Extended/Flex CSA Week 22

We have been plowing through tasks this fall! Most of our irrigation has been removed from the fields, cover crop has been seeded in every available square inch, garlic has been planted and mulched, and barn organization has begun in earnest. We have more organizing tasks to tackle in the coming weeks, as well as a few things in the field to button up, like covering our strawberries, taking down deer fencing, and putting up coyote fencing around the fall-planted strawberries. We’ll also begin cramming equipment into greenhouses and barns for the winter as soon as we free up the space. As we check off tasks and the window of mild weather narrows, our days start to incorporate more office time, and soon we will begin making our crop plans for 2023!

In the CSA this week:

• Autumn Frost squash - A specialty butternut squash that stores well and has a sweet earthy taste. It is great for cooking any way you usually use butternut squash, such as roasting or pies. The skin softens when cooked, so if you don’t want to peel it, you can slice in wedges and roast.

• Tetsukabuto squash - Skins are edible, so you can slice them into thin wedges and roast without peeling.

• Sweet potatoes

• Potatoes - We have moved on from our own potatoes to yellow potatoes from Atlas Farm in Deerfield, MA. These are certified organic. We will be distributing Atlas Farm-grown potatoes for the remainder of the CSA!

• Leeks

• Garlic

• Peppers - We cleared out green peppers from our high tunnels before the harder frosts over the weekend, so this will likely be the last week for peppers!

• Beets

• Purple top turnips - These store well and are best for cooking!

• Radishes - We have started harvesting watermelon radishes this week (the radishes with the hot pink interiors!). We will also have white and purple mini daikon.

• Salad turnips - We grew these as a great salad addition for the late fall! They are sweet and can be eaten raw.

• Salanova Lettuce Mix- from our high tunnel.

• Red leaf lettuce - field grown head lettuce.

• Cabbage

• Brussels sprouts - We distribute Brussels sprouts still on the stalk. Just pop them off at home and follow your favorite recipe.

• Fennel

Coming up: In the next couple of weeks we’ll have lemongrass, green tomatoes, popcorn, kale, rutabaga, onions, mixed squash types (butternut, delicata, acorn, pie pumpkins), organic carrots from Atlas Farm and organic butternut from Lakeview Organics in Hadley, MA. We will also continue to have many of the favorites we are enjoying now, like salanova, sweet potatoes, potatoes, beets, garlic and cabbage.

Farm Store:

Though the store is closed for the season, we will have a few add-ons available for purchase during CSA pick-ups, including cranberries, honey and raspberry vinegar.

We are planning a pop-up sale right before Thanksgiving - details will be available as we get closer to the date and have a chance to assess what will be available!

Fall Mushroom CSA

It is the eighth week of the 10-week Fall Mushroom CSA. Since the farm store is now closed, pick-up for the Fall mushroom CSA this week until the end of the CSA will be Thursdays 3pm-6pm and Saturdays 9am-3pm. Mushrooms will be delivered on Thursdays by 3pm in order to have them as fresh as possible for the new schedule. Please email Melissa to make other arrangements if you can not make the new pick-up times.

Radish Wands

from Vegan Dollhouse

These are a really simple, cute and kid-friendly use of colorful radishes!

Ingredients:

• 2 watermelon radishes

• 2 purple daikon radishes

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil (or sub olive, safflower, or sunflower oil)

• salt

Preparation:

Peel all 4 radishes. You don’t have to peel them, but I think the peels are spicy, so I always peel mine.

Slice the radishes like you would slice a tomato. You want the slices to be thick enough that they won’t break when you stick the skewers in them. Compost (or throw away or save for making stock) the ends.

Cut hearts out of the slices. I used the smaller sizes from the heart-shaped cookie cutter set, but you can use any shape cookie cutters you have.

Toss the radish hearts with half of the melted coconut oil and salt.

Push the heart radishes onto the bamboo skewers leaving some space between each one. I also try to leave space on one end to hold the wand.

Bake them in the oven at 375°for 12-13 minutes or pop them into the air fryer at 370°for 5 minutes.

Toss the radish scraps with pink sea salt and the rest of the oil. You can also add onion powder and garlic powder if you like those flavors.

Bake the scraps in the oven at 375° for 15 minutes or pop them into the air fryer at 370° for 5-6 minutes.

Serve the cute veggie skewers with or without dip. I dipped mine in vegan mayo mixed with mustard and garlic powder. You could make a pink dip to match by adding beetroot powder instead of mustard.

