;Week 7: Dog Days, continued.

The heat continues. I can't remember a summer this hot for this long barring one 14 years ago when I was farming in Belchertown and the heat index was over a hundred for two weeks and over 90 for so many more. I remember spending long lunch breaks floating (with a very pregnant belly, by the way) in the cold, cold water of the Swift River which flows out of the bottom of the Quabbin. In addition, we had long, long days standing on the pavement at the Harvard Square Farmers Market behind the Harvest Co-op. I don't remember a whole lot about those days except that the morning sickness hit right at noon, I always wanted a nap and that the heat was not my favorite thing. It still isn't. I don't like seeing wilting plants in the fields or feeling the dirt dry under my hands when I harvest potatoes six inches down. We've had just enough rain to keep most of our harvest alive, but only just and we are starting to feel worry in our gut that we won't be able to get enough water to everything and it is only July barely kissing August. Those dog days are here a bit on the early side. They are actually even starting to talk about it in this article on drought in NE.
Still, I didn't like last week's ripping thunderstorms- which blasted through parts of town, but just danced around the farm. That's a bit much and no thank you. We don't actually get a lot of water from those.
Some of you also witnessed last week's excitement on Tuesday when Emergency Services needed to land a Lifeflight helicopter in the field closest to the road in order to meet an ambulance transporting a patient from a
head-on collision on Rt. 30. Thank you to all who were patient and stayed out of the way  in the CSA room as requested by the police/fire crews. The beans and basils fully recovered. I have not heard about the patient except that he was also supposed to make a recovery (albeit a long one).

I would also like to send out a shout out to the Bose Corporation! They have come out three times this summer to help us get some huge projects done and I can't thank them enough. Last week, they came on a seriously hot day and helped us harvest all the garlic- yep. ALL OF THE 14 beds of garlic. It is bunched and curing in the barn and that is just brilliant. Many hands make for happy farmers. Whew.

In Your Share:

Carrots
Cabbage-red
Broccoli
Eggplant (?)
Summer Squash
Cukes are having a very hard time...
Kale
Fresh onions
Celery
New Potatoes

Pick Your Own

Basil!!!!! Get it now folks, it won't last long- one of these crazy thunderstorms will bring with it a fungal disease called Basil Downy Mildew which will take the plants down quick. There is nothing that we can do about it- so make pesto now. Five varieties- 2 sweets (Genovese and Italian Large leaf) are most susceptible; a Purple Opal that tastes like sweet but is beautiful and perfect for Caprese Salad layered with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella; Lemon basil which is the perfect accompaniment to a tomato soup, gazpacho or cream sauce; and Thai basil which makes Thai coconut curry sauces sing in your mouth. All of these basils are best stored by grinding them up with a little water or olive oil and freezing in ice cube trays (transfer cubes to a plastic freezer bag for storage).
Flowers are powering along! Help us out by taking some short stems from the newest babies out there.
Green beans are just getting started and so are the purple beans, go on out and grab a couple of handfuls to add to a dinner this week. Remember, please, that this is not the time for making dilly beans. Thanks all!

Recipes: I know that I've done a couple of weeks of zucchini and now I slightly missed the boat because we aren't giving out beets this week, but I found this recipe and thought I definitely had to share it with all of you and, I kinda sorta hope that some of you might have some beets left over in the fridge right now.
Creamy Beet Hummus (via foxandbriar.com)
3 med. beets, washed and trimmed
3-4 garlic cloves
1/2 cup tahini
1 cup plain yogurt
4 Tbsps fresh lemon juice
1 tsp salt
fresh ground black pepper to taste
pinch of cayenne
olive oil for drizzling, parsley for garnish

Preheat oven to 375. Wrap beets in aluminium foil and place on a cookie sheet, roast for an hour or so until tender. Let cool.
When cool, use a paper towel, to remove the skin (red beets will stain everything, so be prepared, but if you are using gold or chiogga beets then you should be fine).
Cut into wedges, add to a food processor with all the other ingredients except oil and parsely. Puree until smooth. Transfer to a lovely bowl, garnish with drizzles of olive oil, parsley and edible flowers (look in the PYO!!!) Enjoy.

