CSA Week 18 and Farm Stand Updates

With daylight hours and crew size both shrinking, we are proportionally spending larger chunks of our days on harvesting crops for the same or next day. On Tuesday last week we didn’t do anything other than harvesting. Part of that was related to the particular mix of crops last week (spinach, leek and potato harvest are time consuming for us). With this week’s crop list looking a little less time-intensive, we plan to tackle some other projects, though admittedly the top priority project is still harvest-related!

We have been putting off our sweet potato harvest for the past couple of weeks in favor of other more urgent tasks. This hadn’t been a huge concern because it’s been so warm and the plants still looked good, but the tubers require a week to cure before eating, and temperatures are dropping, so we are going to make a real push in the coming days! Sweet potato harvest goes more quickly since getting a potato digger a few years ago. However, before we can use it we still need to clip the plant vines and pull up the landscape fabric that we put down between the beds to keep the weeds down. If all goes well, all of our sweet potatoes will be curing in the warmth of our greenhouse by the end of the week!

In the CSA this week:

• Yellow Potatoes from Atlas Farm in Deerfield, MA. Certified Organic.

• Pumpkin, acorn or delicata

• Carrots

• Celery

• Fennel

• Garlic

• Green/purple peppers

• Colored peppers

• Salad Turnips

• Red King Radishes - This is a type of colorful daikon that is a more manageable size than traditional daikon.

• Cabbage - We’ll have tendersweet and savoy varieties this week.

• Kale

• Bok Choi

• Arugula

• Mustard greens - This is a new variety for us called Wasabina. It is fairly mild for a mustard green, and also has a hint of sweetness!

• Escarole

CSA Pick-Your-Own:

With the exception of some of the herbs, a frost could impact the availability of all of these crops this week. Please also note that with the shortening of the days, we will begin closing the PYO fields when it starts to get dark, which will likely be before 6:30 this week.

• Hot peppers

• Cherry Tomatoes

• Husk Cherries, Shishito or Tomatillos

• Herbs: basil, chives, dill flower, parsley, sage, thyme.

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA, we will have:

• Tomatoes

• Broccoli

• Salanova

• Lettuce

• Cranberries from Fresh Meadows in Carver, MA. Certified Organic.

• Honeycrisp Apples from Westward Orchard in Harvard, MA and Cortland Apples from Autumn Hills Orchard in Groton, MA. Available starting on Wednesday. Not Organic.Yellow Onions from Picadilly Farm in Winchester, NH. Certified Organic.

• Dahlias

• Honey from Double B (from hives on the property). Not organic.

• Mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm - Farmer’s Mix and Shiitake. Certified organic.

• Raspberry vinegar, jam, and occasionally fresh raspberries from Silferleaf Farm in Concord. Certified Organic.

• Eggs from Codman Farm in Lincoln. Not Organic.

Mushroom CSA:

It is the sixth week of the 8-week Fall Mushroom CSA. This week is Shiitake!

PYO Flowers

The field will remain open until a frost, but the selection has dwindled quite a bit.

White Bean Soup with Mustard Greens and Parmesan

from Bon Appetit, December 9, 2012

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 small white or yellow onion, thinly sliced

• 1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced

• 3 cloves minced garlic

• 1/2 bunch mustard greens, torn into 1-inch pieces

• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, plus more

• 1 15-ounce can white beans, such as canellinni

• 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Lemon wedges

Preparation

In a large heavy pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion and fennel and cook, until fragrant and fennel is softened, 7–8 minutes. Add garlic and mustard greens and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until greens are wilted, about 5 minutes. Add beans and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer gently, being careful not to break the beans, until flavors meld and soup is thickened slightly, about 10 minutes. Add Parmesan and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Divide among bowls, topping with more Parmesan if desired. Serve with lemon wedges to season.

CSA Week 17 and Farm Stand Updates

Although Tuesday is the first day of October, we have plenty of yummy veggies to enjoy! While tomatoes are slowly making their exit, we will have them this week, plus some more classic fall veggies like potatoes, pumpkins and leeks. We still have a lot to look forward to this fall, including more types of squash (butternut, Autumn Frost and Tetsukabuto), sweet potatoes, beets, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. We’ll also continue to have potatoes, carrots, cabbage, leeks and a wide array of greens through the end of the season.