Photo by Vegan Dollhouse

Last Week of the Farm Store and Extended/Flex CSA Week 21!

We can’t help snapping a photo any time we get to plant in the fall! On Friday we started planting garlic and we will have more to plant this week once the rain dies down. This will be the garlic we harvest next July. So far we have strawberries, tulips, daffodils and now some garlic planted for next year. We love fall planted crops because we get to check off some of the 2023 planting before the new year and we don’t have to do much weeding! We are also experimenting with some new crops for the spring including overwintered scallions in the field and Bridal Pink snapdragons in a high tunnel. Later this winter we will start additional high tunnel planting for spring harvest.

This week is the last week of the Farm Store for the 2022 season! Farm store hours are the same as usual this week: Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm. Barrett’s Bucks expire at the end of this week when the Farm Store closes. The Main Season CSA is now over but the Extended Season and Flex CSAs continue until November 19th with adjusted pick-up hours: Thursday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm only (no Tuesday pick-ups).

In the CSA this week:

• Autumn Frost squash - A specialty butternut squash that stores well and has a sweet earthy taste. It is great for cooking any way you usually use butternut squash, such as roasting or pies. The skin softens when cooked, so if you don’t want to peel it, you can slice in wedges and roast.

• Tetsukabuto squash - Skins are edible, so you can slice them into thin wedges and roast without peeling.

• Potatoes

• Spinach

• Salad turnips - We grew these as a great salad addition for the late fall! They are sweet and can be eaten raw.

• Red leaf lettuce - This field grown lettuce has been covered for the past month and is finally ready for harvest!

• Storage onions

• Escarole - It is a great week for escarole bean soup! Escarole looks like lettuce but is more bitter and is best when cooked.

• Cabbage

• Brussels sprouts - We distribute Brussels sprouts still on the stalk. Just pop them off at home and follow your favorite recipe.

• Sweet potatoes

• Fennel

• Carrots

• Beets

• Peppers

• Herbs - There will be a choice of cilantro that has been harvested by our crew from the high tunnel or PYO herbs (see below).

Pick-Your-Own:

If you do not want cilantro that will be available in the CSA distribution area, there will also be the option of PYO sage, thyme, lemon thyme or oregano.

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA we will have lemongrass, high tunnel tomatoes, butternut, acorn and delicata squash, corn stalks, scallions, leeks, kale, garlic, and dried flowers in the farm store this week. We will also have Jack-o’-Lanterns from Verrill Farm, eggs from Codman Farm, Double B Honey from hives here on the property, mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm, raspberry jam and vinegar from Silferleaf Farm in Concord, and certified organic cranberries from Fresh Meadows Farm in Carver, MA.

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. The Farm Store will be open until Saturday, October 29th, 2022. 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:

The PYO Flower CSA is closed for the season.

Fall Mushroom CSA

It is the seventh week of the 10-week Fall Mushroom CSA, and this week will be a “Farmer’s Mix.” For more information about each variety Fat Moon Farm grows, check out the “Types We Grow” page of their website: https://fatmoonmushrooms.com/pages/types-we-grow! Pick-up for the Fall mushroom CSA this week continues to be any time the farm store is open, Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm. Next week the farm store will be closed so the the pick-up schedule will change. Mushroom CSA pick-ups for November (the last 3 weeks) will be Thursdays 3pm-6pm and Saturdays 9am-3pm. Mushrooms will be delivered on Thursdays by 3pm in order to have them as fresh as possible for the new schedule. Please email Melissa to make other arrangements if you can not make the new pick-up times.

Sweet Potato Tacos

By Karoline Boehm Goodnick in the Boston Globe

Ingredients

• 2 large sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds total), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

• Salt, to taste

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 small red onion, one-half finely chopped and one-half thinly sliced

• 1 jalapeno or other small chile pepper, cored, seeded, and finely chopped

• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped

• 1 tablespoon paprika

• 1 tablespoon ground cumin

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar

• ½ cup sour cream

• ⅓ cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

• 8 small corn tortillas, warmed

• 2 cups shredded red or green cabbage

• Handful fresh cilantro leaves (for garnish)

• 2 limes, cut into wedges (for serving)

Preparation

1. Set the oven at 375 degrees. Have on hand a rimmed baking sheet.

2. In a bowl, toss the sweet potatoes with the salt and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Transfer to the baking sheet. Roast for 10 minutes. The potatoes will not be cooked through. After 10 minutes, remove the potatoes from the oven and turn the temperature up to 400 degrees.

3. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the chopped red onion and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes. Add the jalapeno and garlic, and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes more. Add the paprika and cumin and stir for 1 minute, or until the spices are aromatic. Stir in the tomato paste and vinegar and cook to release any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

4. Gently transfer the sweet potatoes to the skillet and stir gently until they are coated with the seasonings. Tip the sweet potato mixture back onto the baking sheet.

5. Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and roast the potatoes, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they are tender when pierced with a skewer.

6. In a blender or food processor, combine the sour cream and chopped cilantro. Blend until it forms a smooth paste.

7. Lay the tortillas on a work surface. Spread a spoonful of sour cream on each, and top with cabbage and sweet potatoes. Garnish with sliced red onion and cilantro leaves. Serve with lime.

CSA Week 20 and Farm Stand updates

This is the last week for the Main Season CSA! The farm store will be open this week and next, with the last day of the farm store for the season on Saturday, October 29th (2022 Barrett’s Bucks expire at that time). Extended and Flex CSAs continue for 4 more weeks, until November 19th. However, this is the last week for Tuesday pick-ups for the Extended and Flex CSAs. For the last 4 weeks CSA pick-ups options will be Thursday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm.

Most of our work this time of year (other than harvest!) involves field clean-up like pulling up trellising stakes, landscape fabric and plastic mulch. However, there is still some planting work as well! Last week we planted tulips for next spring, and we also planted a new bed of daffodils to expand our late April offerings. In the next week or two we will also begin planting garlic for next season.

Harvestable crops aren’t the only thing we’ve been planting though! Cover crop is a really important component of our soil health management practices, so we have been seeding cover crop as soon as we free up field space. We start in August with a field pea and oat mixture, as well as a mix of annual ryegrass and clover. The clover and ryegrass mixture goes in the pathways of our cabbage and kale plantings, as this cover crop can handle some trampling as we walk up and down the pathways harvesting throughout the fall. Since we are continuously harvesting these crops up until (and sometimes thru) November, by the time we are done with these crops it is too late to establish any cover crop. Having the clover and ryegrass mix in the path ensures that we can keep this ground covered over the winter while still harvesting it as late into the season as possible. By mid-September we shift to an Austrian winter pea (a hardier type of pea) and triticale mix. By October we shift to winter rye, but once you get to mid/late October it is too late for any cover crop to establish in the field before the winter. While winter rye doesn’t offer the same nitrogen-fixing services that peas or clover offer, they still are important for erosion control and they contribute to organic matter in the spring!

In the CSA this week:

• Tetsukabuto squash - This squash first caught our eye in the seed catalog a few years ago, where it was billed as “the perfect squash for the apocalypse.” It is a cross between a butternut and kabocha squash, and the hardiness and productivity of the plants, as well as their solid flavor and storage qualities won us over! Skins are edible, so you can slice them into thin wedges and roast without peeling.

• Storage turnips

• Cabbage - We’ll continue to have savoy cabbage, as well as green and purple storage cabbage

• Brussels sprouts - We distribute Brussels sprouts still on the stalk. Just pop them off at home and follow your favorite recipe (or see one below!).

• Sweet potatoes

• Leeks

• Scallions

• Garlic

• Fennel

• Peppers - mostly green, but we might have some purple peppers in the mix as well!

• Carrots

• Beets

• Broccoli - Still going strong! We’re hoping to continue to have some available for one more week of the Extended/Flex Season!

• Kale

• Lettuce - We have been covering the head lettuce out in the field with row cover to speed up their growth and protect them from cooler temperatures.

Pick-Your-Own:

The PYO fields are closed for the season. There may be some herbs available in the Extended Season (we planted some cilantro in the high tunnels and hope we’ll be able to harvest it for the CSA before the end of the season!)

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA we will have lemongrass, high tunnel tomatoes, butternut, acorn and delicata squash, corn stalks, and dried flowers in the farm store this week. We will also have Jack-o’-Lanterns from Verrill Farm, eggs from Codman Farm, Double B Honey from hives here on the property, mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm, raspberry jam and vinegar from Silferleaf Farm in Concord, and certified organic cranberries from Fresh Meadows Farm in Carver, MA.

