CSA Week 17 of 20, farm store open until October 29th.

It's hard to believe that there are just 4 CSA pick-up weeks remaining and 5 weeks of the farm store! We will have our last CSA pick-up for the 2016 season on Saturday, October 22nd and the Farm Store will continue to be open for regular hours until Saturday, October 29th. Barrett's Bucks to not carry over to another season and therefore must be used by October 29th.  It is fitting that we are nearing the end of the season as we got our first frost of the season in some areas of the farm on Sunday night. Fortunately it was a light frost and it seems that the cherry tomatoes, eggplant, and possibly peppers have survived. While there is no frost predicted in the near future, we do anticipate a decrease in productivity for our summer favorites as the plants start to succumb to disease and ripening slows.  It is time for the stars of fall including spinach, winter squash, and roots!

This week we will be handing out renewal forms for current CSA Members for the 2017 season. Barrett's Bucks sign-up forms for 2017 will be available in the farm store and online next week. We hope that you will join us!  Memberships purchased early allow us to order seeds, hire help, and plan for the coming season. We would like to thank all of our current members and customers for their support this year, it was largely because of your dedication to the farm that we were able to purchase the irrigation supplies and labor that were needed to get through this dry year with very little loss while also continuing to plan and prepare the farm for success in the future.

Spinach will be in the CSA and store this week.

In the CSA:

The cool temperatures of Sunday night made for some frosty salanova and lettuce Monday morning but almost everything seems to have survived.

• Spinach
• Escarole- This green looks like lettuce but has a strong flavor for cooking in soups or sauteed with garlic and beans.
• Turnips
• Broccoli - These are looking beautiful, but keep in mind that when farming organically it is tough to keep out the various types of cabbage worms that like to hide in broccoli florets. We recommend an additional soak in warm lightly salted water for about 20 minutes to separate out the worms before cooking.
• Winter Squash - Acorn, buttercup, and delicata. The skin of the buttercup and delicata are edible so no need to peel.
• Leeks
• Cabbage: Tendersweet and Savoy
• Salanova lettuce mix
• Arugula
• Garlic
• Tomatoes- This will likely be the last week of tomatoes, while the plants survived the frost they are slowing down in these cooler temperatures.
• Eggplant
• Peppers
• Beets
• Carrots
• Kale
• Lettuce

CSA PYO:

• Cherry tomatoes
• Tomatillos
• Husk Cherries
• Green Beans- These seem to have avoided the patchy frost we received Sunday night so picking should continue this week.
• Hot peppers - jalapeno, serrano, cayenne, ancho, habanero
• Parsley
• Cilantro
• Dill

In the store: Everything available in the CSA will also be available in the store. In addition, we will have chard, scallions, collards, eggs from Pete and Jen's Backyard Birds, mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm.

Farm store hours:

• Tuesdays & Thursdays 11am - 6pm*
• Wednesdays and Fridays 2pm - 6pm
• Saturdays 10am - 3pm*

*Hours in bold with an asterix are also CSA pick-up hours.

This recipe was shared with us last year by a CSA member and I have been waiting to post it until now when garlic, carrots, and cilantro are all available from the farm! Thanks for sending your favorite farm vegetable recipes!

From The New Persian Kitchen by Louisa Shafia

Vinegar Carrots With Toasted Sesame Seeds

Photo credit and recipe find thanks to Mimi Rutledge!

If you're sensitive to spicy foods, then start with 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes and add more to taste. To make carrot ribbons, peel carrots, then swipe the peeler from the fat end to the tip to make ribbons.

Ingredients

1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1/2 cup sesame seeds, toasted
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled lengthwise into thin ribbons
1 cup tightly packed cilantro leaves

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, vinegars, honey, sesame oil, sesame seeds, red pepper flakes, and 1 teaspoon salt. Pour the dressing over the carrots, add the cilantro, and toss well. Season to taste with salt, and serve.

Happy Autumn and CSA Week 16!

The official start of fall is this Thursday, but we have already been experiencing some signs of the transition in seasons. Shorter and more temperate days have either slowed or completely ended the harvest of many of our summer crops, while also providing more welcoming growing conditions for fall staples like broccoli, cabbage and spinach. With no hoop houses for winter growing, we have now finished seeding and transplanting all our crops for 2016 (cover crops and garlic still remain, but they are for next season).

