't worry, behind the scenes we are cultivating the fall brassicas, seeding spinach and other late season greens, and weeding the fall carrots!

In the CSA this week:

• Peppers- Green and Purple "Islander" are the first two peppers ready for picking! Many more varieties to come in late summer and early fall.
• Eggplant- The first of the season! Choose from Beatrice and Irene. Their taste is similar and both can be used in any eggplant recipe.
• Celery- This celery is a variety called Tango and it is packed with flavor which makes it great for cooking.
• Fresh Onions - Ailsa Craig and Red Long of Tropea
• Red Gold Potatoes
• Cucumbers
• Lettuce
• Summer Squash
• Zucchini
• Red Ace Beets
• Nelson Carrots
• Cabbage
• Arugula

CSA PYO:

• Jalapeno Peppers- Spicy fans out there will be happy to know that this is the first of many weeks of hot pepper picking!
• Cherry Tomatoes - All varieties are ready for picking including: Sungold, Matt's Wild, Jasper, Grape, Black Cherry and Mountain Magic. Enjoy!
• Sunflowers
• Dragon Langerie Beans- These long flat purple spotted beans are perfect for picking this week!
• Green Beans- A new planting is ready for picking.
• Herbs: Thai and regular basil, sage, mint, thyme, cilantro, dill, dill flowers and parsley

In the store:

In addition to the items listed above, we'll also have Happy Rich broccolini, and  Verrill Farm sweet corn.

Peanut Noodles

On of my favorite meals for a hot summer day is rice noodles with raw veggies and peanut sauce. I start by boiling rice noodles which I drain and rinse then add to a large bowl of chopped veggies form the farm including: cucumbers, carrots, green pepper, cherry tomatoes and thai basil. Add whatever sounds good to you! Then I mix it all together with peanut sauce and top with sauteed tofu (grilled chicken works great too!). There are many options for the peanut sauce, below I've included a great one by Mark Bittman.

Peanut Sauce by Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything

Toss this Thai-style sauce with Chinese egg noodles or pool some on the bottom of a plate and top with broiled or grilled shrimp, chicken, pork, vegetables, or tofu. Or use it as a dip for celery, red bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, and rice crackers. If you want a smooth sauce, use peanut butter instead of chopped peanuts; for a sweeter one, add about 1/4 cup of ketchup along with the coconut milk; for lightness, substitute stock or water for the coconut milk.

3 small dried red chiles (like Thai or piquin), seeded, or cayenne or hot red pepper flakes, to taste
3 garlic cloves
2 shallots, peeled
1 stalk lemongrass, white part only, peeled, trimmed, and thinly sliced (optional)
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 tablespoon peanut oil or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn
1 cup coconut milk 
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce, or more to taste
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup chopped roasted peanuts or crunchy peanut butter
Salt

1. Combine the chiles, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, and turmeric in a food processor and grind and until fairly smooth; scrape down the sides of the machine once or twice if necessary.

2. Put the oil in a medium saucepan or skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the chile-garlic mixture and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. Taste and add a sprinkle of salt or a little more soy sauce if necessary. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to a week (warm gently over very low heat or in a microwave before using).

Curry Peanut Sauce. Another layer of flavor: Omit the chiles, lemongrass, and turmeric. Instead, put one 2-inch piece of fresh ginger and 2 tablespoons of curry powder or curry paste in the food processor along with the shallots.

Simpler Peanut Sauce. More peanutty (and makes less): Omit everything except the chiles, sugar, soy sauce, and peanuts. Use the food processor to blend, adding a little water or more soy sauce to get the consistency you like. Then gently heat the sauce in a small saucepan over low heat or in the microwave. Finish with 1/4 cup each sliced scallion and minced fresh cilantro.

Southern-Style Peanut Sauce. Peanut sauce, down-home style: Omit the chiles, lemongrass, turmeric, and soy sauce. You can hand-mince the shallots and garlic if you like, instead of using the food processor. Proceed with the recipe, but use cream instead of coconut milk and lemon juice instead of lime juice.

Week 7

The big accomplishment from this past week was completing our garlic harvest! The garlic harvest involves not only pulling all of our garlic out of the ground, but also bunching it and hanging it in the store so that it can cure. During the curing process, the garlic loses moisture and gains a stronger flavor. It takes a few weeks for the garlic to fully cure, but once the curing process is complete, it will be able to store longer through the fall and winter. Once it is cured, we will have some available in the CSA and store, but we will also keep a percentage of the garlic to plant in October so that we can have more next year!

Another big accomplishment this past week was opening the Pick-Your-Own flower garden. Currently, the garden is open to PYO Flower CSA members as well as the general public. If you are not a Flower CSA member but would like to pick flowers, we will provide you with a jar to hold your flowers and we'll also have scissors available to borrow. Right now we have lots of beautiful zinnias, snapdragons, bachelor's buttons, cosmos, rudbeckia, coneflower and much more!