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. The Farm Store will be open until Saturday, October 29th, 2022. 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:

The PYO Flower CSA is finished for the season as the last plants were done in by the recent frosts.

Fall Mushroom CSA

It is the sixth week of the 10-week Fall Mushroom CSA. The variety this week’s bags are a mix of lion’s mane and shiitake! For more information about each variety Fat Moon Farm grows, check out the “Types We Grow” page of their website: https://fatmoonmushrooms.com/pages/types-we-grow! Pick-up for the Fall mushroom CSA is any time the farm store is open, Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm.

Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

from The Food Charlatan

Ingredients

• 1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed

• 1 large sweet potato, 1 pound

• 2 cloves garlic, smashed

• 1/3 cup olive oil

• 1 teaspoon cumin

• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

• 1 teaspoon salt

• pepper, to taste

• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

• thyme, fresh, to garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Trim your Brussels by cutting off the little brown end. If there are any yellow leaves, pull them off. Cut any large ones in half. Add to a large bowl.

3. Peel your sweet potato and chop into 1-2 inch pieces. Add to the large bowl.

4. Smash 2 cloves of garlic and add it to the bowl.

5. Pour 1/3 cup olive oil over the vegetables.

6. Add cumin, garlic salt, salt, and pepper to taste. Stir to coat.

7. (Line a large sheet pan with foil if you want super easy cleanup)

8. Drizzle a little olive oil onto the sheet pan and rub it all over the pan (or foil) with your hand. Or you could spray it really well with nonstick spray.

9. Pour the veggies onto the pan.

10. Roast at 400 for about 40-45 minutes. The veggies are done when they are brown and a fork slides into them easily.

11. Place the veggies in a serving bowl and toss with 1-2 tablespoons red wine vinegar to taste. Garnish with fresh thyme if you want. Eat hot!

Broccoli & Lemongrass Soup

from Beautiful Bites

Ingredients

• 3 garlic cloves (or 4 small cloves), finely chopped

• 1 tbsp. olive oil

• 2 heads broccoli, chopped

• 4 stalks lemongrass

• 2 cans coconut milk (whole fat is best, but light coconut milk will work too)

• 2.5 cups vegetable broth

• 1 lemon, juiced

• salt and pepper for seasoning

1. Heat olive oil in a medium stock pot over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes before adding broccoli, lemongrass, coconut milk, vegetable broth into the pot as well. Season with salt and bring to a simmer, allowing to cook for about 40 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

2. Using an immersion blender, purée soup until smooth. Add lemon juice, more salt to taste, and a few cranks of pepper.

3. Serve hot with chopped roasted nuts and a swirl of coconut yogurt.

CSA Week 19 and Farm Stand Updates

Well, we have officially had two frosts on the farm and it looks like we’ll get a third one Tuesday morning! Fortunately, it they were light and well predicted frosts, so we were able to clear fruit off of the pepper plants in the field beforehand (it’s a few degrees warmer inside our high tunnels, so the protected pepper plants are still fine). Light frosts can kill off tomatoes, eggplant, beans, basil and flowers, but almost everything else still growing on the farm can tolerate a light frost. Some things like sweet potatoes and broccoli are even said to get sweeter after a light frost! We have some crops that we have not even begun to harvest like Brussels sprouts, rutabaga, and storage cabbage that are meant to be grown into late October, so will do just fine as long as we don’t have a hard freeze. We will start to harvest some of these late fall crops next week for the last week of the Main Season CSA and will continue into the Extended Season.

There is just one more week of the Main Season CSA after this week for a total of 20 weeks. If you aren’t sure what membership you have check with the shopkeeper when you pick up! The Flex and Extended Season CSAs continue until November 19th, however CSA pick-up days change to Thursdays and Saturdays only after October 22nd (there are no Tuesday pick-ups starting the week of October 25th). The last day of the Farm Store for the season is Saturday, October 29th. Barrett’s Bucks expire on October 29th.

In the CSA this week:

• Sweet potatoes! The first beds we harvested have been cured in the greenhouse and are ready to eat! They will store best at room temperature in a dry, dark space.

• Scallions- We saved some scallions in the field to pair with sweet potatoes this week - see the recipe below!

• Garlic

• Salanova Lettuce Mix

• Broccoli

• Potatoes - The variety is called King Harry and it has yellow skin and white flesh.

