CSA Week 5 and Farm Stand Updates

We are happy to report that in the weeds vs. farmers competition the current score is at least a tie if not slightly in our favor! Last week we spent as much time as possible weeding and laying landscape fabric to make sure that our plants have room to grow. We also staked and trellised our field slicing and cherry tomatoes, as well as worked on pruning and trellising our sweet peppers in a high tunnel. As usual we worked on picking Colorado Potato Beetles off of our eggplant plants. We hope that was our last round of picking before the plants take off and outgrow their damage. This week we will be focusing our non-harvest time on fall plantings including seeding fall carrots and beets, planting Brussels sprouts and preparing the field for fall cabbage and kale. All that planting will require another deer fence on our last field across the street, as well as getting some irrigation set up (and hopefully some rain too!).

It is another week of great harvests with new items in the CSA and farm store, including fresh onions and purple carrots. We hope you had a great holiday weekend and we look forward to seeing you back on the farm this week!

In the CSA this week:

• Ailsa Craig fresh onions - These onions are harvested fresh which means they are sweeter and less potent than fall onions. They are not cured, meaning they do not have the protective dry outer skin, so they should be stored in the refrigerator and used within a week.

• Frisée - This is our first time growing frisée. It is a member of the chicory family like endive, and has a similar bitter, peppery taste. It is a great flavorful and frilly addition to salads.

• Mini Cabbage - A mix of caraflex (a sweet cone shaped variety), green and red cabbages. We grow these spaced closely together so that they stay “mini,” a prefect size for shredding for burritos or adding to a stir fry!

• Purple haze carrots - We grow these carrots for their fun purple color!

• Summer squash

• Zucchini

• Cucumbers - slicing and pickling

• Beets - Golden and red

• Garlic scapes

• Fennel

• Lettuce - Green leaf, Panisse (oakleaf), and Red Leaf

• Salanova

• Baby bok choi

• Mustard greens

• Kale

CSA Pick-Your-Own:

• Green beans! Please hold the plant gently and pull the biggest beans off the plant, leaving the smaller ones to grow for future harvests.

• Sunflowers - It must be summer!

• Herbs - Choose a mix of: basil, parsley, dill flowers, sage, and thyme

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA, we will also have European style cucumbers from our high tunnel, green peppers from our high tunnel, scallions, and the first mixed flower bouquets. At the end of the week we will also harvest the first of our own blueberries for the farm store! We will also have mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm and eggs from Codman Farm.

We accept credit card, cash, check and EBT in the farm store. The farm store is open Tuesday - Friday 11am - 6pm and Saturday 9am - 3pm. We also continue to take online pre-orders for Wednesday, Friday and Saturday pick-up. The link for online orders is https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop. Online ordering opens at 6pm the day before pick-up.

Pick-Your-Own Flower CSA:

We are planning to open the flower field to Flower CSA members for picking starting next week, July 12th, and will likely be able to open the field to the public for picking by the jar by the following week (July 19th). We will provide additional details and an update on timing in next week’s newsletter, including a list of which flowers are ready for picking. Once picking begins, the flower field will be open for picking any time the farm stand is open, Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm.

Zucchini/Summer Squash Ribbons

from Uncommon Gourmet, All-Occasion Cookbook

• 2   Medium-size zucchini                                

• 2   Medium-size summer squash                       

• 4   Tablespoons butter                                   

• 1   Medium-size clove garlic, crushed

• ½ cup finely chopped walnuts or hazelnuts

• salt and pepper to taste

• ½ cup grated Parmesan

Using a vegetable peeler, cut long ribbons of the zucchini and summer squash, reserving the seed core for another use (like soup). Heat butter in a large skillet. Add garlic, squash ribbons and nuts. Season with salt and pepper and stir-fry over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes until vegetables are tender-crisp. Sprinkle with the Parmesan. Stir well, remove from the heat and serve.

Frisée Salad

by Sonja Overhiser from A Couple Cooks

Ingredients

For the frisée salad

• 1 large or 2 to 3 small heads frisée (about 6 cups greens)

• 1 orange, plus zest

• 1 shallot

• 1 ounce Manchego cheese (or shaved Parmesan cheese; omit for vegan)

• 2 tablespoons sliced almonds

• 1 handful fresh mint leaves, optional

For the dressing (makes ½ cup; use 3 to 4 tablespoons)

• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

• 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey

• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

• 6 tablespoons olive oil

• Fresh ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Wash and dry the frisée, using a salad spinner or clean towel. Tear or chop the frisee into pieces.

