Saturday at Chestnut Hill Farm Event- July 4th from 10a-2p

 Farm Happenings:

We have lots of new equipment that has arrived at the farm in the last week. Our new bed shaper (makes a beautiful 6" raised bed and can lay plastic and drip irrigation at the same time if needed), Transplanter- Water wheel type, and Williams Tool Cultivator- basically a large tractor mounted rake, along with our new greenhouse all came this past week. There was a lot of unloading by tractor and by hand. Whew. 

At the same time, Uhlman's came and started the work on our new CSA/Farm-stand parking area. We moved about 200 yards of topsoil from a 60x80 foot area just below the new Pick-Your-Own flower garden. The topsoil went across the farm to a low lying area that was most recently, a horse pasture, and it will get pushed around to make a fertile, somewhat more level field for our new hoophouses when we get them. 

Stonework has begun (though we have to wait 3 more weeks for the granite posts that will frame each side of the opening in the stone wall), almost all the stones from the original wall will remain as returns coming back from the opening. We should be able to park in the new parking lot by Friday's distribution this week (because of the rain, they could not work in there today, but will finish it up tomorrow).

New parking area

Farm Event:This Saturday, July 4th!!!!!

Allie prepping gourds for weekend event

This weekend’s Saturday at Chestnut Hill event will be take place from 10-2.

• ·         Children’s craft: Birdhouse activity- We have some beautiful birdhouse gourds donated by Whit Beals that are ready to decorate into a beautiful birdhouse for you to take home.  
• ·         Birds, Butterflies and Milkweed, OH MY! Help us map where some of the key important species on the farm are living right now. We will take 2 (1^stone at 11a and the 2^nd at 1pm) walks up along the main farm road and try to identify where the bobolinks are nesting, the Checkerspot butterflies are feeding and the significant milkweed patches are. 

This event is free and open to the public, so stop by and join us on Saturday.

In your share this week (maybe):

Salad turnips

Swiss Chard

Tuscan Kale (also known as Dinosaur, Black or Lacinato Kale)

Baby Bok Choi

Lettuce mix

Head Lettuce

Kohlrabi

Chinese/Napa Cabbage

Mustard greens (big maybe)

Vegetable and Recipe of the Week:

Kohlrabi was a new vegetable for folks last week- we love this crazy, alien spaceship-shaped beauty. It is very popular in German speaking countries where it is eaten both raw and cooked. It has also become a popular vegetable in Kashmir, where I found a bunch of recipes that all sound amazing. We forgot to tell you that most of the time, it is peeled, though the varieties that we grow tend to have a thinner skin than some of the older heirloom varieties. Kohlrabi, also known as German turnip, is a swollen stem. It is exactly the same as broccoli stems, but is sweeter and more uniform. Its leaves are used just like kale or collards, the "turnip" and the leaves are often cooked together in the same dish, and served with a light gravy over rice.
I usually try and post recipes that are easy to make with common pantry ingredients, but I figured I would go a little exotic here because it just sounds so yummy and would probably be delicious even if you used 2 tsp straight pre-mixed curry powder and skipped the tamarind.

Tangy Kohlrabi Curry Recipe, from www,thasneen.com

Ingredients

• Oil- 2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds- ½ tsp
• Whole dry red chili- 2
• Red or white onions, chopped-1
• Kohlrabi, diced- 2
• Kohlrabi leaves, chopped
• Kashmiri red chili powder- 1½ tsp (or use regular chili powder)
• Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp
• Ground Cumin- 1 tsp
• Fennel powder- 1½ tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Fresh tamarind juice- 3 inch slice soaked in 5 tbsp warm water,

Instructions

1. Rinse the kohlrabi stem and leaves under running water, dice into small cubes and chop the leaves. Keep aside.
2. Soak 3 inch fresh tamarind slice in 5 tbsp warm water, combine the tamarind in water to release the juice, drain the juice, keep aside.
3. Place a large non-stick pan over medium heat, add oil, let it turn hot.
4. Add mustard seeds, let it splutter.
5. Add cumin seeds and whole red dry chili, saute for a few seconds.
6. Add onion and a little salt, saute till translucent.
7. Add kohlrabi diced along with chopped leaves.
8. Add ¼ cup water and cook covered till the kohlrabi turns fork tender.
9. Open the lid, add chili powder, turmeric powder, ground cumin, fennel powder and salt, combine well.
10. Add strained tamarind juice, combine well.
11. Add ¼ cup more water and cook covered for 5 minutes.
12. Have a taste and add more salt or chili powder if needed.
13. If you want more gravy, add some more water and cook for a few minutes.
14. I didn't add too much water so it was more like a dry dish.
15. Serve warm as a side dish along with rice, chapati, roti etc