In the CSA this week:

• Red Gold Potatoes - these have a similarly rich flavor to the Dark Red Norland potatoes that we've enjoyed for the past couple of weeks. They are great for roasting.
• Fresh Garlic - we have culled out some of the smaller heads and ones that won't cure well for fresh eating. They are a little milder than the cured garlic we'll have later on in the season.
• Fresh Onions - Ailsa Craig and Red Long of Tropea are still plentiful. Try caramelizing them or just put thin raw slices into your sandwich or on top of your burgers. They are milder and sweeter than cured storage onions.
• Cucumbers - both pickling and slicing cukes are abundant this week. Get ready to do some pickling! See the Japanese Pickled Cucumber Pickle recipe below for an idea of what to do!
• Summer Squash
• Zucchini
• Red Ace Beets
• Nelson Carrots
• Cabbage
• Kale
• Chard
• Arugula
• Red Russian Kale

CSA PYO:

• Cherry Tomatoes - the first taste of the season! There will be a small amount of Sungolds, Matt's Wild, Jasper and Grape tomatoes for picking
• Sunflowers - brighten up your home with a few stems!
• Green beans - we'll still be picking from the same planting this week. The next planting is almost ready.
• Herbs: basil, cilantro, dill and parsley

In the store:

In addition to the items listed above, we'll also have mustard greens, tat soi, purple carrots, Happy Rich broccolini, scallions, and some of the first eggplant of the season. Cherry tomatoes are just starting to get going, so we probably will have them in the store starting on Saturday. This past weekend we started offering Verrill Farm sweet corn, which we should have for several more weeks.

The recipes this week are all about cucumbers. One CSA member suggested this delicious sounding Sesame Lemon Cucumber Salad from cook's Illustrated.

Tarator (Bulgarian cold cucumber yogurt soup)

Adapted from Nelka on May 15, 2003 on food.com

Lise lived in Bulgaria for 2 years and this is a classic summer dish. Simple but delicious!

• l lb cucumbers
• 1 lb plain yogurt
• 3 -4 garlic cloves
• 2 -3 tablespoons of crushed walnuts (optional)
• 1 bunch fresh dill
• olive oil
• salt
• about 1 cup water (to taste)

Cut the cucumbers into cubes and put them in a bowl. Beat the yogurt with a fork until it gets liquid and pour it over the cucumbers. Add the crushed garlic, the walnuts and the minced dill as well as salt and oil to taste. Add water to make the soup as liquid as you like. Put into the refrigerator to cool for about 2 hours. Serve cold.

Japanese Pickled Cucumber

By Sue Lau on May 21, 2002 on food.com

• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons salt ( to sprinkle)
• 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Place cucumbers in a bowl, sprinkle with salt, and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Rinse cucumbers under cold water to remove salt. Mix together rice vinegar, sugar, and salt, stirring until sugar and salt dissolve. Pour over cucumbers.

Marinate cucumbers overnight in refrigerator in sealed container.

Week 6

Every Monday morning Lise and I make a to-do list and it is important to write small if we don't want it to spill over multiple pages! We prioritize and start on the top item right away. Lucky for us we have Rachel and two of our part time workers Lauren and Kathleen who come ready to get field work done every Monday morning. Today they tackled projects including hoeing the lettuce beds, harvesting carrots, and hand weeding celery. It's a great feeling to start the week by addressing our most urgent concerns with the largest crew we can gather! 

Each of our part time field crew members help us on the farm a couple of mornings a week. Lauren recently moved to Boston after spending the past two years in Ecuador in the Peace Corps. When she's not at the farm she is at her research job which addresses mental health in Boston's communities, playing soccer, or working at the Needham Farmers Market.  Kathleen joined us for the summer and we are grateful for her help and friendly conversation. She lives right here in Concord and teaches during the school year. On CSA mornings we get all the crops in on time thanks to the hard work of Matt, a recent high school graduate and competitive swimmer who joins us for the early morning harvests. Lucky for us we also have help from our neighbor Emma, a high school student in Concord. Many of you have probably met Emma in the farm store on Tuesdays where she keeps things clean and lends her cheery assistance anywhere it's needed. These four folks have quickly become an integral part of the farm and we are lucky to have them!

In the CSA this week:

• Cucumbers- We will have mainly Jackson Classic this week, a small light green cucumber with a thin skin an small seeds. They are known as a pickling variety but also great for eating fresh as a snack, salad, or on a sandwich!
• Red Potatoes
• Beets
• Fresh Onions - This week we will continue to harvest this summer treat. The bunches are mixed with a couple of the white Ailsa Craig and purple Red Long of Tropea. These should be kept in the fridge and used within a week or so.
• Purple Haze carrots
• Cabbage- red, green and caraflex, and napa
• Summer squash
• Zucchini
• Nelson carrots
• Kale
• Swiss chard
• Lettuce
• Red Russian Kale or Arugula

CSA PYO:

• Green beans! Great raw or lightly steamed.
• Herbs: Basil (including Thai), parsley, dill and cilantro. Many of the herbs require braving the weeds right now but we are working on it! We prioritize weeding on crops based on need and potential benefit so with the next plantings of herbs almost ready we've been focusing on other weeding.

In the store:

In addition to the items listed above for the CSA, the store will also likely have scallions, yukina savoy, mustard greens, and a few pints of blueberries for sale.

Zucchini Linguine with Herbs

Food & Wine, October 2009

•  4 pounds small zucchini

•  6 tablespoons unsalted butter

•  4 scallions, thinly sliced lengthwise

•  Salt and freshly ground pepper

•  1 1/2 pounds fresh linguine or spaghetti

•  2 tablespoons chopped tarragon or chervil, plus more for garnish

•  1 tablespoon chopped lemon thyme

•  1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

•  8 ounces young pecorino cheese, freshly grated (2 cups), plus more for garnish

1.       Using a mandoline, julienne the zucchini lengthwise, stopping when you reach the seedy centers. You should have 12 packed cups of zucchini strands.

2.     In a very large, deep skillet, melt the butter. Add the zucchini and scallions, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini is just softened, about 8 minutes.

3.     Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the water.

4.     Add the pasta to the skillet along with the chopped tarragon, thyme, lemon zest and pecorino cheese and toss well. Add the reserved pasta water and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until the sauce is slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Transfer to plates, garnish with tarragon and grated cheese and serve.