March Farm Update: Growing goes on as we adapt to changing conditions

We wanted to start off by saying that our farm community is such an important part of our lives and we are thinking of you all and hope that you are staying safe and healthy. Right now we are planning and making preparations to try to ensure that the farm is a safe place to come get your vegetables and flowers once asparagus and tulip season begins in May. It will obviously mean some adjustments in the farm stand and CSA this year, especially as we think about layout configurations to maximize social distancing. We are also looking at doing more prepackaging of items. This was not the direction we had been intending to move this year, but public safety is the highest priority right now. We and our staff have always followed strict hygiene practices for food safety - those will be continued and enhanced this season.

Taking all of these extra precautions will of course require more resources and quite a bit more labor than before, so we are especially grateful to everyone who has signed up for the CSA and Barrett’s Bucks already, giving us and our employees a little more security going into a financially uncertain period ahead of us. Thank you also to everyone who has contributed toward our sponsored shares- to date over $2,000! We are still planning to offer reduced price SNAP CSA shares as well as to donate shares to Minute Man ARC and Dignity in Asylum, so we are very grateful to have such an amazing farm community supporting those efforts.

Despite the unpredictability right now, plants in the greenhouse, high tunnels and field continue to grow as expected! Daffodils and tulips are poking out of the ground outside, while spinach, carrots and ranunculus have been growing for the past couple of months in our high tunnels. Leeks, onions, fennel, scallion, salanova and stock flower seedlings are popping up in the greenhouse, and this week we will be seeding shallots, cabbage and kohlrabi. With the dry and warm weather, we have managed to chisel plow about an acre of ground in preparation for spring carrots, beets, spinach, greens and lettuce. We have also taken advantage of the early dry field conditions to start spreading lime on our fields to balance the soil pH. Last week we replaced the plastic covering on our large greenhouse - a big, once-every-four-years undertaking involving lots of ropes and very tall ladders - with the help of returning farmers Sarah and Rebecca, as well as super volunteer Paul! Finally, construction of our fourth high tunnel is underway, which will allow us to rotate tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in protected growing space starting this year!

We want to emphasize to all of you how grateful we are for your support. Though it is a difficult time requiring physical separation from friends and family, we feel very connected to our farm community in spirit. We hope you can all take heart that fresh veggies (and pretty flowers!) are coming soon!

Fennel, stock (flowers) and parsley sunning in the greenhouse!

February farm updates and Early Bird Sign-up reminders!

As we turn the calendar one more page we realize we are just weeks away from greenhouse season! Also approaching is March 2nd, the deadline for early bird pricing for CSA and Barrett’s Bucks memberships for 2020. New member sign-up information is available here: http://www.barrettsmillfarm.com/sign-up. Email Melissa if you are a renewing CSA member that misplaced your form.

Wondering what we do on the farm in February? Organize! Seeds, records, the office, the barn - you name it, we are trying to get it in the best shape possible for the upcoming season. As seeds arrive we sort them into labeled tupperware for quick retrieval during the busy months. Any seed that is out of stock we search for other suppliers or alternatives and make sure we don’t have gaps in our carefully planned out seeding schedule. We also work to make sure we will have folks to help plant it all! We are excited to have 7 crew members returning to the fields and farm stand this year and have been conducting interviews for the remaining positions. Our organic certification renewal paperwork was submitted yesterday and our report for the Town of Concord is just awaiting our finished tax returns to be complete. Probably the most exciting day on the farm this winter was the seeding of spinach in our new high tunnel last Friday! If all goes well the spinach will be for sale in the farm stand in May when we open for the asparagus and tulip harvest. With the first planting in the ground and the greenhouse starting up next month, spring feels like it’s fast approaching!

Melissa seeding spinach in one of our high tunnels for early May harvest.

Six years on the farm and counting!