2. Zest half the orange. Then segment the orange, following the instructions in How to Cut an Orange.

3. Thinly slice the shallot. Slice the Manchego cheese into pieces.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk the white wine vinegar, Dijon, maple syrup or honey, salt. Whisk in the oil 1 tablespoon at a time until a creamy dressing forms. Add a few grinds of fresh ground black pepper. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 2 weeks (bring to room temperature prior to serving).

5. Serve the salad: place the greens on a large platter or separate plates. Top with orange slices, shallot, cheese, sliced almonds, orange zest, and mint leaves. Drizzle with about 3 to 4 tablespoons of the dressing, to taste.

CSA Week 4 and Farm Stand Updates

While the cooler temps and modest amount of rain on Monday were a bit of a reprieve for us, it is still very dry in the fields. We are looking ahead to some more hot and dry weather for the remainder of the week, so continuing to set up irrigation on all of our fields will be a priority. We need to extend irrigation lines from our well to our one field east of the farmstead that contains all of our spring brassicas. Our weekly field walk on Monday revealed that the spring cabbage in that field had not matured at all since our last walk (based on our walk last week we had expected to be harvesting it this week!). Getting water onto those plants should be fairly smooth and should resolve that problem pretty quickly.

Less straightforward is getting irrigation to our fall crops (winter squash, brassicas, carrots and beets) across the street. Because of the distance from the well we would lose too much pressure to be able to effectively irrigate over there. We also simply wouldn’t have enough time in the week to irrigate all the fields that needed water, as we have a limited number of irrigation lines we can run at once. Therefore, we use a separate source for crops across the street - the Assabet River. This involves getting a pump, filter and intake line set up at the river, as well as threading an irrigation line under the road. Once we can get water over there, getting our drip lines hooked up and our overhead lines laid out is the same process as what we do with crops irrigated from our well. However, this set-up is time consuming and comes at a time when we are already extremely busy with weed control and harvesting (not to mention we still have more planting and seeding, as well as potato beetle control and trellising in the fields and high tunnels)! It feels like a critical week - if we aren’t able to keep up with irrigation and weed control we could see the effects later this summer. We are maintaining optimism, though - it’s been a strong start in terms of harvests, and we are determined to keep that streak going for the rest of the season!

In the CSA this week:

• Summer squash - The summer squash and zucchini plants started cranking at the end of last week, so they will be featured heavily this week!

• Zucchini

• Cucumbers - More slicing cucumbers from the high tunnels, but hopefully soon we’ll have large enough quantities of pickling cukes for the CSA as well!

• Carrots

• Beets - This week we’ll be enjoying golden beets, which have an even sweeter flavor than red beets.

• Garlic scapes

• Scallions

• Fennel

• Lettuce

• Salanova

• Baby bok choi

• Mustard greens - A spicy green that is delicious sauteed and added to pasta or other grains!

CSA Pick-Your-Own:

PYO peas are done for the season, but the beans and sunflowers are coming along nicely and should be available for picking in the coming weeks!

• Herbs - choose from: Parsley, dill, dill flowers or basil

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA, we will also have the first pickling cukes of the season, as well as European style cucumbers. We will also have mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm and eggs from Codman Farm.

We accept credit card, cash, check and EBT in the farm store. The farm store is open Tuesday - Friday 11am - 6pm and Saturday 9am - 3pm. We also continue to take online pre-orders for Wednesday, Friday and Saturday pick-up. The link for online orders is https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop. Online ordering opens at 6pm the day before pick-up.

Mushroom CSA Week 10: It is the last week of our 10-week spring Mushroom CSA from Fat Moon Farm and for the final week we will be enjoying a farmer’s mix! Stay tuned for information on a fall CSA offering! You may pick up anytime the farm store is open: Tuesday- Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm. Just check in with the Shopkeeper at the farm stand when you arrive and they will retrieve them for you! We do still suggest a Tuesday or Wednesday pick-up for the freshest possible mushrooms.