There are 4 weeks left of the farm stand and Main Season CSA. The last day for both is October 26th, which is also the day that Barrett’s Bucks expire for 2024. Extended, Flex and Back to School CSA members have 8 weeks left (so until November 23rd). We are starting to work on our plans for next year, so look for info about 2025 CSA sign-ups in the next couple of weeks!

In the CSA this week:

• Pie pumpkins - Make your own pumpkin puree from scratch for pie filling, muffins, soup and more!

• Potatoes - Peter Wilcox variety (purple skin, white flesh). These are the last of our own potatoes, but we will have potatoes from Atlas Farm later this fall!

• Leeks

• Carrots - Rainbow and orange.

• Garlic

• Slicing tomatoes - It’s just about October now, so we are approaching the end of tomato season, but we will try to eke another week or two out of them!

• Colored peppers

• Salad Turnips - Salad turnips are a milder cousin of radishes. They are sweet and tender and are nice in salads or roasted.

• Red King Radishes - This is a type of colorful daikon that is a more manageable size than traditional daikon.

• Cabbage - We’ll have tendersweet and savoy varities this week.

• Kale

• Bok Choi

• Arugula

• Spinach

• Escarole

• Lettuce

CSA Pick-Your-Own:

• Hot peppers

• Cherry Tomatoes - Winding down, but there are still some out there if you are willing to hunt around.

• Green Beans

• Husk Cherries or Tomatillos

• Herbs: basil, chives, dill flower, parsley, sage, thyme. Basil is going downhill, but we are squeezing one more week out of it.

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA, we will have:

• Honeycrisp Apples from Westward Orchard in Harvard, MA and Cortland Apples from Autumn Hills Orchard in Groton, MA. Available starting on Wednesday. Not Organic.

• Sweet corn - we are getting a surprise delivery early this week, but it might only be available the first part of the week.

• Salanova

• Green and purple peppers

• Delicata

• Acorn squash

• Flowers, including mini and full-sized dahlia bouquets

• Honey from Double B (from hives on the property). Not organic.

• Mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm - Farmer’s Mix and Shiitake. Certified organic.

• Raspberry vinegar, jam, and occasionally fresh raspberries from Silferleaf Farm in Concord. Certified Organic.

• Eggs from Codman Farm in Lincoln. Not Organic.

Mushroom CSA:

It is the fifth week of the 8-week Fall Mushroom CSA. This week is Comb Tooth!

PYO Flowers

If you have a PYO Flower CSA and have bouquets left to pick, come now - there are plenty out there, but every passing day they lose a little bit of their summer glory!

Pumpkin Soup with Sautéed Mushrooms

by Giorgia Fontana from Mediterranean Living

Ingredients

For the soup:

• 1 pound pumpkin, peeled and seeds removed

• 1 small carrot, peeled

• 2 medium potatoes, peeled

• 1 small onion

• Salt, to taste

• 4 cups vegetable stock (optional)

For the sauteed mushrooms:

• 10 ounces mixed mushrooms

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus some more for drizzling

• 1/2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced

• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Peel, clean and cut vegetables into chunks, around 1-inch thick.

2. Put them into a large pot and cover with water. If you desire a deeper flavor, cover with vegetable stock instead.

3. Turn the heat on high until boiling, then lower the flame and let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.

4. In the meantime, prepare the mushrooms. Trim away the ends and slice thinly.

5. In a frying pan, drizzle some olive oil and add minced garlic. When it starts to turn golden in color, add mushrooms and toss them for about 8 minutes.

6. Season with salt and pepper. Before turning off the heat, add a sprinkle of parsley.

7. When soup is ready, blend it with an immersion blender directly into the pot, until it reaches a nice and smooth consistency.

