Week 12: Give us a break Summer! It's time for SCHOOL!

I took a little break from blogging last week- sorry folks, but vacation takes its toll and while I came back renewed from camping in Maine, there was a lot to catch up on in terms of work, both in the field and out of it. Acadia was, as always, an adventure of amazement and stunning beauty where mountains touch the ocean and where water touches sky in a sweep of silver. We climbed peak after peak- no easy hikes for us- my children are half mountain goat and sprint up rocky inclines laughing and eat blueberries as they wait for me to join them, sweating and panting but fulfilled. I remember being their age and doing exactly the same thing. It is sometimes a shock to wake up in the morning and realize that I am not a 12 year old. But I love that my kids are touched by the beauty they see spread out in sea and tree and rock, that they point to distant peaks and wonder which mountain it is and that they scream "HELLO" at strangers they see on the other side of the many gorges we climb. They also respond politely to all the hikers we pass on the trails. Morgan now says 'happy trails' something he learned from his time working trail crew with the Student Conservation Association this summer. It is good.
The farm is also whole and nothing tragic happened while we were gone. That's always a nice thing- we have left vacations early to drive frantically home because of emergencies of weather or animal or fence or illness, so we really really enjoy when that doesn't happen.
As we go into the next few weeks of back to school craziness some of you will forget to pick up your CSA shares. This happens every year. Do not panic- remember that if you miss your day, you can pick up on one of the other two distribution days during the week. You can also email me at ddubois@thetrustees.org if you happen to find that you aren't going to make it before we close. We can pack you a bag and leave it in the fridge (please don't make this a habit, but we are happy to help you out). Schedules change at this time too, so if you know that you need to permanently change your regular pickup day, then just make a note on the check off sheet so that we have a general idea of how many folks are picking up on a particular day.

What's in Your Share this Week:
Lettuce
Onions
Leeks (new!)
Beets (Appleton)
Tomatoes
Peppers
Squash (ugh, limited, planting is going down fast)
Edamame

Pick Your Own:
Flowers- 12 stems
Chili peppers- 10 pieces
Cherry tomatoes- 2 quarts
Okra (i'm not cleaning these so there are a lot of big ones out there- if you cut some, please cut the
big ones off the plant and leave them on the ground- thanks!)
Parsley

Animal news:
We let the young Heritage breed hens out onto grass for the first time! They started out a little hesitant but eventually made their way out of the house and started exploring the outside world. We have Polish, Crevocouers, Wyandotte's and Silver laced Cornish.


Farmstand news:
Our tomato puree is back in stock with this season's first run!!!!!! The jars look beautiful, a slightly more orange color than last season because both Powisset and we have planted some heirloom sauce tomatoes in bright yellow and orange that are toning down the bright red of the other tomatoes. The flavor is outstanding however and they are ready for you to add to your favorite tomato sauce meals.
We brought another load of tomatoes today- 3000lbs of tomatoes from Appleton, Powisset and Chestnut all went to be processed into puree!
We are offering bulk 20# boxes of sauce tomatoes for canning/preserving for $25. We need 48 hours notice to get them to you. Please email ddubois@thetrustees.org if you are interested. Pick up days are the same days and times as our CSA and farmstand hours.
We will also pack 20# boxes of the larger grape tomatoes for drying/freezing for $30. These are delicious oven roasted with olive oil and garlic powder and a little salt and then frozen for enjoyment in the winter.

Winter Shares are COMING! We will have a waitlist signup (hopefully next week) from which we will send out a link to our new software signup system as soon as it is ready in mid-late September. We anticipate that we will sell out of our Winter shares. This season will look a little different than last year because of the timing of Thanksgiving. We will have two distributions (the first the weekend before Thanksgiving and the second on 12/7-8). We will have a basic storage veggie box, but you will have the ability to customize your box to add in extras such as more of specific veggies, fruit such as cranberries and apples, and our store offerings such as meats, tomato puree, pickles, and dressings.