Another fun favorite this week is Carrots- we've been waiting a little longer than usual for them to fatten up, but some of them are finally ready. If they make it home, our sweet, fresh eating summer carrots are usually a favorite ride home snack, we suggest removing the greens before storing (use the greens like parsley). I like my carrots cooked (I have the unfortunate gene that makes all things in the carrot family from dill and cilantro to fennel taste like I've just filled my mouth with dish detergent) then try slicing them into sticks, tossing with a little olive oil and salt/pepper and roasting them until tender and browning. Soooo ggooooddd. Another fun way to eat them is to slice them into coins, and saute them in A LOT of butter, slowly, stirring occasionally until they start to brown and caramelize- they are best when they are almost, but not quite, starting to burn.

Week 6: Full Moon Dessert Potluck and Anna Banana's Chocolates!

The dog days of summer are truly here, so why not come and join us on Tuesday night to watch the summer Hay Moon rise over the farm? The farm crew and I will be there with a campfire and the makings for s'mores along with Maple Bacon ice cream from Maple Valley Creamery. Bring your favorite dessert to share with us! The fire will be lit at 630p right after we clean up from CSA and goes until 8pmish. 

Also during CSA and Farmstand this week, we will have Anna Banana's Homemade Goodness joining us to sell her confectionary delights! Her home-made marshmallows are practically a divine experience and there is nothing quite like the caramel pecan turtles. She makes a full range of gorgeous, delicious chocolates such as almond butter, dark chocolate cups, chocolate orange peel, peppermint chocolates and more. I have even seen such delicacies as lemon meringue marshmallows and strawberry marshmallows. oh my.

Almond crusted chocolate covered marshmallows

The farm crew and I got off the farm last week to attend a workshop at Garden in the Woods in Framingham. It was about farming with beneficial insects and put on by the Xerces Society. It was great!

Mantis wasp. HOW COOL IS THIS?!?

Here at Chestnut Hill, we are more than aware of the insect universe living in and around us, especially as we don't use the harsh chemical sprays that many farms use to control the 'pests'. Instead we are trying to learn to live more harmoniously with our insect enemies by making the world a little more hospitable for our insect friends. To this end, we learned more about planting beneficial insect habitats (our flower gardens are already a haven, and we leave many species of 'weed' in the fields to help encourage the beneficial insects to prosper) and can plan for more permanent habitats in the future. We walked around Garden in the Woods looking for insects (pests and predators) and we encourage you all to visit when you get the chance. It is a mile long trail winding through a landscaped botanical garden that is predominantly wild and native plants. And it is beautiful! We also encourage you to check out some of the alternatives they offer for your home landscaping- our native plants are gorgeous and yet, are often overlooked for their showier relatives. Our native plants provide a more wholesome refuge and food source for our insect friends- some of which you can see, but most which you can not.

Holly Hobbie picking blueberries

Speaking of insects: I also went blueberry picking this past weekend with my two youngest and discovered Indian Head Farm in Berlin. They are an IPM farm, which means that they still spray, but they only do so after careful monitoring of the crops and then spraying only when there is a definitive need. Since organic fruit is actually really difficult to do in our area (i have yet to find any and I am not even looking for certified organic), I highly recommend finding a good IPM farm near you and supporting them. Indian Head had a great layout, easy parking, friendly staff and a portapotty within the 'i need to go now' distance. They were kid friendly too, which I always really appreciate (some operations aren't- not usually because they don't like kids, but because they really feel like they can't guarantee a safe environment for kids- hey, at least they are honest). I am always compiling lists of great PYO farms for fruits I don't have available, so if you have a favorite, let us know and we will add it to our list. I also use Farmfresh.org to search for new farms (since I'm not from Eastern Mass and don't know my way around the farm scene here.