8. Serve immediately, adding sautéed mushrooms on top and a drizzle of fresh extra virgin olive oil.

Vietnamese Daikon & Carrot Pickles Recipe (Do Chua)

by Huy Vu from Hungry Huy

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb (226.8 g) daikon radish

• 1/2 lb (226.8 g) carrots

• 1 tbsp salt

Vinegar Solution

• 1/2 c boiling water

• 5 tbsp granulated white sugar

• filtered room temp. water

• 4 tbsp distilled vinegar

Instructions 

• Peel daikon and carrots, then cut with mandolin slicer medium to small matchsticks. Smaller cuts will pickle faster.

• In a large bowl, sprinkle with salt evenly and toss to coat. Soak for 15 minutes.

• Rinse thoroughly to remove the salt and in small handfulls, squeeze to remove as much moisture as you can.

• Add to jars, filling almost to the top.

CSA Week 16 and Farm Stand Updates

With the fall equinox over the weekend, we are fully into fall, both in the astronomical and meteorological senses! The rains on Saturday could not have come soon enough, and the cooler temperatures they brought seem to be sticking around. We spent a lot of time last week setting up irrigation across the street to save our fall brassicas, but sometimes that is all that’s needed to end a drought. Because it is a big effort to set up irrigation lines across the street, and because we had made it until September without badly needing it, we held off longer than we would have if it was June or July. The forecast did not make it look like rain was a certainty, so we did get to run irrigation several times before Saturday. When the soil is already at such a moisture deficit, it takes a lot of precipitation for anything to soak in and make a difference, so it was definitely not a wasted effort. I can’t tell you how exciting it was to look outside this weekend and see puddles forming, though!

Though days are shortening and temperatures have recently dropped, we still have some tomatoes to mix in with the more classically fall vegetables (sweet corn, however, is done for the season). It’s a really great time to enjoy some leafy vegetables too, as we have a nice mix of hardier and tender greens for cooking and fresh eating!

In the CSA this week:

• Rainbow carrots - Beautiful orange, red (or pink depending on your perspective!), purple and yellow carrots mixed together in a bunch.

• Acorn squash

• Garlic - Should be stored in a cool dry place.

• Scallions

• Slicing tomatoes

• Colored peppers

• Radishes or Salad Turnips - Salad turnips are a milder cousin of radishes. They are sweet and tender and are nice in salads or roasted.

• Tendersweet cabbage

• Kale

• Baby Bok Choi - Can be prepared cut in half or whole.

• Spinach

• Escarole

• Salanova Lettuce Mix.

CSA Pick-Your-Own:

• Hot peppers

• Cherry Tomatoes: varieties include Sungold, Jasper, Cherry Bomb, Yellow Mini, Chocolate Sprinkles, Pink Champagne, Citrine, Black Cherry, Moonbeam, Moonshadow, Nova, Valentine, Red Pearl, Apple Yellow, Clementine and Mountain Magic.

• Green Beans - Saturday’s rain is helping us to stretch green bean harvest into one more week!

• Husk Cherries, Shishito or Tomatillos

• Herbs: basil, chives, dill flower, parsley, sage, thyme. Basil is going downhill, so this may be the last week after quite the year for it on the farm!

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA, we will have:

• Honeycrisp Apples from Kimball Fruit Farm in Pepperell, MA. Not Organic.

• Arugula

• Lettuce

• Flowers, including mini and full-sized dahlia bouquets!

• Honey from Double B (from hives on the property). Not organic.

• Mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm - Farmer’s Mix and Shiitake. Certified organic.

• Raspberry vinegar, jam, and occasionally fresh raspberries from Silferleaf Farm in Concord. Certified Organic.

• Eggs from Codman Farm in Lincoln. Not Organic.

Mushroom CSA:

It is the fourth week of the 8-week Fall Mushroom CSA. This week is Lion’s Mane!

PYO Flowers

If you have a PYO Flower CSA and have bouquets left to pick, come now - there are plenty out there, but every passing day they lose a little bit of their summer glory!

