Hungry?

[posted Oct 14, 2010 on the new website: SharedHarvestCSA.com. Please head over there for details about the 2010 Winter share and more recent posts!]


Shared Harvest Winter CSA can supply the veggies for many tasty meals this winter! Lots of two month shares are available. Pick up is at Busa Farm in Lexington (Nov 20) or Brookwood Farm in Canton (Nov 13). Picadilly Farm and Riverland Farm grow the majority of veggies for the share, with smaller farms like Busa, Brookwood and Moraine adding the finishing touches. Here's a link to the Shared Harvest CSA site, where you'll find a Two Month Subscription Form. You've got to supply your own chef!

Purple Cows in the Winter Share!

[posted Sept 8, 2010 on the new website: http://sharedharvestcsa.com. Please head over there for details about the 2010 Winter share and more recent posts!]

Next week Charley Baer hopes to harvest the heirloom Jacob's Cattle beans he's growing for the Shared Harvest CSA.

According to Slow Food USA, "Jacob's Cattle bean is also called a Trout bean or an Appaloosa bean, but Jacob’s Cattle bean is the oldest name for the variety. This bean is a Prince Edward Island heirloom. Legend has it that it was a gift from Maine’s Passamaquoddy Indians to Joseph Clark, the first white child born in Lubec, Maine."



Of this year's crop, Charley writes: "In hot years like this one there is much more red than normal. This year they are almost pure red with very little white. There is so little white in the few I have checked that they almost look like purple kidney beans with a few white spots. Although a good growing year, yields look like they will be light with weak pod sets coming on Beverly's sandy soils lacking water earlier on. I've got a lot of these purple cows coming in."

So there you have it, the reason for the one pound bag of purple cows you'll find in your Shared Harvest CSA share this year!

Bare Naked Farming

Another road trip to a Shared Harvest CSA partner farm is being planned, this time to Riverland Farm in Sunderland, MA. Should be an interesting experience given that Riverland farmer, Rob Lynch seems to be setting a new standard for farm wear. Here’s an excerpt from the most recent Riverland Farm newsletter, Riverland Currants:

Knowing the power of the wind here on this open plain in Sunderland, we make it a point to close down all of our barn and greenhouse doors in the evening. Forgetting to do that simple task on Wednesday made for an eventful night. As that storm came in Meghan and I both shot out of bed, disoriented but knowing exactly what we had to do. At that time I was so focused on closing everything down that things like clothes and shoes seemed unimportant. Despite our best efforts the wind got to the barn before we did and took a 6’ x 11’ 200# barn door off and threw it into the road like a piece of cardboard. We reached the greenhouse in time preventing any structural damage though the wind did take several of our plug trays and scatter them all over the farm and smash up a solid wood bench that we use for filling trays with soil. The hail that came in with the storm did some minimal cosmetic damage to our first head lettuce, bok choy, and some of the swiss chard and spinach. Overall the storm was mostly just mentally traumatic but ended up being good fodder for comedy when I think back on running around in my birthday suit closing things down.

Visit Riverland Currants for the full newsletter article.

New Web Site!

In this, the fourth year of the multi-farm, winter CSA, I've finally created a real web site. This Blogger site works just fine, but the web site -- even better! Let me know what you think.

Shared Harvest CSA, our shiny new web site!

The new site includes posts to this blog. So you'll not miss a thing, which ever way you like to get your Shared Harvest news!

What's the story behind Shared Harvest CSA?

I (Gretta Anderson) created this multi-farm Winter CSA in 2007 (then named the Belmont CSA) in an effort to make my little one-acre market garden economically sustainable. One acre of land, farmed intensively during the summer, was a full-time job, but didn't yield a full-time or sustainable income. Increasing income meant growing more crops: While my little acre did not have room to spare in the summer, it could accommodate a number of cool-season greens that would be ready for distribution in the late fall and winter. But who would come to a farm in December for a few bunches of kale and a head or two of cabbage? I began to wonder if there was a way to partner with other growers. Maybe I could find farmers with more land than I and together we could create a Winter CSA. I got really excited about this idea when I thought about who I might partner with: Folks who had just bought their first farm, farmers I admire because of their skill, knowledge or vision, farmers whose fields I've worked in, whose food I've eaten and whose growing practices I trust.

