Week 16: Just a little Frost on the Pumpkin this morning....

So I saw it this morning with a sinking heart- the fog rolling down the through the hills and settling on the tomatoes, beans, peppers and eggplant- and there was just enough bite in the air at dawn that I knew. The thermometer in the house said 39 degrees Fahrenheit but I could just tell....the fog rolling down was colder. And I could practically see it settle and stiffen on the blades of grass and leaves of vegetables as I walked through the field to get the goats just before dawn. It happens every year, but our tomatoes have been just so good that it actually breaks my heart a little to feel that time coming. Looking at the damage after the sun hit them it seems like we lost the tops of most of the plants- which means that we will still have tomatoes for a little while longer, but they may not be as pretty. And the lower nighttime temps might mean that some will lose that creamy softness that we've all come to adore. If, however, the temps climb above 50 at night, we will continue on with our delicious tomatoes for a while.  I still need a little time to see if our peppers and eggplant made it through. The beans got hit pretty hard- the beans will be fine, but the plants are done. This will be the last week of picking them.

Kirsten is off to New Zealand for the winter by way of Texas to pick up her dad and then Australia where they will go on a birding safari until the beginning of November. She has been AWESOME and will be much missed this winter, but she is planning on coming back for next season so unless she can't drag herself away

from the beauty of NZ we will look forward to seeing her again!

Fall Harvest Fest in two weeks!!!!!!The extra pumpkins have arrived via Brookdale Fruit Farm in NH. Apples are coming next week. T-shirts are in the works (and yes, they will have goats on them again). The excitement and anticipation mounts. We have a full line up of musicians and live theatre, food and fun. Put October 9th on your calendars and don't miss the action.

Rumors of Meat CSA! Our livestock manager here at the Trustees has been putting together the logistics of making a Meat CSA happen here at CHF. There will be more information forthcoming- look for them to set up an info booth at CSA sometime in the very near future.Until then- that's all I got for you.


This week's share (maybe):
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Baby Bok Choi
Spicy Salad/Mesclun/Braising Mustard Greens
Arugula
Winter Squash-Carnival/Acorn
Escarole
Green Cabbage (a little closer the size it is supposed to be)
Celery
Eggplant/Peppers (depends on the frost damage!!!)
Broccoli- alright! it's beautiful and we did our best but we can't guarantee that it is free of caterpillars- SOAK YOUR BROCCOLI IN SALTED WATER FOR 15 MINUTES- SHAKE IT UNDERWATER, RINSE AND MOST OF THE NUISANCES SHOULD BE DEAD AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAN.
The broccoli will taste AMAZING so please don't let the heebeejeebees get the better of you enjoying this gorgeous fall veggie.

PYO:
We still have herbs such as parsley and sage, thyme and lavendar out in the field. Cherry tomatoes are

holding on and there are still chilies for the time being (though I may have to pull a bunch of them if they lost foliage last night).

Recipes:
Tis the start of comfort food season. It is finally just cool enough to turn on the oven for extended periods of time and I dream of creamy sauces and chunky hunks of crusty bread. A shareholder mentioned this recipe in passing and my mouth started watering immediately.

Broccoli-Chicken Casserole (originally from myrecipes.com but heavily modified to be yummier)

Ingredients

3/4lb  broccoli florets

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb mushrooms, sliced

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups milk (whole is best or 1/2 & 1/2, but you could use low fat as well)

3/4 lb chicken breast (about 3 cups), chopped

1/2 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt

1/4 cup canola mayonnaise

Optional (a tbsp of sherry)

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1/2 cup)

1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/4 cup)

Preparation

1. Preheat broiler.

2. Prepare broccoli by steaming lightly for 5 minutes until bright green and tender.

3. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion and garlic and mushrooms; cook 12 minutes or until mushrooms brown and liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally.  Add the chicken and cook for another 5-7 minutes until cooked through. Sprinkle mushroom mixture with flour; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in optional sherry then stir in milk. Bring to a boil; cook 3 minutes or until thick and bubbly. Stir in broccoli; cook 1 minute. Remove pan from heat. Stir in yogurt, mayonnaise, pepper, and salt. Top evenly with cheeses; broil 2 minutes.

Serve with rice or cous cous, crusty bread.

Those mustard greens (spicy salad) and arugula don't have to just be salad, raw or sauteed. Think about pesto! Just take your favorite pesto recipe/ingredients and substitute the greens for the basil. This is awesome as sauce for pasta, fish, chicken with an earthy, spicy twist that is just wonderful.