As the season wrapped up just before Thanksgiving, we worked quickly to clean up the farm before it was covered in snow. When that was done we launched right into planning for the next season! Aided by our experiences of the past season, as well as time spent learning from others at the biannual New England Fruit and Vegetable Conference, we analyzed what worked for us last year and brainstormed new ideas to fix what didn’t. Before the new year we completed our field schedule, ordered seeds, and posted available jobs to be filled for the upcoming season. We also received many member sign-ups: 80 before the new year, which is a record! After some time off spent with family and friends over the holidays, we have returned to the office ready to continue the preparations for the 2020 season. Before we get bogged down in our tax season accounting, town reports, and organic re-certification paperwork we thought we’d take a minute to reflect on the past season and share some of the things we are excited about for 2020!

This past year was the first time that we kept our CSA size steady from the previous year (235 members). This consistency allowed us to fine tune our crop planning and harvest schedule as well as continue to expand our early and late season offerings (tulips in the spring and a record 135 members in the late fall). That didn’t mean things slowed down around here - the farm store was busier than ever and the farm was a particularly bustling place on beautiful Saturdays. The farm store benefited from a variety of factors including the third year of consistent hours, a refined growing and harvest schedule, and our ability to process credit card payments.

One of the biggest improvements in crop availability in the farm store and CSA was the long tomato harvest season. This was a result of growing half of our tomato crop in one of our newly built high tunnels. The tomato crop was not only productive over a longer season, but was more efficient for our farm crew to harvest and care for (especially because it did not need to be sprayed to protect it from Late Blight during late summer rains). In addition to tomatoes, we also planted lemongrass, ginger, scallions, and spinach in our new high tunnels. The success of growing in tunnels and the potential they offer to expand the season for popular crops led us to apply for another NRCS grant for the construction of two more tunnels. One was completed this fall and another will be built behind it this coming spring. In 2020 they will be utilized for tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers as well as later season Salanova lettuce mix. We can’t wait!

Another highlight of the 2019 season was our farm crew. Rebecca and Dave returned for their fourth seasons on the farm and Molly returned for her third season working both in the field and as our CSA shopkeeper. We were so lucky to have them all working with us again this past year. They are not only great workers but are now good friends! Assistant Growers Sarah and Brian joined us full time, and since they were both already experienced farmers, they helped take the farm to a new level of organization and efficiency. Weeds didn’t stand a chance with these two on the cultivating tractors! To round out our field crew we also had a great group of teachers and college students home for the summer (Ali, Annemarie, Leah and Rachael), as well as our weekend watering warrior, Ari, who kept the plants healthy while we took a break on Sunday mornings. Ione, Debbie, Sue, Megan, Jane and Kathy were the friendly faces you know well from the farm store! When we started the farm 6 years ago it was mainly just two of us splitting up the field and store work, so the expansion of our crew has been one of the biggest changes on the farm over the years. There’s a lot more planting, weeding, harvesting, and a lot more fun on the farm these days thanks to them!

In 2020 we plan to keep our CSA membership the same overall size and will continue to offer more of the popular Flex and Extended memberships. We are excited to continue to try out new crop varieties including Purple Murasaki sweet potato, Moonbeam white grape tomatoes, and Tetsukabuto winter squash (billed in the seed catalog as “the squash of choice for the apocalypse” - how could we resist?) among many others. We will be increasing crops grown in our high tunnel for a longer season and higher quality, as well as continue to expand our cut flower selection (daffodils, more tulips, and stock!). We will also continue to improve efficiency to ensure the the farm is viable in the remaining 4 years of our lease and hopefully beyond. Let’s hope for sunny days, rainy nights, healthy backs, and working tractors in the year to come!

Saturday Farm Stand pop-up and last CSA pick-up

It’s the last week for the 2019 CSA! Coinciding with the last CSA pick-up, we will also be hosting a farm stand pop-up this Saturday, November 23rd, 9am - 3pm (or until we sell out). We’ll definitely have salanova lettuce mix, carrots, salad turnips, onions, garlic, cabbage and popcorn for sale and we will see as the week goes on what else is in strong enough supply to make available for purchase. In addition to our vegetables for at the pop-up we will have organic cranberries from Fresh Meadows Farm, Double B Honey (from hives on the property), eggs from Pete and Jen’s Backyard Birds, and a limited supply of raspberry jam and vinegar infusion from Silferleaf Farm in Concord.