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Tomatoes, Spinach and Goat Cheese

from The Mediterranean Dish

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup pine nuts

• 1 medium acorn squash, quartered and seeds removed

• 1 large orange, yellow or red bell pepper, diced

• 1 large red onion, diced

• 1 pint grape tomatoes

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

• 1 1/4 teaspoons dried oregano

• 1 teaspoon dried basil

• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 3 big handfuls spinach (about 2 packed cups)

• 2 ounces goat cheese (chevre)

Instructions

• Heat the oven and toast the pine nuts. Set the oven to 400°F and let it warm up while you toast the pine nuts. Set a small dry skillet over medium high heat. Add the pine nuts. Stir and toss the pine nuts continuously for 3 to 5 minutes until they turn golden brown and fragrant. Remove from the heat.

• Roast the vegetables. Place the quartered squash flesh side up on one side of the baking sheet. Add the diced pepper, diced onions, and grape tomatoes to the other side. Drizzle all of the vegetables with olive oil and season with oregano, basil, thyme, salt, and pepper. Make sure you really rub the seasoning into the flesh of the squash. Use your hands to mix the tomatoes, onions, and peppers together. Spread everything out onto a single layer on the sheet pan and flip the squash quarters over so some of the flesh is touching the sheet pan. Place in the oven for 40 minutes, tossing halfway through and flipping the squash to the other flesh side.

• Test the squash. Pull the sheet pan out of the oven. Insert a fork into the flesh of the squash to make sure it's tender and cooked through before moving onto the next step.

• Wilt the spinach. Add the spinach to the tomato and onion mixture and use your spatula to fold it together as much as you can. You want to make sure the spinach is coated in the oil and vegetable juices (leave the squash alone). The spinach should wilt under the heat of the vegetables, but if it doesn't return the pan to the oven for about 5 minutes. Remove from oven, give the spinach a good stir with the tomato-onion mixture one or two more times.

• Serve. Remove from the oven. Place the squash quarters on individual plates or on one large platter. Toss the vegetables on the sheet pan once again. Taste and add a little more salt and pepper if needed, then spoon the roasted vegetables over the squash quarters. Top with crumbled goat cheese and toasted pine nuts.

Glazed Shiitakes With Bok Choy

by David Tanis, from NY Times Cooking

Ingredients

Yield:6 to 8 servings

• 2 pounds baby bok choy

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 3 small dry red Chinese hot peppers

• 1 pound shiitake mushrooms (about 4 dozen), stems removed

• Salt and pepper

• 4 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 tablespoon grated ginger

• 1 tablespoons sugar

• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

• 3 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce

• 6 scallions, sliced diagonally, for garnish

• 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Preparation

1. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Cut off and discard stem ends of bok choy. Separate leaves, rinse and drain. Drop leaves into boiling water and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until barely cooked. Immediately remove, rinse with cool water, drain and pat dry. Arrange leaves in one layer on an ovenproof earthenware platter, then set aside.

2. Put a large wok or cast-iron skillet over high heat. Add oil and heat until nearly smoking, then add hot peppers and shiitake caps, stirring to coat. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Reduce heat slightly and add garlic, ginger, sugar, sesame oil and tamari. Stir-fry for 1 minute more.

3. Spoon shiitake and pan juices over reserved cooked bok choy. Serve at room temperature, or if you prefer, reheat covered with foil for 10 to 15 minutes in a hot oven. Garnish with scallions and sesame seeds, if using.

CSA Week 15, Back to School CSA and Farm Stand Updates

This week marks the start of the 10-week Back-to-School CSA! Back-to-School members should have gotten an email today with details, but please reach out to Melissa or Lise if you didn’t receive it. If you were planning on joining but forgot to sign up, we can still take new sign-ups this week here: http://www.barrettsmillfarm.com/online-store/2024-back-to-school

It has been so dry in the past 3 weeks that for the first time, we set up irrigation on the farm specifically for germinating cover crop seed! We’ve gotten barely any rain in the past 3 weeks (the last precipitation we had was on September 7th), but we had a bunch of field pea and oat seed that we needed to get in the ground by the 15th. This is because seeding later in the month will not be enough time for the peas and oats to establish before a killing freeze. Other types of cover crops are more cold hardy, but we hadn’t ordered as much of that seed because peas and oats our favorite option and we knew we’d have a lot of ground prepared for cover crop before the 15th. Some peas and oats that we seeded on September 6th have finally come up, but it is growing very slowly in our dust bowl conditions (as are the clover and annual ryegrass we seeded in mid August). The cooler temperatures predicted for the end of the week will certainly provide some relief to the plants, but we’re hoping it comes with a little rain as well!