Trials and Tribulations: Tractor Maintenance

All 3 tractors just barely fit in the barn

Farm Happenings:

Talk to me for long enough to get past my foodie chatter and you will discover that I am a grease monkey down there under the dirt. It is, however, a love/hate relationship that I have with mechanics. 

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my tractors, big and small. I love their perfect design- each one built so specifically to fulfill a purpose mandated by a thousand desperate farmers who just wanted it to do one thing perfectly. The problem is, that one thing perfectly done is totally open to the interpretation of a thousand taciturn farmers that all have their own idea of what perfectly done looks like. Sort of like a lot of things in life, most definitely. I think it must be why most farmers that I know, they sort of obsessively collect tractors.

For me, I think it comes down to the fact that mechanics, engineering, etc.- I'm just not naturally good at it. I have to work to understand how it works, even though I get the concept and can see the pieces. It is a puzzle of moving parts, pieces, metal, bits and often, no matter how carefully I record, categorize and then put back together,I can't fix it. It doesn't work. It doesn't do that one thing perfectly the exact way that I want it. And I lose all my calm collectivity and patience. And start throwing wrenches.

My current project is a 1949 Farmall Cub. It's a work of art. It really is- the most beautiful thing about it is its sheer rawness. You can see exactly how it works, how any combustion engine works, actually, and because you can see it- you can understand it. That sort of basic knowledge (since for most of my young life I believed that machinery was basically magic) is a wonderment in this day and age of computers driving our phones, cars, lives. This is just an engine that when it works, it turns the wheels and raises and lowers shafts under and behind and I stick various parts onto it in order to make it move through the soil and destroy weeds. Not that it doesn't have its quirks, it's an old horse after all. Been rode hard and put away wet. It came to me, bedraggled and neglected, but I'm not interested in pretty. The engine was rough, but you could hear that it just needed a little love. The electrical system had been converted to a 12volt system from its original 6 volt (with a positive ground...imagine thinking in reverse of all you've ever learned about electricity!) but in a haphazard sort of way with lots of extra wire hanging around. So we gave it an overhaul- new plugs, new oil filter, new fuel filter- drained it dry and filled it up again. Repacked and greased up all its joints and axles. A little electrical hiccup sent us scurrying around looking for a new external resistor (just like the kind you used to find in the glove compartment of every old beater car). But when all was said and done- it purred like a kitten and massacres weeds like nothing else. And before anyone thinks for one second that I did all that work and puzzled it all out on my own- thank you to Jesse, Eli, Leslie, Charley, Dermot and anyone else who looked at, consulted or helped me get this little Cub back in working order.

Goat News:

Nutella in browse

I love getting questions about our furry farm residents. The most current question, now that it is relevant again, is what do we do about goats and the rain? The answer: goats stay out in the rain most of the time. I make exceptions for new babies (and by new I mean less than two weeks) combined with cold (under 50 degrees) and/or wind. The rain is actually good for them- it cleans their fur and skin of loose dirt, hair and dandruff, allowing sun to get in and free up natural oils and healthy skin cells. They need the Vitamin D as much as the rest of us do. This doesn't mean that they love to be out in the rain, but they tolerate it just fine. Goat, like all ruminants (cattle, sheep, etc), have four stomachs so that they can digest the cellulose in plants. The first stomach, called the rumen, takes up a HUGE amount of space inside their bodies and acts like a giant heater because it is tumbling around a whole lot of plant material (which the animal then burps back up as "cud" rechews and then swallows again) with enzymes. Lots of activity equals lots of heat. 

New babies are less tolerant because they both haven't started "ruminating" and they don't have a nice thick layer of baby fat yet so it is harder for their temperatures to regulate quickly. They can get chilled if they are both wet and cold for a significant length of time. If babies are born in winter, we often put coats or fleece jammies on them and put heat lamps in their stalls to keep them warm. After a few weeks, they are both fatter and have started nibbling on grasses and know better to snuggle up with their Mommas and each other for extra warmth. 

