CSA Week 7 and Farm Stand updates

It was another busy week! In addition to our usual harvest, weeding, and planting projects, the once-a-year garlic harvest began between the raindrops last week! We have selected the smaller garlic heads for fresh eating (fresh garlic is not cured so it should be kept in the fridge and used within a couple weeks). The larger heads we are curing for fall and winter eating! To cure, we bundled garlic stalks together in bunches of 8 and hang them in the farm stand. The relatively dark, cool and well ventilated (yet protected from rain) farm stand provides the conditions needed for the curing process which is complete when the outer skin of the garlic is dry. After curing we will clip the heads off the stems and clean them off. Cured garlic will store in dark ,dry conditions (unrefrigerated) for months. Some of the cured garlic will be included in the CSA, some will be sold in the store, and some we will save to plant in October for next year’s garlic crop!

While the recent rainy days have slowed many of our summer crops, the eggplant harvest has begun and the high tunnel tomato harvest is picking up! Cherry tomatoes are ripening and will likely be ready by next week, with hot peppers close behind. Our field peppers seem to be growing slowly and unevenly, but hopefully they will speed with a little sunshine this week. The flower field has bounced back from the rain and is now looking great so will be re-opened for both flower CSA members as well as to the public for picking by the jar. See below for a list of varieties now blooming.

In the CSA this week:

CSA pick up hours are Tues/Thurs 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am - 3pm. Face masks are required under the CSA tent during the first hour of each day.

• Eggplant

• Yukina Savoy - This mild green is back! Use in salads or lightly cooked (a good spinach substitute).

• Beets - Golden and red

• Fresh garlic - This garlic is used just like cured garlic but should be kept in the fridge until used.

• Fresh onions - These onions are sweeter than traditional cured onions and should be kept in the fridge and used within a week.

• Potatoes - Dark Red Norland (red skin, white flesh) or Golden Globe (yellow flesh)

• Celery

• Fennel

• Summer squash and Zucchini

• Carrots

• Mini cabbage

• Curly kale

• Mustard greens

• Lettuce - some summer crisp varieties are now ready for harvest. There will be a break from salanova until the cooler weather in the fall.

CSA PYO:

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 (we do now have a green porta-potty restroom by the tree behind the red barn for customer use with a portable handwashing sink just beside it).

*Please note that we close down the PYO fields for lightning storms.

• Sunflowers

• Green Beans - Please hold the plant while carefully picking the largest beans.

• Herbs - basil, thai basil, parsley, dill flowers, sage and thyme.

Pick-your-own Flower CSA

The flower field is open this week! Picking is available any time the farm store is open (Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm). Varieties blooming now include: zinnias, marigolds, snapdragons, statice, gomphrena, celosia, decorative basil, frosted explosion, cosmos, ageratum, rudbeckia and more! Please pick stems above the first branching to encourage future growth.

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA the farm store this week will also have the tomatoes from our high tunnel, green peppers, cucumbers, and blueberries. This week blueberries will be available both in the stand each day as well as online for pre-orders for pick-up Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. We also have eggs from Codman Farm, honey from Double B, and mushrooms from Fat Moon 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. Masks are required during the first hour of each day. Staff will continue to wear masks in the first hour of each day but will not be required to for the remainder of the day in keeping with our customer policy. We are keeping a chalkboard list of items available outside the store and our Shopkeepers would be happy to shop for anyone who is uncomfortable entering the store. 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.

Crispy Smashed Potatoes

from The Modern Proper

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs Baby potatoes

• 1 Tbsp + 1.5 tsp Kosher salt

• 3 Tbsp Olive oil

• 2 tsp Granulated garlic

• 3 Tbsp Fresh herbs such as dill, chives and or parsley

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450 ° F.

2. Bring a large pot of water along with 1 tablespoon salt to a rapid boil.

3. Add in baby potatoes and cook for 20 minutes, until very soft. Remove from water and allow sit in a colander for 5 minutes until completely dry.

4. Brush a large baking sheet with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Arrange potatoes on baking sheet. Using the bottom of a glass cup gently press down on potatoes until potatoes are ¼ inch thick. Brush with remaining olive oil and season with remaining salt and garlic.

