Asparagus Season is in Full Swing!

Our asparagus harvest has begun in earnest! With the warmer weather our buckets have been filling up fast each morning and the farm store has remained fully stocked throughout our open hours. We enjoyed seeing everyone back at the farm last week and it was particularly fun to hear your enthusiasm for early season crops and recipes for what to do with them! See below for a great suggestion from Cary, a returning customer.  In addition to harvesting, last week we put up our deer fencing, built a wall of our new greenhouse, weeded and thinned our earliest carrots and beets, cultivated and hoed in an effort to stay ahead of the weeds, plowed two more fields, and planted and seeded crops in the field and greenhouse.  We hope to see many of you around the farm stand this week as well as at our Open House this Saturday May 21st 1-3pm!

The farm store is now open for our regular 2016 season schedule:

Tuesdays and Thursdays       11 - 6pm

Wednesdays and Fridays       2 - 6pm

Saturdays 10 - 3pm

The harvest this week for the farm store will include:

• Asparagus!
• Spinach
• Arugula
• Scallions- Only available early in the week
• Also available: Shiitake and Oyster Mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm in Westord as well as eggs from Pete and Jen's Backyard Birds in Lincoln
• Later this week (likely Thursday) the harvest will expand to include rhubarb, radishes, and Salanova lettuce mix.

Roasted Asparagus with Chopped Egg, Torn Bread, and Red Wine Vinegar

from Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison (Recipe courtesy of Amelia Saltsman in What We Eat When We Eat Alone)

Serves 2

1 lb asparagus

3 tbsp olive oil, plus more for the asparagus

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 piece sourdough or ciabatta

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 egg, hard cooked

Heat oven to 400 F

Toss the spears with 1 tsp oil to moisten, season well with salt and pepper, and lay them in a single layer in a shallow baking dish or sheet pan.

Roast the spears, turning them once every 10 minutes, until tender and colored in places, 20 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, crisp the bread in the oven.

To make the vinaigrette, combine the mustard, vinegar, and 1/4 tsp salt, then whisk in the oil. Chop the white and yoke of the egg.

Lay the asparagus on a platter. Cover with the chopped egg. Tear the bread into small, rough pieces and scatter over the egg. Spoon the vinaigrette over all and finish with freshly ground pepper.

Farm Store opening May 10th!

After a chilly late April and early May, it has finally warmed up enough to produce some asparagus big enough to harvest! Growth is still slow, so for the first week we will only be open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. In addition to asparagus, we anticipate having scallions, leeks, a limited amount of spinach and red Russian kale, as well as eggs from Pete and Jen's Backyard Birds in Lincoln and mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm in Westford!

The farm store will be self-serve for the first couple of weeks that we are open, so if you are a cash customer, please bring a check or exact change. Customers with 2016 Barrett's Bucks credit (including 2016 CSA members) may begin spending their Bucks this week by filling out Bucks cards available next to our cash box.

Farm Store Hours week of May 10th:

Tuesday & Thursday 11am - 6pm

Saturday 10am - 3pm

Farm Store Hours starting May 17th

Tuesday & Thursday 11am - 6pm

Wednesday & Friday 2 - 6pm

Saturday 10am - 3pm

April

A friend from warmer climes recently described New England weather as "temperamental," which is a very apt description of the past month in particular. We had some gorgeous 60 and 70 degree days in March that promoted some early green growth in the garlic and strawberries. It also gave us some beautiful days to work on constructing the frame of our new greenhouse, as well as allowed us to begin some plowing and field prep earlier than usual. But we've also had some snow days and some extremely cold temps interspersed with the warmth (including 14 degree temps this morning!). It remains to be seen whether the drastically colder temperatures from early April will do damage to plants that had been tricked into thinking it was actually early May, but we did our best to protect the crops that were already coming up with row covers. The late snow and cold snaps have prevented us from truly getting an early jump on the season, but we are really happy with the progress we've been able to make on the nicer days!

Installing the ridge purlin on the top of the greenhouse frame

Our biggest project this spring (other than the regular business of growing vegetables!) has been beginning construction of our new greenhouse. We received a matching grant from the the MA Department of Agricultural Resources, as well as a very generous contribution from a CSA member to build this essential structure. Last week Lise's dad and father-in-law, as well as our friends Gretta and Paul helped us line up and pound in ground posts, as well as assemble the hoop structure. We are so grateful for all the help and support we've received so far in this project that is so essential to the running of this farm. We're waiting for another warm and dry day to tackle the next steps in the framing process. Hopefully the structure will be finished within the next month, as our original greenhouse is just about full!

March

There are only a couple of months before the farm stand opens in May for the asparagus harvest! That is said both with enthusiasm for the upcoming harvest and a sense of urgency for projects around the farm. Currently on the top of our list of projects this month: blueberry bush pruning, repairs on our rototiller, the building of a new greenhouse, and the seeding of our early spring crops in the current greenhouse. We just finished hiring our crew for the 2016 and look forward to our two Assistant Growers, Ethan and Wyatt, joining us in mid April. Imagine what we will get done with four of us here at the farm!

To celebrate the beginning of another excellent season, we have plans to get together with our fellow farmers and we hope you will join us! Tuesday, March 29th from 7-9pm at the Harvey Wheeler Community Center the Concord Agriculture Committee is hosting Meet Your Farmers. There will be a panel discussion offering an inside look at growing produce here in town (nutrient management, pests, disease, and more!), as well as a brief presentation on the Town warrant articles related to agriculture.  Following the discussion will be an informal meet and greet. We hope to see you there!

February

Only a week ago, it seemed like we were experiencing an early spring and should be preparing to seed our beets and carrots. The recent wintry weather has been a reminder that we still have a little ways to go before we are munching on fresh local carrots again. However, we can take solace in the fact that in only a few weeks, we will be starting the seedlings in our greenhouse that will later become this season's veggies.

This month we have some exciting news related to our seedling starts. We received a matching grant from the Mass. Department of Agriculture to build a second greenhouse. Furthermore, a generous CSA member has offered to cover the remaining greenhouse costs. Thanks to the support of many of our customers and members of the Historic Districts Commission, we were granted permission to build the greenhouse, and we are set to begin construction as soon as the ground thaws (hopefully in March!). We are so excited and overwhelmed by the generosity of our neighbors and customers in supporting this project. This second greenhouse will make a huge difference for us and our ability to grow more of the vegetables and fruits that you all love. Thank you to everyone who not only supported this project, but to everyone who has supported this business during our first two seasons and made it possible for us to even consider expanding our operations. We are looking forward to another successful season in 2016!