Week 15: Fabulous Farm Dinner, RAIN & Harvest Fest

Sorry for the late post folks, I actually took the day off for my birthday (a HUGE rarity!!!) and went to the New England Aquarium to explore the octopi and gaze adoringly at brightly colored anemones, coral, cuttlefish and jellies. While I was there, it rained all day, a nice gently, soaking, just about perfect rain and the farm was refreshed and glowing when I got back. And if you missed that sunrise last night- it was ridiculous. We had fog rolling down the hills and the sky was on fire. Gorgeous.
We had our first Family Farm Dinner on Friday night and it was great! We more than sold out- overbooked- but the chef was able to squeak out enough food so that everyone went home full and satisfied. The Railroad House Band was great! Lots of rollicking bluegrass fun. And it was just beautiful- gingham tablecloths and rolling hills as a backdrop- what a beautiful way to eat a meal.We will be doing this again next summer and we hope to see you there!!!!
On Sunday we brought the goats to the Boston Local Food Fest on the Greenway. We were right next to

the fountain with its giant animal heads and we spent the day talking to 4K people about goats and how cool they are. We did a couple of milking demos and got a chance here and there to visit all the cool booths of locally produced foods (tho how coconuts could ever be considered local I still can't figure out). It was a lot of fun and we highly recommend this event for next year. It is our second time going and it's an experience.
Speaking of fun events! Our 2nd annual Harvest Fest is 2 1/2 weeks away  on Sunday October 9th and we need your help to spread the word. We have postcards for you to give out, but also tell your friends, post or share our event on FB, Twitter, Snapchat away, but let's bring the folks in. Enter our Pie Making Contest!
Based on feedback from last year, we are charging at the gate for all the fun inside, instead of trying to keep

track of ten or more cashboxes, donation bins, etc. Our food vendors will still be charging for their wares but there will be more savory, lunch faire in addition to the sweet treats. Our cider mills will be running, pumpkins will be needing carving and pie will need eating. Lots of fun for the whole family!

 New Farmstand Products: Bee the Change herbal salves, creams, balms and more. Come and check out these lovely new body products in the store. They smell and feel dreamy. Green Tea Face Balm will smooth away your worry lines while you sleep, the calendula salve is essential for every medicine cabinet to soothe a scratch, an itchy spot or diaper rash, or just give your skin a little love this winter. Use a bath bomb in lavender to calm before bed or in oatmeal to mellow winter skin. We have testers!
Anna Banana's still have caramel apples, marshmallows and chocolates in the fridge- I tried the Pecan Spiced on Friday- WOW! buy one of these and bring it home to share!!!!

The hens are laying amok! Come and get the best and most delicious eggs ever. Deep orange yolks, stand up whites, these are amazing.

EVENTS:
L'il Goats Club- Wednesdays starting at 10am. We had quite a turnout last week. Elspeth will be helping Kira this week and we will learn about milking goats. Kids will have a chance to try it out! We will be talking about milk and what we can do with it.

I'm trying to keep things short since this is so late this week, but you can slice those mini-marzano tomatoes in half- toss them with olive oil, garlic powder and a little sea salt and roast them in a single layer on a cookie sheet in a 200 degree oven for about 4 hours until they are drying and a little caramelized but not crackling or burnt. You can use them as is or let them cool and pile them into a freezer bag- I toss a few into a saute pan and just heat them up before adding them to pasta.

Week 14: Fall Greens Return

The return of cooler nights and more temperate days heralds in our resurgence of greens to the table. While we will try not to overwhelm you: the CSA will be greening up as we say goodbye to summer squash and zucchini and other summer fruits. Tomatoes will linger until frost and the eggplant & peppers are starting to rejuvenate in the field a little with some of the rains we've had here and there, but they won't be as abundant as we could have hoped.

These greens will be crisp, bitter and sweet and in my opinion, waaaayyyy better than in the spring when the heat turns them limp and bitter too quickly in June. Pair them raw with olive oil and lemon juice and a dash of sea salt or barely braise them in a little peanut oil with chilies and lime. Toss them with white beans and grapes, cherry tomatoes, roasted beets and pears. Add bacon or prosciutto, feta or goat cheese. There are so many ways to eat them every day. They are the fall tonic you need before we settle into a winter of hot cocoa, baked goods and holiday meals. 

We spent the last week getting in the winter squash and starting the process of putting spent fields to bed for the winter. We are mowing, turning, and turning again, laying fertilizers, seeding cover crops and planning next years layout. Hoping still for the rain we need to rot down old stems and fibrous leaves to hurry this whole process along. You may have seen the last of the transplants going in- we hope to have those baby beets big enough to give out the last two weeks of CSA. 