5. Bake for 25 minutes until crispy. Transfer to a platter and top with fresh herbs.

Carrot Cake Muffins

from Creme de la Crumb, April 7, 2020

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups flour

• 1 cup sugar

• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ½ teaspoon baking powder

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ cup vegetable oil

• ⅓ cup brown sugar

• 2 large eggs - at room temperature

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 2 cups finely grated carrots (shredded with the finest grating option on a box grater)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and life a muffin tin with paper or silicone cupcake liners (or grease well with cooking spray).

2. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

3. In a large bowl combine oil, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla and mix well. Stir in grated carrots.

4. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until completely incorporated.

5. Fill muffin liners 2/3 full.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 20-22 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to continue cooling.

7. Serve fresh or store in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days, or in the fridge up to 2 weeks. Optional: reheat them in the microwave for about 15 seconds and spread a little butter on top for the ultimate breakfast treat.

Our farm stand all set up for indoor shopping as well as outdoor pick-up for pre-orders.

CSA Week 6 and Farm Stand updates

This has been quite a season of extreme conditions for us! We had a very dry late spring and early summer only to be followed by excessive rains in the past two weeks. In our 8 years farming on this property with very sandy soils, I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much standing water as we saw last week or today. The recent rains did not negate the need to have devoted so much time to setting up irrigation on all of our crops earlier this spring- they never would have survived until now if we hadn’t. The temperature fluctuations have also been extreme, with an unusually high number of 90-plus degree days mixed in with some of the coldest summer temps we’ve ever seen (including 60 degrees on July 3rd - the coldest temperature ever recorded for that particular day!).

These water and temperature extremes have been stressful for both us and the plants! We are left with little to do about it all but move our irrigation pump at the river high enough that it won’t flood, wait for the water in the fields to dry out so we can plant our fall cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli, cross our fingers that the rains don’t bring too much disease and rot, and hope that when the water recedes our re-seeded fall carrots will still germinate (the first attempt at carrot seeding had to be redone because, of all things, it was too hot and dry to germinate!). Most of the effects of this rain will be noticeable later in the season, when perhaps the crazy weather that reduced yields and delayed or destroyed young plantings is a distant memory. However, there are some crops that are suffering now, including our fresh onions, which are rotting at high rates in the field, and our flower garden, which is a bit muddy and has been slow to generate new blooms in the cold gray weather. Fortunately, so far the storage onions for later in the season look okay, and we are optimistic that with a temporary closure of the flower field we will be back to picking in no time for a long season! And while the rain makes us uneasy about the future, we are still enjoying a nice harvest for this week, including fresh garlic and the aforementioned fresh onions (both should be kept in the fridge, and are just a little milder than their cured counterparts, which will be available later this fall), as well as red potatoes!

In the CSA this week:

CSA pick up hours are Tues/Thurs 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am - 3pm. Face masks are required under the CSA tent during the first hour of each day.

• Fresh garlic - This garlic is used just like cured garlic but should be kept in the fridge until used.

• Fresh onions - These onions are sweeter than traditional cured onions and should be kept in the fridge and used within a week.

• Red potatoes - These small red potatoes are perfect for a small batch of potato salad made with our celery and fresh onions!

• Celery

• Fennel

• Summer squash and Zucchini

• Cucumbers - A mix of slicing and the first pickling cukes will be available!

• Carrots

• Beets

• Mini cabbage - A mix of round and cone shaped “caraflex” green varieties, as well as some purple.

• Curly kale

• Lettuce

• Salanova Lettuce Mix

• Baby bok choi

CSA PYO:

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.

*Please note that we close down the PYO fields for lightning storms.

• Green Beans - Please hold the plant while carefully picking the largest beans.

• Herbs - basil, thai basil, parsley, dill, dill flowers, oregano and thyme.

Pick-your-own Flower CSA

The flower field will be closed this week to give it time to recover from flooding, as we want to keep the flower beds nice for months to come! The extra time will hopefully provide some more sunshine to encourage more flower blooms!

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA the farm store this week will also have the first tomatoes from our high tunnel, eggplant, green peppers and blueberries (our blueberry patch is small, so the best way to get a box is to order online the night before - read on for details about online ordering. If there are extra, we will have them in the farm stand as well for walk-up sales). We also have eggs from Codman Farm, honey from Double B, and mushrooms from Fat Moon 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. Masks are required during the first hour of each day and encouraged for the remainder of the day. We are keeping a chalkboard list of items available outside the store and our Shopkeepers would be happy to shop for anyone who is uncomfortable entering the store. 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.

