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.