The Cool Weather Continues, Farmers Helping Farmers
I try and snap a few pictures of the farm throughout the week to include in the newsletter but must not have gotten around to it last week in the chaos that is prepping for summer shares. You'll have to settle for this picture of our farmers eating strawberries in a dark cooler at someone elses farm.
We spent Thursday afternoon at Nubi River Farm in Peterborough for a monthly meetup among some farmers in the area. We call the group farmers helping farmers and there were probably 12 or so people there representing 6 different CSA farms from the region. Once a month through the growing season we visit one of the farms to lend a hand on a project they've been working on. Usually it is weeding, but we have also helped put up insect netting (that was great practice for when I put up ours this year), laid silage tarps, threshed dry beans, cleaned onions, and setup caterpillar tunnels. We've been doing it for the last 6 years and it started my first year managing Tracie's Farm. I credit Farmers Helping Farmers with most of what I do well on our farm and I have learned so much from them. It's incredible what you can learn just from walking around someone elses farm.
On our farm things are steadily progressing. I would like to see some more warm weather. Earlier in the weekend it looked like we would get a few days in the 80's this week, but that forecast has changed. I'm not surprised, it was an unusual winter, followed by and unusual spring, and now it's looking like an unusual start to the summer this week. Things are growing slow in the field. The one consolation is that even though the day time highs have been cool, the night time lows have been relatively warm. In my experience the low temps have a greater effect on growth than the highs. I think it is because crops can continue to grow through the night rather than pausing to conserve energy for the cold, but it could also be that soil temps don't fluctuate as much, or both. Either way, even though growth has been slow, it has also been steady and we'll be adding new items to baskets every week.
Our greenhouses are fully switched over from spring growing as of today when we planted three more rows of cucumbers. We've got a great variety of heirloom, cherry, and roma tomatoes as well as pickling and slicing cukes going in the greenhouse. A couple rows are even getting ready to start producing. Sandwich season is on its way!
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FALL CSA!
Summer CSA Shares Week 2
Last weeks shares went off mostly without a hitch, and we're ready to start packing shares again this Wednesday! New items in shares this week include: Beets, Garlic Scapes, Radishes, and Spinach!
Delivery CSA Shares
Bok Choy
Beets w/ greens
Garlic Scapes
Onions
Oregano
Potatoes
Radishes
Spinach
Market Style Pickup
Members pick eight items for their basket
Arugula
Beets w greens
Bok Choy
Broccolini
Chard
Fennel
Kale
Microgreens
Garlic Scapes
Onions
Oregano
Potatoes
Radishes
Sage
Spicy Salad Mix
Spinach
Sweet Potatoes
Thyme
Find us at the Market!
In addtion to our CSA and farm store, we also setup at three farmers markets throughout the week starting on Thursday mornings!
You can find our produce at:
Cheshire Medical Center in the Cafeteria
Thursdays 10am - 2pm
Jaffrey Farmers Market
Fridays 3pm - 6pm
Keene Farmers Market
Saturdays 9am - 1pm
RECIPE LINK:Simmered Beet Greens with Roasted Beets, Yogurt, and Lemon
Ingredients
▪2 bunches of beets with greens
▪2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
▪Salt and freshly ground pepper
▪Juice of 1 lemon (more or less to taste)
▪1 to 2 garlic cloves (optional)
▪1 cup drained yogurt
▪3 tablespoons chopped walnuts (optional)
Instructions
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cut the greens away from the beets, leaving about ¼ inch of stems. Scrub the beets and place in a baking dish or lidded ovenproof casserole. Add ¼ inch water to the dish. Cover tightly. Place in the oven and roast small beets (3 ounces or less) for 30 to 40 minutes, medium beets (4 to 6 ounces) 40 to 45 minutes, and large beets (8 ounces) 50 to 60 minutes, until easily penetrated with the tip of a knife. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the covered baking dish. Cut away the ends and slip off the skins. Slice or cut in wedges and set aside.
Step 2
While the beets are in the oven, stem the greens and wash in at least 2 changes of water. Place in a bowl.