All the goats did just fine out in Sunday's torrential rains- goat kids snuggled up in the rocks and Mommas stood over them to provide a little extra shelter- but they didn't get chilled. (Chilled also looks different than "shivering"- it's hard to describe, but shivering doesn't always mean too cold. Shivering means that the body is working as it should to regulate body temperature.)

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar in the Carrots

This week's Share may contain:

Radishes

Salad Turnips

Baby Bok Choi

Lettuce mix

Kohlrabi

Butterhead lettuce

Baby kales

Snow Peas are ready in the Pick Your Own!!! 

Recipe of the Week:

So. We still have an abundance of beautiful radishes (you may even still have some left in your fridge!) in the field, and I brought home a couple of bunches on Friday myself. My partner took one look and said, "We need to pickle these!"

Radish Relish

And so we hunted through our many books and found a delicious recipe for Radish Relish in "Put Em Up" by Sherri Brooks Vinton. It is really yummy- lots of spices that go well will Indian food or potato salad. It is also a bright and vibrant pink that looks awesome on the plate. You can either make and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks or can it in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes using sterilized jars and new lids. This was really fast and fun to make!

Radish Relish

2 cups distilled white vinegar

1 1/2 cups sugar*

1 Tbsp kosher salt

1 Tbsp whole coriander*

1 Tbsp cumin seed*

1 Tbsp yellow mustard seed*

2 pounds radishes, shredded

1 cup diced onion

1 2 inch knob of ginger, peeled and grated

1 garlic clove, minced

Directions:

Combine vinegar, sugar, salt, and dried spices in a non reactive saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the radishes, onion, ginger and garlic and return to a boil, stirring to ensure that all ingredients are heated through. Remove from heat and ladle in bowls or clean jars. Serve cool. 

*we used a few Tbsps of pickling spice and vanilla sugar which added some additional cinnamon and cardamom flavors that all worked really really well- though you need to strain out the barks and whole allspice before adding the radishes. 

Trials and Tribulations:CSA and Sod into Vegetables

 

Overlook View- New proposed trail at the farm

 

CSA starts this week!!! 

Tuesday or Friday, whichever day you've chosen, Pick-up is from 3-6p.
A couple of first time notes:

• Please park in the trailhead parking and walk up to the CSA barn. If you have mobility challenges, please call/email us to make arrangements to park closer to the barn. 
• Bring a reusable bag with you to pack your veggies into. We will provide share baskets to measure out your share, but they need to stay here.
• Ask questions! We are here to help and we want you to be happy.
• We can't wait to meet all of you!

Farm happenings
The weather has been behaving the last couple of weeks. We had a lot of desperately-needed rain (3 days of rain!) which soaked the fields just as we got the irrigation laid out and were about to hook it up, of course. Then we had to wait 3 days or so while the fields dried out enough for us to get back to work in them. This is particularly nail-biting in the beginning of June when absolutely all of your main crop veggies NEED to be in the ground on the first day of the month and you are already behind on the second day. Such is the life of a farmer. At the same time, all that water percolated into all the weed seeds that had been lounging in the heat and they started to take off. Oh boy!

If I think way back to the second week of April, all the fields were quiet under a layer of sod (a mixture of grasses, clover, vetch and other perennials). The seed of amaranth, lambs quarters, mustards, nut sedge grass, vetch and other plants had lain dormant and sleeping underneath just waiting for a little disturbance from a vole, groundhog, or scratching turkey to allow them a brief chance at growth in the vastness of open hayfield. And then I came along with my tractor and plow and opened them all up to bright sunlight, sweet air and no competition.  It's like a party is going on down in the fields and only the "weeds" have been invited. Sure there are a few brightly festooned party gowns and fine suits, all neatly lined up trying to contra-dance, but this is Mardi Gras, a muddy Woodstock, a Thanksgiving Day Parade for all the weeds down in the dirt and they don't have any time to waste standing in lines! So it is for bringing a field out of sod in the

Redwing Blackbird Nest found in the fenceline around vegetable field

springtime.