We’re excited to be almost done with field work in freezing temperatures (and to have Saturdays off!), but we will miss all our wonderful members and customers over the winter! We harvested most of our remaining storage crops from the field early last week right before the really hard freezes, so aside from fresh greens harvesting for this week, we’re mostly focused on field (and high tunnel) clean-up. We made a serious dent in rolling up landscape fabric and taking down fences last week. This week we plan to finish up those tasks while also pulling up the remaining drip tape and plastic mulch. We’ve also been working on getting irrigation lines out of the field, which is quite challenging when the water inside them is frozen! We’ve been warming ourselves up as we stomp and jump on irrigation lines to try to break up the ice inside so that we can empty them and roll them up for winter storage. We may have invented the next fitness fad! While it’s been a great workout, I think next year we’ll prioritize finishing up irrigation clean-up a little earlier!

This week in the CSA:

• Popcorn - The popcorn comes on the cob and we’ve found it can benefit from just a couple of extra days drying on a countertop in your house before popping. It can be popped on the cob inside a paper bag in the microwave. A paper grocery bag will work, but if you have a smaller paper bag, that’s better. Fold over the top of the bag several times to keep the popcorn from spilling out in the microwave. You can also take the kernels off the cob (just push them off with your thumbs) and pop on the stove top or in an air popper.

• Sweet Potatoes

• Potatoes

• Leeks

• Salanova lettuce mix - As we mentioned last week, the water is now turned off at the barn so the salad mix will have more dirt in it then usual.

• Escarole

• Kale

• Cabbage

• Rutabaga

• Watermelon radish

• Mini Daikon radish

• Salad turnips

• Carrots

• Butternut squash

• Onions

• Shallots

• Garlic

CSA Hours:

Thursday 11am-6pm

Saturday 9am-3pm

Kale-Dusted Pecorino Popcorn

Deb Perelman October 2017 Smitten Kitchen Every Day

Ingredients

Kale Dust:

• A bundle of Lacinato kale (aka dinosaur or Tuscan) (usually 9 to 10 ounces)

• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil

• Sea salt

To finish:

• 4 to 5 tablespoons (60 to 75 ml) olive oil

• 1/3 cup (70 grams) popcorn kernels

• 2/3 cup (95 grams) finely grated Pecorino Romano

• Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation

Make the kale dust:

Heat the oven to 300°F. Rinse and dry the kale; no worries if you don’t get every last droplet of water off. Remove and discard the tough stems.

Lightly brush two large baking sheets with olive oil—the thinnest coat is just fine. Arrange the leaves in one layer on the prepared baking sheet(s), sprinkle lightly with salt, and bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the leaves are crisp. Let cool completely. In a food processor, with a mortar and pestle, or even with a muddler in a bowl, grind the kale chips down into a coarse powder.

Make the popcorn:

Place 3 tablespoons olive oil and 2 or 3 kernels of popcorn in a 3-quart or larger pot. Turn the heat to medium-high, and cover with a lid. When you hear these first kernels pop, add the remaining kernels and replace the lid. Using pot holders, shimmy the pot around to keep the kernels moving as they pop. When several seconds pass between pops, remove from the heat.

To assemble:

Transfer to a bowl, and immediately toss with the remaining 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil, kale dust, Pecorino, salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Toss until evenly coated. Taste, and adjust the seasonings if needed.

Mashed Potatoes and Rutabagas

by Diana Rattray on The Spruce Eats

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds rutabaga (peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces)

• 2 to 2 1/2 pounds potatoes (peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces, about 5 or 6 medium)

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 2/3 cup milk

• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (or to taste)

• Optional: 2 teaspoons chopped parsley

Instructions:

1. Cook rutabaga and potatoes in salted water in separate saucepans.

2. When both are tender, remove from heat. Rutabaga will take about 30 minutes, and potatoes will take about 20 to 25 minutes.