In terms of our day-to-day activities, that leaves a small amount of weeding and mulching, and a large amount of harvesting and clean-up for the remainder of the fall. It is a nice time of year for us - Sunday chores like greenhouse watering are over and soon our daily start times will creep a little later as the cooler morning temperatures will prevent early morning harvests. We like to stay busy, but we aren't averse to a little more free time on our hands!

Melissa and Wyatt harvest butternut squash - it looks like an excellent harvest this year - we'll see them in the store and CSA soon after they've had a chance to cure in the barn!

In the CSA:

• Broccoli - These are looking beautiful, but keep in mind that when farming organically it is tough to keep out the various types of cabbage worms that like to hide in broccoli florets. We recommend an additional soak in warm lightly salted water for about 20 minutes to separate out the worms before cooking.
• Winter Squash - Acorn and Hubba Hubba (Red Kuri) The skin of Hubba Hubba is edible - no need to peel!
• Leeks
• Peter Wilcox potatoes - This is a purple-skinned, yellow-fleshed variety with outstanding flavor. They fared a little better than our other potato varieties in the drought, but we still only have limited quantities.
• Tendersweet cabbage - this early cabbage variety is aptly named - the texture and flavor are indeed tender and sweet!
• Salanova lettuce mix
• Arugula
• Tat soi
• Garlic
• Tomatoes
• Eggplant
• Peppers
• Beets
• Carrots
• Baby bok choi
• Kale
• Lettuce

CSA PYO:

• Cherry tomatoes
• Tomatillos
• Husk Cherries
• Green Beans
• Dragon Tongue Beans - these beans are getting to a size where they are best consumed as fresh shelled beans.
• Hot peppers - jalapeno, serrano, cayenne, ancho, habanero
• Sunflowers
• Parsley
• Cilantro
• Dill

In the store: Everything available in the CSA will also be available in the store. In addition, we will have chard, red Russian kale, spinach, eggs from Pete and Jen's Backyard Birds, mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm. We should also have sweet corn from Verrill Farm for the last week.

Farm store hours:

• Tuesdays & Thursdays 11am - 6pm*
• Wednesdays and Fridays 2pm - 6pm
• Saturdays 10am - 3pm*

*Hours in bold with an asterix are also CSA pick-up hours.

Quick Sesame Chicken with Broccoli

from Epicurious, February 2016

• 1 1/2 cups quick-cooking white rice
• 1 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided, plus more
• 8 cups broccoli florets
• 6 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, breasts, or a mix, trimmed, patted dry, cut into 1 1/2" chunks
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 5 tablespoons honey
• 4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Sriracha
• 1 large clove garlic, finely grated
• 1 teaspoon finely grated ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, divided
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced

1. Cook rice with a pinch of salt according to package directions.
2. Set a steamer basket in a medium pot filled with 1" water, cover pot, and bring water to a boil. Uncover and steam broccoli until crisp-tender, 5–6 minutes. Drain and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, whisk cornstarch, pepper, and 1 1/2 tsp. salt in a large bowl. Add chicken and toss to coat.
4. Heat 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil in a large skillet over high. Add half of the chicken and cook, turning occasionally, until chicken is cooked through and a light brown crust forms, about 5 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate. Heat remaining 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil; cook remaining chicken and transfer to plate.
5. Combine honey, soy sauce, vinegar, Sriracha, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds, and remaining 1/4 tsp. salt in a medium bowl. Transfer sauce to skillet and cook 1 minute to reduce slightly. Return chicken to skillet, toss in sauce to coat, and cook until sauce is reduced and thickened, about 2 minutes. Fold in reserved broccoli, toss to coat, and remove from heat.
6. Divide chicken and broccoli among 4 plates and top with scallions and remaining 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds. Serve with rice on the side.

Cooks’ Note

Feel free to substitute traditional white or brown rice for quick-cooking rice. Make this meal gluten-free by substituting tamari for the soy sauce.

