Last week for the Main Season CSA, Store open until October 28th

Given what a warm fall it's been so far, it's hard to believe that this is the last week for the Main Season CSA! After this week, we still have one more week in the store and 4 more weeks for the Late Fall CSA. That works out well because we have a just the right amount of food left in the fields and stored in the barn and greenhouse! Many people have asked about signing up for the Late Fall CSA. We have surpassed our original sign-up goal, but after assessing the fields and our storage crops, we've decided we can fit up to 5 more members. However, we must receive a payment by Thursday, October 19th - after that we won't be able to take new sign-ups. 

Many people have also asked if we will take bulk orders for storage crops. We will have order forms available in the stand this week, or you can click here to download a copy. Orders must be placed by October 28th and will be available for pick-up during our Late Fall CSA (Thursdays November 2nd, 9th and 16th, 2pm - 7pm).

In the CSA:

• Red cabbage - adds great color to cole slaw or stir-fry! We'll also continue to have green storage and savoy cabbage.
• Shallots - shallots are like a cross between a red onion and garlic. Finely diced shallots go really well in salad dressing. They're also great caramelized or roasted with other fall veggies.
• Salad turnips (hakurei) - these mild and tender turnips can be eaten raw or roasted (roasting makes them even sweeter). The tops make a nice cooking green as well!
• Fennel
• Acorn Squash
• Butternut squash 
• Gourds
• Potatoes
• Onions
• Garlic
• Carrots
• Beets
• Eggplant - we picked out all the plants before the frost and should have enough to get through the rest of the week!
• Brussels Sprouts - We harvest the whole stalk - to use simply snap off each sprout. 
• Baby Bok Choi 
• Arugula
• Salanova
• Lettuce
• Kale

CSA PYO:

We are anticipating a hard frost Monday night, after which herbs will likely be the only crops still available for picking.

In the store:

In addition to items that are also in the CSA this week, we will have corn stalks and broom corn, pie pumpkins, delicata squash, spinach and romanesco cauliflower in the farm store. We will also have jack-o-lanterns from Verrill Farm, organic heirloom cranberries from Fresh Meadows Farm in Carver, MA, mushrooms from Fat Moon, and eggs from Pete and Jen available. 

Maple-Glazed Red Cabbage

from “Home Cooking with the Uncommon Gourmet”

• 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 4 cups thinly sliced red cabbage
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons butter
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• ¼ cup diced shallots

1. Combine the maple syrup and vinegar and set aside.
2. Heat the butter in a large skillet. Add the shallots and sauté over medium heat for 1 – 2 minutes
until translucent.
3. Add the cabbage, season with salt and pepper, and sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly until the cabbage begins to wilt.
4. Pour the maple syrup mixture over the cabbage, mixing well, and simmer for 2 minutes until the cabbage is glazed. Serve at once.
Makes 4 Portions

Roasted Carrot Ginger Soup

from themediterraneandish.com

• 3 lb carrots, peeled
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 5½ cups vegetable broth, divided
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1½ cup heavy cream (or fat-free half and half, for a lighter version)
• Fresh mint for garnish

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Arrange the carrots on a large lightly oiled baking sheet. Season the carrots lightly with salt and pepper and drizzle generously with olive oil. Roast for 45 minutes, turning over mid-way through. When carrots are fork tender and nicely caramelized, remove them from the oven and set aside briefly. Once cool enough to touch, cut the carrots into chunks and place them in a large food processor with the garlic, ginger and 3 cups of the broth. Puree until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the carrot puree into a heavy cooking pot. Add the remaining broth, corridor and allspice. Place the pot on medium heat and watch carefully as the soup will bubble. Stir occasionally. Turn the heat to medium-low and stir in the heavy cream. Once heated through, remove from the stove. Transfer to serving bowls and garnish with fresh mint leaves. Serve with your favorite rustic bread.

CSA Week 19 of 20, Farm store open until October 28th

We have two more weeks of the Main Season CSA, this week and next! The last day for pick-ups for the season will be Saturday October 21st.  Despite the warm weather, now is the time for us to start harvesting cool weather crops like Brussels sprouts and storage cabbage and distributing acorn and butternut squash to be sure everyone gets some before the main season ends! We have a couple recipes listed below as well as many new recipes printed in the farm stand if you are looking for ideas for what to do with squash and other fall crops.