• Fennel

• Peppers - We cleared the plants out in the field on Saturday before the frost, so we have green and purple peppers this week. We will likely run through those peppers this week, but we may have limited amounts of high tunnel peppers in the future.

• Butternut squash

• Beets

• Arugula

• Savoy cabbage

• Mustard Greens

• Radishes - White and purple mini daikon varieties

Pick-Your-Own:

There may be a few cherry tomatoes and hot peppers early in the week if they survive tonight’s frost (they do seem to still be standing after frosts this weekend!) . We don’t anticipate them lasting all week.

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA we will have high tunnel tomatoes, acorn and delicata squash, lettuce, eggplant, carrots, corn stalks, and dried flowers in the farm store this week. We will also have Jack-o’-Lanterns from Verrill Farm, eggs from Codman Farm, Double B Honey from hives here on the property, mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm, raspberry jam and vinegar from Silferleaf Farm in Concord, and certified organic cranberries from Fresh Meadows Farm in Carver, MA.

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. The Farm Store will be open until Saturday, October 29th, 2022. 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:

The PYO Flower CSA is finished for the season as the last plants were done in by the recent frosts.

Fall Mushroom CSA

It is the fifth week of the 10-week Fall Mushroom CSA. The variety this week’s bags are a mix of king trumpet and blue oyster! For more information about each variety Fat Moon Farm grows, check out the “Types We Grow” page of their website: https://fatmoonmushrooms.com/pages/types-we-grow! Pick-up for the Fall mushroom CSA is any time the farm store is open, Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm.

Sweet potato cakes

Adapted from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

• 2 ¼ lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks

• 2 tsp soy sauce

• ¾ cup flour

• 1 tsp salt

• ½ tsp sugar

• 3 tbsp scallion, chopped

• ½ tsp fresh chilli, finely chopped

• Lots of butter, for frying

For the sauce:

• 3 tbsp Greek yogurt

• 3 tbsp sour cream

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• Salt and pepper

• 1 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Steam the sweet potato until soft, then drain in a colander for up to an hour. Meanwhile, whisk the sauce ingredients until smooth and set aside. In a mixing bowl, work all the fritter ingredients by hand - it should be sticky, so if it's a little runny, add some flour. Melt some butter in a nonstick pan. Use a tablespoon to put mix in the frying pan and flatten slightly with the back of the spoon. and fry on moderate heat until you get a nice, brown crust, turning as necessary - about six minutes. Place between two sheets of paper towels to soak up the excess butter. Serve hot or warm, with the sauce on the side.

Sweet Potato Cranberry Casserole

from Aberdeen’s Kitchen, November 20th, 2020

Ingredients

For the casserole:

• 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

• 1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced

• ½ cup fresh cranberries

• ½ cup pecans, roughly chopped

• 1 tablespoon orange zest

• ¼ cup orange juice

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• ½ teaspoon ground ginger

• ¼ cup brown sugar

• ½ teaspoon coarse salt

For the Topping

• 1 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

• ¼ cup brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons orange juice

• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger

• ¼ cup pecans, roughly chopped

• ¼ cup pomegranate arils

• Fresh thyme leaves, for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease or butter a 9X13 casserole dish.

2. Combine all the ingredients for the casserole in a large bowl until thoroughly mixed. Add to greased casserole dish in an even layer.

3. Whisk together all the ingredients for the topping (except the pomegranate seeds and thyme) in a small bowl until completely mixed. Drizzle evenly over the casserole.

4. Place in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, until sweet potatoes are easily pierced with a fork. If the top starts to get too browned, cover with a piece of foil and continue to cook until fork tender.

5. Remove to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and serve.

CSA Week 18 and Farm Stand Updates!

We harvested our first two beds of sweet potatoes last week and they were filled with beautiful big - but not too big - sweet potatoes! Sweet potatoes are one of our fall crops that take some time to sweeten up, so after harvesting we laid them out in the greenhouse and turned the heat on to keep them at optimal curing temperatures to turn their starches to sugars. The curing process takes about 5-10 days, so we will begin to give them out next week in the CSA (week 19) and farm store when they are cured and ready to eat! We will continue to harvest the remaining beds and keep them rotating through the greenhouse to cure before being distributed. Before we get to the sweet potatoes next week we have a lot of great veggies this week, including more King Harry Potatoes, broccoli, and the return of Salanova lettuce mix! We also have a late-in-the-game eggplant field recovery! We lost about 70% of our eggplant plants to Colorado Potato Beetles, and the remaining plants were so damaged that we have only gotten a couple of small harvests for the store over the course of the season. We finally have a larger quantity this week, so CSA members will have the choice of eggplant or peppers at each pick-up this week. We are anticipating a frost this week, which feels fitting as many of the fields are in cover crop, the field tomatoes have stopped producing, and the crew is starting later due to the later sunrise. There are also just two weeks left after this one in the Main Season CSA!