I am giving thanks for a small CSA this first year as I work this new soil. It allows for a little precious time to coax some softness out of the clods of grasses. To encourage the right bacterias and fungus to get down and do their thing making the soil rich in nutrients to feed my rows of parti-colored contra dancers.


This week's share includes (hopefully):

• Radishes, red rounds and french breakfast (both are DELICIOUS in radish butter and this is from a lifelong hater of radishes)
• Salad Turnips (these are sweet! Not your grandmother's turnip! Great raw or roasted)
• Lettuce mix
• Braising mix (a mix of various greens, some mustards- very good as pesto or thrown into stir fry or salad)
• Baby bok choi
• Broccoli Raab or Spring Raab- one of my favorite vegetables, this is bitter and wonderful. Perfect in eggs, hollandaise sauce, etc.
• Arugula- this is spicy! the hot spring weather has given this usually mild green quite a kick- I recommend cooking it unless you know you like em hot.

Lots of baby goats

Goat news:

The goats are on the move- with all the babes are born and mobile enough to follow their mothers most of the time- we are setting off across the farm to start working on clearing some of the brush and invasive plant species from the stone walls and in the pastures further away from the main farm yard. We will let you all know where they can be found and they love to be visited.

We have also taken horns off of some of the goat kids- you may see the marks on their heads so we just wanted to let you all know. This is because they are most likely bound for the show ring at some point in the future. Horns are not allowed in dairy goat classes in either 4-H or ADGA (American Dairy Goat Association) shows.  

Farm events:

Our first "Meet the Farmer" event went really well. It was great to meet so many folks and be welcomed to the community. We are already planning our next "First Saturdays on the Farm" events for the rest of the summer. If you have any ideas for walks you'd like to see happen or talks from our Trustees specialists, let me know and I will see what we can do. Look for the schedule soon for the first Saturday in July!

Recipe:

Broccoli Raab, or Raapini is a bitter Italian vegetable commonly grown in the spring. It is one of my very favorites and I am even guilty of snapping up bunches of conventionally grown raapini from the grocery store whenever it first shows up in the spring. I chop and saute it with bacon and eggs for breakfast, I add it to quiche, I serve it as a side to pork chops. Its bitterness is perfect paired with creamy sauces such as Hollandaise or Bechamel or Alfredo so toss it with pasta or rice. 

Raab with Maple and Balsamic

1 bunch of raapini
1 Tbsp of maple syrup
1 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Sea Salt & coarse ground pepper

Chop the tougher stem ends of the raab off and discard. Coarsely chop the rest of the plant, including the flowering tops. Saute in a little olive oil until just starting to wilt. Drizzle with maple and balsamic and add sea salt and coarse ground pepper to taste. Serve warm as a side to roasted meats, roast vegetables and rice. 

Roasted Salad Turnips

1 bunch of salad turnips, tops removed (but eat them in salad or saute them, they are delicious!!!)
Olive oil

Sea Salt, fresh ground pepper and garlic powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Quarter the salad turnips and soak in ice water for 10-20 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Toss with a little olive oil and spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle lightly with Salt, Pepper and Garlic powder. Roast in oven for 15-25 minutes until the nips are fork tender but not mush. Don't even bother with the plate, eat them hot off the pan and try not to burn your tongue. Enjoy.

Jonathan working on Root Washer

Welcome to the Chestnut Hill Farm blog/newsletter. We will try and get a weekly post up on Mondays to let everyone know what we will have available in the CSA shares, at the farm-stand and other farm events and happenings.

I should introduce myself: I'm the new farmer living and working here at Chestnut Hill. My name is Desiree Robertson-DuBois and I moved here with my partner and three kids from Western Mass where I have been farming (in various locations and with various excellent farmers) since I graduated from Hampshire College in 1999. Growing and making food for folks is a passion of mine that stems from growing up in and around restaurants and beautiful creative people. I can't wait to share my knowledge and love of vegetables with my new community here in Southborough and surrounding towns. My kids (ages 12, 9 and almost 4) are very excited to be living on a farm once again and having 24 hour access to their goats who moved here with us.