In 2007, Vanguarden CSA, Picadilly Farm and Belmont CSA (my little acre) provided 155 shareholders with produce in November, December and January. The majority of shareholders seemed delighted with the food and the experience. In 2008, we tweaked the distribution schedule to better accommodate farm crews who wanted the month of January off. Cider Hill Farm's apples sweetened the 300 winter shares that were distributed in 2008.

2009 brought more changes to the multi-farm winter CSA. I did not return to farm in Belmont and began to search for new farmland. The Belmont Multi-Farm Winter CSA was renamed Shared Harvest CSA. Meghan and Rob of Riverland Farm joined us, as did Charlie Baer, grower of Baer's Best Beans. Distribution of CSA shares moved to Busa Farm in Lexington. In response to many requests for a two month share, we offered both a two and a three month winter CSA. We experimented with offering additional local items (honey, maple syrup, dried beans, apple cider, bulk quantities of root veggies, eggs). Vanguarden CSA farmer, Chris Yoder, decided to turn more of his attention to his own CSA and not grow for Shared Harvest.

In 2010, Dennis Busa, Busa Farm in Lexington and Judy Lieberman, Brookwood Community Farm in Canton, join our multi-farm winter CSA as growers. We will again distribute the share from the Busa Farm in Lexington. We will also distribute shares from the Bradley Estate in Canton where Brookwood Farm is located. Picadilly, Riverland, Cider Hill and Charley Baer will continue to provide great produce for the share. Lessons learned from our 2009 additional item experiment will help us improve this offering in 2010. We also hope to create more opportunities for shareholders to connect with the farmers and farms that grow their food.

Shared Harvest Winter CSA FAQ

The Basics
Shared Harvest CSA is a multiple farm Winter CSA that connects local, small-scale family farmers with people who wish to eat well while supporting local farms. In 2010 our primary vegetable growers are Picadilly Farm and Riverland Farm. Busa Farm and Brookwood Community Farm are joining Shared Harvest this year, each growing a small number of leafy greens. Cider Hill Farm grows our apples (IPM) and Charley Baer provides our dried beans (IPM). Produce for Shared Harvest CSA is grown within 100 miles of where you will pick it up.

Shared Harvest Farmers
Picadilly farmers Jenny and Bruce Wooster have been growing high-quality produce on community farms since the mid-1990s. Learn more about Jenny and Bruce and Picadilly Farm.

Riverland farmers Meghan Arquin and Rob Lynch bought their farmland and a farmhouse in the winter of 2008. Learn more about Meghan and Rob and about Riverland Farm.

Busa Farm is managed by Dennis Busa. This is a family farm that has been growing vegetables for the local markets and community since 1920. The farm stand has been open since 1959. In 2009, the farm was sold to the town of Lexington. Dennis continues to farm the land and a citizen group - the Lexington Community Farm Coalition - is working to ensure that the land remains a farm.

Brookwood Community Farm is managed by Judy Lieberman. Brookwood is situated on two sites: A 70-acre parcel of land within the Blue Hills Reservation and the 90-acre Bradley Estate owned by the Trustees of Reservations. Brookwood Farm greenhouses and fields are managed organically; no synthetic fertilizers or chemicals are used.

Location, Cost and Pick Up Schedule
In 2010 there are three Winter Share options from which to choose.

Lexington Two Month CSA, $160
Saturdays, Nov 20 & Dec 18
10:30 AM - 3:00 PM
Busa Farm, 52 Lowell St, Lexington

Lexington Three Month CSA, $240
Saturdays, Oct 23, Nov 13, Dec 11
10:30 AM - 3:00 PM
Busa Farm, 52 Lowell St, Lexington

Canton Three Month CSA, $240
Saturdays, Oct 23, Nov 13, Dec 11
9:00 AM - Noon
Bradley Estate, 2468 Washington St, Canton


What will be in the 2010 share?
Plans for the winter share include apples, beets, broccoli, bok choy, Brussels sprouts, cabbage (napa and green varieties), carrots, celery, celeriac, cilantro, collard greens, dried beans, escarole, fennel, garlic, hakurei turnips, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, leeks, onions, purple top turnips, parsley, parsnips, pie pumpkins, potatoes, popcorn, sweet potatoes, radishes, radicchio, rutabaga, spinach, turnips, winter radishes and winter squash. You can read about what was in past Shared Harvest shares by looking through the blog archives for the months of October, November and December. Here's a link to the October 2009 share to get you started. The 2010 share will be similar, with a few adjustments that reflect shareholder feedback.