Zucchini Muffins

from Love & Lemons

This recipe is a favorite in Lise’s household with one modification - mini chocolate chips instead of walnuts!

Ingredients

• ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled

• ¾ cup whole wheat flour, spooned and leveled

• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons almond flour, spooned and leveled

• 1 tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon nutmeg

• ½ teaspoon sea salt

• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil or neutral oil

• 2 large eggs

• ½ cup cane sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 cups shredded zucchini, no need to squeeze out excess water

• ½ cup chopped walnuts (or replace with chocolate chips!)

Mustardy Grilled Cheese

by: CrepesofWrath from Food 52

Ingredients

For the mustard greens

• 1 bunch mustard greens, cleaned and roughly chopped

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 pinch salt and pepper, to taste

For the sandwiches

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

• 8 slices thick-cut bread (I prefer brioche)

• 6 tablespoons stoneground mustard

• 24 to 28 slices sharp cheddar cheese

• 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

Directions

1. First, cook your mustard greens. Clean and trim the leaves, then heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add in the greens and stir until wilted, about 5 minutes or so. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then remove from the pan and set aside. Wipe out the inside of the pan with a paper towel.

2. Butter both sides of each slice of bread, then reduce the pan’s heat to medium and add in 4 slices of bread at a time (or however many slices your pan can hold) and toast one side. Flip two of the slices of bread (so that the toasted side is up) and add 1 1/2 tablespoons of mustard, followed by 3 to 4 slices of cheese, 1/4 of the mustard greens, a few slices of red onion, and an additional 3 to 4 slices of cheese. Top these two pieces with the other two slices of bread, placing them toasted side-down onto the cheese. Use a spatula to press down on the sandwiches, then cover the pan lightly and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

3. Remove the cover, flip the sandwiches, and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, pressing down again with a spatula. Remove the sandwiches from the pan when the cheese is gooey and melted, then finish with the remaining sandwich ingredients (you can keep the sandwiches warm in a 250° F oven). Serve warm.

CSA Week 3 and Farm Stand Updates

Each day after bringing in the harvest last week the crew set to work weeding, cultivating, planting, seeding, pruning, trellising, and bug picking (we are determined to keep the potato beetles under control this year!) to ensure that we continue to have a great harvest in the months ahead. Right now, keeping up with the planting schedule is critical in terms of future crop selection. Some crops, like lettuce, are planted in weekly successions and therefore need to be on time in order to provide a continuous harvest. Other items, like winter squash, are only planted once a year (we do spread out the varieties over a couple of weeks), so it is important not to get too behind or there will not be enough growing days to get a harvest. I’m happy to say we are generally keeping up with the planting schedule, but unfortunately the weeds are giving us a run for our money right now. This is typical of late spring and early summer, when the long days provide optimal weed growth. We are going to buckle down on them this week with our hoes, hand weeding, and tractor implements, and we hope to report next week that we have come out ahead! Sadly, strawberries are done for the season, but other than that we couldn’t be happier with the veggie selection we have for you this week. We hope you enjoy it!

In the CSA this week:

• Carrots - The first of many plantings!

• Cucumbers - from our high tunnel.

• Garlic scapes- You can eat the whole scape which tastes like a mild garlic. Use one scape in place of one clove of garlic in recipes calling for garlic. We snap the scape stems off the top of the garlic plant once they form (if left to grow they would become the garlic flower), which helps the bulbs underground grow bigger. As a bonus are great for eating!

• Scallions - from the high tunnel and a field planting.

• Fennel - from the high tunnel and a field planting.

• Beets

• Swiss chard- likely the last week of Swiss chard for the season.

• Kohlrabi

• Radishes

• Salad turnips

• Lettuce- red leaf, green leaf, and panisse varieties

• Salanova lettuce mix

• Arugula

• Kale

• Yukina savoy or red mizuna

CSA Pick-Your-Own:

PYO items are limited to the posted amount for each CSA membership (the appropriate size container will be provided) but these items do not need to fit in your CSA bag. Handwashing sinks are provided at the entrance to each PYO field. For the sake of food safety, please wash hands before picking. The barn bathroom and wash area sinks in the barn are for employees only. There is a portable restroom behind the red barn and a portable hand washing sink available for member and customer use.