The farm store will be open for one more week after the CSA, until Saturday October 28th. Barrett's Bucks balances do not hold over until next year, therefore Saturday October 28th is the last day to use 2017 bucks.  For those who have signed up, the 2017 Late Fall CSA pick-ups will be Thursdays 2-7pm starting October 26th. We have just a few spots left for folks who would still like to join us!  It's going to be a great 4 weeks of veggies including butternut squash, leeks, kale, cabbage, potatoes (from Hutchins Farm), onions, Brussels sprouts, carrots, and beets as well as fennel, scallions, radishes, lettuce, spinach, and the very first crop of Barrett's Mill Farm sweet potatoes!

In the CSA:

• Acorn Squash
• Brussels Sprouts - We harvest the whole stalk - to use simply snap off each sprout. 
• Gourds - These decorative gourds aren't edible, we grow them just for fun. 
• Baby bok choy
• Potatoes
• Pie pumpkins - Instead of buying canned pumpkin for you pies or pumpkin breads, cut one of these in half, remove the seeds and roast in the oven until fork tender, then scoop out the flesh and puree.
• Butternut squash - These squash will keep well for months in a cool (50 degree), dry place so no need to eat them all now. 
• Onions
• Carrots
• Beets
• Eggplant 
• Peppers
• Romanesco cauliflower
• Arugula
• Lettuce
• Cabbage- storage #4 and savoy 
• Kale

CSA PYO:

• Husk cherries
• Tomatillos
• Hot peppers
• Herbs - dill, parsley, thyme, sage, oregano and mint

In the store:

In addition to items that are also in the CSA this week, we will have corn stalks and broom corn, lettuce mix, red Russian kale, broccoli, leeks, delicata squash, and salad turnips in the farm store. We will also have jack-o-lanterns from Verrill Farm, organic heirloom cranberries from Fresh Meadows Farm in Carver, MA and eggs from Pete and Jen available. 

Recipes

HONEY ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH WITH CRANBERRIES AND FETA

NOVEMBER 9, 2014 BY JENN at Peas and Crayons

Ingredients

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled + chopped
• a hearty drizzle of olive oil (1-2 TBSP)
• salt, pepper, and garlic powder, to taste
• 1-2 cups fresh cranberries (add a little, or a lot!)
• 2-3 TBSP honey (or extra, to taste)
• 1/4 cup finely crumbled feta
• ground cinnamon, to taste 
• fresh or dried parsley, to garnish, optional

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Lightly drizzle or spritz a baking sheet with olive oil.
3. Add cubed squash to the sheet along with another drizzle of olive oil.
4. Sprinkle with a light layer of salt, pepper, and garlic powder, based on taste preference.
5. Roast at 400 F for 25 minutes on the center rack.
6. At the 25 minute mark, pull out the oven rack, and add your fresh cranberries to the roasting pan.
7. Return to the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the cranberries have started to soften and burst a bit, resembling really juicy craisins vs fresh firm cranberries.
8. Remove from oven and add a sprinkle of cinnamon (approx. 1/8-1/4 tsp depending on preference) along with feta and honey. I listed the honey measurements I used, but depending on whether you used fresh cranberries or dried, sweeten to taste.
9. Garnish with parsley for a burst of color and dig in while it's hot!

Brussels Sprouts and Roasted Winter Squash Hash

By Martha Rose Shulman at cooking.nytimes.com

• 1 ½ pounds winter squash, halved, seeds and membranes scraped away
• 1 pound Brussels sprouts, preferably small ones
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 bunch scallions, sliced thin
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste, dissolved in 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup cooked black rice
• Poached eggs for serving (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil, and lightly oil the foil. Brush the cut sides of the squash with olive oil, and set on the baking sheet with the cut sides down. Bake 30 to 40 minutes until easily pierced with a paring knife. Remove from the heat, allow to cool until it can be handled, and peel and dice (if using buttercup, hubba hubba or gold nugget squash there is no need to peel).

