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