As many of you are probably aware, Concord is now in the high risk category for EEE. In order to maintain our organic certification, we have to opt out of all mosquito spraying operations. While we have not noticed mosquitos in the fields this year (in part because it has been so dry), we strongly recommend caution, and urge you to do your CSA and Flower PYO before dusk. If you do plan to pick towards the end of the day, please wear long sleeves and pants and use bug spray!

In the CSA this week:

• Rainbow carrots - Beautiful orange, red (or pink depending on your perspective!), purple and yellow carrots mixed together in a bunch.

• Delicata squash - The skin is thin and edible so they are easy to prepare and they have a sweet, slightly nutty flavor.

• Garlic - Should be stored in a cool dry place.

• Slicing tomatoes

• Colored peppers

• Celery

• Radishes

• Tendersweet cabbage - A sweet cabbage that, yes, is also softer and more tender than storage cabbage!

• Kale

• Baby Bok Choi - Can be prepared cut in half or whole.

• Escarole - Looks a bit like lettuce, but it is not intended to be eaten raw, as it has a bitter flavor. Cooking takes out some of the bite, and it is tasty in white bean soup or sauteed with garlic (among other preparations!).

• Salanova - This popular lettuce mix keeps better in the fridge than mesclun mix.

• Lettuce

CSA Pick-Your-Own:

• Hot peppers

• Cherry Tomatoes: varieties include Sungold, Jasper, Cherry Bomb, Yellow Mini, Chocolate Sprinkles, Pink Champagne, Citrine, Black Cherry, Moonbeam, Moonshadow, Nova, Valentine, Red Pearl, Apple Yellow, Clementine and Mountain Magic.

• Green Beans

• Husk Cherries or Tomatillos

• Herbs: basil, chives, cilantro, dill/dill flower, parsley, sage, thyme.

• Sunflowers - It’s the last bed of the season and they are a bit uneven size-wise for unknown reasons (lack of water? weird part of the field? some of them just decided they’d had enough?)

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA, we will have:

• Sweet Corn from Verrill Farm in Concord. Not organic.

• Honeycrisp Apples from Kimball Fruit Farm in Pepperell, MA. We’ll have them starting on Wednesday. Not Organic.

• Arugula

• Spinach

• Green peppers

• Beets

• Potatoes

• Flowers, including mini dahlia bouquets!

• Honey from Double B (from hives on the property). Not organic.

• Mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm - Farmer’s Mix and Shiitake. Certified organic.

• Baer’s Best Beans - We are down to the last bags until he is done processing this year’s crop in November. Black Turtle variety is organic, the other varieties are not.

• Raspberry vinegar, jam, and if you’re lucky and you catch it at the right time, fresh raspberries from Silferleaf Farm in Concord. Certified Organic.

• Eggs from Codman Farm in Lincoln. Not Organic.

Mushroom CSA:

It is the third week of the 8-week Fall Mushroom CSA. This week’s variety is shiitake.

Garlicky Sautéed Escarole

from thekitchn.com

Ingredients

• About 1 1/2 pounds escarole (2 medium or 1 large head)

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1/2 small lemon

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed

Instructions

1. Remove and discard any very tough outer dark green or browned leaves from about 1 1/2 pounds escarole. Tear the remaining leaves into rough 2-inch pieces. Rinse the leaves well in a colander. Drain well, but do not dry. Thinly slice 4 garlic cloves. Juice 1/2 small lemon until you have 1 tablespoon.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large, high-sided sauté pan or Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add the garlic and 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes if desired, and sauté until the garlic is softened and fragrant (do not let the garlic brown), about 30 seconds.

3. Add the escarole a few handfuls at a time, stirring after each addition so that they start to wilt, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt and toss to combine. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the escarole is just tender, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the lemon juice and stir to combine. Taste and season with more kosher salt as needed.