EVENTS:  A reminder that our September Meet the Farmer is cancelled due to Labor Day weekend and staff shortage this coming weekend.
Another reminder is that our September Farm dinner is already SOLD OUT. Sorry folks, but we are planning a CSA potluck for sometime in mid-October. Stay tuned! This will be a more casual gathering of our CSA community (and we are trying to talk our illustrious assistant manager and farm crew to provide musical entertainment for this).
Our Fall Festival is just around the corner. It happens the Sunday before Heritage Day and is a day full of games and fun! Think hay-mazes, great food, games, face-painting, craft vendors, pumpkin carving and more!

Recipe of the Week: Farmer's Favorite Country Style Ribs with Leeks & Potatoes
I love leeks and how creamy and delicious they can be. I, as a busy farmer mom who works insane hours all summer long, also love a one dish wonder meal. So I often grab whatever is hanging out in the walkin cooler and scan the freezer for broken packages of meats and concoct something. This recipe happened last week... it is super flexible and you can sub pretty much any starchy root for the potatoes (think carrots, turnips, sweet potatoes, etc). You can also sub any protein for the country style ribs (we made it with chicken breasts, but you could do pressed firm and marinated tofu, beef steak or fish- though you will have to adjust the cooking time- we took the chicken out and left the potatoes and leeks in the oven to continue cooking). This recipe also takes a little longer than I usually love- 45mins to an hour cooking time so plan accordingly.
Ingredients:
1 bunch of leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced
1.5 pounds of potatoes, rinsed, skins on and thinly sliced
4 country style ribs, thawed
1 tsp chili powder
garlic powder
salt and pepper
olive oil
optional: 2-4oz of cream cheese
 Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, toss the leeks and potatoes with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt. Transfer to a large casserole dish. Sprinkle with a little garlic, salt and chili powder.
2. Rinse the ribs and pat dry. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper, a little garlic powder and chili powder. Lay on top of the veggies and put in the oven. Cook for 45 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and the ribs are done. Keep checking them (and especially if you are using an alternate protein, but you don't want your meat to get too dry). You can always remove the meat and let the veg keep cooking for another 15 mins. As soon as the potatoes are tender you can remove from the oven and mix in the optional cream cheese to make a creamy, heavenly sauce that is magical with the meats.

New field! 

Week 10: Halfway point and so many tomatoes

The summer is in full swing as we see the bounties of fruits such as tomatoes, peppers, melons and the return of lettuce this week after a brief hiatus with the heat that has rolled through in the last two months. Lettuce HATES heat and turns bitter and nasty just before it flowers into tall rocket shaped trees- we do our best and plant heat and 'bolt' resistant varieties but even those aren't able to withstand temps of over 95. New plantings are starting to size up with all the rain we've had.
We sent out first round of tomatoes to be processed into our delicious puree last week. It is so exciting to arrive at the kitchen with the pickup filled with sauce tomatoes and seconds and know that they are going to be made into gorgeous jars of pureed tomatoes for the store! We grew extra rows of sauce tomatoes this year especially for puree and they include a blend of heirloom sauce such as Northampton Italian and orange banana and hybrids such as Granadero.
 Even as we are harvesting these summer fruits, our farmer eyes are looking towards the fall and winter harvest as we plan, seed and plant for October, November and December harvests. Fall beets, broccolis, cabbages, roots and greens went into the ground last week and more seed was ordered to fill in some additional beds with cold hardy veg that will be perfect come October's crisper days and cold nights.
The goats are back from their hiatus at Weir River and Moose Hill Farm, looking fat and sleek. They will probably be here for a couple of weeks until farmers are back from a little vacation and they are ready for the flock on the Vineyard. I swear these will be the most cultured and well-traveled goats of all.
Our second farm dinner was sold out again and a great time was had by all. Destin had his telescopes out on the hill as the dusk came down and my daughters reported viewings of Mars &Venus. He will also be here for the September dinner and the night sky is a real treat. Don't miss out on September's dinner- tickets are going pretty fast and this dinner will sell out.
What's in Your Share this week (maybe):
Kale
Summer Squash & Zukes
Cukes
Fresh Onions
Scallions
Musk melons
Carrots (appleton)
Lettuce
Tomatoes

PYO:
Beans
Cherry tomatoes
flowers
herbs-parsley, basil
Chili peppers: Jalapenos, Czech blacks, hungarian hot wax are marked, but there are also long red cayenne and serranos out there as well. Shishitos will be marked when they are ready.
Okra

