CSA Week 12 and Farm Stand updates

The weather forecast this week doesn’t trigger images of winter squash, but late August is actually prime harvesting season. With the uncertainty surrounding the storm this past weekend, we rushed to get as much winter squash inside the barn as possible. Once in the barn, squash and pumpkins go through a curing period during which they gain sweetness and improve in storage qualities. So far we’ve harvested all of our spaghetti squash, red kuri and pie pumpkins, as well as most of our acorn squash. In the coming weeks we will also harvest butternut, Tetsukabuto (a hybrid variety with excellent taste and storing qualities), Black Futsu (a small specialty pumpkin variety) and Autumn Frost (a specialty butternut). Most of the squash will be available in the store and CSA later in the season, but spaghetti squash will begin to be available this week! You may be looking at the weather forecast and thinking that you do not want to turn on your oven. Don’t worry - when stored properly the squash will keep for several weeks until better weather conditions for turning on your oven arise!

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. Please note we do our best to predict what will be available each week, but conditions change and there may be slight variations in what’s available!

• Spaghetti squash - Just like the name suggests, the innards of this squash are spaghetti-like. Cut them in half and roast face-down in about an inch of water. Once they’ve cooled off, use a fork to scrape out the insides, then prepare like you would your favorite pasta dish! I particularly like to eat it with sage butter and grated Parmesan! Spaghetti squash will keep for several weeks on your counter, but if you have a cool, dark dry place to keep it, that’s even better. Spaghetti squash, like all winter squash and pumpkins, should not go in the refrigerator.

• Leeks

• Peppers - both colored peppers and green and purple varieties will be available.

• Tomatoes

• Eggplant

• Carrots

• Beets - We are moving on to our fall beet plantings now. We will likely mostly have red beets, but there may be some golden ones in the mix as well!

• Cucumbers

• Kale

• Lettuce - A mix of red and green summer crisp varieties

• Salanova lettuce mix

• Arugula or mizuna

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.

• Husk cherries - Peel off the brown husk and enjoy this yellow fruit’s sweet, almost tropical, flavor!

• Choice of Shishito peppers or Tomatillos - Shishito peppers are small peppers that are great for sautéeing whole and snacking on with just a little bit of salt sprinkled on top. Most shishito are mild but there is the occasional one with a bit of hot pepper heat with no way to tell which one! Tomatillos are the key ingredient in salsa verde - a sauce that is not only a great sip for chips, but also goes well with burritos, eggs or grilled meat.

• Cherry tomatoes - All varieties are plentiful this week as it is now peak season!

• Edamame - Pick the plumpest pods.

• Hot peppers - jalapeño, cayenne, Hungarian hot wax, fresno and aji rico varieties are all producing. Signs in the field indicate what to look for in terms of ripeness, as well as how spicy varieties are.

• Herbs- parsley, cilantro (new planting!), basil, sage
  

PYO Flower CSA:

The flower field is in full bloom! We will offer picking until our first frost (often mid September) however after another couple of weeks the selection will decrease. 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, bachelors button, ammi, scabiosa and more! There is also a bed of many varieties of branching sunflowers blooming that you are welcome to use to fill your jars. Please pick stems above the first branching of all flowers to encourage future growth. Picking is available for Flower CSA members as well as to the public for purchase by the bouquet.

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA the farm store this week we will also have flower bouquets, summer squash and zucchini. We also have eggs from Codman Farm and honey from Double B. There are no mushrooms available for the month of August, but we will have Fat Moon Mushrooms back in the stand again in September. We will have corn on Tuesday, but sourcing is unpredictable this season, so we cannot guarantee that we will have it other 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. 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.

Blistered Shishito Peppers

from Cookie + Kate

Ingredients

• 1 pint shishito peppers

• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil or avocado oil

• Lemon wedge, optional

• Salt, preferably flaky sea salt or kosher salt, to taste

Preparation

1. Rinse and pat the peppers dry on a clean tea towel. Transfer the peppers to a medium bowl, drizzle in the oil, and toss until the peppers are evenly coated. Set aside.