• Sugar Snap Peas or Shelling Peas - We hope to have a choice for members each day. These are in two different fields this year. Shelling peas are big sweet peas that must be “shelled,” which means you remove their pod.

• Herbs - choose from: Parsley, dill, basil, or cilantro

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA, we will also have zucchini, summer squash, and European style cucumbers. We will also have mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm and eggs from Codman Farm.

We accept credit card, cash, check and EBT in the farm store. The farm store is open Tuesday - Friday 11am - 6pm and Saturday 9am - 3pm. We also continue to take online pre-orders for Wednesday, Friday and Saturday pick-up. The link for online orders is https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop. Online ordering opens at 6pm the day before pick-up.

Mushroom CSA Week 9: It is week 9 of our 10-week spring Mushroom CSA from Fat Moon Farm and this week’s mushrooms are an Oyster Mix (Blue Oyster, Yellow Oyster, and Black Pearls, maybe some Phoenix). Now that the farm store is staffed you may come anytime the farm store is open: Tuesday- Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm. Just check in with the shopkeeper at the farm stand when you arrive and they will retrieve them for you! We do still suggest a Tuesday or Wednesday pick-up for the freshest possible mushrooms.

Kohrabi and Carrot Slaw

By Jennifer Chase for The Washington Post

Ingredients

• 3 medium kohlrabi stems, peeled and grated

• 2 carrots, grated

• 2 scallions, white and light-green parts, chopped

• Leaves from 10 to 15 stems parsley, chopped (1/3 cup)

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

• 4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

• 1 tablespoon Thai sweet red chile sauce

• 1 teaspoon sriracha hot chili sauce (optional)

Directions

• Combine the kohlrabi, carrots, green onions and parsley in a large bowl.

• Whisk together the sesame oil, vinegar and the sweet and hot chili sauces, if using, in a small bowl to form an emulsified vinaigrette.

• Drizzle the vinaigrette over the vegetables and toss to combine. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Variations

• Mix kohlrabi slaw with soba noodles, blanched snow peas and broccoli florets.

• Serve in a lettuce leaf with shredded cooked chicken or beef.

• Make a quesadilla with pepper jack cheese, kohlrabi slaw and corn tortillas.

White Bean and Garlic Scapes Dip

by Melissa Clark, NY Times Cooking

This was a favorite recipe last season - a perfect dip for the carrots and cukes we’re enjoying this week! We found that where it says “more to taste”, we definitely prefer it with more! (We also add more garlic scapes than suggested).

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup sliced garlic scapes (3 to 4)

• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, more to taste

• ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt, more to taste

• Ground black pepper to taste

• 1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling

Preparation

1. In a food processor, process garlic scapes with lemon juice, salt and pepper until finely chopped. Add cannellini beans and process to a rough purée.

2. With motor running, slowly drizzle olive oil through feed tube and process until fairly smooth. Pulse in 2 or 3 tablespoons water, or more, until mixture is the consistency of a dip. Add more salt, pepper and/or lemon juice, if desired.

3. Spread out dip on a plate, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with more salt.

CSA Week 2 and Farm Stand Updates

It was great to welcome our CSA members back to the farm last week! In terms of farm work there’s not much to report - it was a blur of harvest, rinse, fill the coolers, display, stock, empty the coolers, and wash out all the bins! We fit in planting any afternoon we could and managed to get some winter squash, sweet potatoes, celery and cucumbers in the ground. Both the vegetables and the weeds took off in the heat and rain (yay for timely rain!) last week so this week we have a great crop selection which we will harvest as quickly as possible in the mornings to get to weeding, cultivating and planting for the rest of the day! We hope you enjoy what is likely our last week of strawberries in the CSA and farm store. While we know this is a farm favorite, we have other highlights yet to come including the first carrots of the season next week!

In the CSA this week:

• Cucumbers! From our high tunnel.

• Green garlic - To use this early garlic, chop the whole bulb and the tender part of the stem.

• Fennel - These are grown on the outside edges of our cucumber high tunnel! We grow this planting in our high tunnel to get it as early as possible. These bulbs are also bigger than what we typically can grow in the field!

