Week 10:We are Half Way through the season already!!! And the value of vacation, even for a farmer.

At the top of Canada Cliffs- Acadia National Park- looking down to Echo Lake

It has been quite a season so far. The rain and humidity continues, making for thriving weeds and fungus and super tired farmers. I took my first summer vacation in six years, and it was incredible. I went to the cool granite beaches of Maine with my family and listened to the sound of the ocean crash against rocks in time to the rhythm of my heart. I felt my breath pound in and out of my lungs as I climbed mountains that stretch into the sea and were formed thousands of years ago by magma crashing up through the mantle of the earth and I was renewed. I listened to kids squabble over dishes and the last piece of pie, but also exclaim in awe over the incredible beauty of a loon sitting on her nest surrounded by a thousand people swimming in a lake and again at the sight of the sea broken by masts and islands and the glossy pointed backs of porpoises breaching the sparkling water. I get it. Vacations are a time to reflect, to connect, to affirm a place on the earth. I come back to the farm to get dirty and sweaty and finish the season with its normal ebb and flow of success and failure with a renewed sense of well being and energy. I also reaffirm that to get away to places of stark and perfect beauty, a little wildness, and a whole lot of 'not the every day' is super important to find clarity and purpose in our work and life. It is good to be a uncomfortable. It is good to be challenged. As my friend Peter said, 'this is how we grow as a person', as we clung to a smidgen trail winding up a cliff so steep that iron rungs had been driven in to help ascend and I felt nauseous and terrified watching the children leap up the rocks like mountain goats. He is so right- taking chances, breathing deep, listening, letting go...it is how we all grow.

 What’s in Your Share this Week (maybe):

El making sure the white kale meets her taste standards

• Basil (PYO)
• Flowers (PYO)
• Okra (PYO- keep calm folks, it looks like I can't plant enough okra so if you took some last week, leave some for others this week, please) 
•  Kale, white Russian (cook like collards)
• Eggplant
• Celery
• Chard, rainbow
• New Potatoes
• Beets, mostly cylindra
• Fresh Onions
• Summer squash
• Broccoli
• Green Cabbage
• Tomatoes

PEAK SEASON SHARES ARE STILL AVAILABLE!!!! Tell all your friends that we are offering half season shares again this year! 10 weeks of gorgeous vegetables- all the fun of the fall harvest. So even if they spent the summer out of town, they can still partake of the bounty of CSA now that summer is winding back down to school. 

Also- we are piloting a 3 week Winter CSA share this season. So the fun doesn't have to end at the end of October! We are are boxing a delicious selection of cold season and storage crops and distributing the Friday before Thanksgiving, and two Fridays in December! We are partnering with our sister farms of Powisset and Appleton to provide you with a wide array of delicious, healthy food for your holiday meals and storage pantries. 

Sign up today: https://goo.gl/et5UGj

Upcoming Events:

·         Friday Farm Dinner on September 15th. These dinners are a huge hit and are super fun. Register soon (our caterer is awesome but she’s not a miracle worker and we can’t add you at the last minute) and don’t be disappointed because we do SELL OUT! The music is fabulous, the sunset is amazing and food and company are not to be missed. Stay for a bit by the fire and relax with a tasty beverage and a little more dessert. Register here: https://goo.gl/329Hmq

·         Our Little Sprouts Program is transitioning into a popup program that will happen during Tuesday CSA pick ups, so while you pick up your veggies and take a little lingering time in the PYO flowers for the perfect bouquet…let the kids help Kira explore the farm, plant and create in the Learning Garden and maybe go on a short hike to visit the goats (or a short hike with a goat!!!!!)

·         Nature Journaling Course- August 24th from 10:30-11:30am. Sketching, writing, and drawing in a journal is a great way to improve children's observation skills, help them gain an interest in science and the environment, and it's a wonderful way to relax during a busy summer. Journaling materials will be provided to each participant and staff will lead groups of kids and adults out onto the farm to find new places to explore and observe. This program is suitable for all ages with a focus on children ages 5-10. The cost is for anyone journaling with us and includes materials. Cost is $12/member child (adults are Free but must hang with their child). To register: https://goo.gl/JRNfQK or come by the farmstand and we will help you out.

Farmstand: 

New Dean’s Beans Coffee Flavor!!!! We now are offering NoCO2 a Peruvian dark roast from Dean’s Beans. This is a lovely coffee with all the great attributes that we expect from Dean’s (great flavor and freshness, fair trade, organic, GREAT price at $12/lb) but it also adds in another great benefit- they’ve made it carbon neutral by offsetting the costs of transport and production by planting hardwood trees in the rainforest.   https://deansbeans.com/noco2-peruvian.html/ Now you can drink this beautiful coffee and feel a little less guilty about it.

Our own Southborough Pasta company- Allegro- has made some gorgeous bowtie pasta from our basil! This is very special and delicious and will only be around as long as our basil is, so get yours now.

We also have fresh peaches from Cider Hill Farm in the farmstand! They go quick so get some soon. 

Veggie of the week: Zucchini

Lori from Culinary Underground during Tuesday's demo

So, if you’ve been a CSA member for the last couple years, you all know of my love affair with summer squash and zucchini. I mean, during the summer I usually eat squash in some fashion for just about every meal. I sauté it with eggs in the morning, I sauté it to eat with or for my lunch, I add it to just about every dinner meal. I turn the big ones into breads, muffins and pancakes. I grate and freeze it to use in my favorite meal: Zucchini-Feta Pancakes in the dead of January when I dream in green and the squash in the grocery has shipped from 2000 miles away and tastes like cardboard. And so you also know that until this season, I have never not been able to satisfy my hankering for squash. But our first planting of squash just didn’t do anything….instead of a 100 lbs or more of perfect squash per bed, we were getting less than a 100 lbs for 4 beds!!! I still have no idea what happened. New fields, strange season? New virus? It seems like it was a combination of all of those. Our second (and third!!!) plantings are now coming in like crazy and we have lots of beautiful squash. We have big ones for stuffing, spiralizing and making breads, we have small ones for their seedless perfection in meals. Check the old blogs for July for our recipe on Kousa-Mishi a Lebanese stuffed zucchini recipe (also works with the green kousa squashes, and the larger Zephyrs) that truly is astounding and really does work with raw meat and rice….but I also wanted to offer this unusual recipe for using larger squashes. You are essentially using the zucchini as the ‘crust’ to hold the quiche filling. You can make it in rounds or use patty pans if you want a tasty hors d’oeuvres, but we use the biggest zukes to make this quiche.

Quiche stuffed Squash

Ingredients

4 eggs, beaten

1 cup of heavy cream or half/half

1 cup of spinach or chard, torn into bite size pieces

½ cup of crumbled feta

½ cup gruyere

Paprika

½ cup of sweet fresh onion (red or white, and the greens)

1 large zucchini or zephyr, cut in half (you might also need to trim the bottoms to keep them from rolling over.)

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

Nutmeg

Directions:

Take the halved squash and gently scoop out the flesh to leave ½ inch of wall. Discard the seeds, but keep the solid flesh. Place in a large casserole, lightly oiled, and set aside.

In a heavy cast iron skillet, saute the flesh and onions until lightly browned. Add the greens and saute until just wilted.  Spoon into the squash ‘crust’.

Mix up the custard- beat the eggs with cream until light and frothy, add the feta and gruyere. Add a little salt, pepper and nutmeg (this last is just a smidge). Then pour over the veggies to fill the squash. Top with a little paprika and bake in a 350 degree oven about 45 mins or until the custard is set and the squash is fork tender.

Praying mantis in our fields is a sign of a healthy ecosystem!