How many people will one Winter Share feed?
In 2009, the monthly shares weighed, on average, 43 pounds. If your goal is to completely eat all the food in each distribution within a month, that's about 10 pounds of produce per week. Much of the produce stores well - winter squash, potatoes, onions, shallots, carrots, parsnips, celeriac, beets can last months if stored at the right temperature and humidity. Shareholders often make the produce last even longer by cooking and freezing it (soups are great for this), pickling it (pickled beets - yum!) and fermenting it (cabbage). Other shareholders use the share up more quickly by juicing some of the produce (carrots, beets, apples) or use it to feed family and friends at holiday meals and parties. See what past shareholders have to say by reading their reviews of the 2008 and 2009 Winter CSAs.

Do you sell half shares?
No, there's just one size.

Why are the Winter Shares on sale now? It's months before I'll get my first winter share.
The multi-farm Winter CSA is a fairly traditional CSA. The primary farmers really do count on supporters to prepay for CSA shares. This prepayment allows seeds, supplies, tools, labor to be bought or lined up. A good number of winter CSA crops are begun in the greenhouses in February (celery, celeriac, leeks, onions) and most supplies have been purchased by then. Labor has been arranged and in some cases farm workers are already being paid. Equipment and tools are in the process of being bought or fixed so they will be ready to go the first of April. The CSA model, with it's prepayment and shared risk/bounty elements, allows these farmers to focus on growing healthy food and tend to soil health rather than worrying marketing and administrative chores in the middle of the farming season.

How do I sign up for the Winter CSA? Can I sign up on-line?
Send me an email - GrettaAnderson [at] earthlink.net and I will send you a subscription form. Sorry, but there is not an on-line sign up form.

Three Month Winter CSA: Last Share

Winter is here! The temps are predicted to drop to 19 degrees tonight, and no higher than 32 tomorrow. It will be a chilly day for shareholders. The good news is that this share is really nice, well worth a little shivering. The Picadilly farm crew moved through the fields quickly on Tuesday, harvesting as many leafy greens as they could before the snow hit. We will reap the benefits of their work: head lettuce and a bag of kale & collard greens in the share. Jenny's sending along some extra spinach (sweet, sweet frost-kissed spinach!), too!

Lots of roots in this CSA share. If you're looking for new root recipes, check out shareholder's blogs in the sidebar. I found Moroccan Vegetable Stew on Semi-Sweet and can hardly wait to try it. Roasted Root Vegetables with Rosemary and Bacon and Root Vegetable Stew, both from epicurious.com, are nice root recipes, too.

Here is what you will find in the last winter share:

Cabbages, red and green cabbages. Russian Cabbage Stew from Wicked Whisk is excellent.

Kale/Collard mix, 1 bag. Here's another recipe from Sarah at Semi-Sweet: Caribbean Kale & Sweet Potato. These crispy kale chips are a new favorite in my house.

Lettuce, 2 heads

Leeks, 1 bunch

Onions, 2 pounds

Beets, 3 pounds

Carrots, 6 pounds. Given how sweet these "bolero" carrots are, maybe this recipe for Baked Carrots could serve as a dessert.

Celeriac, 2 pounds. New to celeriac? The Seasonal Chef offers five easy recipes, all of which look delicious.

Parsnips, 2 pounds

Popcorn, 1 bouquet. How to pop corn! Meghan and Rob at Riverland Farm grew the popcorn you'll find in the share.

Potatoes, 5 pounds

Winter radish, 1-2 pieces. The variety in the share is Misato Rose.

