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Keep farming, feed people, build community
October 17, 2022 |
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| Notes From the Farm
We have harvested the last of the green tomatoes from the tunnels and have begun preparing the soil for a late fall planting of lettuce, which we’ll be able to enjoy over the winter months. We’ve had a nice long tomato season, and one way to make them last even longer is to preserve them – check out the green tomato chutney recipe below, or try pickling them. The eggplant made it through the cold nights and we still have a good harvest to share. Peppers survived as well but we’ll wait at least a week to see if they will size up a bit more before we pull them from the plants. Lettuce is back in the harvest mix, along with kale, arugula, radishes, potatoes and a choice of our remaining winter squash. Next week will be the final distribution for our 20-week and 10-week CSAs. You can stay with us for November and December by signing up for our
6-week fall CSA, which is nearly sold out. Sign up now at GrownBy page. Pay online or bring in payment to the farm. The fall CSA begins in November, immediately following the end of our summer CSA, and continues in to December after a break for Thanksgiving. And look out for an announcement later this week as we open our 2023 CSA for sale!
-Farmer Steve and our Farmers: Alyssa, Alanna, Ariel, Cass, Hali, Kayla, Leah, Maia, MC |
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| This Week’s Anticipated Harvest:
Winter Squash, Potatoes, Garlic, Lettuce or Kale, Radishes or Turnips, Arugula or Mustard Greens, Eggplant, Green Tomatoes
U-Pick:
Cherry Tomatoes, Herbs
Fruit Option:
Apple Cider
Big Green Truck Pizza will be here this Tuesday, October 18 during CSA pickup hours; join us to celebrate a bit fall
CSA parking area/pickup images
See images below for an overhead view of the pickup areas at Massaro and at District. |
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| Recipes and Cooking Ideas
Easy Braised Turnip Rice Bowl
Adapted from www.thewoksoflife.com
INGREDIENTS
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the oil in your wok over low heat. Add the star anise and peppercorns. Let them infuse the oil for 10 minutes, taking care not to let them burn.
- Scoop out and discard the aromatics, and leave the oil in the wok. Add the ginger, garlic, and the white parts of the scallion, and turn up the heat to medium-high. Stir for a minute or so. Add the ground meat or tofu, and stir-fry until browned. Next, add the turnips and shiitake mushrooms. Stir and mix everything well.
- Add the rice wine, salt, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and 2 cups of water. Mix everything well, cover, and let simmer for about 15 minutes over medium heat–until the turnips are cooked through and translucent. While the contents of the woks are simmering, prepare the cornstarch mixture and set aside.
- Once the turnips are fully cooked through, uncover, turn the heat up to high, add the cornstarch mixture. Stir-fry for a minute––the mixture should thicken into a sauce. Stir in the green parts of the scallions and then serve over rice.
Green Tomato Chutney
From www.cooking.nytimes.co
INGREDIENTS
- 1 pound green tomatoes, chopped
- ½ medium white onion, chopped
- ½ cup golden raisins
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup apple cider vinegar
PREPARATION
- Simmer all ingredients in a small covered saucepan for 30 minutes.
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CSA Pickup Instructions and Reminders
Reminder emails from GrownBy: GrownBy sends reminder emails ahead of your CSA pickup day each week for our 20-week subscribers, and uses a default of picking up alternating weeks, beginning with either week 1 or 2 for our 10-week subscribers. We know that many people switch pickup days as needed, and have a different pickup plan than the alternating weeks. As a result, you may receive some reminder emails that don’t match with your pickup plan or changes. Know that we are working with GrownBy to make adjustments to the auto reminder emails. Thank you for patience and understanding on this.
On-Farm Pickups – Tuesdays and Friday, 2:30-6:30pm
Safety is our top priority for everyone on the farm, and Covid remains a risk in our community. With that in mind we’ll plan to move forward with two options for our on-farm CSA pickup, and will adjust as needed during the season:
- Outdoor, drive thru pickup: Pull in to the barn yard area between the red barn and white house for a drive thru pickup of your CSA, which will be bagged for you in advance.
- Barn pickup, fill your own bag, masks optional: Park in the parking area on the north side of the barn, walk down the steps and and enter the barn through the east barn door entry. Our harvest will be set out in bins with instructions for you to select and bag your own produce. Staff and/or volunteers will be there to help you as needed. Please bring your own bag or box. Please help protect our staff and community, do not enter the barn if you are sick, have tested positive for covid in the last 10 days, or have had a known high risk exposure.
- ALWAYS DRIVE SLOWLY at the farm – there is often programming here for kids, and the farm family with young children live here.
- When U-Pick crops are available, we recommend doing U-Pick first, then picking up your CSA when you are done.
- See map in the section above.
Delivery to District – Wednesdays, 3:30-7:30pm
- Located at 470 James St. at State St.
- Go to Door 004 for District Athletic Club (see map below).
- CSA boxes will be stacked through the door and down the hall in the gym kitchen area.
- Pick up time is 3:30-7:30pm on Wednesdays.
- Take only one box of produce unless otherwise indicated, all boxes will be the same. Return your box each week and pick up a new one.
NEW: Summer Flower & Dahlia CSA, 12 weeks – bring a home a beautiful bunch of flowers each week along with your produce. In July and August we’ll harvest a great mix of flowers grown here at Massaro, then in September and October you’ll receive dahlias from our friends at Two Meadow Farm (North Haven) and Off Center Farm (Woodbridge). Bunches will vary week to week as we bring in flowers of different colors, shapes and sizes.
Limited availability; farm pickup only (Tuesday or Friday), $180 ($15/week). Start date Tuesday, July 19; end date Friday, October 7. To reserve your flower CSA, email [email protected]. Egg CSA Subscriptions – sold out; will make more available if possible
- Pickup along with your vegetables on your regular pickup day and location.
- Massaro egg cartons can be returned to us as long as they are in good, clean condition. We are not accepting non-Massaro egg cartons at this time.
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
- Our eggs, honey and tomato products will be available each week as long as we have them. Purchase at pickup along with your produce. Note – we reduced our flock of laying hens, and egg availability may be limited.
- Products from our partner farms and local vendors may be available as well.
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: Please do bring a reusable bag or box to take your produce home in. We will have compostable bags available for you if needed.
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 or District 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 our 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 at the farm. 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 will be at the Q House market in Hamden on Wednesday afternoons beginning in late June, and some weekend markets again beginning in August.
Payment plans, and final payments: If you signed up through GrownBy for weekly or monthly payment plans, your card will be charged automatically. Please make sure your card is up to date. If you paid by check and you still have a balance for the CSA, please send in your final payments, or email your payment plan to: [email protected].
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For years, we’ve been dreaming of a sturdy structure that can host the increasing number of farm visitors. Now, thanks to partnerships with Haynes Group and Emmett O’Brien Technical School, the farm will erect a 20′ x 32′ post-and-beam pavilion in September. If you visit the farm this summer, you’ll likely see the foundation and lumber staged for this project.
This new structure, located in the farm’s Learning Garden adjacent to our new parking area, will provide year-round gathering space for 75-100 guests and expand our sustainability footprint with two composting toilets.
Etch your place in farm history by purchasing a brick that will form the foundation of the pavilion! Revenue raised through the sale of bricks will provide matching funds already received for this project from The Crippled Children’s Fund and Paul and Judy DeCoster.
4″ x 8″ Brick – $100
8″ x 8″ Brick – $250
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(203) 736-8618
41 Ford Road, Woodbridge, CT
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