Anna Banana's Chocolates in the Store! Including her amazing caramel apples- a fall treat that she only

makes when she can get the fresh apples. These are a decadent masterpiece- not something you eat all at once, but a dessert you buy to share among friends and family. We also have some gorgeous marshmallows in different flavors, toffees and dark chocolate. Buy at the store!!!!

Volunteers Needed: Harvest mornings and Harvest Fest. We had an amazing crew of volunteers helping out in the mornings to get the harvest in. They showed up in the burning sun and pulled basket after basket out of the fields and washed produce until their sneakers were soaked. But- they've all gone off to college or back to High School and now we are down to the bare minimum of helping hands. So we are asking if you have a couple of hours to help us out in the mornings on Tues, Weds, Thurs or Fridays. We could even use your help for an hour if that is all you have to spare. We get started on Tu, Th & Fri at 730-745 but are harvesting until at least 11am so could use help anytime in between. Weds we start a little later around 830a and go until lunchtime. You can sign up for a shift on our trustees.org website or you can just talk to Des or you can just show up. 

Harvest Fest volunteers need a little more coordination- so contact Annie Wolf or talk to her on Thursdays when she is our CSA Coordinator. Our harvest festival is a major production and we have all sorts of positions that we need help with, from handing out honey sticks to maze runners to helping with the pumpkin carving and more. Let us know if you can help out for a few hours!

What's in Your Share (maybe):

Tomatoes

Potatoes

Pac Choi

Arugula

Cabbage

Kale

Swiss Chard

Winter Squash: Delicata/Acorn

Lettuce (hopefully)

Pick Your Own:

Chilies

Beans

Herbs

Cherry Tomatoes

Mini-Marzanos (these little tasties are a little larger than a grape tomato, are packed with flavor and caramelize beautifully for a fresh tomato sauce that will make your mouth sing. They are located in the bed just past the cherry tomatoes).

Events:

Still some spots open for our Farm Dinner this Friday!!!!! Register online here.

L'il Goats Club: We had a couple of cuties arrive last Wednesday to hang with our beautiful goat ladies.
They did some grooming and were able to feed and hang with the goats. We would love to have some more attendees for this club- come on out to learn all about goats. This week we will be getting some of the ladies ready to attend an outing- they are going to the Boston Local Food Festival this Sunday on the Greenway in Boston!!!!! They need mani/pedis, their hair done, and some unsightly hair removed. Help us get them all dolled up on Wednesday morning from 10-11a. 

Recipes:

So Wegman's is my hero this week. I'm not kidding, I opened their newest menu mag hoping for halfway decent coupons and found TWO recipes for escarole. I am in love. I'm sharing one of them with you and can't wait to try it myself because it sounds amazing and I can make it with amazing veggies from my fields RIGHT NOW. (ok. I actually bought prosciutto, I can't help it, I adore those lovely air-cured meats). 

Utica Greens (amended to omit pre-packaged, precut vegetables and some of the chilies so it wouldn't be mouth-desicating, crying hot and to add in cherry tomatoes)

1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs

2 Tbsps olive oil

2 Tbsps greated Italian blend cheeses

A large handful of cherry tomatoes

1 Hungarian Hot Wax pepper

1 large head escarole, chopped, washed and rinsed

2oz of chopped, diced prosciutto

3 cloves of garlic, diced

Salt and pepper to taste.

Optional: Add 3 Cherry hot peppers for extra heat!

Directions

Preheat oven to broil. Add bread crumbs, 1 Tbsp olive oil and cheese to a small bowl, stir to combine and set aside. In 12 inch cast iron skillet, add Hungarian Hot wax (and other peppers if using) to pan and cook, stirring on Med-High until slightly softened, about 5 mins. Quarter the peppers, discarding stems and seeds (WEAR GLOVES or OIL YOUR HANDS when handling hot peppers and DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE!!!!) Slice the pepper on the bias and set aside.

Blanch the escarole in a large pot of boiling, salted water for 2 mins. Drain and set aside. Add the remaining oil, prosciutto, garlic, chilies to the skillet. Cook, stirring on Med- High heat for about 5 mins. Add escarole; stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Add 1/3 bread crumb mixture and stir. Top with remaining bread crumb mixture and Broil for 2 min. Enjoy!!!

Tuscan Style Farm Greens with White beans and sausage.....or something like that.

I also make the following with escarole or kale or arugula or cabbage or pac choi or any combination of those. 

Ingredients:

1 large colander of greens, chopped and rinsed. 

1lb package of good, local, pastured pork sausage, mild italian or hot or chorizo depending on how you roll.