3. Drain; purée or mash rutabaga well, then mash the potatoes. Combine mashed rutabaga and potatoes; add butter, milk, pepper, and nutmeg. Beat well. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired.

Butternut Squash Pie

Adapted from a recipe by Kay Rentschler on cooking.nytimes.com

• 1 frozen pie crust, thawed

• 2 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks

• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

• ½ cup dark brown sugar

• ¼ cup granulated sugar

• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

• 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger

• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• Pinch cayenne pepper

• 1 ½ cups roasted squash purée, packed

• 1 ¼ cups heavy cream

• Whipped cream, for garnish (optional)

To make squash puree, cut a butternut squash in half and scrape out the seeds. Place the squash halves cut side down on a greased baking sheet and bake at 350°F until a fork can easily pierce them, about an hour to an hour and a half. Remove from oven, let cool, scoop out the pulp and puree.

Combine eggs, vanilla, sugars, salt and spices in food processor, and process until smooth. Add 1 ½ cups squash purée, and process until smooth. With machine running, pour in heavy cream, and process to combine. Scrape filling into pie crust, and bake until filling is set 2/3 in from perimeter and center still jiggles, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven, and cool to room temperature on rack. Garnish with whipped cream.

Flex and Extended CSA week 23 and farm updates

The weather has certainly taken a turn towards winter in the past week! We still have lots to get done in the field and the unheated barn though, so strategic layering is key to maintaining crew morale. We almost always wear our warmest thermal layers topped off with rain pants (whether it’s raining or not). While our thick fisherman-style rain pants definitely restrict movement, they do provide wind protection and an extra barrier between our knees and the cold, wet ground. We also usually wear thin gloves with disposable nitrile gloves on top to keep our hands dry and warm. It’s a tricky balance between having your gloves thin enough so that we still have manual dexterity, but still thick enough that they don’t go numb in the cold!

The shift in weather also impacts our daily planning. No matter how well dressed and warm you are, you still can’t harvest frozen vegetables! This time of year, we often have to take care of non-harvest tasks first thing in the morning so that the ground and plants can thaw out. Some days it is too frozen to do any harvesting at all. We are now checking the weather daily, and our crew gamely shifts their schedules based on when we can actually get stuff done in the field. This week we did a bunch of harvesting Monday and Tuesday and gave our crew Wednesday off since it is not supposed to get above freezing all day! With this weeks’ harvest all tucked away in the cooler, we are looking forward to using the slightly warmer days Thursday thru Saturday to make some more progress on field clean-up.

Another effect of the cold has been that we needed to shut off the water in the barn last week to avoid freezing pipes. This means there is no longer a public bathroom for customers in the barn. It also means that we are no longer able to rinse off freshly harvested greens. You should always wash vegetables at home, no matter how clean they look, but you may notice that the vegetables, especially salad greens and leeks, look dirtier this week.

This week in the CSA:

• Pie pumpkins - These are organic pie pumpkins from Hutchins Farm in Concord. Our own pie pumpkin harvest this year was normal, but we had some problems with storage (likely exacerbated by temperature and humidity control issues in our barn) and lost a lot of our own pumpkins to rot. We’re trying to figure out a better storage solution for next year that will work with our space limitations, but in the meantime, fortunately Hutchins had a great harvest that we can share with you!

• Potatoes

• Leeks

• Lettuce - With our wash station water shut off due to the cold, we are no longer able to rinse any of our fresh greens, so you will see more silt and sand in your lettuce than usual.

• Escarole

• Kale

• Cabbage - Red and storage varieties. Both will keep for a long time in your fridge in the crisper drawer or in a plastic bag.

• Brussels sprouts

• Rutabaga - This veggie has been described to me as tasting like a cross between a potato and a turnip. It is great roasted or in soups.

• Beets

• Carrots

• Butternut squash

• Onions

• Garlic

• Radishes - Watermelon (white outside, bright pink inside!), white mini mak and K-N bravo (purple!) varieties.