Elena’s Potato Salad

from our good friend Elena Colman of Small Farm in Stow!

• 1 quart potatoes

• 1/4 cup water

• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp pepper

• about 1/4 cup olive oil (or in Elena’s words “a few glugs”)

• 1 tbsp spicy mustard

• about 1/4 lb salanova

• 2-3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

• 1 head celery, stalks chopped

• parsley, chopped

• dill, chopped

Boil the potatoes until you can easily stick a fork in them and drain. Mix the water, vinegar, salt and pepper and pour over the potatoes while still hot. Put in the refrigerator for an hour or more. When it is closer to time to serve, add the oil and mustard, salanova, hard boiled eggs, chopped celery stalks, parsley and dill. Toss and serve.

Peppery Coleslaw with Cucumbers and Celery

by Susan Bray Garrison, from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• ½ small head cabbage, shredded

• ½ cucumber, chopped

• 1 stalk celery with leaves, finely chopped

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

• ½ cup mayonnaise

• 1 tablespoon white vinegar

• ¼ teaspoon onion powder

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Directions

Mix cabbage, cucumber, celery, cilantro, and parsley in a bowl. Whisk mayonnaise, vinegar, onion powder, salt, and black pepper in a separate bowl; stir dressing into slaw until thoroughly mixed. Chill for 1 hour before serving.

Flooded carrots and beets on Monday

CSA Week 5 and Farm Stand updates

We are very excited that we have now completed two grant projects to improve food safety and high tunnel and greenhouse production! Thanks to Melissa and crew member Nigel, both projects were completed before their deadlines outlined in the grant arrangement, no small feat during the busy months of May and June on the farm!

Our high tunnel and greenhouse grant project involved automating the ventilation systems on two of our four high tunnels (unheated structures where we grow crops in the ground) and the heating and ventilation in our two greenhouses (used to grow our seedlings for planting in the field). These structures require monitoring to make sure vents are opened and closed at proper times in order to control the temperature and humidity conditions. If they are opened too late in the morning or closed too early in the day the tunnels and greenhouses can be too hot and humid, causing heat stress and disease. If they are left open overnight or closed too late in the day, the plants can slow in productivity or get cold damage. Opening and closing all of the structures manually every day can easily take an hour (and usually at inconvenient times like late evening), so automating most of our structures is a huge quality of life improvement for us, as it means we don’t have to plan our weekends and evenings as much around opening or closing these structures. It is also a huge quality of life improvement for our plants, as the vents adjust throughout the day to sunlight and temperature fluctuations (which have been frequent lately!). The improved conditions inside the structures also means that the plants require less water as the soil and potting mix do not dry out as quickly. One of the things about this project that we are most proud of is that the two high tunnel ventilation systems are off the grid - they are hooked up to solar!

Our food safety project involved installing a beautiful new shed for safely storing our harvest buckets, purchasing additional food safe produce bins to keep up with our increasing vegetable production, purchasing new, sturdier and more user-friendly portable handwashing sinks for the CSA tent and the farm stand, and upgrading our cooler and wash area pallets (also thanks to Nigel!). We especially enjoy how the new shed has freed up space in our wash area for better flow, and how we no longer have to scour harvest buckets that were stored outside for signs of contamination!

In other news at the farm, the PYO Flower field is now open to both PYO Flower CSA members, as well as walk-ins. See below for more details about picking!

In the CSA this week:

CSA pick up hours are Tues/Thurs 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am - 3pm. Face masks are required under the CSA tent during the first hour of each day.

• Celery - This celery isn’t like the giant celery from the grocery store, but it is much more tender, fresh, flavorful and colorful!

• Fennel - Most of the early season high tunnel fennel is gone, so we are on to harvesting fennel from the field now.

• Summer squash

• Zucchini

• Cucumbers - A mix of slicing and the first pickling cukes will be available!

• Carrots - there will be an option of orange carrots or purple carrots

• Beets

• Mini cabbage - A mix of round and cone shaped “caraflex” green varieties, as well as some purple.

• Curly kale

• Garlic scapes

• Lettuce

• Salanova Lettuce Mix

• Mustard greens - These greens do better than most in hot weather, so are a frequent component of summer CSA weeks. We’ve included a couple of delicious recipe ideas below centered around mustard greens!

• Baby bok choi

CSA PYO:

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.

*Please note that we close down the PYO fields for lightning storms.