• Swiss chard - We grow a variety called Bright Lights for it’s colorful stems! This can be used instead of spinach when a recipe calls for cooked spinach, as they are in the same family.

• Yukina Savoy- This is a brassica green with a very mild flavor (as opposed to spicy arugula!). It can be used in place of raw spinach.

• Beets

• Kohlrabi

• Radishes

• Salad turnips

• Mini daikon radish

• Lettuce - We’ll have romaine, butterhead, panisse (oakleaf) and green and red leaf lettuce available.

• Salanova lettuce mix

• Arugula

• Kale

• Red Russian kale or red mizuna

CSA Pick-Your-Own:

PYO items are limited to the posted amount for each CSA membership (the appropriate size container will be provided) but these items do not need to fit in your CSA bag. Handwashing sinks are provided at the entrance to each PYO field. For the sake of food safety, please wash hands before picking. The barn bathroom and wash area sinks in the barn are for employees only. There is a portable restroom behind the red barn and a portable hand washing sink available for member and customer use.

• Strawberries! All beds are producing. They are particularly plentiful at the back of the beds.

• Sugar Snap Peas or Shelling Peas - We hope to have a choice for members each day. These are in two different fields this year. Shelling peas are big sweet peas that must be “shelled,” which means you remove their pod.

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA, we will also have bok choi, scallions, seedlings, and our first ever crop of European thin skinned cucumbers (we are trying them out in our high tunnel as a result of customer requests!). We will also have mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm and eggs from Codman Farm. We will be harvesting some strawberries for the store most days.

We accept credit card, cash, check and EBT in the farm store. The farm store is open Tuesday - Friday 11am - 6pm and Saturday 9am - 3pm. We also continue to take online pre-orders for Wednesday, Friday and Saturday pick-up. The link for online orders is https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop. Online ordering opens at 6pm the day before pick-up.

Mushroom CSA Week 8: It is week 8 of our 10-week spring Mushroom CSA from Fat Moon Farm and this week’s mushrooms are shiitake and chestnuts. Now that the farm store is staffed you may come anytime the farm store is open: Tuesday- Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm. Just check in with the shopkeeper at the farm stand when you arrive and they will retrieve them for you! We do still suggest a Tuesday or Wednesday pick-up for the freshest possible mushrooms.

Garlicky Swiss Chard

By Melissa Clark, from NY Times Cooking

Serve it as a side to any roasted or grilled meat, or over a mound of creamy polenta that's been crowned with a fried egg.

Ingredients

• 2 bunches Swiss chard, stems removed

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 2 garlic cloves, minced (or dice up one bunch of green garlic!)

• Large pinch crushed red pepper flakes

• Salt

Preparation

1. Stack chard leaves on top of one another (you can make several piles) and slice them into 1/4-inch strips.

2. Heat oil in a very large skillet (or use a soup pot). Add garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté for 30 seconds, until garlic is fragrant. Stir in the chard, coating it in oil. Cover pan and let cook for about 2 minutes, until chard is wilted. Uncover, stir and cook for 2 minutes longer. Season with salt.

Pickled Daikon

from Just One Cookbook

Ingredients 

• 1 lb daikon radish

• 1 dried red chili pepper

• 2 Tbsp rice vinegar (unseasoned)

• 1 tsp sake (optional)

• 1 Tbsp kosher salt (Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt)

• ⅓ cup sugar

Instructions 

1. Gather all the ingredients.

2. Peel daikon and cut into ¼ inch (6 mm) slices.

3. Cut the chili peppers into small pieces and discard the seeds if you prefer less spicy.

4. Put all the ingredients in a resealable plastic bag and rub well.

5. Remove the air from the bag and close it. You can start enjoying it after 2-3 hours.

To store: You can keep the pickles in the refrigerator for a month. When the flavor is getting strong, remove the solution and store the pickles in an airtight container.

CSA Week 1 and Farm stand updates!