2. Preheat a medium skillet over medium heat until it’s hot enough that a drop of water sizzles and evaporates quickly on contact. Add the peppers and let them cook, stirring every minute or so (not too often), until they are tender with charred spots, about 8 to 12 minutes.

3. Transfer the peppers to a serving plate. Spritz with a lemon wedge, if desired. Sprinkle with salt, to taste (don’t skimp). Serve with a little bowl on the side for the pepper stems.

Homemade Salsa Verde

from Cookie + Kate

Ingredients

• 1 ½ pounds tomatillos (about 12 medium), husked and rinsed

• 1 to 2 medium jalapeños, stemmed (omit for mild salsa, use 1 jalapeño for medium salsa and 2 jalapeños for hot salsa, note that spiciness will depend on heat of actual peppers used)

• ½ cup chopped white onion (about ½ medium onion)

• ¼ cup packed fresh cilantro leaves (more if you love cilantro)

• 2 tablespoons to ¼ cup lime juice (1 to 2 medium limes, juiced), to taste

• ½ to 1 teaspoon salt, to taste

• Optional variation: 1 to 2 diced avocados, for creamy avocado salsa verde

Preparation

1. Preheat the broiler with a rack about 4 inches below the heat source. Place the tomatillos and jalapeño(s) on a rimmed baking sheet and broil until they’re blackened in spots, about 5 minutes.

2. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, carefully flip over the tomatillos and pepper(s) with tongs and broil for 4 to 6 more minutes, until the tomatillos are splotchy-black and blistered.

3. Meanwhile, in a food processor or blender, combine the chopped onion, cilantro, 2 tablespoons lime juice and ½ teaspoon salt. Once the tomatillos are out of the oven, carefully transfer the hot tomatillos, pepper(s) and all of their juices into the food processor or blender.

4. Pulse until the mixture is mostly smooth and no big chunks of tomatillo remain, scraping down the sides as necessary. Season to taste with additional lime juice and salt, if desired.

5. The salsa will be thinner at first, but will thicken up after a few hours in the refrigerator, due to the naturally occurring pectin in the tomatillos. If you’d like to make creamy avocado salsa verde, let the salsa cool down before blending in 1 to 2 diced avocados (the more avocado, the creamier it gets).

CSA Week 11 and Farm Stand updates

Now that the rain has slowed we are back to weeding, hoeing, and tractor cultivation to control the weeds that flourished in the rain. The crew has been weeding and hoeing lettuce, fall carrots and beets, and fall brassicas. There is more to weed this week but the good news is weed growth slows with the shortening days so this is our last big weeding push. Last week we brought in our storage onions and began our winter squash harvest. We saw a lot of damage on the onions from the intense July rains, reducing yields and forcing us to set aside a large portion for fresh eating because many of the onions will not hold through the curing process. The spaghetti squash harvest was much better - we’ll be harvesting the rest of the squash varieties in another week or two, so we’ll find out soon if the others also held up to the challenging July conditions! We are still seeding fall crops that have a shorter growing season like spinach, radishes, and greens, and we still have a few lettuce successions left to transplant, ensuring a plentiful harvest to supplement storage crops after the frost (which is often mid September). Thinking ahead is the name of the game, but we are making sure to stop and enjoy some of these beautiful August days while they last. That means caprese salads, family cherry tomato picking, and this week’s addition, watermelon slices!

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. Please note we do our best to predict what will be available each week, but conditions change and there may be slight variations in what’s available!

• Salanova lettuce mix - It’s back! Earlier than ever!

• Watermelon! We grow a small ice box variety called starlight. We pick them when they are ripe in the field so they are all ready for eating. They do have seeds, and are red with great flavor. Unfortunately the plants do have a disease that will mean a shorter season than usual this year, but the fruit is completely safe (and very tasty!) to eat.

• Fresh onions - There will be fresh onions this week because we have some yellow and red onions that were planted for storage but they are not possible to cure because they got too much water in the July rain. They should be stored in the fridge as they are not cured.

• Colored peppers

• Tomatoes

• Eggplant

• Lettuce

• Arugula

• Kale

• Carrots

• Cucumbers

• Summer squash/zucchini

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.

• Cherry tomatoes - All varieties are plentiful this week as it is now peak season!

• Edamame - Pick the plumpest pods.