• Herbs - basil, thai basil, parsley, dill, dill flowers, oregano and thyme.

  Coming Soon: Next week we should have green beans! Sunflowers are also coming along soon and cherry tomatoes will be ready late July or early August.

Pick-your-own Flower CSA

The PYO Flower field opened to PYO Flower CSA members on Friday, and this week is opening to the general public. Flower picking is available whenever the Farm Stand is open (Tuesday - Friday 11am - 6pm and Saturday 9am - 3pm). Please bring your own pruners or scissors as well as water for your flowers (the barn is for employees only so the sinks are not available). You will be provided with a wide mouth quart jar for picking. If you are a PYO Flower CSA member who received your jar last week, please remember to bring your jar with you to pick each time. If you are not a PYO Flower CSA member, we will loan you a jar for measuring your bouquet. The cost of each PYO bouquet is $12, and the cost if you would like to keep the jar is $3. Please check in at the farm stand before picking.

Flowers available for picking this week include: zinnias, cosmos, snapdragons, rudbeckia, gomphrena, celosia, ageratum, ammi, statice, amaranth, and verbena.

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA the farm store this week will also have some green peppers, chard, scallions, salad turnips and blueberries (our blueberry patch is small, so the best way to get a box is to order online the night before - read on for details about online ordering. If there are extra, we will have them in the farm stand as well for walk-up sales). We also have eggs from Codman Farm, honey from Double B, and we hope to have mushrooms again at the end of the week.

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. Masks are required during the first hour of each day and encouraged for the remainder of the day. We are keeping a chalkboard list of items available outside the store and our Shopkeepers would be happy to shop for anyone who is uncomfortable entering the store. 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.

Crispy Tofu Bibimbap with Mustard Greens & Zucchini

by Michael Natkin, Food & Wine Magazine, August 2013

Ingredients

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 2 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced (or try pickling cukes!)

• 2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger

• Kosher salt

• 1 cup sushi rice

• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 2 garlic cloves, minced (or use garlic scapes)

• 12 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and caps thickly sliced

• One 14-ounce box extra-firm tofu, patted dry and cut into 3-by- 1/3-inch sticks

• One 12-ounce bunch of mustard greens—stems and inner ribs removed, leaves coarsely chopped

• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

• 1 small zucchini, cubed (or summer squash)

• 2 tablespoons kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce) or 2 tablespoons of soy sauce mixed with 1 teaspoon of molasses

• 4 scallions, thinly sliced

• Gochujang (Korean chile paste - available at Korean markets or from hmart.com) or Sriracha, for serving

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine the vinegar with the sugar, cucumbers, 1 teaspoon of the ginger and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine the rice with 1 1/3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over very low heat until tender, 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.

3. Meanwhile, in a nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil. Add the garlic and shiitake, season with salt and cook over high heat, stirring, until browned, 6 minutes; scrape onto a platter. Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil and add the tofu. Cook over high heat, turning, until browned, 5 minutes. Scrape the tofu onto the platter, keeping it separate from the mushrooms.

4. Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in the skillet. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon of ginger and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the mustard greens and sesame oil, season with salt and cook until the greens are wilted and just tender, 4 minutes. Add the greens to the platter. Wipe out the skillet. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in the skillet. Add the zucchini and cook over high heat until softened, 3 minutes. Add the kecap manis and cook until the zucchini is glazed, 1 minute; scrape onto the platter. Keep warm.

5. Mound the rice in bowls and arrange the cooked vegetables in separate piles. Using a slotted spoon, add the pickled cucumbers to the bowls. Garnish with the scallions and a dollop of gochujang and serve.

Orecchiette With Mustard Greens

by Cathy Thomas and Melissa's Produce, adapted and published in The Washington Post, April 24, 2013

Ingredients

• Kosher or sea salt

• 8 ounces dried orecchiette pasta

• 2 pounds mustard greens

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 3 large garlic cloves, chopped

• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

• 3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts (see NOTE)

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 1/3 cup grated or shaved pecorino Romano cheese, for garnish

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, according to the package directions. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water and drain the pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, remove the thick ribs from the mustard greens and discard. Wash and thoroughly dry the leaves, then stack them and cut into 1-inch-wide strips.

Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Once it shimmers, add the garlic and crushed red pepper flakes; cook briefly, until the garlic just starts to soften. Add the greens and use tongs to toss them as they wilt. Cook them, tossing and stirring frequently, until they become tender, about 5 minutes, then turn off the heat, stir in the basil and pine nuts and toss to combine.