While the squash is in the oven, trim away the bottoms of the Brussels sprouts and cut into quarters. Heat the oil over medium-high in a large, heavy skillet. Add the Brussels sprouts. Cook, stirring often or tossing in the pan, until just tender and the edges are seared light brown, about five minutes. Add salt to taste, and stir in the scallions and garlic. Stir together for a few minutes until the scallions and garlic are fragrant. Stir in the squash. Cook, stirring often, until the squash has caramelized lightly, about 10 minutes. It’s fine if the squash falls apart in the pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and stir in the dissolved tomato paste. Continue to cook, stirring, until the tomato paste has caramelized, about five minutes. The tomato paste mixture will no longer be visible, but there should be rusty-colored traces on the bottom of your skillet. Stir in the black rice. Heat through, taste and adjust seasonings, and serve, topped with a poached egg if desired.

Next season sign-ups and CSA Week 18

Although there are still several weeks left for the CSA and farm stand, we are getting a jump on our planning for next season by preparing sign-ups for 2018. The CSA and Barrett's Bucks programs are really the backbone of our business: they are what has made it possible for us to scale up the farm to its current size, and they are what will keep our business stable in the longer-term. Because our members are so crucial to the farm's success, we want to make sure to try to adapt in ways that keep members coming back each season. This week we'll be handing out renewal forms for the CSA. We're trying out a couple of new things for 2018, including a 24-week CSA option and a trial Flexible CSA option open to a limited number of returning CSA members. Be sure to read the accompanying letter for more details! We're hoping to have 2018 sign-up forms for Barrett's Bucks and new CSA members available in the farm stand and online by next week. 

Don't worry - the season is not over yet! The last Main Season CSA pick-up day is not until October 21st, and the last regular store day is October 28th (that is also the deadline to use all Barrett's Bucks). The Late Fall CSA starts Thursday October 26th and runs every Thursday night 2-7pm until November 16th. We have a few spots left, but they are filling up fast, so if you are thinking about extending your Barrett's Mill Farm veggie-eating season, get int touch with us soon about signing up!

In the CSA:

• Potatoes - we'll have a choice between two late-season varieties: Peter Wilcox (purple skin, yellow flesh) and Kennebec (yellow skin, white flesh).
• Pie pumpkins - these small pumpkins are meant for eating. Instead of buying canned pumpkin for you pies or pumpkin breads, cut one of these in half, remove the seeds and roast in the oven until fork tender, then scoop out the flesh and puree.
• Delicata squash
• Buttercup squash
• Leeks
• Onions
• Garlic
• Carrots
• Beets
• Eggplant - in spite of a couple of light frosts over the weekend, the eggplant and pepper plants are still alive! Production is slowing down, though, so they may not be around for much longer.
• Peppers
• Broccoli or romanesco cauliflower - we're at the end of our broccoli plantings, but the romanesco cauliflower is starting to mature.
• Spinach
• Arugula
• Lettuce

CSA PYO:

Cherry tomatoes are done for the season, but there are still a few pick-your-own crops available.

• Husk cherries
• Tomatillos
• Hot peppers
• Herbs - cilantro, dill, parsley, thyme, sage, oregano and mint

In the store:

We will not have sweet corn this week, but now that it's October, we will have some interesting seasonal items, including our own gourds and corn stalks, as well as jack-o-lanterns from Verrill Farm. We are also really excited to start offering organic heirloom cranberries from Fresh Meadows Farm in Carver, MA starting on Wednesday! In addition, we'll have salanova lettuce mix, red kuri squash, tomatoes, and eggs from Pete and Jen.

Recipes

A CSA member shared the following recipe with us last year and we love it! My daughter is obsessed with them, so we make a batch (without the chocolate chips), cut them in half and freeze them to always have a quick breakfast treat or snack on hand.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Greek Yogurt Muffins 

by Monique from ambitious kitchen.com

Ingredients:

• 1  1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1  1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• pinch of cloves
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tablespoon olive or coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup nonfat plain greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 12 cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.

2. Add pumpkin, honey, egg, oil, vanilla, yogurt and milk to a blender. Blend on high for 1 minute or until well combined, smooth and creamy. (Alternatively you can mix the wet ingredients together in a large bowl.) Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips.

3. Divide batter evenly into muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Cool muffins for 5 minutes then remove and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Muffins are best served warm!

Notes:

TO MAKE VEGAN: Replace egg with 1 flax egg and use applesauce instead of greek yogurt. Use vegan chocolate chips.

TO MAKE GLUTEN FREE: Use an all-purpose gluten free flour instead of whole wheat. 