• Hot peppers - jalapeño, cayenne, Hungarian hot wax, fresno and aji rico varieties are all producing. Signs in the field indicate what to look for in terms of ripeness, as well as how spicy varieties are.

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

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

PYO Flower CSA:

The flower field is in full bloom! We will offer picking until our first frost (often mid September) however after another 2-3 weeks the selection will decrease. 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, bachelors button, ammi, scabiosa and more! Please pick stems above the first branching to encourage future growth. Picking is available for Flower CSA members as well as to the public for purchase by the bouquet.

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA the farm store this week we will also have flower bouquets, leeks, celery, green and purple peppers. We also have eggs from Codman Farm and honey from Double B. There are no mushrooms available for the month of August, but we will have Fat Moon Mushrooms back in the stand again in September. We might have sweet corn from Verrill Farm later this week - if so it would be here for Friday and Saturday. The heavy July rains and the birds have unfortunately been wreaking havoc on their harvest!

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.

Ratatouille

by Cookie and Kate

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pounds ripe red tomatoes (6 medium or 4 large)

• 1 medium eggplant (1 pound), diced into ½-inch cubes

• 1 large red, orange, or yellow bell pepper (about 8 ounces), cut into ¾-inch squares

• 1 medium-to-large zucchini (about 8 ounces), diced into ½-inch cubes

• 1 large yellow squash (about 8 ounces), diced into ½-inch cubes

• 5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided

• ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt, divided, more to taste

• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped

• 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

• ¼ cup chopped fresh basil

• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, more or less to taste

• ¼ teaspoon dried oregano

• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit with one rack in the middle of the oven and one in the upper third of the oven. Line two large, rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper for easy clean-up, if desired.

2. To prepare your tomatoes, remove any woody cores with a paring knife. Then, grate them on the large holes of a box grater into a bowl (this is easiest if you hold the tomato at a diagonal), and chop any remaining tomato skin. Or, blitz the tomatoes in a food processor until they are broken into a frothy pulp. Set aside.

3. On one baking sheet, toss the diced eggplant with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil until lightly coated. Arrange the eggplant in a single layer across the pan, sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon of the salt, and set aside.

4. On the other baking sheet, toss the bell pepper, zucchini and yellow squash with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and ¼ teaspoon salt. Arrange the vegetables in a single layer. Place the eggplant pan on the middle rack and the other vegetables on the top rack. Set the timer for 15 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, warm 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is tender and caramelizing on the edges, about 8 to 10 minutes.

6. Add the garlic, stir, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, and use a wooden spoon or sturdy silicone spatula to stir any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan into the mixture. Reduce the heat to medium-low, or as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer.

7. Once 15 minutes are up, remove both pans from the oven, stir, and redistribute the contents of each evenly across the pans. This time, place the eggplant on the top rack and other vegetables on the middle rack.

8. Bake until the eggplant is nice and golden on the edges, about 10 more minutes (the eggplant will be done sooner than the rest). Remove the eggplant from the oven, and carefully stir the eggplant into the simmering tomato sauce.

9. Let the squash and bell pepper pan continue to bake until the peppers are caramelized, about 5 to 10 more minutes. Then, transfer the contents of the pan into the simmering sauce. Continue simmering for 5 more minutes to give the flavors time to meld.

10. Remove the pot from the heat. Stir in 1 teaspoon olive oil, the fresh basil and red pepper flakes. Crumble the dried oregano between your fingers as you drop it into the pot. Season to taste with additional salt (I usually add ¼ teaspoon more) and black pepper.

11. Serve in bowls, perhaps with a little drizzle of olive oil, additional chopped basil, or black pepper on top (all optional). Like all stews, this ratatouille’s flavor improves as it cools. It’s even better reheated the next day. Ratatouille keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for 4 days, or for several months in the freezer.