Sweet potatoes, 4 pounds. Sweet potato latkes were a hit with my 8 and 11 year old neighbor kids yesterday. Max and Tjaden informed me that latkes are for Hanukkah, and Hanukkah is all about oil, and I really should have fried these latkes in oil. Maybe next time. And there will be a next time, 'cause these are delicious!

Turnips, 2 pounds

Winter squash, about 7 pounds of butternut. This Pumpkin and Sweet Potato soup should work with butternut squash. And here's a Butternut Squash Soup recipe that looks good.

Shareholders who pre-ordered them will be picking up bulk roots (carrots, celeriac, garlic, onions, parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes), dried turtle and navy beans, organic maple syrup, raw honey and butternut squash.

Popcorn

Here are directions from Rob at Riverland about how to pop Riverland's popcorn.

The popcorn you get in your share has just been picked from the field. The kernels will still need time to dry (At least 3 weeks in warm non-humid environment) before they are ready to pop. You may want to test pop the corn after 3 weeks to see if it pops well. If it does, it is dry enough and ready to pop. The husk has been peeled back to allow the corn to dry. Just hang or store your bouquet in a dry place. In approximately 3-4 weeks get your pan warmed up and toss in a couple kernels. If they pop fully then the rest are ready to pop and eat. If the kernels only half pop let the corn dry a little longer. It is worth the wait.

We have had the best success popping the corn on the stovetop. Some have tried in the microwave. I have yet to find any good tips on popping right off the cob. If anyone has a trick let us know we will put it up on our website!

* 1 ear of pop corn
* 1 tsp olive or vegetable oil (per 1 cup)

Using your hands work the kernels of popcorn off the cob. Start from the tip of the ear of corn and work toward the base. Place the kernels in a 5-6 quart sauce pot (with lid with just enough oil to cover the kernels. Heat corn and oil on medium high heat. After about 3-5 minutes the kernels will begin to pop. Once you hear that the popping has slowed and almost stopped remove from heat and put into bowl and season to taste.

Two Month Winter CSA: Last Share

The mild "winter" weather we've been experiencing has resulted in some veggie treats we don't usually get this time of year in New England. The head lettuce in today's share is one of those treats. Picadilly is sending more of these treats with the winter share today, and they will be available for purchase. Harvested on Friday (December 4!!!), they include: spinach, red kale, lacinato kale, collards, salad turnips, napa cabbage, and daikon radish.

Lots of roots in the share today. Two of my favorite recipes make use of many of them: Roasted Root Vegetables with Rosemary and Bacon and Root Vegetable Stew.

Here is what you will find in the share today:
Cabbages, 2 small heads of red cabbage, 1 head of green cabbage
Kale, 1 bunch. For something new, and addictive, try these crispy kale chips.
Lettuce, 2 heads
Leeks, 1 bunch
Onions, 2 pounds
Beets, 3 pounds
Carrots, 6 pounds
Celeriac, 2 pounds. New to celeriac? The Seasonal Chef offers five easy recipes, all of which look delicious.
Parsnips, 2 pounds
Popcorn, 1 bouquet. How to pop corn! Meghan and Rob at Riverland Farm grew the popcorn you'll find in the share.
Potatoes, 5 pounds
Winter radish, 1-2 pieces. The variety in the share is Misato Rose.
Sweet potatoes, 4 pounds
Turnips, 2 pounds
Winter squash, about 7 pounds of butternut
Red Kidney Beans, 2 pounds. My two all time favorite ways to use kidney beans are Red Beans & Rice and Moosewood's Vegetarian Chili.

In addition to the regular share, shareholders who pre-ordered them will be picking up bulk roots (carrots, celeriac, garlic, onions, parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes), dried turtle and navy beans, organic maple syrup and raw honey.

Putting up apples

Eighty bushels of apples from Cider Hill Farm went home with Shared Harvest CSA members on Saturday. Three bushels have been living on my porch, waiting to be eaten or preserved. They are storage variety apples, so if I had a cold place to store them I could eat them 'fresh' all winter. Since I've limited fridge space my apple storage plan involves canning most of them.