Add the pasta and toss to combine, adding enough of the reserved pasta cooking water to form a creamy sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon the pasta into individual bowls, top with the cheese and serve.

NOTE: Toast the pine nuts in a small, dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan frequently, just until they start to brown and become fragrant. Immediately transfer them to a plate so they don't continue cooking.

CSA Week 4 and Farm Stand Updates

Summer crops are starting to mature, and our harvest will reflect that over the coming weeks as we transition from cool-weather-loving tender greens to bulkier fruiting crops like cucumber, summer squash and zucchini. Peppers and tomatoes are usually not available until August, but with our high tunnels in production, we’re starting to see some of those crops in mid or late July!

We always breath slightly easier once we move into July. Field planting slows down and the harvest goes faster, leaving us a little more time to mulch, cultivate, weed and trellis. At the end of last week, we tackled a big but satisfying project: putting down landscape fabric in the pathways between our field tomato, pepper and eggplant. This will help to keep weeds down the entire season, and at the end of the year, we pull it all up and store it in the barn to reuse next year. This week we are looking forward to trellising all of our field tomatoes and our high tunnel peppers, as well as doing another round of pruning and trellising our high tunnel cukes and tomatoes. We’re also hoping to weed onions, beets and kale, hoe our lettuce and greens, put down landscape fabric in the melons, cukes, sweet potatoes and PYO cherry tomatoes, and do field prep to transplant lettuce, chard, golden beets and Brussels sprouts. It’s a big list, especially in such a hot week. We’ll also be doing lots of irrigation to keep plants happy, as well as taking a few popsicle breaks to keep ourselves and the crew happy!

This is not a week for turning on your stove, so recipes this week are all ones that don’t involve heat. Also, try the White Bean Garlic Scape dip recipe from two weeks ago - the carrots and cucumbers this week are perfect for dipping!

In the CSA this week:

CSA pick up hours are Tues/Thurs 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am - 3pm. Face masks are required under the CSA tent during the first hour of each day.

• Summer squash and Zucchini - It’s still early in the season, so squash and zucchini will be limited, but pretty soon we should have larger quantities for grilling!

• Cucumbers - The high tunnel cucumber plants are really cranking, so they will be unlimited this week!

• Purple carrots - These have a dark purple skin with an orange center. Really striking color, but also good flavor.

• Beets - The spring beets have struggled this season (we think a combination of pest pressure and the soil quality in the field where we rotated them this year), so the beets are on the smaller side, but are still just as tasty!

• Swiss Chard - Also in the same family as beets, the chard has struggled a bit this spring season as well, so it is also on the smaller end. Chard has a sweet earthy flavor and can be eaten sauteed or braised or in quiche.

• Scallions - They’re back this week after a short hiatus!

• Mini cabbage - Round green and cone shaped “caraflex” varieties.

• Garlic scapes - Likely the last week of this spring favorite.

• Lettuce

• Salanova Lettuce Mix

• Mustard greens

• Baby bok choi

• Mini Daikon Radishes

• Salad turnips

CSA PYO:

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.

*Please note that we close down the PYO fields for lightning storms.

• Herbs - basil, cilantro, parsley, dill, oregano, thyme and sage.

  Coming Soon: In just a week or two there will be green beans and sunflowers available in the pick-your-own fields and by late July we should start to see the first ripe cherry tomatoes!

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA the farm store this week will also have red mini cabbage, more greens varieties, cheriette radishes, and a little later this week we’ll have some of the first blueberries! We also have eggs from Codman Farm, honey from Double B, and we hope to have mushrooms again at the end of the week.

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. Masks are required during the first hour of each day and encouraged for the remainder of the day. We are keeping a chalkboard list of items available outside the store and our Shopkeepers would be happy to shop for anyone who is uncomfortable entering the store. 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.

Marinated Zucchini Salad

by Martha Rose Shulman from NY Times Cooking

Ingredients

• 1 pound medium or small zucchini, preferably a mix of green and yellow

• Salt to taste

• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 1 garlic clove (or try garlic scapes!), crushed

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley, mint, chives, dill or a combination

Preparation

1. Slice the squash as thinly as you can (try using a vegetable peeler!). Sprinkle with salt, preferably kosher salt, and let sit for 15 to 30 minutes. Rinse and drain on paper towels.