Step 3
Heat a large, wide skillet over high heat and add the greens by the handful, stirring each handful until the greens wilt in the water left on the leaves after washing. Once one batch has wilted, add another until all of the greens are wilted. Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, turn the heat down to low, season with salt and pepper, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. The greens should be tender but still bright. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice, toss the greens in the pan, taste and adjust seasoning. (Note: if you are not serving this right away, don’t add the lemon juice, as it will change the bright color of the greens; instead, add shortly before serving).
Step 4
At this point you have the option of transferring the greens to a platter or serving the dish right from the pan. Whether in the pan or on a platter, arrange the beets on top of the greens. Drizzle on the remaining olive oil and squeeze on more lemon juice to taste. Mash the garlic to a purée with a pinch of salt in a mortar and pestle and stir into the yogurt. Place spoonfuls of yogurt over the top of the beets and beet greens, sprinkle on the walnuts and serve, with grains if desired.
TIP
Advance preparation: The roasted beets will keep for 4 to 5 days in the refrigerator, as will the wilted greens.
RECIPE LINK:Garlic Scape Pesto!
Garlic Scapes can be used as a subsitute anywhere garlic is required, but one of my favorite uses is to make a pesto with them!
Ingredients
▪10 (154g) Garlic Scapes size of scapes vary
▪1/3 C (44g) Pine Nuts *see notes for substitute!
▪1/3 C (38g) Parmesan Asiago or Parmesan dice or shredded **see note
▪1/2 Lemon juiced
▪1/8 tsp Fine Sea Salt
▪A few grinds of Pepper
▪1/3 C (70g) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Instructions
Trim the garlic scapes by cutting just below the bulb and also if the end of the stem seems woody, trim that too (like asparagus). Discard the bulb and end of stem, then set the remaining scape aside (the curly part).
In a food processor, add the scapes, twirling them around the center so that they all fit. Add the pine nuts, cheese, juice of the lemon and salt and pepper. Process by pulsing until the mixture begins to break down. Scrape the bowl down.
With the processor running, slowly add all the olive oil. Continue to process until all the ingredients are incorporated and broken down, about one minute.
Store in a covered container or lidded jar in the fridge and enjoy within a week. Also, you can freeze the pesto in a jar or in an ice-cube tray. Once frozen, in the ice-cube tray, remove and place in a zip top bag in the freezer.
Notes
*Unless purchased in bulk, the cost of pine nuts can be quite high. Toasted walnuts will be a fine sub for this recipe. Simply rough chop the walnuts and measure 1/3 C (30g).
*Parmesan Cheese: Look for vegetarian friendly Parmesan cheese (one that does not use rennet in production). BelGioioso vegetarian Parm can be hard to find, but Organic Valley is more widely available and Stella offers a vegetarian friendly Parm. For more information, check directly with your preferred cheese maker.
RECIPE LINK:Bok Choy and Fennel Slaw
Ingredients
▪3 tablespoons lemon juice
▪2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
▪1 small garlic minced
▪1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
▪pinch hot pepper flakes (optional)
▪1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
▪4 heads bok choy (about 350 g), thinly sliced
▪1 bulb fennel trimmed, cored and thinly sliced
▪1 carrots cut in matchsticks
Instructions
In large bowl, whisk together lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper and hot pepper flakes (if using). Slowly whisk in oil.
Add bok choy, fennel and carrot; toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 24 hours.)
Hanging Basket Sale in the Plant Stand!
There's also still a good selection of Heirloom Tomatoes in the stand this week, and the flowers are looking gorgeous, particularly the Dahlias.
Hanging Baskets
2 for $45, 3 for $60
The Farm Store is OPEN!
Through the Summer the store will be stocked up on Thursday mornings!
Open to the Public.
Dawn - Dusk
Honor System
In the store this week:
Carrots
Microgreens
Salad Mix
Kale
Chard
Bok Choy
Beets
Garlic Scapes
Strawberries
Fennel
Onions
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Snap Peas
Kielbasa
Maple Breakfast Sausage
Hot Dogs
Pesto
Ice Cream
& Eggs!
Pickup Location for Archway Farm Meat CSA
I heard back from a few of you interested in an Archway Farm meat CSA share, so Mark has added the farm as an additional pickup location. Now if you want to sign up, you can pick up your meat share from the same place you get your veggies! It makes choosing what to make for dinner a breeze!
Visit www.Archway.farm to explore options and order a share delivered to the farm!
