Your local certified organic vegetable farm
2020 CSA – Week #15
September 21, 2020
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Notes From the Farm
Happy Fall! The autumnal equinox is tomorrow, September 22nd, at 9:31am EDT marking the astronomical start of fall in the northern hemisphere. With recent night temps in the mid 40s here at the farm, the feeling of fall is very much upon us. Fall is always the season I look forward to most, and after such a hot and dry summer, it is a most welcome transition this year.
This week we’ll harvest bunches of salad mix greens, which can be eaten raw or cooked. Over the years many have asked what the is in this mix. The mix is made up of a number of mustard greens, which varies a bit from year to year based on seed availability and our own trials, deciding whether to include something new or remove something that didn’t perform as well. It may also include some arugula, claytonia, mache, plus a few varieties of bok choi and kale. This year’s mix has mizuna, tat soi, green wave, red giant, garnet giant, golden frills, ruby streaks, red russian kale and more. The first cut is typically the sweetest, with successive harvests getting a bit spicier. Note that the spice usually dissipates when cooked.
Last week we harvested a good haul of carrots and beets. To help preserve this harvest we’ve removed the leaves and tops from both and left soil on their roots. The soil helps preserve the moisture on the roots, keeping it fresh, and can be washed off when ready to use. The leaves of both carrots and beets are plenty useful of course, but would draw moisture from the roots to try to maintain itself if left attached, before eventually withering, and reducing the quality and storage of the roots as well. If you are someone who looks forward to cooking with those carrot tops or beet greens, know that there are still more carrots and beets in the ground and we’ll distribute some with tops if possible in the last couple weeks of the season.
-Farmer Steve and our Farmers: Alyssa, Alanna, Anneke, Cass, Ian, Jessie, Kayla, Mary Claire
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This Week’s Anticipated Harvest:
Baby Onions, Garlic, Carrots, Beets, Mixed Tomatoes and Cherry Tomatoes, Eggplant, Salad Mix or Lettuce, Kale
Fruit Option:
‘Cortland’ Apples
Note: No mushrooms available this week
For on-farm pickup only
- Pickup along with your vegetables on your regular pickup day.
- Store closes Wednesday at 4pm
- Orders placed this week will be ready for pickup on Friday, September 25 and Tuesday, September 29.
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The Big Green Pizza Truck will be on the farm Tuesday, parked in the overflow parking area, from 3pm to 6pm. Payment can be made to Big Green Pizza Truck here with cash, venmo, or paypal.
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Recipes and Cooking Ideas
Mustard Green and Roasted Garlic Pesto
from MarthaStewart.com
Ingredients
- 2 medium heads garlic
- 1 1/4 ounces almonds, toasted and roughly chopped (1/4 cup)
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 ounce Pecorino-Romano cheese, grated (1/3 cup)
- 1/2 large bunch mustard greens, stems discarded, roughly chopped (4 cups)
- Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper•
Directions
Instructions Checklist
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wrap garlic in foil, and roast until flesh is completely tender, about 1 hour. Let cool completely. Squeeze garlic from skins, discarding skins.
Pulse garlic, almonds, oil, cheese, mustard greens, 1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper to taste, and 2 tablespoons water in a food processor until a thick paste forms. Pesto can be refrigerated up to 3 days.
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CSA Pickup Instructions and Reminders
On-Farm Pickups – Tuesdays and Fridays, 1:30-6:30pm
- Come on your selected pickup day of either Tuesday or Friday.
- Wear a mask when you come to pickup, please use extra caution, extraordinary hygiene and maintain social distancing of at least 6 feet from others at all times.
- Pull in to the barn yard parking area between the red barn and white house.
- DRIVE SLOWLY – farm family with young children live here.
- Mind the cones. Stay in your vehicle.
- If the driveway is full, please use the overflow parking area on the other side of the barn (as shown in the parking area image). You can either wait there until others have departed or walk down the path to the barn to pick up your CSA, keeping a safe distance of at least 6 feet from others.
- We will greet you at a safe distance outside the barn, take your name, and bring out your produce.
- We will place it on a table for you to pick up or we can set your order in the trunk of your vehicle while maintaining social distance.
- There will be no U-pick on the farm this year.
- If you plan to walk the trail, please park in the additional parking area on the north side of the barn. Maintain distance from others you encounter on your walk.
Delivery to District – Wednesdays, 3:30-6:30pm
- Located at 470 James St. at State St.
- Go to Door 004 for District Athletic Club.
- CSA boxes will be stacked against the wall just inside the door.
- Pick up time is 3:30-6:30pm on Wednesdays.
- Wear a mask when you come to pickup, please use extra caution, extraordinary hygiene and maintain social distancing of at least 6 feet from others at all times.
- Take only one box, do not touch any others, all boxes will be the same.
- There will not be any clipboards to check your name off on.
Fruit Option
- Comes from High Hill Orchard in Meriden.
- Typically begins in early July once blueberries are ready to harvest.
- Pickup along with your vegetables on your regular pickup day and location.
Farm Store – for on-farm pick up only; not available for New Haven delivery
- We will continue to offer additional items through the farm store each week (milk, eggs, mushrooms, meat, etc.) as much as possible.
- Pickup along with your vegetables on your regular pickup day.
- Do not sign up for an additional pickup time slot.
Communications: We send out a weekly CSA newsletter during the harvest season, and additional messages throughout the year. Please read them. There is often helpful information in them, or important updates that might answer questions you have. We try to keep our website updated with those newsletters, and we also share news, stories and photos on facebook, twitter and instagram.
If you have a question, request, feedback, or need to be in touch for any reason, emailing us at [email protected] is the best means of communication. This email is checked regularly, and we do our best to respond quickly. We’d love to talk with you when you are here on the farm and we can usually be found around the barn during CSA pickup hours, so grab our ears, pick our brains, chat us up or tell us what’s on your mind! Bags: We will be pre-bagging or boxing your produce for the first time this year. Still it may be helpful to have additional bags for some items, particularly additional orders from the store.
What if I miss a week?: If you are not able to make it to the farm to pick up your produce on a given week, you are welcome to have someone else pick up it up for you. Simply have them come to the farm on your behalf. Any produce that is not picked up will be donated, so know that it is put to good use! If you do miss a week, please understand that you are not entitled to additional produce on another week.
Produce Donations: Part of the farm’s mission and commitment to the community is to donate produce to local hunger relief organizations, which is more important than ever right now. To make this happen, we harvest additional produce for donation on CSA distribution days. Any produce not picked up by our CSA members is added to that donation. Thus, if you can’t make it one week to get your vegetables, know that your produce will go to people in need and is never wasted.
Want more of our produce?: As our harvest allows, we will offer additional produce for sale through our weekly online store. If you don’t see something you want available in the store, please do let us know when you are here and we’ll see if we can offer it. We are not currently attending any farmer’s markets.
Final payments: If you still have a balance for the CSA, please send in your final payments, or be in touch to work out a payment plan. Email [email protected]
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(203) 736-8618
41 Ford Road, Woodbridge, CT
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