Sautéed Baby Bok Choy

by Sam Sifton, from NY Times Cooking

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil, like canola

• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

• 1½-inch piece ginger root, peeled and minced

• ¼ teaspoon red-pepper flakes, or to taste

• 4 bunches of baby bok choy, approximately 1½ pounds, cleaned, with the ends trimmed

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon chicken stock or water

• Toasted sesame oil for drizzling

Preparation

1. In a large sauté pan with a lid, heat oil over medium-high heat until it starts to shimmer. Add garlic, ginger and red-pepper flakes and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 45 seconds.

2. Add bok choy and stir carefully to cover with oil, then cook for approximately 2 minutes. Add soy sauce, stock or water, then cover pan and cook for approximately 2 minutes more, until steam begins to escape from beneath the lid of the pan.

3. Uncover and continue to cook until liquid is close to evaporated and stalks are soft to the touch, approximately 3 minutes more.

4. Remove to a warmed platter and drizzle with sesame oil.

Escarole and Bean Soup

by Giada DiLaurentis from The Food Network

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 garlic clove

• 1 pound escarole, chopped

• Salt

• 4 cups low-salt chicken broth

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

• 1 (1-ounce) piece Parmesan

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 6 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

• Serving suggestion: crusty bread

Directions:

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy large pot over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add the escarole and saute until wilted, about 2 minutes. Add a pinch of salt. Add the chicken broth, beans, and Parmesan cheese. Cover and simmer until the beans are heated through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

2. Ladle the soup into 6 bowls. Drizzle 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil over each. Serve with crusty bread.

CSA Week 14 and Farm Stand Updates

Thanks to everyone who came by Ag Day to visit us, as well as the other farms in town! It was a beautiful day and the market was well-attended. Unsurprisingly, Sarah’s flower arrangements were one of our first items to sell out at the market. We’ll continue to have some of those beautiful flower arrangements in the farm stand this week, including some more mini dahlia bouquets. The PYO Field continues produce some beautiful blooms, but production is slowing down as days shorten and nights get cooler. Now is a great time to enjoy the flower field, and if you think you’ll be missing locally-grown flowers this winter, we’d recommend picking yourself some gomphrena, celosia and strawflowe as they all dry very well!

While we have been enjoying some beautiful mild and sunny days on the farm, we would love for one or two nights of soaking rains, as our fields are getting quite dusty. The forecast did show a chance of rain for Saturday night after Ag Day, so we crossed our fingers and threw some cover crop seed in the ground on Friday. We did get a little rain on Saturday night, and we’re hoping it was just enough for that seed to germinate because it doesn’t look like more rain is on the way soon!

In the CSA this week:

• Delicata squash - These colorful squash were popular at Ag Day for turning into race cars for the Veggie Race Track, but their appeal is more than just their aerodynamic shape! The skin is thin and edible so they are easy to prepare and they have a sweet, slightly nutty flavor.

• Spinach - We used a new method to transplant spinach in August, so we have it ready earlier than we have in the past!

• Salanova - It’s back!

• Scallions

• Garlic - We have moved on to cured garlic now. These should be stored in a cool dry place.

• Slicing tomatoes

• Green and purple peppers

• Colored peppers

• Celery

• Radishes

• Kale

• Arugula

• Lettuce

CSA Pick-Your-Own:

• Hot peppers

• Cherry Tomatoes: varieties include Sungold, Jasper, Cherry Bomb, Yellow Mini, Chocolate Sprinkles, Pink Champagne, Citrine, Black Cherry, Moonbeam, Moonshadow, Nova, Valentine, Red Pearl, Apple Yellow, Clementine and Mountain Magic.

• Green Beans

• Husk Cherries, Shishito or Tomatillos

• Herbs: basil, cilantro, dill, parsley, sage, thyme.

In the farm store:

In addition to the items listed in the CSA, we will have:

• Sweet Corn from Verrill Farm in Concord. Not organic.

• Honeycrisp Apples from Westward Orchards in Harvard. We’re trying out offering apples for the first time in our farm stand! We are picking up a small quantity on Wednesday, and if it’s popular we may start getting other varieties next week as well. Not Organic.

• Heirloom tomatoes

• Carrots

• Beets

• Potatoes

• Flowers, including some more mini dahlia bouquets!