The Chickens have a new home!!!!Scott Navaroli (our esteemed beekeeper from Southside Apiaries) spent his days off last week building a new mobile chicken house for the ladies. It is gorgeous!!!!!and they

Scott with the new Chicken Casa-mobile

totally love it. They are still getting used to the idea of sitting on roosts to sleep at night, and we keep having to 'convince' them that it is a safe and wonderful thing (by which I mean, go out after dark and haul them bodily into their house and put them on the roosts- in the dark so that they don't fully wake up and freak out). But more and more of them are going in of their own free will AND they are starting to use the nest boxes more and more. We MIGHT have some of the first eggs- which are bitty but still uberdelicious- for sale in the next week. I am still celebrating the fact that they are no longer in my shed (which is completely saturated with chicken dust- a slippery fine material consisting mostly of feathers and poo= yuck).

In Your Share (maybe):

Cucumbers
Summer Squash and Zucchini (it is time for zucchini bread people!!!!)
Fresh onions
Swiss Chard
Cabbage....yeah, i know. Saute it with bacon and new potatoes, you will never not love it again.
New Potatoes
Celery

Pick Your Own

Flowers are divine right now- take a bunch of 10 stems. If you like the everlastings, let me know, we are going to be harvesting some for drying soon and so can you.
Basil is ready for pinching...the lack of rain means they aren't as robust as I usually like, so please be gentle and take a handful of pinched tops. DON'T pinch just the leaves- but actually pinch the tops- this will encourage them to bush out, not bloom. All varieties are ready for this so experiment with the Thai and Lemon basil....(the first is AMAZING in coconut curry sauces-use the cabbage!!!-and the lemon is amazing as part of a tomato cream sauce- think fish or mussels.)
The green beans are starting to flower, but no real beans yet, maybe by the end of the week or next week. I have no idea what is taking the favas so long, but I can only assume it is the heat and lack of rain.

Recipes and Vegtastic of the Week

So, it is summer squash. yep. again. I'm telling you, this is the time of year to eat as much as you can. It is just so good. I've been told that everyone needs a spiralizer to make the zucchini noodles...That sounds wonderful....especially with hollandaise sauce.
Anyway, I'm going to give you my daughter's winning 4-H recipe for zucchini bread. She won a grand prize for it, it is delicious, not too sweet and because it is zucchini bread you don't even have to feel guilty about eating it. Also going to give up my Zucchini Crusted Pizza recipe- which may be in one of the Moosewood cookbooks, but I've been making it for so long that I barely need the recipe. It is kind of like a combo of quiche and pizza and just short of amazing depending on what you dress it with. I like it because it is so easy to make gluten-free, which means it is perfect for dinners/potlucks with friends who aren't eating gluten.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
2 cups grated zucchini

1/2 cup sunflower oil
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon or espresso powder
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour a large bread pan. Cream sugar, honey, oil. Add in eggs, vanilla and milk and beat well. Mix dry ingredients separately and add to sugar mixture, mixing until just mixed and then add in the zucchini. Pour into the prepared pan(s). Sprinkle the top with chocolate chips and bake 60-70 mins until a toothpick poked into center comes out clean (might need a little longer with bread pan. Doubles and freezes easily!

Zucchini Crusted Pizza
3 1/2 cups grated zucchini (add a little salt and then let sit for 15 mins, then squeeze out extra moisture before using in recipe)
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup flour (or use GF baking mix)
1/2 cup grated parm or mozzarella or both
1 Tbsp minced fresh basil
Black pepper to taste
Favorite pizza toppings

Oil a cookie sheet (with sides). Combine all ingredients and then spread in a thinnish layer across the pan to the edges. Bake until surface is firm- about 20-25 mins. Brush the surface with more olive oil and then top with your favorite toppings. Bake another 20 mins and then serve. This is not a crispy crust kind of pizza- more of one that you eat with a fork and is mind-numbingly delicious. Enjoy!

Oh. And Hollandaise. Since I seem to be the only one I know besides my momma who makes it from scratch. If raw eggs give you the heebs then my saying 'the hot butter cooks them' may or may not do it for you. I make my own mayo too. Trust me- it is also so good that it is a wonder that they call the stuff they sell in jars at the store by the same name. Use eggs you trust. I prefer local ones from healthy chickens running around outside eating bugs.

