It’s time folks!

look at these little hearts- your CSA loves you.

 If you haven’t signed up for CSA, the time is now. We have limited space this year and I wouldn’t want you to miss out. www.thetrustees.org/chestnut

We also have boxed share pick up sites all over the place these days, so if you have friends or family in Hingham, Leominster, Westborough, Hopkinton, Framingham or Worcester- we are delivering our veggies to all those towns!!!!

www.thetrustees.org/csabox

It is still snowing. I really thought we were finally done with all of this…after all, I pulled all the taps from the maples and put all the buckets away so it MUST be spring, RIGHT???? The crocuses are BLOOMING, the snowdrops are done and I’m watching snow fall on daffodils, tulips and hyacinth and trying not to weep as I defiantly keep trekking outside without my coat (or a hat or gloves).

So now it is just a waiting game to see when we can get into the fields with tractors and start prepping soil beds for baby plants. The ideal is to be ready to put the first plants and seeds in the ground by April 15^th, but it isn’t looking good for that today. Hopefully we will get a little drier and a little warmer soon and our apprentice crew will arrive and we will be able to take off! Bring on SPRING.

Our new apprentice crew arrived this week! We have two apprentices  in the house at #5 (where the new office is) and we are so excited to have their help! They are getting started right away with orientations of all kinds- from tractor & equipment safety and basic mechanics to first aid/cpr trainings, lots of reading and learning our policies, farm history and more. New this year for our crew is livestock chores and animal husbandry! They will be helping us integrate our new sheep and goat herds into the Chestnut Hill Farm landscape. Whoo hoo!

Farm News:

Chillaxin

We have been on constant baby watch here at the farm- the goats were so big even I was worried they were just going to explode. We have a total of 15 babies out of 7 mommas. Twins were had by all and Nutty gave us a set of triplets for the third year in a row.  The goats are ready for spring too- the few warm days we’ve had made them so happy- soaking up the sun in delight as they itched away their dandruff and cashmere undercoats. Their new barn is so very close to being done, the plastic is finally on, but we need to hang gates and build some interior walls (and block a few holes). Then we can move the flock into their new lush living space. We are all looking forward to having a beautiful new space filled with light for our girls.

We have visited two awesome Trustees properties in the last couple of weeks. Rock House Reservation in West Brookfield and Halibut Point Reservation (and State Park) in Rockport. Both are incredible. If you love jumbles of rocky outcropping, winding trails and all the variability of serene water- you will find this in both places. Opt outside one of these weekends and explore some place beautiful. 

Halibut Point in Rockport

Upcoming Events:

Meet the FARMER: Greenhouse edition May 5^th 10a-2p

For our first MTF of 2018 we are opening up our greenhouse for a delightful morning of plant sale, farm tours, tastings and more. Come and visit, say hello and get some early season plants for your garden that will brave the chilly nights. Look for kales, mini-cabbages, lettuces, broccoli, chard, beets, herbs, early flowers and more. We will also have some container seedlings ready to get started in your indoor containers (put them outside on warm days and bring them inside while it is still chilly at night)- bush tomatoes, peppers, basil and more. Seed potatoes will also be available for sale! 1lb bags in 6 six varieties!

Farmstand:

We will have our grand re-opening of the stand on May 5^th as part of our Meet the Farmer gathering and first plant sale of the season. We will then be open every Saturday after that from 10am-2pm with more and more plants for sale. Lists of available beauties for sale will be posted on our facebook page on Fridays. Fill your gardens with our healthy transplants and get your season started right.

First harrow of 2018!

Recipe of the Week

At this point in the not-spring, I loathe cooking. I just want to be pulling fresh stuff out of the fields and I don’t want to spend another minute looking at the limp excuse for greens that I keep stumbling on at the grocery. I want delicious sweet spinach with the dew still on it and lettuce so crunchy it pops. The greenhouse is filling up with green glory and I want to spend nearly every waking minute watching those little promises we call seeds fulfill their magical purpose. Still, I’m constantly looking for and trying out recipes (often many times to make sure that I have it down to simplest form for the convenience of my shareholders.

With all this cold I have been making a lot of simple noodle bowls (sometimes called Korean Pho Bowls). These are super easy, super simple- a great kid helper meal- and delicious. The variations are endless! Believe it or not, my first ever noodle bowl of this kind was for a lunch I had when I visited the Boston Public Market for a meeting. There is a great little booth there- they offer a basic bowl every day- fresh veggies, broth (veggie or meat based), a protein and noodles. I watched in utter fascination and delight as they heaped fresh veg, a little sautéed chicken breast, over a base of rice noodles and then filled the bowl with a gorgeous concoction of broth, coconut milk and ‘nose-running’ spices and topped it with a little fresh cilantro. And the hot broth cooked the veggies perfectly- still crisp but tender. Chopsticks help with the noodles and veggies, drink the broth down. It was perfection.

So. I’ve been working to recreate this at home for months. Every week is different and we’ve tried all kinds of methods, broths, noodles, veggies. The key is simplicity, and I’ve got to tell you- my kids absolutely love this meal.

For a family of five I use two quarts of stock (and I make my own and/or buy in- I’ve tried it both ways, my only suggestion for bought stock- buy stock or bone broth not the regular broth AND do buy the unsalted otherwise it is just too salty!) To this I add: 1 can of coconut milk and a teaspoon of red or green curry paste. (this is plenty especially if you have little ones that don’t like spicy- adults or kids that love spice can add more at the table).  Heat all this together until simmering. In the meantime:

Cook basic rice or low mein noodles (1-2 package) for just a couple of minutes and drain.

Finely chop or grate: Carrots, bok choy or Chinese (napa) cabbage, scallions, salad turnip, daikon radish, shitake mushrooms, red peppers, baby spinach or kale, water chestnuts, baby corn, bamboo shoots, any other veggie that you would like.

Proteins: lightly sautéed chicken, beef pork, or even fish, shrimp or tempeh/tofu but our favorite is poaching eggs right in the broth

To assemble: put a small pile of noodles into bowls, filling them about halfway. Add small amounts of vegetables and protein around the sides of noodles and on top. If you are using poached eggs, don’t add them until after the stock goes in, otherwise you will cook them too much. Don’t overdo it or they won’t cook when you add the hot stock. Ladle steaming hot stock over the whole- just covering the noodles and toppings. Garnish with more curry paste, fresh cilantro or parsley, thinly sliced ginger, scallions and serve with more curry paste, sweet chili sauce, fish sauce, and/or tamari. We eat this with chopsticks and drink the broth at the end.