Leek, Cherry Tomato and Pecorino Pizza

from Food & Wine, October 2009

• All-purpose flour, for dusting
• 1 1/2 pounds pizza dough, cut into 8 pieces
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
• 2 large leeks, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 pound ground lamb
• 32 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 pound truffled pecorino cheese, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 500°. Heat a pizza stone on the bottom of the oven for 45 minutes. (Alternatively, heat a large inverted baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven for 5 minutes.) On a lightly floured work surface, roll out each piece of dough to a 7-inch round. Oil 3 large baking sheets and place the dough rounds on the sheets. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Add the leeks, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 8 minutes; transfer to a plate. Add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet. Add the lamb, season with salt and pepper and cook until no pink remains, about 5 minutes. Generously flour a pizza peel. Place a dough round on the peel and brush with olive oil. Top with some of the leeks, lamb, tomatoes and pecorino cheese. Slide the dough round onto the hot stone or baking sheet and bake for about 4 minutes, until bubbling and crisp. Repeat with the remaining ingredients and serve.

CSA Week 15

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Ag Day farmers' market in Concord Center. We had a great day as usual! This year was the first time we had enough staff that we could keep the store and CSA open while also attending the market. Thank you to Wyatt, Ethan, Rebecca, Micah and Susan for doing such an awesome job keeping things running smoothly back at the farmstead!

This week marks a turning point in the season, as we only have one last lettuce and greens succession, as well as our fall-planted strawberries, to get into the ground. After that we shift entirely away from planting fruits and vegetables and into harvesting and clean-up mode. That means mowing in crops that have stopped producing, pulling up plastic mulch and drip tape, taking down overhead irrigation and disking in debris. We also have cover crop to seed in the areas from where we have cleared vegetable crops. September 15th is typically the last day we attempt to seed peas as cover crop - after that it's usually too cold for significant growth before we start getting really hard frosts. We do still seed cover crops up until October 15th, but only hardier crops like winter rye.

In the CSA:

• Acorn squash
• Salanova lettuce mix - we stop growing this lettuce mix during the hot summer months, as these greens prefer cooler temps, but it's back, probably for the rest of the regular season!
• Scallions
• Garlic
• Tomatoes
• Eggplant
• Peppers
• Golden Beets
• Red Ace Beets
• Carrots
• Napa cabbage
• Baby bok choi
• Kale
• Collards
• Swiss Chard
• Lettuce

CSA PYO:

• Cherry tomatoes
• Tomatillos
• Husk Cherries
• Green Beans
• Dragon Tongue Beans
• Hot peppers - jalapeno, serrano, cayenne, ancho, habanero
• Sunflowers
• Parsley
• Cilantro
• Dill

In the store: Everything available in the CSA will also be available in the store. In addition, we will have radishes, spaghetti squash, eggs from Pete and Jen's Backyard Birds, mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm and sweet corn from Verrill Farm.

Farm store hours:

• Tuesdays & Thursdays 11am - 6pm*
• Wednesdays and Fridays 2pm - 6pm
• Saturdays 10am - 3pm*

*Hours in bold with an asterix are also CSA pick-up hours.

Acorn Squash with Kale and Sausage

adapted from Self, November 2013

• 2 medium acorn squash, halved down the middle, seeds removed
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil cooking spray
• 3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• 8 ounces hot Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
• 1 large leek or 1 bunch scallions, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 4 cups tightly packed torn kale
• 1/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan
• 2 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs

Heat oven to 375°. Cut a thin slice off round side of each squash half to create a stable base. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; coat with cooking spray. Place squash flesh side down on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil; bake until golden and tender, 30 minutes. Remove from oven; flip squash and set aside. Heat broiler. In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, heat 1 teaspoon oil. Add sausage; cook, breaking into coarse pieces, until brown, 6 minutes; transfer to a bowl. To same skillet, add remaining 2 teaspoons oil and leek; cook until leek is soft, 3 minutes. Add garlic; cook, 30 seconds. Add kale and toss; add broth. Cover and cook until kale is tender, 5 minutes; stir in sausage. Divide kale-sausage filling among squash. In a bowl, combine walnuts, Parmesan and panko; sprinkle evenly over squash bowls and coat with cooking spray. Broil until panko is golden, 2 minutes.

Annual Concord Ag Day September 10th and CSA Week 14

We love many things about September including cool mornings, slow weed growth, cooking early fall vegetables, and a bustling farm full of families home from vacation for the start of the school year. However, we do miss summer members of our farm crew! The picture above is missing teachers who provided critical help on the farm this summer including Dave, Kathleen, and Juliana. Erica and Rebecca also teach but have been helping out on the farm when they can so we snapped a photo last Saturday while we could still generate a crowd! September also brings fun agricultural events in town. We particularly enjoy the annual Ag Day Farmers Market which is coming up this Saturday September 10th from 10 am - 2pm on Main Street in Concord Center.  Many Concord farms will be there selling vegetables, fruit and flowers. It is a fun day full of enthusiasm for agriculture in town! We will have a farmers market stall as part of the Ag Day festivities. In addition, we will be open here at the farm stand for our farm store and CSA distribution. We are also looking forward to hosting a farm tour as part of the Farm and Garden Fair on Sunday September 11th at 1:30pm. We will show folks around the fields and around our new greenhouse. For more information about the Farm and Garden Fair this weekend visit the Concord Food Collaborative website.