What's new in the farmstand:
So our fridge gave out on Tuesday morning (So sorry if you have gotten a milk that went sour too quickly!!! We keep an eye on the temperature, but it only takes a couple of hours at above 40 degrees to make the milk go bad faster than its sell by date.) Repair will take a day or so, until then, if you are looking for egg/cheese they are in our walk in and we are happy to assist you.
Our pickled beet are on the shelf!!!!! They are tasty and beautiful....!
We have a new coffee flavor on the shelf this week from Dean's Beans- Mexican Chiapas French Roast- it is described as a smooth, full-bodied cup with notes of bittersweet cocoa. We also now have ground coffee in two of our most popular flavors: Ring of Fire (a Sumatran, Timor and Papua new Guinea blend of dark smokiness) and Moka Sumatra (a medium blend of Nicaraguan and Sumatran for silky, dry cocoa flavors).

Week 9: More Heat, humidity and tornado warnings

Goats and new sheep in contemplation

We are so glad that the tornado petered itself out before it got to us (not that I didn't spend a good hour in the basement with dragons, anxious kids and annoyed cats AFTER running the very confused goats into the lower barn). The idea of a tornado raging through is terrifying for us- as farmers, it is more than just our homes and barns that are at risk. We have livestock and crops in the field- some of which we can get to safety and others which we can do nothing about. If the goats were pastured further out- 15 min is not enough time to run them back to a secure structure. The crops can not be protected. Greenhouses are only rated to survive an 80 mph wind gust- anything more or sustained will tear them apart.
Surprisingly, we still did a healthy business of farmstand and CSA during the tornado warning and Rachel hung out in the barn with promises of heading to the closest basement if the wind did start to pick up (her basement is across the driveway). Jesse was away in Maine picking up some sheep and we are pretty sure that Cole slept through the whole thing.

In case you hadn't seen the signs about Chestnut Hill Rd on Rt 30. The road is fully blocked just after the trailhead entrance due to the construction going on for the new development on the corner. It's been sort of non-stop entertainment for the farm crew to watch vehicle after vehicle completely ignore the signs and try to head down anyway. Only to watch them turn around in our parking area, back all the way back up the road, turn around in Whit and Pam Beals driveway (much to their annoyance) and all other manor of hilarity. Usually with some degree of irritation either on faces or in aggressive driving- all because they didn't see the GIANT ORANGE construction signs at the end of the road. I don't know about you- but I tend to read those signs as they generally contain pertinent information about the road that I am currently using. And I tend to believe them when they say that the road is closed. So here's my plea- let folks know that the road really is closed. It isn't a suggestion and it isn't open to 'local traffic only (of which there is none down there anyway yet) it's just closed for the foreseeable future as they move construction equipment to and from the development via the back end and they really don't want cars careening around the corner and into dump trucks. I anticipate an uptick in cars trying to get through around about school starting (and teenagers drive REALLY fast on their way to school) so I'm trying to get the word out now.

So, while central Worcester county was in the grip of tornado warnings and generally strange weather all around, Jesse was up in Maine acquiring some SHEEP for our conservation grazing group. We have had some difficulty in locating Katahdin sheep (a hardy breed that tend to shed their wool rather than having to be shorn every year), but we now have a couple of lovely ewes- Annie and Ruby- and a dozen ram lambs from which to choose a herdsire for breeding more ewes this fall. They are here at Chestnut for a little while getting accustomed to electric netting- which they have never seen. We are also getting them used to the idea of goats, another thing they are not used to but are very curious about.

What's in Your Share (maybe):
Just a reminder that we do our best to have enough for everyone to have a share of what we harvest for the week, but sometimes, it doesn't quite pan out the way we hope. A good example is last week's  broccolini- which was so abundant on Tuesday- did not regroup itself to have an additional harvest for boxes or Thurs/Sat CSA. At the same time, we harvested a meager 20# of tomatoes on Tuesday, but by Thursday there was over 100# and by Saturday, even more and so we gave out tomatoes instead of broccolini. We apologize to those that missed out on either item and will make it up as we go along during the season.

Tomatoes
Potatoes
Red onions
Carrots (Appleton Farm)
Squash & zukes
Cukes (running slow right now in the heat so limited this week)
Kale
Melons
Peppers (?) big IF. They looked close on Saturday, but we won't know until we get out there how good they really are.