2. Mix together the lemon juice, garlic and olive oil. Toss with the zucchini. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for four to six hours.

3. Remove from the refrigerator, and remove the garlic clove. Add the fresh herbs, and toss together. Taste, adjust seasoning and serve.

Garlic Scape Dressing

by Diana Rattray from The Spruce Eats

Ingredients

• 2 garlic scapes (coarsely chopped)

• 2 scallions (coarsely chopped)

• 1 teaspoon honey

• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (or similar brown mustard)

• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• Dash of salt

• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Preparation

1. In a blender, combine the garlic scapes, onions, honey, mustard, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth.

2. With the blender on low, slowly add the olive oil until well blended.

CSA Week 3 and Farm Stand Updates

Happy Summer! While the heat of summer can be hard to work in, it also brings with it the reward of summer crops like the cucumbers in the CSA and farm store this week! The transition to summer means that strawberry season is past peak for us. While we do love eating strawberries and providing them for you all, picking is very time consuming so the rest of the crops on the farm will appreciate it once we have more time to devote to them. We are really looking forward to catching up on all kinds of big projects this week including weeding our onions and the last of our spring/summer carrots and beets, planting cucumber and watermelon successions, trellising peppers and tomatoes in the high tunnels (as well as tomatoes out in the field), catching up greenhouse seeding of fall crops, rescuing our potatoes from Colorado potato beetles, putting down landscape fabric in our tomato, pepper, watermelon and cucumber pathways, and seeding and transplanting our first fall carrot, beet and Brussels Sprouts crops. There is plenty more to do but this list (along with the harvest of course!) will keep us busy for this week!

In the CSA this week:

CSA pick up hours are Tues/Thurs 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am - 3pm. Face masks are required under the CSA tent during the first hour of each day.

• Carrots - the first carrots of the season, but we will aim to have them for most of the remaining weeks.

• Cucumbers - These slicing cukes are coming from our high tunnel, which is why they are so early!

• Mini Cabbage - these mini green heads are tender and work great in coleslaw or on tacos. We have two types: a more traditional round type, and a pointy type called Caraflex.

• Mustard greens - these greens are even spicier than arugula, but are great either raw or cooked.

• Garlic scapes

• Lettuce

• Salanova lettuce mix

• Arugula

• Curly kale

• Salad turnips

• Radishes

• Mini mak radishes

CSA PYO:

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.

*Please note that we close down the PYO fields for lightning storms.

• Strawberries- They are still producing, but they are past peak,Picking could get more difficult toward the end of the week, and there will not be any more next week.

• Herbs - You’ll have a choice of parsley, dill, oregano, thyme or sage.

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA the farm store this week will also have more greens varieties, kohlrabi and fennel, as well as the last of the sugar snap peas and shell peas. Strawberries are dwindling, so we likely will not have any later this week. We also have eggs from Codman Farm, honey from Double B, and we hope to have mushrooms again at the end of the week.

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. Masks are required during the first hour of each day and encouraged for the remainder of the day. We are keeping a chalkboard list of items available outside the store and our Shopkeepers would be happy to shop for anyone who is uncomfortable entering the store. 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.

Ginger, Cucumber, Carrot and Cabbage Slaw

by David Tanis, NY Times Cooking

Ingredients

• 1 small cucumber, peeled and julienned

• 1 medium carrot, peeled and julienned

• 2 cups shredded green cabbage

• 1 cup shredded red cabbage (or some try some salad turnips, radishes or kohlrabi!)

• Salt

• pepper

• 2 teaspoons peeled and grated ginger

• Juice of 1 large lime

Preparation

1. Put the cucumber, carrot and cabbage in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and toss well.

2. Add the ginger and lime juice, then toss again. Let the vegetables marinate for at least 10 minutes.

Simple Sauteed Mustard Greens

by Sunny Anderson, The Food Network

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 bunches mustard greens, stemmed and chopped

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 1/4 cup chicken stock

• 1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard

Preparation

1. In a large pan with straight sides on medium heat add the oil. Add the garlic to the hot oil. Saute until garlic is softened and fragrant and has infused the oil.

2. Add the mustard greens. Season the greens with salt, and pepper, and saute while tossing to wilt. Once wilted add the chicken stock and stir. Raise heat to a simmer, then lower and cook for about 5 minutes more.

3. Stir in the ground mustard. Serve warm.