In the CSA:

• Garlic- The garlic has been curing in the farm stand and is now ready for eating or storing! We will be distributing much of the garlic hanging in the CSA as well as have it available for sale in the farm stand. In addition, we will save some to plant in the fields in late October for next year's crop!
• Spaghetti Squash- To cook, cut in half and bake with either water or oil on the pan. When you scrape the inside out with a fork it looks just like spaghetti and tastes great with your favorite spaghetti toppings!
• Potatoes- Because our potato crop was not as good as we would like, we have purchased certified organic red potatoes from Hutchins Farm down the road in Concord. We will resume harvesting our own potatoes in later weeks as well as purchase additional storage potatoes from Hutchins Farm.
• Red Russian Kale- So nice to have salad greens again! This is a sweet, tender variety of kale that is great in salads and sandwiches but can also be lightly cooked.
• Radishes
• Collards
• Carrots
• Napa cabbage
• Baby bok choi
• Tomatoes
• Beets- red ace and chioggia
• Green and purple peppers
• Sweet Red, Yellow, Orange peppers
• Cucumbers
• Lettuce
• Kale
• Eggplant

CSA PYO:

• Cherry tomatoes
• Tomatillos
• Husk Cherries
• Dragon Tongue Beans
• Hot peppers - jalapeno, serrano, cayenne, ancho, habanero
• Sunflowers
• Par
• Cilantro
• Dill flowers

In the store: Except for potatoes, everything available in the CSA will also be available in the store. In addition, we will have arugula, salanova letttuce mix, mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm and sweet corn from Verrill Farm.

Farm store hours:

• Tuesdays & Thursdays 11am - 6pm*
• Wednesdays and Fridays 2pm - 6pm
• Saturdays 10am - 3pm*

*Hours in bold with an asterix are also CSA pick-up hours.

Garlic

Spaghetti Squash

How to Make Cabbage Kimchi

By Emily Han at thekitchn.com

Makes 1 quart

What You Need

Ingredients
1 medium head (2 pounds) napa cabbage
1/4 cup sea salt or kosher salt (see Recipe Notes)
Water (see Recipe Notes)
1 tablespoon grated garlic (5 to 6 cloves)
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons seafood flavor or water (optional, see Recipe Notes)
1 to 5 tablespoons Korean red pepper flakes (or chopped hot peppers)
8 ounces radish, cut into matchsticks
4 scallions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

Equipment
Cutting board and knife
Large bowl
Gloves (optional but highly recommended)
Plate and something to weigh the kimchi down, like a jar or can of beans
Colander
Small bowl
Clean 1-quart jar with canning lid or plastic lid
Bowl or plate to place under jar during fermentation

Instructions

1. Slice the cabbage: Cut the cabbage lengthwise into quarters and remove the cores. Cut each quarter crosswise into 2-inch-wide strips.
2. Salt the cabbage: Place the cabbage and salt in a large bowl. Using your hands (gloves optional), massage the salt into the cabbage until it starts to soften a bit, then add water to cover the cabbage. Put a plate on top and weigh it down with something heavy, like a jar or can of beans. Let stand for 1 to 2 hours.
3. Rinse and drain the cabbage: Rinse the cabbage under cold water 3 times and drain in a colander for 15 to 20 minutes. Rinse and dry the bowl you used for salting, and set it aside to use in step 5.
4. Make the paste: Meanwhile, combine the garlic, ginger, sugar, and seafood flavor (or 3 tablespoons water) in a small bowl and mix to form a smooth paste. Mix in the gochugaru, using 1 tablespoon for mild and up to 5 tablespoons for spicy (I like about 3 1/2 tablespoons).
5. Combine the vegetables and paste: Gently squeeze any remaining water from the cabbage and return it to the bowl along with the radish, scallions, and seasoning paste.
6. Mix thoroughly: Using your hands, gently work the paste into the vegetables until they are thoroughly coated. The gloves are optional here but highly recommended to protect your hands from stings, stains, and smells!
7. Pack the kimchi into the jar: Pack the kimchi into the jar, pressing down on it until the brine rises to cover the vegetables. Leave at least 1 inch of headspace. Seal the jar with the lid.
8. Let it ferment: Let the jar stand at room temperature for 1 to 5 days. You may see bubbles inside the jar and brine may seep out of the lid; place a bowl or plate under the jar to help catch any overflow.
9. Check it daily and refrigerate when ready: Check the kimchi once a day, pressing down on the vegetables with a clean finger or spoon to keep them submerged under the brine. (This also releases gases produced during fermentation.) Taste a little at this point, too! When the kimchi tastes ripe enough for your liking, transfer the jar to the refrigerator. You may eat it right away, but it's best after another week or two.