CSA Week 10 and Farm Stand updates

With the growing conditions we’ve had this season, all we can say right now is thank goodness for our high tunnels! Out in the field we’ve seen yellowing leaves in some crops - evidence of too much water during the heavy rains. It’s particularly noticeable in our winter squash, which went in the ground only a few weeks before the heavy rains, and which we never mulch (one of the many things plastic mulches can do is protect against nutrient leaching). We’ve also seen symptoms of wet weather-loving leaf diseases on some of our plants like powdery mildew in our summer squash and zucchini, alternaria on cucumbers, anthracnose on melons, early blight on tomatoes, and downy mildew in our basil. These diseases thrive in wet weather and many of them spread when water splashes on them. Since we don’t use any fungicides, they all arrive eventually every season, they just normally aren’t so widespread this early! While the fruit on these plants is safe to eat, the result of the damage on the plants is a decrease in productivity in both quantity of fruit and length of the picking season.

In our pepper and tomato high tunnels, though, it’s a different story. Protected from the elements, these plants are lush and green right now, and they are also very productive! Each high tunnel is about one sixteenth of an acre, yet they can each produce enough for our farm stand and 250-member CSA. In addition to protecting plants from disease and over-watering, these tunnels provide a warmer environment that allows us to enjoy colored peppers and tomatoes 3 or 4 weeks earlier than we might have otherwise this year!

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. Please note we do our best to predict what will be available each week, but conditions change and there may be slight variations in what’s available!

• Summer leeks - we planted several varieties this year. These leeks are smaller and a bit more tender than the ones we’ll enjoy later in the season.

• Colored peppers - from our high tunnel! It’s just the start of colored peppers so they will be limited for now, but they will hopefully be ripening at a faster pace soon

• Tomatoes- still mostly from our high tunnels, but they have been cranking out a good supply for such a small space! You’ll see a mix of red and orange slicers, as well as some hybrid and heirloom types called Ginfizz, which is yellow with pink stripes, as well as Marnour, Carbon and Cuba Libre, which are purplish with yellowy-green shoulders. All are delicious!

• Eggplant - still limited this week, but based on the number of small fruit on the plants, I think we are approaching abundance soon!

• Lettuce

• Mizuna - A frilly, mild salad green.

• Swiss chard or arugula

• Kale

• Beets - Golden and red

• Carrots

• Celery

• Cucumbers or Summer squash/zucchini - we don’t have high hopes for the zucchini and summer squash turning a corner, but there is one last cuke planting that looks promising, so we’re hoping for a return to cucumber plenty in another week or two. The high tunnel cukes are done for the season, but they had a really good run!

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.

• Cherry tomatoes

• Hot peppers - jalapeño, cayenne, Hungarian hot wax, fresno and aji rico varieties are all producing. Signs in the field indicate what to look for in terms of ripeness, as well as how spicy varieties are.

• Sunflowers

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

• Herbs- parsley, dill flowers, sage, thyme. The basil has begun to succumb to downy mildew so it is tougher picking for leaves that do not have any brown damage.

PYO Flower CSA:

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, bachelors button, ammi, scabiosa and more! Please pick stems above the first branching to encourage future growth. Picking is available for Flower CSA members as well as to the public for purchase by the bouquet.

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA the farm store this week we will also have flower bouquets and potatoes. We also have eggs from Codman Farm and honey from Double B. There are no mushrooms available for the month of August, but we will have Fat Moon Mushrooms back in the stand again in September. No sweet corn from Verrill just yet - the cool rainy weather in July has stunted several plantings - but we hope to have some soon!

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.

Italian Peperonata Sauce

from VeggieSociety.com

Ingredients

• 3 bell peppers (mixed colors) -cut into 1 inch pieces

• 1.5 lb heirloom tomatoes -mixed variety

• 1 small leek -sliced and rinsed well

• 1 purple onion -sliced

• 2 cloves garlic -chopped

• 1 pinch red chili flakes

• 1 tsp sea salt (or to taste)

• 1 lemon -juiced

• 1/3 cup fresh herbs (basil, oregano, chives)

• 2 tbsp water

Instructions

1. Heat up a large skillet over medium low flame and saute the leeks with a pinch of sea salt in a splash of olive oil or water until wilted (omit the oil for WFPB & Plantricious compliance). Add the purple onions and bell peppers and cook another 5 minutes until the peppers start to soften. Stir in the garlic and give everything a good stir.