• Hakurei salad turnips

CSA Hours:

Thursday 11am-6pm

Saturday 9am-3pm

Potato Pie

Original recipe source unknown, but it has been a favorite in Lise’s family for years!

• 1 10-inch unbaked pastry shell

• 1 pound cottage cheese

• 2 cups mashed potatoes (about 3 large potatoes)

• ½ cup scallions, sliced    

• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

• ½ cup sour cream

• 2 eggs

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne

Put the cottage cheese through a food processor to make it smooth. Beat the mashed potatoes into the cottage cheese. Beat in the sour cream, eggs, salt and cayenne. Stir in the scallions. Spoon into pastry shell. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake at 425 for 50 minutes until golden brown.

Watermelon Radish, Orange & Goat Cheese Salad

from Alexandra’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1 shallot or half of a small red onion

• 2 to 3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

• kosher salt

• 2 to 3 watermelon radishes

• 2 to 3 oranges, clementines, grapefruit, etc. (I love Cara Cara oranges, which are sweet, pretty and delicious)

• a handful of walnuts, toasted and chopped (see notes)

• goat cheese to taste

• chives, minced, optional, but they add some nice color

• olive oil to taste

Instructions

1. Mince shallot. Place in small bowl. Cover with 2 to 3 tablespoons of the vinegar depending on how big of a salad you are making. Add a pinch of salt. Set aside.

2. Cut off one end of the radish. Leave the other intact so you have a handle when you run the radish down your mandoline. Peel the radishes if you wish, though it is by no means necessary. Thinly slice on a mandoline. Arrange radish slices on a platter. I try to fold some of them so they’re not all squished down in one flat layer, but arrange however you wish. Season all over with salt.

3. Cut off each end of each orange. Squeeze each end over the radishes, then discard. Use a sharp knife to remove the skin from the orange. Cut in between membranes to remove each slice. Squeeze remaining membrane all over the radishes to extract any juice. Scatter oranges over the radishes.

4. Scatter walnuts and goat cheese to taste over the radishes and oranges. Pour macerated shallots and vinegar over top. Drizzle olive oil to taste (one to two tablespoons) over top. Scatter chives over top if using.

5. Let sit a few minutes (or longer — it benefits from a brief rest) before serving.

Salad Turnips Sautéed in Butter

from Circle A Garden CSA

• 2 Bunches Salad Turnips (10-12 turnips)

• 2 Cloves Garlic

• 1 or 2 Tbsp  Butter or Oil

• Salt & Pepper

 Directions

1. Slice the salad turnips into thin half-moons, and mince or crush the garlic.

2. Melt the butter (or heat the oil) in a medium sized frying pan.

3. Sauté the salad turnips & garlic until they are a light golden color (cover the pan if you like).

Variations

• Add a splash of lemon juice or balsamic vinegar

• Add the turnip greens, or some other chopped greens such as spinach, chard or kale

• Add minced scallions, and fresh or dried herbs

Pumpkin Cranberry Scones

from Bon Appetit, November 2014

• ½ cup granulated sugar

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

• ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

• ¼ teaspoon baking soda

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface

• ¾ cup (1½ sticks) chilled unsalted butter

• ½ cup chopped fresh cranberries

• 1 large egg

• ½ cup pumpkin puree (roast halved and de-seeded pie pumpkin until fork tender, scoop out flesh and puree)

• ¼ cup buttermilk, plus more for brushing

• 2 tablespoons raw sugar

Whisk granulated sugar, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, cloves, baking soda, and 2 cups flour in a large bowl. Using the large holes on a box grater, grate in butter, tossing to coat in dry ingredients as you go; toss in cranberries. Mix in egg, pumpkin, and ¼ cup buttermilk. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and pat into a 1½”-thick disk. Cut into 8 wedges; transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze until firm, 25–30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400°. Brush scones with buttermilk and sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake until golden brown, 25–30 minutes.