Farm updates and CSA Week 17

Keeping up with bringing in the harvest for the CSA and Farm Store consumed most of last week! Spinach leaves were picked one by one, we walked through the broccoli plants cutting the heads just as they were ready while leaving the rest to grow, and we looked through each bed of tomatoes for just ripe but not yet damaged fruit. While a frost-free September postpones some clean up tasks, we do enjoy getting a longer harvest off of plants we cared for throughout the spring and summer. Of course we also appreciate the extended season of cooking and eating eggplant, peppers and tomatoes! Last week we found small windows of time to weed the last carrot planting, cultivate remaining beds of greens, and hoe lettuce. Not only is there no frost predicted this week but it continues to be hot summer weather so we will try to keep ourselves and the leafy greens as cool as possible while we also tackle weeding next year's strawberries, harvest gourds and acorn squash, and start harvesting storage potatoes for next week!

In the CSA

• Delicata squash - A crowd favorite for their sweet flavor and easy preparation! These small squash have an edible skin so to prepare simply slice in half, remove the seeds, slice into "smiles" and bake. 
• Onions - Our storage onions have cured in the greenhouse and are ready for eating! They should not be kept in the fridge, kitchen counter is great in the short term, longer term storage should be in a cool, dry place. 
• Garlic
• Broccoli - We haven't sprayed the broccoli at all this season, so we recommend soaking it at home for a few minutes in lightly salted warm water to help separate out any cabbage worms.
• Spinach 
• Buttercup or Red Kuri squash - The buttercup is sweeter with a very smooth texture. Red kuri is slightly drier with a chestnut-y flavor.
• Escarole - this Italian cooking green looks like lettuce, but it has a more bitter flavor. Use it to make white bean and escarole soup, or sautee it with garlic and olive oil for an interesting side dish.
• Savoy Cabbage 
• Mustard Greens 
• Peppers - purple, red, yellow and orange
• Eggplant
• Collards
• Tomatoes 
• Carrots
• Beets
• Lettuce
• Curly Kale

CSA PYO:

• Cherry Tomatoes and cocktail tomatoes - The plants are on their way out but there is still fruit on them for folks who would like one last week of picking!
• Hot peppers - serrano, jalapeño, ancho, cayenne and habanero (the spiciest one we grow)
• Purple tomatillos - pick when husks are filled out.
• Husk cherries- Pick dry husks that have fallen on the ground under the plants. To eat, remove the husk and eat the yellow fruit inside. 
• Sunflowers
• Herbs: parsley, dill, cilantro, sage, thyme, mint, oregano, chives

In the store:

In addition to the items also available in the CSA, we will have baby bok choi, spaghetti squash and heirloom tomatoes. We will also continue to have Verrill Farm corn, Fat Moon mushrooms, and Pete and Jen's eggs. 

PYO Flower CSA: 

Flowers available for picking this week include zinnias, bachelors button, celosia, scabiosa, verbena, amaranth, cosmos, strawflower, snapdragons, gomphrena, sunflowers, sweet Annie, and broomcorn.

Winter Squash Curry

adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

You can use any type of winter squash for this recipe. You can add other veggies to the curry. My favorites are broccoli, peppers, and spinach.

• 2 tablespoons neutral oil (grapeseed, corn or canola)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 1/2 lb winter squash, peeled and roughly chopped
• chopped vegetables such as broccoli or spinach (optional)
• 1 cup coconut milk
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Chopped fresh cilantro leaves for garnish

Put the oil in a pot or deep skillet with a lid over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onion (or leek) and cook for a few minutes until softened. Add the curry and ginger and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the squash (and broccoli if using) and coconut milk and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, and turn the heat down to low. Cook, stirring once or twice, until the squash is tender (about 20 minutes). If you're adding spinach, add this toward the end of cooking. If the squash is done and there is still a lot of liquid, remove the lid and turn the heat up to medium high until it's thicker than stew. Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice or quinoa. 