2. Meanwhile cut the tomatoes into wedges and add them to the skillet with the peppers. Stir well and bring to a simmer. Cover with a lid and cook another 5 minutes or so until the tomatoes release all their juice and a nice sauce forms.

3. Squeeze the juice of half the lemon into the peperonata stew, taste and season with more sea salt and lemon juice.

4. Sprinkle with the fresh herbs and serve with your favorite pasta, over polenta or a crusty piece of bread.

Leek, Cherry Tomato and Pecorino Pizza

Adapted from Food & Wine, October 2009

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour, for dusting

• 1 1/2 pounds pizza dough, cut into 8 pieces

• 1/4 cup plus olive oil, plus more for brushing

• 2 large leeks, sliced 1/4 inch thick

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 32 cherry tomatoes, halved

• 1/4 pound truffled pecorino cheese, thinly sliced

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 500°. Heat a pizza stone on the bottom of the oven for 45 minutes. (Alternatively, heat a large inverted baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven for 5 minutes.) On a lightly floured work surface, roll out each piece of dough to a 7-inch round. Oil 3 large baking sheets and place the dough rounds on the sheets. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Add the leeks, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 8 minutes; transfer to a plate. Generously flour a pizza peel. Place a dough round on the peel and brush with olive oil. Top with some of the leeks, tomatoes and pecorino cheese. Slide the dough round onto the hot stone or baking sheet and bake for about 4 minutes, until bubbling and crisp. Repeat with the remaining ingredients and serve.

CSA Week 9 and Farm Stand Updates

Late July through early August are often viewed as a time that epitomizes summer bounty, but from a farmers’ perspective, we often view it as coming a little later. It’s true that we start to see many summer crops like peppers, tomatoes and eggplant, and ideally summer squash, zucchini and cucumbers continue to be in ready supply as well during this period. However, lettuce and greens are tough to produce in the heat of summer, solanceous crops (eggplant, tomatoes and peppers) generally aren’t producing in quantities that allow us to have unlimited supplies yet, and unfortunately the excessive rains in early July stunted the summer squash and zucchini successions we had been planning to harvest this week. This time of year we will often have a juggling act of switching back and forth between more exciting summer crops, hence you might see a choice of peppers OR eggplant in the CSA, or you might see items in the store that aren’t in the CSA, or vice versa. Usually by late August lettuce and greens are faring better, fall crop favorites are starting to be in supply, and we have more than we know what to do with of eggplant, peppers and tomatoes.

While it can be tricky to ensure a variety of popular crops this time of year, it’s getting easier to keep up with a lot of our field work! Last week we planted out the last of our fall broccoli and scallions, and most of what is left in our greenhouses now are lettuce successions. We also caught up on weeding and trellising tomatoes in both the high tunnel and field. Our fall carrot and beet seedlings got some much needed weeding attention, and with some drier weather we were able to cultivate many other fall crops with the tractors. We’ve been working on fencing too, with a barrier going up around our watermelon to keep the coyotes out (they had the audacity to eat unripe watermelon last week!) and the deer fencing across the street nearing completion. This week we’re looking forward to getting a lot of weeding done, as well as mowing and tilling in many finished plantings to prep for seeding cover crop!

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. Please note we do our best to predict what will be available each week, but conditions change and there may be slight variations in what’s available!

• Tomatoes- slowly increasing in supply! These will still be mostly from the high tunnel. Our field tomatoes are just starting to produce, so we should see greater yields soon.

• Peter Wilcox Potatoes - Purple skin with white flesh.

• Peppers or Eggplant - don’t worry, peppers and eggplant will likely eventually be unlimited, but they are always a little slow to take off in August (and the cooler overnight temps we’ve been experiencing have meant also slower growth). When we are making our crop plans each winter, we have to resist the temptation to plant enough to have unlimited supply in late July and early August, otherwise we’d have a mountain of unharvested vegetables in late August!

• Mizuna - A frilly, mild salad green.

• Beets - Golden and red

• Celery - a new planting

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

• Fresh onions or summer leeks

• Cucumbers - mostly picklers, but there may be some slicing cukes mixed in as supply allows.