I spent yesterday morning making apple butter. My house still smells of apples, cinnamon and cloves. Today I turned another bushel of apples into applesauce. I've a whole shelf in the pantry filled with jars of apple butter and applesauce. These will be a real treat this winter.

If you're wanting to preserve some of your winter veggies, the National Center for Home Food Preservation has a lot of good information about food storage including how to can, freeze and ferment various veggies

Three Month Winter CSA: Second Veggie Installment

Three month CSA shareholders, are you ready for the next installment of veggies? This month some of the veggies have been left dirty. Potatoes, rutabagas, parsnips, carrots all store better with dirt on them. If you have questions about how to store your vegetables, take a look at these storage tips.

Interested in a few new recipes? You might enjoy some of the recipes from the November 7 share posting. A couple of shareholders told me they've posted recipes on the Newton Farm's Shared Harvest Recipe Wiki. I encourage you to check out this cool resource if you haven't already. It might also be fun to see how other shareholders are managing their share and what they are cooking up. Check the sidebar for the links.

From Picadilly Farm:
Leeks, a bunch. Leeks can be easily frozen - just wash, dice and put in sealed bag in the freezer.

Potatoes, 5 pounds of white "Salems", unwashed for better storage. Store them in a cool and dark place, out of the plastic bag, and they should store for months.

Red radishes, a bunch.

Lacinato kale, a bunch. This dark green kale can be used like any other kale.

Rutabagas, 2 pounds unwashed. Compared to the turnip, rutabagas have a yellowier hue in their flesh, and a taste that's more earthy and warm, without the radishy zing. Store them as other roots, very cold but not freezing.

Salad turnips, a bunch. These "Hakurai" turnips are like a sweet radish, and are delicious raw in salads, grated or chopped. Saute them with greens. Unlike the more traditional fall turnip, these Hakurai are too watery for roasts or stews.

Parsnips, 2 pounds, unwashed for better storage.

Carrots, 5 pounds, unwashed for longer storage. These fall "boleros" are as big as they are sweet. Store in the fridge, or in a very cold (but not freezing) place in your house.

Winter squash, 7 pounds of butternuts, 2-4 pieces. They are best stored at about 50-55 degrees, not much colder - a cool place in your kitchen can work well.

Parsley, a bunch. It's not the prettiest bunch ever picked. But since we picked the "hearts" out of these plants - the last harvest of the season - the flavor is strong and sweet.

Sweet potatoes, 4 pounds. More of this very nice crop. Keep them in a cool place in your kitchen - they'll last for months if you have a 50-55 degree spot, with good ventilation.

Spinach, a pound. Actually from Appleton Farms in Ipswich - we needed spinach for the share, after a crop failure in our field; and they needed winter squash for their holiday shares. So, we made a swap. Enjoy!

From Riverland Farm: I made a few corrections to this list after I posted it: more lettuce, fewer onions and broccoli (no bok choy) are in the share.
Lettuce, three small heads. Heads of Boston and Batavian varieties.
Escarole, one head.
Brussels sprouts, two stalks.
Onions, two pounds.
Broccoli, about 1/2 pound.
Napa Cabbage, one head.
Garlic, half a pound.

From Baer's Best Beans, two pounds of dark red kidney beans.

Beans

There's a good deal to know about dried beans. Here's a link to Central Bean Company. The site has information about large scale bean production, as well as tips on how to prepare, store and cook with beans. Check out the bean combine photos on the lower right side of the home page. You won't see a combine that big in Massachusetts. Our bean production is on a much smaller scale, as are our the combines. (That makes it sound like we might have a lot of small combines in Massachusetts. I don't think so. I bet there aren't more than a half dozen bean combines in the state.)

This year I've included dried beans in the winter share. I think that since beans are a less expensive (financially and environmentally) source of protein than meat, it just makes sense to eat more of them. And it sure makes sense to support one of the few beans growers in Massachusetts by including his crop in our CSA share.

Shared Harvest shareholders will get two pounds of Baer's Best dark red kidney beans in the next CSA share. Here are two of my favorite ways to use these beans.
Red Beans and Rice
Moosewood Vegetarian Chili

It's Kohlrabi!