Farm updates and CSA Week 16

September is one of our favorite months on the farm. Fall crops are starting to mature, some summer crops are still hanging on, and the weather is starting to cool off enough that we actually don't mind spending time in our kitchens cooking the bounty! Aside from the food, though, fall farm tasks are pretty satisfying too. Some of the clean-up has pretty immediate results: a quick walk-through our Brussels sprouts to pull the last stubborn weeds produces a pristine looking field; 2 minutes on the mower cutting down picked-over lettuce beds creates an unobstructed view of the remaining colorful lettuce successions; a few passes with our discs to incorporate cover crop seed (Austrian winter peas and triticale) yields a clean bare field soon to be filled with bright green, nearly weed-free growth. Other clean-up tasks are not so quick - I'm thinking mostly of the lengthy project of pulling out all the plastic mulch, landscape fabric and drip tape from our summer crops. While those tasks are more physically demanding, they are nevertheless rewarding. Though our arms feel like jelly after carefully rolling up 200 foot lengths of landscape fabric (that we will unroll again next year!), we enjoy seeing our fields slowly return back to a simpler state.

In the CSA:

• Broccoli - it's looking beautiful! We haven't sprayed the broccoli at all this season, so we recommend soaking it at home for a few minutes in lightly salted warm water to help separate out any cabbage worms.
• Spinach - spinach tends to perform much better for us in the fall than in the spring. We're hoping to get a couple of harvests from each planting.
• Buttercup or Red Kuri squash - the skins of both these types of squash are thin and edible, so no need to peel them if you don't feel like it! Our favorite way to eat them is to slice in 1/2" thick half moons and roast on a greased baking sheet. The buttercup is sweeter with a very smooth texture. Red kuri is slightly drier with a chestnut-y flavor.
• Tendersweet Cabbage 
• Mustard Greens or Red Russian kale
• Peppers - green, purple, red, yellow and orange
• Eggplant
• Tomatoes - we will have red slicers available for sure on Tuesday. With the heavy rains predicted it's possible they won't hold through the end of the week, though.
• Carrots
• Beets
• Celery
• Lettuce
• Kale

CSA PYO:

• Cherry Tomatoes and cocktail tomatoes - Sungold, jasper, black cherry, yellow mini, cherry bomb, red grape, Juane Flamme, pink boar, bumblebee, and Wapsipinicon peach will hopefully hold up through the rains this week.
• Hot peppers - serrano, jalapeño, ancho, cayese and habanero (the spiciest one we grow)
• Purple tomatillos - pick when husks are filled out.
• Husk cherries- Pick dry husks that have fallen on the ground under the plants. To eat, remove the husk and eat the yellow fruit inside. 
• Sunflowers
• Herbs: dill, cilantro, sage, thyme, mint, oregano, chives

In the store:

In addition to the items also available in the CSA, we will have baby boo choi, salanova, escarole, potatoes and leeks. We will also continue to have Verrill Farm corn, Fat Moon mushrooms, and Pete and Jen's eggs. Fat Moon shiitakes are abundant this week, so we will likely have 8 oz shiitake mushroom bags on sale!

PYO Flower CSA: 

Flowers available for picking this week include zinnias, bachelors button, celosia, scabiosa, verbena, amaranth, cosmos, strawflower, snapdragons, gomphrena, sunflowers and more. There is also Sweet Annie and broom corn.

Green pancakes with lime butter

from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

INGREDIENTS

Lime butter

8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Grated zest of 1 lime
1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
1/2 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/4 tsp chile flakes

Pancakes

1/2 lb (about 8 cups) spinach, washed
3/4 cup self-rising flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 egg
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
2/3 cup milk
6 medium green onions, finely sliced
2 fresh green chiles, thinly sliced
1 egg white
Olive oil for frying

PREPARATION
To make the lime butter. Put the butter in a medium bowl and beat it with a wooden spoon until it turns soft and creamy. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Tip onto a sheet of plastic wrap and roll into a sausage shape. Twist the ends of the wrap to seal the flavored butter. Chill until firm.

Wilt the spinach in a pan with a splash of water. Drain in a sieve and, when cool, squeeze hard with your hands to remove as much moisture as possible. Roughly chop and put aside.

Put the flour, baking powder, whole egg, melted butter, salt, cumin and milk in a large mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the green onions, chiles and spinach and mix with a fork. Whisk the egg white to soft peaks and gently fold it into the batter.

Pour a small amount of olive oil into a heavy frying pan and place on medium-high heat. For each pancake, ladle 2 tablespoons of batter into the pan and press down gently. You should get smallish pancakes, about 3 inches in diameter and 3/8 inch thick. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side, or until you get a good golden-green color. Transfer to paper towels and keep warm. Continue making pancakes, adding oil to the pan as needed, until the batter is used up.

To serve, pile up three warm pancakes per person and place a slice of flavored butter on top to melt.