• Carrots

• Curly kale

• Lettuce - We now are seeing the result of early summer woodchuck feasting in our lettuce field. Half of two successive plantings were eaten as seedlings, therefore lettuce will be limited this week. However, the next few plantings are in great shape and should size up in the next week or two, so the shortage shouldn’t last long!

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.

• Hot peppers

• Sunflowers

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

• Herbs- parsley, basil, dill flowers, sage, thyme. The basil has begun to succumb to downy mildew so is tougher picking for leaves that do not have any brown damage.

We are giving cherry tomatoes a rest for a little bit, but picking will be plentiful soon!

PYO Flower CSA:

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, bachelors button, ammi, scabiosa and more! Please pick stems above the first branching to encourage future growth. Picking is available for Flower CSA members as well as to the public for purchase by the bouquet.

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA the farm store this week will also have colored peppers, flower bouquets, mini cabbage, and summer squash. We also have eggs from Codman Farm and honey from Double B. There are no mushrooms available for the month of August, but we will have Fat Moon Mushrooms back in the stand again in September. No sweet corn from Verrill yet - the cool rainy weather in July has stunted several plantings - but we hope to have some in a week or so.

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.

Green Gazpacho

adapted from a recipe by Jill Gibson, The Boston Globe, July 30, 2018

We’ve often shared a recipe from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi, but this version looks yummy too!

Ingredients

• 2 slices firm white bread, left out to dry, crusts removed, torn in pieces

• ⅓ cup plain yogurt

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 tablespoons lime juice

• 4 cups fresh spinach, tough stems removed (or try a mild green like mizuna!)

• 1 large slicing cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded, and chopped (or use a couple of pickling cukes)

• ½ green bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped

• 1 ripe avocado, halved, pitted and peeled

• ½ jalapeno or other small green chile, seeded

• ¼ cup chopped fresh basil

• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

• ¼cup chopped fresh mint

• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped

• 1½ cups water, or more if needed

• Salt and black pepper, to taste

• Extra olive oil (for sprinkling)

• 2 scallions, thinly sliced (for garnish)

• 1 lime, cut into 6 wedges (for serving)

Preparation

1. In a bowl, combine the bread, yogurt, olive oil, and lime juice. Mash until the bread is softened.

2. In a food processor, combine the spinach, cucumber, bell pepper, avocado, jalapeno or other chile, basil, parsley, mint, garlic, bread mixture, ¾ cup of the water, salt, and black pepper. Pulse until the mixture is well blended, scraping down the sides of the work bowl as necessary.

3. Add the additional ¾ cup water and continue to pulse until incorporated.  Add more water, ¼ cup at a time, if you like. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and black pepper, if you like.

4. Transfer to a plastic container and chill thoroughly.

5. Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with olive oil and scallions.

CSA Week 8 and Farm Stand updates

Finally we are almost caught up with getting our fall crops in the ground after our rain delay! We had saved our wettest field for our summer planting of fall brassicas like cabbage, kale and broccoli to ensure it wouldn’t be as wet as it often is in the spring. Little did we know we’d get record-breaking July rain just as it was time to plant! With a little rearranging, and some careful tractor driving, we were able to fit everything in drive-able fields with enough time for it to size up (we hope!) for the fall harvest. We seeded and reseeded beets and carrots that had alternately been scorched by late June heat and washed out by July downpours until it also became too late for those to grow in time for the fall. We think we got enough to germinate! Now we just have to catch up on all the weed growth that thrived in the wet weather and we will be all set! This week will be focused on weeding, trellising tomatoes, fencing (watermelon are sizing up that need protection and deer would love the baby cabbage plants pictured above!), and of course the harvest for you all. We continue to be very happy with the productivity of our tomato high tunnel. This week there are enough for both the CSA and farm store. With a little drier and warmer weather, hopefully we will soon be harvesting both from the field and high tunnel plantings so that we can be swimming in tomatoes! We are eagerly waiting for an increase in our pepper and eggplant harvest but in the meantime we enjoy the July staples of carrots, beets, fresh onions, and the first taste of cherry tomatoes of the season!

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.

• Tomatoes- From our high tunnel, so they are ready before our field tomatoes!

• Peppers - Limited amounts of purple and/or green peppers

• Mizuna - A frilly, mild salad green.