"What's the green round thing in the share? Tastes kind of like a cross between broccoli and turnip." No less than ten shareholders have asked about the kohlrabi in Saturday's winter CSA share. It tickles me to present folks with this "new" treat.

The Boston Sustainable Food Examiner has a nice recipe for it, along with a couple of your fall apples. The photo below comes from thebittenword.com's photostream.

Winter Share Contents 10/24

It's a fantastic fall harvest, certainly welcome after a summer full of what seemed to us more than the usual challenges! We're especially pleased with the onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, fall greens and leeks - all very nice. Enjoy the harvest!

Here's a list of what is in your share from Picadilly Farm:
Celery, a bunch. We picked it last week, as it would have died in the 25 degree nights, even with double row cover. It is tasty, though will not store for too much longer. Our celery tends to be less watery, more fibrous, and stronger flavored than supermarket celery. Best for cooking, less ideal for juicing.

Kohlrabi, a piece. What?! I joined a CSA and now they are giving me kohlrabi?! This is the softball-like item in your box, unsuspectingly full of vitamins A & C, calcium and potassium... If you've haven't tried it yet, prepare for a mild flavor, much like the stem of broccoli with a little turnip tossed in. Peel off the outer layer, use it all at once or just a bit at a time - it will keep well partial or whole in your fridge. My favorite use so far has marinating and grilling slices - takes a little longer than most veggies, takes on the flavor of your marinade, and retains a nice crunch. Recipe: Shredded Root Salad.

Leeks, a bunch. Not just for potato leek soup, though delicious if you go there. Leeks can be easily frozen - just wash, dice and put in sealed bag in the freezer.

Potatoes, 6 pounds of "Sangre" reds.  Good yields this season, with more blemishes on the red potatoes than usual. We usually don't wash potatoes, since they store better unwashed. We washed these for better sorting, and included six pounds instead of five, to account for any "bad spots" that we didn't/couldn't see. Store them in a cool and dark place, out of the plastic bag, and they'll be best used within the month.

Onions, 2 pounds of reds and 2 pounds of yellows. A bumper crop of nice onions this season, our best ever. The rain in June and July was great for sizing them up.Then the warm and hot for those three short weeks in August was just right for harvest and curing time. Store onions in a cool, dry-ish place, and they will keep for months.

Beets, 2 pounds. A smaller harvest than usual, with sweet flavor following a few hard frosts. Store in the fridge.

Winter squash, 2 delicatas and two acorns. Enjoy these more perishable winter squash in the next month or so. They are best stored at about 50-55 degrees, not much colder - a cool place in your kitchen can work well. Watch for small bruises or rot spots - the squash will deteriorate quickly once they appear. Any winter squash seeds are great for roasting: rinse them well, and let them dry. Oil the pan slightly, and roast in a thin layer. Roast at a low temperature, 300-325, as the seeds can go from brown to burnt quickly. Stir occasionally. Try seasoning halfway through roasting with sugar and cinnamon - yum!

Pie pumpkin, a good sized "New England pie". If you plan to cook with it (which I hope you do!), then don't let it freeze while it adorns your porch for Halloween. To cook: cut off the top, quarter, and roast just until tender. Remove the skin, puree and use as you like. Pumpkin puree can be frozen - put 1 cup portions into small plastic bags or containers.

Savoy cabbage, one. A versatile, tasty cabbage, this will store in your fridge for a month or so.

Salad turnips, a bunch. A radish-like turnip, which can be used raw or cooked. Cooked, it is more watery and milder flavored than a big fall turnip - try it stir-fried rather than roasted or souped.

Parsley, a bunch. One of the most cold-hardy fresh herbs. Store it with the stems in a glass of water, in or out of the fridge; or wash and dry the leaves and store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Sweet potatoes, 4 1/2 pounds. A beautiful crop of sweet potatoes this year, great flavor and texture in all shapes and sizes! Who knew that a tropical crop could thrive in New England with virtual no summer... The plants did well in our sandiest field, and the tubers are sweetening up in storage. Keep them in a cool place in your kitchen - they'll last for months if you have a 50-55 degree spot, with good ventilation. Recipe: Sweet Potato Oven Fries.