PYO
basil
parsley, marjoram, savory, oregano, sage,
Green and yellow wax beans- quart
Cherry tomatoes- quart
okra- pint
Flowers- 12 stems

The dill and cilantro are pretty done, we will be starting a new batch soon for September harvesting.
Fruit Share this week is Wild Maine blueberries!!!! We will have extra for sale in the store along with peaches from Cider Hill, watermelon and muskmelons from our farm.


Our Farm Dinner is SOLD OUT for Friday. Sorry folks! Sign up now for the September dinner and don't miss out on the food, music and fun.

Farmstand! Our new Pesto and Pickled beets are in the store!!!! They are so yummy and we can't
wait for you to try them!
We also have new flavors of ice cream cups: Graham Central (graham ice cream with chocolate covered graham bits, Black Bear (black raspberry with chocolate), along with more Mint Cookie, Strawberry, Mississippi Mud and Choc. Chip.

Recipe of the Week: Velvety Zucchini Basil Soup 

This is another shareholder recipe brought to you by VegetarianGastronomy.com and you can use any of the squashes for this- you don't actually need all zukes. Zephyr would be quite wonderful.

Ingredients

• 9 cups zucchini , diced (~5-6 zucchinis)
• 2 cups white onions , diced (~1 white onion)
• 4 cups vegetable broth (see notes below)
• 8 cloves garlic , minced
• 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• freshly ground black pepper
• salt

Instructions

1. In a large non-stick pot, heat 2 tbsp olive oil on medium heat.
2. Add the minced garlic and diced white onion. Saute, mixing frequently, until fragrant and the onions start to become translucent.
3. Add all the chopped zucchini and saute for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add the vegetable broth and 1 teasp salt and combine.
5. Bring the soup to a boil. Reduce heat to keep a gentle simmer, and cover. Let the soup simmer until the zucchini is tender and cooked (to test, simply see if the zucchini easily mashes against the side of the pot).
6. Blend all of the soup until completely pureed. I used my Vitamix, but any blender should do just fine. Most likely you'll have to blend in two batches because of the volume of the soup. 
7. While blending one of the batches, add 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves and completely blend/puree into the soup.
8. Add all of the pureed soup back into the large pot and bring the soup to a gentle simmer, uncovered. Cook for an additional 5-10 minutes. 
9. The soup should already be at the desired consistency (on the thick side), but for some reason if it is too thin, simmer the soup until you reach the the thickness you prefer.
10. Season with salt to taste and freshly ground black pepper.
11. Serve hot with a side of your favorite toasted bread.

Recipe Notes

For the vegetable broth in this recipe, I used Imagine Brand low-sodium.

Week 8: Heat wave...again

We are eyeing the watermelons with mouths watering as we wait for them to ripen. You don't know this but if you have only ever eaten a watermelon from the grocery, you've never actually eaten a ripe
watermelon. Yep. Unfortunately, this is a truth. Big watermelon growers have to harvest the watermelons before they are fully ripe so that they don't burst open during transport. A small, relatively irrelevant fact of life, until you eat a watermelon so ripe from the field that you can split it open with a fingernail. These are so bursting with flavor and juiciness that it ruins all other watermelons for you, forever. Watermelon any other way is always just going to be a little lacking. And we are close here. Real close and you may see a couple in the farmstand this week. We've had some critters trying to eat them (all creatures great and small like to eat fresh, ripe watermelon and we are busy trying to fend them off).
Tomatoes are another thing that are starting to get their groove on, but just not enough to really be able to supply the whole CSA- you will see some in the store, but last week we harvested exactly 10 pounds of ripe fruit. That's it. So we can't divvie that up 250 ways and so we can't give them out just yet. Soon though- the plants are dripping with fruit. With the heat wave this week we wouldn't be surprised if they jump forward- we might be able to offer them later in the week (sorry Tuesday, they def aren't ready today but we will make it up to you if we give them out- we don't want them to rot either).
We are excited to announce that Gov. Baker signed the FY19 budget with a $4mil HIP investment intact. That means that those members of our community who are the most food insecure (this is mostly kids and the disabled!) will continue to have incentive to access fresh fruits and vegetables bought from a local farm or farmers market. This is all tax money that stays in our state and benefits local farmers as well as helping provide vital nutrition to those who need it most. We are the pilot program for the rest of the US so we have to continue to make this program work and NY has now picked it up. If you don't know about the HIP program then read more about this awesome program here.