• 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

• Fennel

• Summer squash

• Pickling cucumbers - also great for fresh eating!

• Carrots

• Mini cabbage

• Curly kale

• Lettuce - summer crisp varieties including fusion, muir, cherokee, and magenta.

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.

• Cherry tomatoes! Look low on the plants for ripe fruit (each type will have a sign that notes what color they are when ripe). Just a taste this week but many more to come!

• Sunflowers

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

• Basil - pesto making quantities this week as several beds are open for picking!

• Other herbs - parsley, thai basil, and dill flowers will be available in smaller quantities

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, bachelors button, ammi, scabiosa and more! Please pick stems above the first branching to encourage future growth. Picking is available for Flower CSA members as well as to the public for purchase by the bouquet.

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA the farm store this week will also have colored peppers, eggplant, celery, and blueberries (blueberries may just be available early in the week and it is the last week of picking). We also have eggs from Codman Farm and honey from Double B. There are no mushrooms available for the next month, as production shuts down in August, but we will have Fat Moon Mushrooms back in the stand again in September.

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.

One-Skillet Lemony Chicken with Fennel and Tomatoes

By Andy Baraghani, from Bon Appetit July 24th, 2018

• 6 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (about 2 lb. total)

• Kosher salt 2 Tbsp.

• plus ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 fennel bulb

• 2 medium shallots (or fresh red onions)

• 1 large heirloom tomato or beefsteak tomato

• 1 lemon

• Freshly ground black pepper

• Toasted bread (for serving)

1. Place a rack in top third of oven; preheat to 425º. Pat 6 chicken thighs dry with paper towels; season all over with salt.

2. Place a large ovenproof skillet on stovetop and pour in 2 Tbsp. oil. Transfer chicken thighs to skillet, skin side down, and heat over medium. (That's right: Those chicken thighs are going into a cold pan, and then you turn the heat on. Trust!) Cook, rotating skillet to encourage even browning, until opaque around the edges and skin is deeply golden brown, 8–11 minutes. Transfer skin side up to a plate.

3. Meanwhile, do some prep: First, remove fennel fronds from 1 fennel bulb and reserve for making the sauce. Cut fennel head in half lengthwise. Place halves cut side down on cutting board, then cut each half into ½" wedges.

4. Peel and slice 2 shallots into quarters lengthwise.

5. Cut 1 tomato crosswise into ½" rounds.

6. Trims ends off 1 lemon. Cut half of the lemon into thin rounds (about ⅛"). Reserve remaining half of lemon for later.

7. Adjust heat to medium-high and add sliced fennel, shallots, and lemon rounds to skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until fennel just begins to soften, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and give mixture another stir. Remove skillet from heat. 8. Arrange tomato rounds and chicken over fennel mixture; season with salt and pepper.

9. Transfer skillet to oven and roast until chicken thighs are cooked through (an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part near the bone should register 165°), juices run clear, and vegetables begin to caramelize around edges of pan, 16–20 minutes. Carefully remove skillet from oven and let rest 5 minutes.

Bright Green Pesto

by Martha Rose Schulman, NY Times Cooking

·       2 cups tightly packed, fresh basil leaves

·       Salt to taste

·       2 tablespoons lightly toasted pine nuts or untoasted chopped walnuts

·       ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil

·       2 garlic cloves, halved, green shoots removed

·       ⅓ to ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan

Bring a medium-size saucepan full of water to a boil while you rinse basil leaves. Fill a bowl with ice water and place it next to the saucepan with a skimmer close by. When water comes to a boil, salt generously and add basil leaves. Push them down into the water with the back of a skimmer to submerge, count to five, then remove immediately with skimmer and transfer to ice water. Drain and squeeze out excess water. Place pine nuts or walnuts in a food processor and process until finely ground. Add blanched basil and kosher salt to taste (I use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon) and process until finely chopped. With machine running, slowly add olive oil and continue to process for a full minute, or until the mix is reduced to a fine purée. Transfer to a bowl. Purée garlic in a mortar and pestle, or put through a garlic press, and stir into the pesto. Add Parmesan and stir in. You will end up with about 2/3 cup of pesto.

Freshly picked flowers from our pick-your-own field.