• Honey from Double B (from hives on the property). Not organic.

• Mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm - Farmer’s Mix and Shiitake. Certified organic.

• Baer’s Best Beans - Black Turtle variety is organic, the other varieties are not.

• Raspberry vinegar from Silferleaf Farm in Concord. Certified Organic.

• Eggs from Codman Farm in Lincoln. Not Organic.

Mushroom CSA:

It is the second week of the 8-week Fall Mushroom CSA. This week is a Farmer’s Mix!

Roasted Delicata Squash with Apples

from Love and Lemons

Ingredients

• 2 delicata squash, halved lengthwise and seeded, cut into ½-inch half moon pieces

• ½ cup pearl onions, halved

• Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

• 2 tablespoons pepitas and/or pine nuts

• 2 cups torn kale, 2 to 3 leaves

• 6 sage leaves, chopped

• Leaves from 3 fresh thyme sprigs

• 1 small apple, diced

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Dressing:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

• ½ garlic clove, minced

• ¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard

• ⅛ teaspoon maple syrup

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Place the squash and onions on the baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat and arrange on the sheet so that they’re not touching. Roast until the squash is golden brown on all sides and until the onions are soft and browned, 25 to 30 minutes.

3. Make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, garlic, mustard, maple syrup, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Set aside.

4. In a small pan over medium-low heat, toss the pepitas with a pinch of salt and cook until toasted, stirring frequently, for about 2 minutes. Set aside.

5. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the kale, sage, and thyme. Add the warm roasted squash and onions, the apples, half the pepitas, and half the dressing. Toss to coat. Transfer to an oven-safe serving dish. (If you’re making this dish in advance stop here and follow the saving/reheating instructions in the notes below).

6. Place the serving dish into the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the apples and kale are warm and the kale is just wilted. Just before serving, drizzle with the remaining dressing, and top with the remaining pepitas.

Stuffed Delicata Squash With Lentils and Cashew Raita

Adapted by Tara Parker-Pope from Hannah Kaminsky, from NY Times Cooking

Ingredients

Cashew Raita

• 1 cup raw cashew pieces

• 2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped

• 3 tablespoons lemon juice

• ¼ cup water

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 2– 3 Persian cucumbers, finely diced

• 2 medium delicata squash (About 1 pound each)

Lentil Stuffing

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 3 shallots, finely diced

• 1 Jalapeno, seeded and finely diced

• 1½ teaspoons whole cumin seeds

• 1½ teaspoons whole mustard seeds

• 1 cup dry beluga lentils

• 2 cups vegetable broth

• ⅔ cup full-fat coconut milk

• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

• ¾– 1 teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Place the cashew pieces in a bowl and cover with cool water. Cover and place in the fridge to soak for four hours.

2. Thoroughly drain the soaked cashews and combine with the chopped mint, lemon juice, water and salt in a blender. Purée, pausing to scrape down the sides of the canister with a spatula as needed, until completely silky-smooth. This process may take longer if you use a lower-powered blender, but stick with it; that creamy texture is important. Stir in the cucumber pieces by hand. Store in an air-tight container and keep refrigerated prior to serving.

3. For the filling, heat olive oil in a medium pot over medium heat before adding the shallots and jalapeno. Cook until translucent, then add the cumin and mustard seeds. Cook until the entire mixture is highly aromatic, about a minute. Add the lentils and broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 30 minutes, until the liquid has absorbed and lentils are tender. Add the coconut milk and vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Keep the pot partially covered and simmer for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, until the liquid has been absorbed. Cover and keep warm.

4. As the lentils cook, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut both squash in half lengthwise and scoop out (but reserve) seeds. Place each half with the cut sides down on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a fork easily pierces the flesh. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 5 minutes before handling.

5. Reduce oven to 250 degrees and toss the reserved seeds with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt and roast for 10 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent them from burning. Once golden and crisp, remove from oven and allow to cool.

6. Flip the roasted delicata squashes up to turn them into boats and spoon the warm lentils inside. Serve the cashew raita alongside for guests to top their squashes as desired and finish with a sprinkle of roasted seeds.