Anyway. You need a blender.
Juice one-two lemons into the blender
Separate two eggs and drop the yolks into the blender.
Pinch of salt, maybe a little pinch of cayenne and/or black pepper
Pulse the blender.
Melt a stick (yes a whole stick) on the stove or in the microwave. It should be fully melted and bubbling, but not browning.
Turn on the blender and then gently, gently, pour the hot butter into the blender while it is running.
Turn off the blender as soon as you've finished with the butter.
Voila. Hollandaise. Feel free to adjust proportions for more or less lemony, but basically you need two yolks and a stick of butter for the proper consistency. We will do mayo another day. :)

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Week 5: Summer veggies and Farmstand news

Farmstand just keeps getting better.

July is certainly upon us with its strange weather (it was 90 on Thursday and today as I write this it is 61, dark and drizzling). Personally, the crops could all use the break from the heat and we took the opportunity to seed more beets and carrots in the field for the fall harvest.
I just wanted to update everyone on the progress of the farmstand. You've probably all noticed the additions of shelving (so beautifully made for us by Alan ___ ) and we are adding more and more local and regionally produced products every week. Let us know if there is something that you would like us to carry that we currently don't or if you know of a local producer out there that we should support by bringing them in to the store. We are open to suggestions. We are also now able to accept CREDIT and DEBIT cards!!!! YAY!
I also wanted to explain in a little more detail to our CSA shareholders that the farmstand is actually a customer of the CSA. When we grow veggies, we grow additional shares that are meant to be sold through the farmstand or go to our local food pantries. It is actually helpful to us because we can direct smaller volumes of veggies to one outlet. Hence, last week's first cucumber harvest (consisting of exactly 35 cucumbers on two separate days) went to the farmstand, and the first random broccoli heads went to the food pantry and also to the farmstand. This was better than composting them or trying to parcel them out to CSA....for which folks wouldn't have even gotten one fruit or head. We will hopefully have enough with next week's harvest to give them out to CSA...they are still ramping up, so this isn't a guarantee. We are hopeful and excited to share them out to you all.

Chickens are taking their time getting their egg-laying on. We are taking an informal survey about whether or not our community would prefer and would be willing to pay more for, organic eggs. The difference is the grain cost. Certified organic grain is very expensive, especially in the smallish (not a full pallet of bags) amounts we are able to buy in. There is a third option- GMO-free grain is slightly more expensive than conventional grain but less expensive than Certified Organic.  Our management of the hens would be the same- they will be in a mobile chicken house that moves through the fields with electric fencing around them to keep them safe from four legged predators. So they will be 'pastured' but what we feed them is still a question. We want to hear from you. Send us an email or let us know at CSA or the farmstand.

In Your Share (maybe):

Beets
Head Lettuce
Salad mix
Kale
Cabbage, green
Summer Squash & Zucchini
Cucumbers (hopefully!!!!)
Green onions
New Potatoes?!?

PYO

We are completely done with strawberries (there weren't any last week, but I forgot to tell everyone). The peas are a bust for the most part- they really really hate the heat and flowered at an absurdly small size. There are a few snow peas and even fewer shelling peas- I will open them if there is any chance that there might be enough. I am thinking of trying to grow them for fall harvest....
The flowers are GORGEOUS!!!! Please take home a lovely bunch of 8-10 stems. Please keep cutting them high (and tell any of the small people with you to do the same) so we can keep them trucking along for the whole season. If you have any question about whether or not you aren't doing it right, please ask for a demo or to see the diagram. We are HAPPY to show you how to properly cut flowers.
To keep your flowers fresh and beautiful- think about bringing a quart yogurt container with you to the farm at pick-up. Fill it half full of water at the sink and bring it out with you to the field. Your flowers will be much happier if they go straight into a little water. When you get them home, trim the greens off any part of the flower that will be submerged and fill a clean vase with fresh cool water. If you didn't put them in water immediately after cutting while at the farm, you will want to trim a 1/2 inch or so from the base of each stem. Put them in the water and enjoy them for a week. If you notice their water getting cloudy, feel free to change it for longer lasting blooms. They should last for a week or so.
Basil, herbs and beans are coming along a little more slowly than usual....again, the heat the last month or so has been a bit draining for them as well as us.