Daikon, a bunch. This mild Japanese radish is the most common vegetable grown in Japan, and has many uses there. It will store in a plastic bag your hydrator drawer for a long time (I used my last one from last November's harvest in April!). So, plenty of time to figure out your favorite ways to use it. Try pickling it, grating in to salad (or as a salad with carrots and beets), or in a stir fry. Recipe: Japanese Radish Salad

Fennel, a bulb or two. A versatile seasoning. Use raw with dips, add to soups or to Italian-inspired dishes. Store in a plastic bag in your fridge for up to 2 weeks. 

Sweet peppers, a handful. We picked out the peppers before the hard freeze (along with the celery). They store well, and it's nice to have a "summer" food in October. Three "italias", which are pointy and red, or partially red - these partially red ones may ripen more if you leave them in your fruit bowl for a day or two before eating. And four green bell peppers. Peppers freeze easily and well, for cooking later - chop and put them in a container.

Hot peppers, take what you'd like. We are not including them in the boxes, but you can take a handful if you are a fan. Mostly hungarian hot wax, green serranos and jalapenos.

From Riverland Farm:
Lettuce, two heads of Summer Crisp variety "Magenta". The foundation of a nice salad or two .... add carrots, hakurei turnips, a red pepper and a little parsley.

Kale, a bunch of winterbor, a green curly kale that's been sweetened up by the frost. This would make great kale and sausage soup, or if you're not in the mood for soup try kale sauteed with garlic and olive oil, with some of Baer's Best beans thrown in.

Carrots, 4 pounds. This variety of fall carrot, Bolero, has a loyal following among shareholders and farmers. Excellent for eating raw, makes a great carrot soup, or mix up a batch of carrot muffins. This will store well in your fridge.

Broccoli and/or Cauliflower, 2 heads.

You'll also find a pound of Baer's Best Beans in your share (Jacob's Cattle, Otebo or Calypso). Ten pounds of apples from Cider Hill Farm are also included this month. Apples varieties include Empire, Mutsu, Melrouge, Carosel, Braeburn, Gala and Jonagold.

Sweet Potatoes

Bruce and Jenny at Picadilly Farm report a bumper crop of sweet potatoes this year. Mmmm ... sweet potato fries, sweet potato puree, potato & sweet potato gratin, sweet potatoes, apples and braising greens, and just plain old sweet potatoes with a bit of butter, cinnamon and maple syrup.

We're planning to have 4 pounds of sweeties in each Winter share. I think I'll be able to arrange for extra sweet potatoes (~16 pound boxes of them) to be available for purchase during the second CSA distributions.

Did I mention that I like sweet potatoes?

Cover Crops and more at Riverland Farm

Meghan, at Riverland Farm (one of the Shared Harvest Winter CSA farms) writes about cover cropping at Riverland. Here's the link to their newsletter, Riverland Currants.

Scroll down the page for farmer news that will bring a smile to your face!

What's planned for the '09 Winter CSA?

While I have a pretty good idea about what will be in the winter share, until it's grown, harvested and on it's way to Busa Farm, I can't be 100% sure of the mix of veggies in the share. That said, the distributions are likely to be quite similar to the those in '08. So, I thought you might like to see what was in the '08 Winter CSA, as well as what previous year shareholders had to say about the share.

Here are some nice photos and written summaries of each '08 distribution:
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008

Here is feedback about the winter share that you might find helpful if you're wondering how many mouths will one share feed or how in the world you'll store the veggies.

This year, dried beans and garlic, two frequently requested items, will be new items in the share. We've planned for fewer carrots, more leeks and leafy greens. I hope to offer additional items that shareholders can pre-order and pick up during the CSA distribution including eggs, Fiore de Nonno mozzarella and bulk quantities of dried beans.

Will there be potatoes?

Knowing that late blight also affects potatoes, several winter shareholders have asked if there will be spuds in the share this year. As far as we can tell, it looks like it.

Bruce and Jenny Wooster, Picadilly Farm, are growing potatoes for the Winter CSA. Jenny reports that, so far, the crop is looking good. Here's what she wrote at the beginning of August about their potato saving efforts.