Inching toward autumn and CSA Week 13

Though you'd never know it by the weather, we are almost into September! That means that our daily tasks are shifting slightly. While we still have plenty of weeding to keep us busy, it does feel like the end is in sight. Shorter days will bring slower plant growth, which means that when we weed next year's strawberries or finish weeding fall cabbage, it will likely be the for the last time this season!

Transplanting and seeding have also become rare activities on the farm these days. In fact we seeded our last lettuce planting in the greenhouse two weeks ago. Aside from the two lettuce successions remaining to be transplanted, we still have some spinach and strawberry plugs to go out into the field, but soon the greenhouse will be empty and Sunday greenhouse watering will be a distant memory.

Other signs that we have shifted gears into fall include the completion of our onion and shallot harvest, the start of our winter squash harvest, and the continued tilling in of crops that have well passed their prime production period. (Farmers take a particular joy in mowing and tilling under old weedy crops - we really love to see clean fields seeded in cover crop!).

Though fall is ever present in our minds, this week's harvest for the store and CSA still reflects the late summer bounty, with a few additional items like carrots and napa cabbage that typically go hand in hand with cooler weather.

In the CSA:

• Carrots - they're back for the fall! We mostly grow a variety called Bolero (though we are also trying out another variety called Miami this year too). The later carrot plantings will get really sweet after a few frosts later this fall.
• Napa cabbage
• Bok Choi
• Watermelon
• Tomatoes
• Beets
• Green and purple peppers
• Sweet Red, Yellow, Orange peppers - some of the peppers are bell peppers and others are the sweet Italian variety (also known as "Bull's horn" because of their pointy shape). We get a lot of questions about whether or not these peppers are hot; All the peppers we harvest for the CSA distribution area are sweet - the hot peppers are all in the PYO area!
• Eggplant
• Zucchini
• Summer Squash
• Cucumbers
• Lettuce
• Arugula
• Chard
• Kale

CSA PYO:

• Cherry tomatoes
• Tomatillos
• Husk Cherries
• Hot peppers - jalapeno, serrano and ancho
• Chocolate, Green Burst and Procut Orange sunflowers
• Basil
• Cilantro
• Dill flowers

In the store: Everything available in the CSA will also be available in the store. In addition, we will have mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm and sweet corn from Verrill Farm.

Farm store hours:

• Tuesdays & Thursdays 11am - 6pm*
• Wednesdays and Fridays 2pm - 6pm
• Saturdays 10am - 3pm*

*Hours in bold with an asterix are also CSA pick-up hours.

Vegetable Potstickers

adapted from the Uncommon Gourmet

• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• pepper to taste
• ½ tsp sugar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 cup chopped bok choi or napa cabbage
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 medium sized carrot, grated
• ¼ cup diced shiitake mushrooms
• 1 ½ tsp finely grated ginger
• 1 package wonton wrappers

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, pepper, sugar and sesame oil. Mix and set aside. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over high heat in a wok or large skillet. Add bok choi/napa cabbage, scallions, carrots, mushrooms and ginger and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce mixture and stir fry for 1 minute more. Remove from heat.

 Preheat the oven to 400F and grease a large baking sheet. Place 1 tablespoon of the filling in the middle of a wonton skin. Fold over to form a triangle. Slightly dampen the outer edges with water and press the edges with a fork to seal. Place the potsticker on the baking sheet and repeat with remaining wonton skins. Brush the tops of the potstickers with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until browned and crisp around edges. Serve immediately with soy sauce on the side for dipping.