We’ve made it to the first week of the CSA and our fields and high tunnels are looking pretty good! Last week we tried to finish as many projects as we could before CSA harvests start to take over our mornings. We planted flowers, lettuce, cucumbers, watermelon, edamame, herbs, tomatillos and husk cherries, as well as the first of our winter squash! In addition to planting, we prepped beds for sweet potatoes (which should be arriving ready to plant this week), as well as more winter squash and watermelon. We also trellised tomatoes in our high tunnel, laid down landscape fabric between cucumber beds for weed control, continued picking Colorado Potato beetles and their eggs off our potatoes and eggplants, hand weeded carrots and beets, and we cultivated beans, sunflowers, leeks, fennel, cabbage, lettuce and carrots with tractors and hoes. Whew!

CSA distribution is outside under a white canopy tent by the farm stand (and the farm store remains inside the farm stand building). CSA pick-up hours are Tuesday and Thursday from 11am-6pm and Saturday from 9am - 3pm. After checking in with the shopkeeper at the tent, CSA members may select their own produce from the bins laid out under the tent, choosing what they would like to take home from the CSA distribution area. Usually 3-5 items will be limited and members may take what they would like of the remaining items until their CSA bag is full. As always, there will be a crew member at the tent to refill produce bins throughout the day and answer any questions you might have! In addition to the CSA bag filled from items under the tent we will have a set amount of pick-your-own available. The shopkeeper will provide you with the appropriate size container for pick-your-own crops. While we do have some scissors available to borrow, we recommend bringing your own scissors or pruners (especially this week as we have Sweet William Flowers for CSA members to pick!). We will have a portable handwashing sink by the white tent and pick-your-own field. For additional important 2022 CSA information please read our short 2022 CSA Guide here: http://www.barrettsmillfarm.com/member-guide.

This week CSA customers will notice something new in the CSA (store customers may have already noticed this): compostable BioBags! Many of our customers have been asking us over the years about whether we would ever offer compostable produce bags as a bagging option. We had not used compostable bags in the past because those bags are not allowed for composting under an organic system. However, because the Town of Concord now has a pilot compost drop-off program that accepts compostable “plastic bags,” we are now offering them as a bagging option in the store and CSA. Please note that the BioBags we are offering do not keep greens as well as the regular plastic bag, so if you choose to use those bags for your leafy greens, you should be sure to transfer them to another container when you get home!

In the CSA this week:

• Beets - It’s early for beets, but since we worked hard to get irrigation on them early they have sized up nicely! The greens do have some leaf miner damage, but it doesn’t impact the flavor of the beets.

• Scallions - These are coming from our high tunnel. The field scallions aren’t too far behind, so we should have them again in June!

• Kohlrabi

• Radishes

• Salad turnips

• Mini daikon radish

• Spinach - We have an abundance this week. Spinach does not do well in warmer conditions, so we are not sure how it will hold up in the field for next week, so make sure to enjoy it now!

• Lettuce - We’ll have romaine and butterhead, as well as some green leaf and red leaf head lettuces available

• Salanova lettuce mix - This cut leaf mix is a little crisper than a mesclun mix and therefore keeps well for longer!

• Arugula

• Baby bok choi

• Bok choi

• Kale

• Red Russian kale - This is a smaller more tender kale leaf. It’s great mixed in salads, but also is nice lightly sauteed!

CSA Pick-Your-Own:

PYO items are limited to the posted amount for each CSA membership (the appropriate size container will be provided) but these items do not need to fit in your CSA bag. Handwashing sinks are provided at the entrance to each PYO field. For the sake of food safety, please wash hands before picking. The barn bathroom and wash area sinks in the barn are for employees only. There is a portable restroom behind the red barn and a portable hand washing sink available for member and customer use.

• Strawberries or Sugar Snap Peas - We will have to assess conditions at each pick-up day but we plan to have either strawberries or sugar snap peas for members each day (ideally a choice between the two). We have an odd lag between pea successions. The first planting produced very well last week (but too early!), however it is winding down this week and the second succession doesn’t yet have any peas on it. Once the second and third successions start producing we should have a nice supply for the CSA. The strawberries in the CSA PYO field are unfortunately not doing well as we have seen a lot of plant die-off from disease. We have been trying to keep strawberry plantings close to the farm stand for easy member access, but that has made it very difficult to adequately rotate each year’s planting. We are planning to rotate them much further away from the diseased sections, which will mean a longer walk to get to strawberries starting in the 2024 season (strawberries aren’t harvestable until their second year), but that will hopefully lead to a more reliable harvest!