In your Share this Week (maybe):

Celery
New potatoes
Squash & Zukes
Cukes
Lettuce (Appleton)
Onions
Scallions
Eggplant
Broccolini (this is a big maybe)
Tomatoes
Chard

PYO-
Cherry Tomatoes (pint)
Green and yellow beans (pint)
Basil
Parsley and other herbs
Flowers
Okra (when you are out there, cut off the huge ones and leave them in the field, they are too fibrous to eat. Cut the small ones, under 4 inches to bring home)

Friday Farm Dinner is AUGUST 10th!!!! 

That's 10 days from today. That means that we will be CLOSING ticket sales on WEDNESDAY AUG. 8th so now is the time to buy those tickets and make sure that you don't miss out on the fun. I had a lot of phone calls and texts and emails asking for tickets on Thursday and Friday for the last dinner....and we SOLD OUT (even after adding an extra 25 tickets). So sign up soon. Menu will also be out soon. I have no idea what it is, just that I have been asked about tomatoes. So there will be tomatoes involved somehow. The food will be awesome, the company of highest quality and music and stars and sunsets and more. Come join us. Chestnut Hill Farm Dinner Sign UP
Menu this time around includes a mouth watering haddock- poached on site with EVOO, lemon and white wine and finished on the grill. Caprese salad with farm tomatoes and basil pesto, Wedding rice salad with farm veggies, and so many more delicious appetizers and sides. Dessert is a surprise for now, but trust me- it is deliciousness worth waiting for.


Farmstand:
The farmstore has a beautiful new upright freezer for frozen meats and ice cream (quarts and cups) and sorbet and those fabulous Crescent Creamery chocolate chip ice cream sammies.
We are restocked on T-shirts (new colors even!) and Sweatshirts so if we haven't had your size, we have it now.
We also have our own Bread and Butter Pickles making their debut in the farmstore!!!!!!
We have partnered with Commonwealth Kitchen in Dorchester (an awesome place) and they are taking our cucumbers, beets and basil and making delicious products for us. B&B's are the first in the line of value added products that we are growing extra produce for. Pickled beets are up next and then we have basil pesto!
Chocolate milk quarts are on sale this week for $3.50/qt (we accidentally got a double order delivered) and the Valley View goat milk Chevre is delicious and creamy. Appleton's Round point Camembert style cheese, Goodhue and Pinnacle are also in stock and ready for your table. I used Valley View's goat feta in my cucumber-blueberry salad and it was incredible. I highly recommend it (and that is saying something since I personally make my own feta and chevre and have a bit of snobbery about both feta and chevre and I LIKE these).

Anyway, check out the farm-store additions! Restocking later this week on Appalachian Naturals offerings, including salsa, bbq sauce and the ever important dressings.

Quick Pickle Recipe

So, Jesse loves pickles and a quart of the below were dropped off by a CSA member last week- he ate them all in a sitting. When he opened the container the smell of dill and garlic spread through the kitchen like euphoria. We highly recommend this recipe. Thanks Ellen!!!

2 lb. cucumbers, cut in 4th lengthwise

½ head of garlic, roughly chopped

1 jalapeño, roughly chopped (if you don’t like spicy, remove seeds and membranes). You can substitute with red pepper flakes.

1 bunch of dill, roughly chopped

1 bunch of parsley, roughly chopped

½ teaspoon of dry mustard

6 whole allspice

1 tbsp. salt

1 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. vinegar (I prefer apple cider, but any will work). You can experiment with amount of vinegar, even omitting it altogether.

Put everything in a big plastic bag (I prefer reusable containers), tie and shake it.

Leave for 30 mins on a counter, after that move to a fridge.  They will be ready in a few hours, best if left overnight.

If you want a crunchier version, please soak cucumbers (before adding the rest of ingredients) in a very cold water (I mix crushed ice cubes and water) for a couple of hours.