1.5 quarts of stock (homemade, boxed, canned, etc. up to you)

3 cloves of garlic

Fresh celery, parsley

1 can cannellini  or butter beans (or favas if you can find em....)

Olive oil, salt and pepper

Optional: cut wedges of mini-marzano grape or Mountain magic tomatoes

1 lemon, cut into wedges.

Shaved parmesan

Directions:

In a large deep dish skillet (and I mean a big one, use a heavy bottom stock pot if you don't have a deep skillet large enough to hold the greens) saute the pork, uncased if it came cased until just browned on medium heat. Add chopped garlic and olive oil, and stir to combine, turn the heat down and add in greens and stock. Stir to combine until the greens wilt.Add in beans, celery/parsley. Cook until warm and flavors meld, taste for salt (depends on your stock) and add black pepper (about 15 mins on low). Serve with wild rice, crusty bread, wedges of tomato and lemon juice squeezed on top and shavings of parmesan.  

Week 13: Promises of Rain, continued.

Mrs. Beals: A Tribute 

Mrs. Elaine Beals passed on two weeks ago on a Sunday morning, surrounded in the comfort and love of her family and friends. In her, as the benefactor of this farm and land I've come to love,  I saw a generosity of heart and spirit,and what I  know of her and her story leaves me breathless in its abundance. If I achieve half so much in my lifetime, it will be a life greatly lived and very full.
She was a philanthropist and that she loved Southborough and she loved this gorgeous jewel of a farm and that she wanted it to be a part of Southborough forever. She helped to protect it and watched over it along with other pieces of land all over town. I know that she was always gracious and that she loved the smiles and laughter of children as they swung through the old apple trees and brought her sticky bags of raspberries and awkward bouquets of flowers. She loved watching the farm come to life in the last year and a half. I was glad that she was watching and that she approved.
Her visits to the farm in the year that I came here were typically brief, but I could tell she was pleased by the farm's growth and equally fascinated by holding the bright eyed baby rabbits and the squirming newborn kid goats that the children inevitably tried to put in her lap. She loved to watch them scream and laugh as they jumped into her so-cold pool. My children were especially partial to her, never hesitating to run to her with a still warm chicken egg from the nest they'd discovered, or the first of the cherry tomatoes or golden raspberries that she loved. Her presence touches everywhere on Chestnut Hill Farm because it wouldn't be here without her. I would not be here, in this special place, growing food for this community, if she had not decided with Phillip to preserve this piece of land forever from development so many years ago before I was ever born. I know she goes on with Grace and much loved. Thank you, Mrs. B.

Farm news:

Well, we haven't had any rain, again. Even this reputed HURRICANE is going to leave us drier than expected. BUT, the air is cooler, the days grow shorter and kids are back to school. As a homeschooling mom to my older two kids, we are getting back to a more consistent schedule of lessons, planning and deciding: what can be done without me; what needs a little help; or the 'absolutely need to be there for all of it, one on one, or the house will blow up in my absence from sheer frustration or actual chemical misapplication'. I'm obviously exaggerating that last (all chemistry experiments are one on one), but the next few weeks are little bit of balancing act. Luckily we have the flexibility of a gradual start to our schooling and we slowly build up to more rigorous inside book-work as the fall winds into winter.
We still have 7 weeks of CSA left, and we have more goodies in store. We have been harvesting winter squashes and curing them in the greenhouse, the garlic is mostly dry and we will shortly see a return of our delicious greens. Lettuce is still languishing from lack of water, but other plantings are coming along (I wouldn't be surprised if later lettuce and salad plantings in closer fields out pace the plantings that are further out where we couldn't get them water.
In any case, we are still working hard out there- doing lots of weeding, irrigation, field prep and more, in between four days a week of harvesting.

Alaskan Sock-eye Salmon: Josh Pierson (CSA and Community member) is a commercial fisherman in Alaska in the summertime and he would like to offer portions his annual harvest to his community. Sustainable, co-op fishery, high standards. You can't ask for better unless you high-tailed it up to Alaska and caught it yourself.  He will be at distributions throughout the next month or so- the price goes up after 9/15, so get your bulk orders in now. Check out fullscalesalmon.com for more information on pricing and bulk deals. I search out and buy wild caught sock-eye salmon every year in the fall because it is the most beautiful and nutritious- this is the best price I have ever heard of for this amazing fish and it is even better for knowing the folks who caught it.

What's in Your Share (maybe):

Cabbage
Chard
Collards? Use just like Kale!!!
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Pac Choi
Eggplant/Peppers (combo again, the drought has just nailed them so they are mostly stunted at this point)
Edamame
Winter squashes
Hoping for lettuce, beets, broccoli.