Recipes and Veg of the Week:

I love summer squash and zucchini. If pressed, I might say that it was my favorite veggie right next to tomatoes- which I also adore. In the summer time (never in the winter because the squash from the grocer that has been shipped 3000 miles tastes disgusting and has the texture of slimy cardboard), I eat summer squash every day, sometimes for all three meals in some fashion. I love it sliced, brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper and grilled. I love it roasted, sautéed, steamed with butter. I love it made into quick bread, muffins, cake, pizza crust and so on and so forth. I think it might just be more versatile than the potato.
If anyone ever tells me they don't like squash, I usually ask them if they've ever eaten it any other way than boiled (um, this is gross. for almost any vegetable other than a potato).
I was given this recipe by a CSA shareholder nearly 10 years ago. Her father was Lebanese and she said that he made it every year only during the summer because that was when the zucchini were the sweetest. This has become the staple stuffed zucchini in our household and we look forward to it every summer as well. For the vegetarians in my life- I've experimented and successfully substituted eggplant sautéed and minced fine (think of the eggplant meatball recipes you've seen and do that) instead of the ground beef.
Cousa Mihshi
1.5 lbs of cousa or zucchini squash up to 8 inches in length
1 small chopped onion
butter for sauteing
1/2 cup uncooked rice
1lb of ground lamb or beef
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp salt
pepper to taste
1lb can of stewed tomatoes
Cut the squash lengthwise and remove the cores leaving 1/2 inch of sidewall, careful not to pierce the sides.Rinse in cold water and drain. Saute onions in butter in a large pan. Place rinsed, drained rice in a bowl and add meat and seasonings, mix. Add half of the diced tomatoes to meat mix. Stuff the zukes 3/4 full. Arrange the stuffed zucchini over the onions and pour the rest of the tomatoes on top. Barely cover with water and a little additional salt. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 35 minutes or until the rice is done. Enjoy.

Easy Garlic Scape Pickle
I made these this week and thought everyone might like to give it a shot.
Makes 1 pint jar
1 bunch of garlic scapes (wash and trim any withered ends)
3/4 cup of cider vinegar
3/4 cup of water
1 Tblsp of salt
1 Tblsp sugar
Additional ingredients per pint jar:
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1/2 tsp mustard seed
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp coriander seeds
Coil the scapes and insert into a clean, sterilized pint canning jar. Keep doing this until the jar is filled to within 1/4 inch of the top. Add all the additional ingredients. Mix the vinegar, water, salt & sugar in a pan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve. Then carefully pour the boiling brine over the scapes until it is within 1/4 inch of the top. Poke down any floating scapes with a chopstick and to free any trapped air bubbles. Cap with a clean sterilized canning lid. Let sit until room temperature, then put in the fridge. Now. Sit on your hands for the next six weeks so that the vinegar, salt and spices can work their magic. SIX weeks.....these keep for up to 8 months in the fridge. Enjoy. My partner eats them straight out of the jar.

Events:

Hay Moon Dessert Potluck!!!! Come join us under the full moon from 6:30-8:30p on Tuesday, July 19th for dessert. It's a potluck, so bring your favorite dessert to share and we will have s'mores by the campfire and ice cream....

Kohlrabi was just too pretty not to take pictures of.

Week 4 CSA post disappeared...computer glitches suck.

Hey folks- sorry if you are coming here and not seeing the Week 4 posting. I noticed while writing the week 5 post that the Week 4 was coming up as just a draft. I tried to pull it up to publish it....(I had already done this last week, but hey...who knows why it was still showing as a draft) AND it totally disappeared. It didn't ask me if I wanted to delete it or inform me that it was deleting, it was just gone and while I tried a number of options to retrieve it...it is just gone.

So sorry about that. I think I wrote about swiss chard and gave a couple of ideas and website links for using it. I told the goat escape story. I mentioned that July events were cancelled through the middle of the month because we have a new engagement director coming on board. We, the farm crew, would still like to have the Dessert Potluck on July 19th from 630-830. We will provide campfire and s'mores and ice cream. You bring a fun dessert to share with us and we will all be happily in sugar rush land.
cheers all!