In the CSA this week:

• Salanova Lettuce Mix - This will be limited this week to make sure everyone gets some after patiently waiting for our current planting to size up! We should have more again this fall before the end of the season because we have another planting under row cover, as well as a full high tunnel planted in Salanova for the Extended Season.

• Broccoli - The plantings that are ready this week are producing nicer quality heads than earlier plantings because the plants matured after the most severe heat of the summer.

• Potatoes - The variety is called King Harry and it has yellow skin and white flesh.

• Fennel

• Leeks

• Eggplant or peppers

• Butternut squash or Pie pumpkins - This is probably the last week in the Main Season CSA for pie pumpkins (there will likely be some in the Extended season).

• Beets

• Carrots

• Arugula

• Savoy cabbage

• Curly green kale

• Radishes - Red, white and purple mini daikon varieties

CSA Pick-Your-Own:

• Cherry tomatoes - They are ripening slowly lately so we have opened them every other week when we get enough to ripen for everyone to have some. If we get a frost this week it will be the end of the cherry tomatoes.

• Hot peppers- choice of Jalapeño, Aji Rico, Fresno, Hungarian Hot Wax, and Red Ember (cayenne).

• Herbs - choice of oregano, sage, thyme or lemon thyme.

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA we will have tomatoes, acorn and delicata squash, and lettuce in the farm store this week. We will also have Jack-o’-Lanterns from Verrill Farm. We also have eggs from Codman Farm, Double B Honey from hives here on the property, mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm, raspberry jam and vinegar from Silferleaf Farm in Concord, and possibly fresh raspberries from Silferleaf if available.

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. The Farm Store will be open until Saturday, October 29th, 2022. 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:

This is likely the last week for the PYO flower field, so we suggest Flower CSA members finish picking their allotted jars as soon as possible! Most flowers will be gone when we get our first frost, which may be this week. Bouquets that are not picked do not carry over to the next season. Varieties available include zinnias, gomphrena, strawflower, celosia, statice, rudbeckia, verbena, decorative basil, and amaranth. Picking hours are during any farm store hours: Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm. We recommend bringing your own pruners or scissors as well as water for transporting your flowers home.

Fall Mushroom CSA

It is the fourth week of the 10-week Fall Mushroom CSA. The variety this week is blue oyster! For more information about each variety Fat Moon Farm grows, check out the “Types We Grow” page of their website: https://fatmoonmushrooms.com/pages/types-we-grow! Pick-up for the Fall mushroom CSA is any time the farm store is open, Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm.

Harvest Pumpkin Leek Soup

from Little Spice Jar

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter

• 2 leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced

• ½ cup chopped onions

• 1 stalk celery, chopped

• 1 large carrot, chopped

• 6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

• 15 oz pureed pumpkin (cut pumpkin in half, roast both halves, scoop out the middle and puree)

• 1 bay leaf

• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (more to taste)

• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage AND fresh thyme

• ¼ teaspoon EACH: ground cinnamon AND cayenne pepper (omit for a mild soup or use more if you want it spicier)

• ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg

• 6 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)

• ⅓ - ½ cup heavy cream (or coconut cream)

Instructions

1. SAUTE: Melt the butter in a 4-quart pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the leeks, onions, celery, and carrots, cook until they soften a bit, about 7-8 minutes. Season with a small pinch of salt and add the garlic, continue to cook for 1-2 minutes or until the garlic is fragrant.

2. SIMMER: Add the pumpkin puree, bay leaf, maple syrup, herbs, spices, and chicken stock. Bring the soup to a boil and allow it to simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the flavors develop.

3. BLEND: Fish out the bay leaf, then pour in ⅓ cup of the heavy cream and stir to combine. Using a blender stick, blend the soup or by transfer the soup to a traditional blender, blend the soup until it’s smooth. Taste and adjust with additional cream if desired. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with pepitas and a drizzle of cream.