Potatoes, we are thanking our lucky stars that we already have a reasonable crop underground - blight notwithstanding, it's been a great potato growing season. However, the Late Blight spores can quickly travel through the vines and rot the potatoes underground. We've decided to kill the potato vines, and enjoy the harvest that is already sized up. Up and down our valley, farmers are doing the same. Conventional farmers use an herbicide for vine kill, and it is certainly disconcerting to see dead potato fields all over in early August. As organic growers, we have a harder road to hoe, as we attempt to mechanically kill all of the vines without damaging the potato hills underneath. First, we've been mowing the field. Later today we'll go through with weedwackers (yes, that's 8 miles of weedwacking!). When that's all done, we'll sweep through with the crew and loppers, knocking back the last remaining living stubs. We're learning that there's no such thing as "overkill" when it come to late blight. We'll see a smaller yield, as some spuds would have continued to size up over the rest of the summer. And we're uncertain if we'll lose some storability with such early vine kill - the potatoes have to store underground for at least two weeks after the vines are dead, to set the skins for storage. We'll see. But plenty of mashed potatoes remain in our future this season!

The Picadilly Farm crew has begun to harvest and distribute potatoes in their summer shares. It seems that late blight didn't reach the tubers! Over the next month or so we'll know more about how the potatoes store. Keep your fingers crossed!

Spring!

Ack! How could this happen? The farming season has just begun and already I'm six weeks behind schedule! Well, maybe not a whole six weeks, though it sure feels like it. But then, it always feels like this in the spring.

There's the excitement of starting anew. I love the look of freshly tilled soil, weed-free straight beds ready for transplanting. The purr of the tractor. The contrast of greenhouse work best done in shirt sleeves, and field work that is best done with hat, gloves, heavy coat and winter boots. Winter was the time for careful planning to reduce weed and critter pressure during the season, maximize yields, and possibly, just possibly, shorten some of those 14 hour days to 10 hours days, and turn seven day work weeks into six days. Now it's time for these plans to be put into action. Manure spread, fields chisel plowed, beds made and planted, finishing touches on equipment repair and carpentry projects.

This year I've been hired to be the Field Manager at Brookwood Community Farm in Milton and Canton. I've finished my first two weeks on the job and I am just delighted - I mean, really delighted - to be farming at Brookwood this season. I'll post photos and stories of Brookwood soon.

First though, I really should report on the Winter CSA that I'm managing this season. Yes, I know, spring has just arrived and it seems early to be thinking about how we will feed ourselves this winter. Well, it seems early unless you're the farmer responsible growing the food. Picadilly Farm and Riverland Farm are the primary growers for the multi-farm Winter CSA this year. The farmers report that their season is off to a great start. Farm crews have settled in and are working hard in greenhouses and the fields.

Here are some photos I took on a visit to Picadilly and Riverland last month.


Jenny, Beckley and I drove down to Sunderland to visit Rob and Meghan at Riverland. What a sweet little farm these folks have! They built a much needed greenhouse this past winter -- do check out the nice slide show posted on their web site. Here are photos of Meghan and Beckley in the new greenhouse, onions for the winter share in the background, and the Riverland Farm apprentices on their first day of work.

Riverland Farm in the news!

One of our Winter CSA partners, Riverland Farm, is in the news today! Here's the link to the story: Farming showing a rebirth all across Massachusetts.

Here's another article about Riverland Farm and their involvement in community food security efforts. Seniors come to the farm "In its third year, about 50 participants in the Senior Farm Share Program had a chance to tour Riverland Organic Farm, where much of their produce is grown. The program, which is sponsored by Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, provides free shares of vegetables for 10 to 12 weeks to seniors at 17 sites in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties."

The Senior Farm Share Program is a terrific program that makes healthy, locally-grown food accessible to low-income seniors and provides local growers with an enthusiastic market. It is run by Community Involved in Sustainable Agriculture (CISA). I wish CISA served the eastern Massachusetts farming (and eating!) community, but they have their hands full serving the folks in western and central Massachusetts.