Pick Your Own:

Beans are rocking! Green, purple, yellow, dragon!
Chilies- Hungarian Hot wax, Jalapenos, watch out for the Cayennes and leave the tiny Thais to ripen (if you can- they are best dried on the plant!!)
Parsley and other herbs are doing great.
Cherry tomatoes- so many many kinds! They are ALL colors- red is the least of them all- look for deep orange, apricot-melon, deepest pink, purple......
We also have Juliet tomatoes- a large grape tomato which is perfect for oven drying! Just slice in half, toss with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and garlic powder, maybe even a little oregano and spread on a cookie sheet. Cook in a low temp oven- around 200 degrees for a couple of hours, until the tomatoes are looking dehydrated but not dry. They can be eaten as is or you can put them in a freezer bag and freeze for January delight.

Events:

FARM TO TABLE!!!!!!!!SIGN UP ASAP!!!!!!!!! This is going to be a great dinner. MetroWest Catering plus our veggies, plus a full Harvest Moon, plus live music provided by Railroad House Band: how could it be anything but totally awesome. Friday, September 16th starting at 6pm. Don't miss supporting Chestnut Hill Farm's very first farm to table dinner. Kids are welcome! Sign up here....

L'il Goats Club: Wednesday September 7th 10-11am Come and hang with the goats and learn all about them! This is an educational/instructional opportunity so come learn about our favorite farm animals. $5/member child, $10 for nonmembers, adults are free. 

After Dinner Hike: 125 Challenge. Join us in the cool of the evening as we hike in sunset light. We'll record our miles as we work to collectively walk 125 miles of across the state, celebrating the 125th university of the Trustees.730-830p Wednesday September 7th members are free, nonmembers $5

Hawk Watch: Saturday, September 10th from 12-2p. Join our naturalists for a day of “hawk watching” atop the hills of Chestnut Hill Farm. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for this annual migration of Broad-wings Hawks from New England down to Central America. These hawks travel in large groups and use the rising warm air of hills and fields to gain elevation on their southward migration. While we never know what day will be a good day for hawks, our staff will give visitors of all ages a demo on hawk identification, and a chance to learn more about these incredible animals. Members, $5; Nonmembers $10

Recipes:

This week I'm going to point you towards a new food blog I've been investigating lately. Check out Budget Bytes, the writer Beth, has a diverse repertoire of recipes and she also prices out ingredients down to the cost of the salt. She has a recipe for Cabbage pancakes (Okonomiyaki) with a spicy Sriracha mayonnaise dressing that looks amazing.

Savory Cabbage Pancakes (Okonomiyaki)

Total Cost: $3.69
Cost Per Serving: $0.62
Serves: 6 (6inch
pancakes)

Ingredients
PANCAKES
2 extra large eggs $0.53
½ cup water $0.00
1.5 Tbsp soy sauce 0.14
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil $0.33
¾ to 1 cup allpurpose
flour $0.07
45
cups shredded green cabbage $1.78
1 carrot $0.11
3 green onions $0.17
2 Tbsp oil for frying $0.04
TOPPINGS
¼ cup mayonnaise $0.28
2 Tbsp sriracha $0.10
½ Tbsp sesame seeds $0.04
2 green onions $0.11
Instructions
1. Remove any wilted leaves from the outside of the cabbage. Cut the cabbage into quarters and
remove the core. Thinly slice or shred half of the cabbage, or until you have 4-5
cups shredded
cabbage. Peel the carrot and shred it using a largeholed
cheese grater. Slice the green onions.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, soy sauce, and sesame oil until smooth. Begin
whisking in the flour, ¼ cup at a time, until it forms a thick, smooth batter (about ¾ to1 cup total
flour).
3. Add the cabbage, carrots, and green onion to the batter and stir until the vegetables are mixed and
everything is evenly coated in batter.
4. Heat ½ Tbsp oil in a nonstick
or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add ¾ cup of the
vegetable and batter mixture. Press it down into the hot skillet to form a circle, about 6 inches in
diameter and ½ inch thick. Place a cover on the skillet to hold in the steam, which will help the
cabbage soften as it cooks. Cook the pancake until golden brown on the bottom (35
minutes), then
flip and cook until golden brown on the second side. Pile the cooked pancakes on a plate and cover
with foil to keep warm until ready to eat. Add more oil to the skillet as needed as you cook the
pancakes.
5. To prepare the sriracha mayo, mix together ¼ cup mayonnaise and 2 Tbsp sriracha in a small bowl.
Drizzle the sriracha mayo over the pancakes just before serving, followed with a sprinkle of sesame
seeds and sliced green onion.