• Sweet William flowers

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA, we will also have panisse (oakleaf) lettuce and seedlings, as well as mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm. The strawberry patch that we planted for the store has improved as we are seeing more berries that formed after the cold snap that damaged the ones we had hoped to harvest last week. We should have strawberries in the store most days this week, but there won’t be any sugar snap peas while we wait for the second succession to start producing.

We accept credit card, cash, check and EBT in the farm store. The farm store is open Tuesday - Friday 11am - 6pm and Saturday 9am - 3pm. We also continue to take online pre-orders for Wednesday, Friday and Saturday pick-up. The link for online orders is https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop. Online ordering opens at 6pm the day before pick-up.

Mushroom CSA Week 7: It is week 7 of our 10-week spring Mushroom CSA from Fat Moon Farm and this week’s mushrooms are another Farmer’s Mix! Now that the farm store is staffed you may come anytime the farm store is open: Tuesday- Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm. Just check in with the shopkeeper at the farm stand when you arrive and they will retrieve them for you! We do still suggest a Tuesday or Wednesday pick-up for the freshest possible mushrooms.

Vegan Spinach Pesto

by Kristina Todini, A Fork in the Road

Ingredients

• 2 cups spinach

• ⅓ cup pine nuts, or pumpkin seeds if nut-free

• 2 whole garlic cloves

• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil

• ⅓ cup nutritional yeast

• ⅛ teaspoon salt

• ⅛ teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

• Optional: squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Instructions 

1. Wash and prep the spinach: Start by submerging spinach in a bowl of water and cleaning it off, making sure to remove any dirt. Use a salad spinner to dry it or lay the spinach flat on a plate or kitchen towel.

2. Blend the greens, nuts, garlic, and oil: Toss the cleaned and dried spinach in a food processor. Next, add nuts/seeds and garlic cloves. Pulse until finely chopped, slowly drizzling in olive oil until the chopped ingredients are well coated in oil but still chunky.

3. Add nutritional yeast, spices, and lemon juice: Finish by adding in nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper. Give the pesto a taste and add more seasonings until it's flavored to your liking.

Gingery Fried Rice With Bok Choy, Mushrooms and Basil

by Alexa Weibel, NY Times Cooking

Ingredients

• 4 cups cooked, day-old jasmine rice (or 1 cup uncooked jasmine rice; see Tip)

• 5 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

• ¾ pound mixed fresh mushrooms, such as shiitake and cremini, thinly sliced, or whole shimeji mushrooms

• Kosher salt and black pepper

• ¾ pound baby bok choy (about 8 small baby bok choy), trimmed, then sliced crosswise 1/2-inch thick

• 5 scallions, trimmed, greens and whites thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)

• 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

• 1 jalapeño, thinly sliced (optional)

• ¾ cup frozen peas

• 2 to 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger (from one 2-inch piece)

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons sesame oil

• ⅛ teaspoon white pepper (optional)

• ½ cup thinly sliced fresh basil (we have basil plants in the store!)

Preparation

1. Take the cooked rice out of the refrigerator, and set it aside at room temperature.

2. In a large wok or nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons canola oil over medium-high. Add the mushrooms, season generously with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and tender, 5 or 6 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.

3. Wipe out the skillet, if needed, then add 1 tablespoon canola oil and heat over medium-high. Add the bok choy, scallions, garlic and jalapeño, if using. Season with salt and pepper and stir-fry, stirring frequently, until aromatic and barely crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the mushrooms.

4. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons canola oil to the skillet and heat over medium-high. Add the rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until toasted and toothsome, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the frozen peas, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil and white pepper (if using), and stir until rice is evenly coated in soy sauce mixture, and no uncoated rice grains remain, 1 to 2 minutes.

5. Stir in the mushroom and bok choy mixture and the basil until basil is wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper then divide among bowls; serve hot.

Tip: Leftover rice that has dried out in the refrigerator for a day or two works best for this recipe because it will crisp better than fresh rice. If you don’t have time to cook your rice a day in advance, you can cook 1 cup jasmine rice according to package instructions, transfer the cooked rice to a large baking sheet, spread it in an even layer and pop it in the freezer to chill it while you prepare the vegetables, then pull the rice from the freezer to cook it in Step 4.