Farm happenings:

So while April was cool and very wet and started with snow still on the ground, May rolled in with a practical heat wave and we rolled out a little irrigation for our tender baby plants in the fields. June brought us some rain and little relief from the heat, so the plants are growing and we should be able to start CSA distributions in the third week of June. If you haven't already, you can sign up for our CSA here. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at ddubois@ttor.org.

New fields have been plowed- don't worry about our precious ground-nesting bird residents, the bobolinks, savannah sparrows, meadowlarks and killdeer had not arrived when I broke new ground in the Middle field of the farm. They have since arrived and I have loved watching the beautiful bobolinks in the Conservation Field in the northwest corner of the farm. I counted at least a dozen adults there two weeks ago. I have a nesting killdeer in my main vegetable field. If you notice a strange island of green- that's her nest. 

Killdeer nest with 3 eggs

The farm crew is now complete! Apprentices, Allison Giuva and Jonathan Surrency, arrived in mid-May to help with all the farm work that was starting to pile up. Allison hails from Somerset, MA and has just finished up school and education work in Colorado. Jonathan is from Florida and is coming to us from Nuestras Raices in Holyoke, MA where he has been working with and supporting the many farmers that work the land there. It is very exciting to have them both here.

So far in the fields, we have planted lettuces, mustards, radishes, salad turnips, broccoli, cabbage, brussels, peas (3 kinds), edamame, green and wax beans, napa cabbage, beets, carrots, spinach, scallions, fresh-eating onions, potatoes (6 kinds). All the heat loving tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and squashes and cucumbers are next up  on the list. The next two weeks will see the fields fill up fast with all of us scrambling to keep up with the weeds!

Goats:

Penny with twins, Peanut and Pistachio(Pia) 5/10/2015

Lots of you have heard about the goats. My children own 10 goats of various breeds that they use for 4-H projects and shows. They are all dairy breeds and most of them have very very small ears- these are called either gopher or elf ears and they are completely normal for the LaMancha breed of goat (which is a breed developed in California). We don't do anything to their ears to make them smaller, it is just how they are born. We drink their milk and make cheese, but it is not for sale. We do not have a legal dairy or creamery with which to do so (sorry, no exceptions).

We keep them in electrified netting fence that we can easily pick up and move around to different spots. The fence is powered with a large battery that is continuously being recharged by the large solar panel we have attached to it. They are here on the farm and they don't mind visitors. Once the CSA and Farm-stand are open, we will have a farm map mounted inside with a marker indicating where you can find the goats on any given day.

The baby goats have arrived with the first pair, born on Mother's Day to our beautiful Penny, our original house goat. She had a boy (no ears) and a girl (with regular upright ears). The last pair of twin girls was born just last week. We now have a total of 9 kid goats hopping and skipping after their mothers through the fields. 

First pass in the Middle Field

Events:

Our first farm event is happening this weekend! Please stop by the farm for our first in a series of "Meet the Farmer" events at Chestnut Hill Farm. This Saturday from 10am to 2pm, Desiree and the farm crew will be offering short tours of the new farm operation, showing off the goats and their adorable kids, and basically answering all your questions about the CSA and vegetable operations. While this first event is a basic meet and greet, we are planning future Saturday farm events for the first Saturday of every month from July through October to include craft activities for kids and hopefully some educational and fun activities for adults as well.We are planning some other fun farm events as well, so stay tuned.

Recipe:

We know it is early and you haven't even gotten your CSA shares yet, but we still wanted to tantalize you and get your appetites whetted for Spring greens and cleansing early roots such as crunchy radishes and sweet salad turnips. This butter is surprisingly delicious- perfect for your morning bagel, snack or a dinner accompaniment with crusty french bread. To be perfectly honest- radishes are not my favorite vegetable and yet, I LOVE this butter. A little bit of crunchy lemony spice in creamy butter- it is SO good.

Radish Butter with Lemon Zest and Sea Salt
Ingredients:
1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
5 fresh radishes (use more if you really like radishes!)
1 tsp of fresh lemon zest
1/2 tsp sea salt (or salt to taste)
Directions:
Chop the radishes very fine by hand or use a food chopper and mix with the lemon zest and sea salt. Mix thoroughly into the softened butter and chill until firm but not hard. Spread liberally onto your favorite crackers, French Bread, bagel- preferable warmed but not hot (better creamy like cream cheese than melted). 

Farmall 140- Ready to go