2022 CSA – Week #20 – Final Week
Keep farming, feed people, build community
October 24, 2022
Notes From the Farm We’ve made it to the final week of our 20-week summer CSA! If you are signed up for the fall CSA, it starts next week, with farm pickup on Fridays only (no Tuesday) and Wednesdays in New Haven. Our 2023 CSA season is on sale now at our GrownBy page, or print out our CSA Registration Form. Last year we shifted to sliding scale pricing, letting everyone self-select the pricing tier that fits their income and access to wealth. This made our CSA more accessible for many families, and allowed us to keep our standard 20-week CSA price roughly where it’s been since 2016. It will come as no surprise that since 2016, and particularly over the last year, our operating costs have risen significantly. For 2023 we need to raise CSA prices to make sure we keep up with rising costs. We will continue to offer the sliding scale pricing, which will help limit the overall price increases we are making, and maintain accessibility of our CSA to the community. We know this change may still present challenges for many families and we trust you understand that these increases are necessary for us to continue doing our work here at Massaro Community Farm. Thank you all for joining us in the CSA and in our mission to keep farming, feed people and build community.
This week’s distribution includes sweet potatoes and carrots from Red Fire Farm, which allows our recently harvested sweet potatoes to cure and our carrots in the field to size up a bit more before harvest. We’ll harvest green peppers and eggplant for you, along with a mix of greens and roots, including a variety of radicchio called ‘giorgione’, which has beautiful red speckling on green and white leaves. This radicchio balances the classic bitterness of a chicory with some of its own sweetness, enhanced by the colder night temperatures we’ve had recently. If bitterness sounds intimidating or like it won’t agree with your palate, know that it will won’t dominate a salad when mixed with other greens or when used in any cooked dishes but will instead enhance the flavors on your plate.
-Farmer Steve and our Farmers: Alyssa, Alanna, Ariel, Cass, Hali, Kayla, Leah, Maia, MC
Fall CSA Sign Up
This Week’s Anticipated Harvest: Carrots*, Sweet Potatoes*, Garlic Radicchio, Eggplant, Peppers, Radishes or Salad Turnips, Arugula or Spicy Salad Greens
*From Red Fire Farm
U-Pick:
Closed for the Season
Fruit Option:
Finished for the Season
CSA parking area/pickup images
See images below for an overhead view of the pickup areas at Massaro and at District.
Recipes and Cooking Ideas Sweet Potato Fried Rice
Adapted from www.thehungryhutch.com
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
- 1 medium (8 ounce) sweet potato, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper
- 2 cups leftover white rice
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 1 to 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 ½ teaspoons soy sauce or tamari
- Sriracha or other hot sauce, for serving
- Sliced scallions, for serving
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place the oil in a medium or large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. (It will look like there’s too much oil, but this oil will be needed once we add the rice.) Add the sweet potato, season with some salt and pepper, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes start to soften and brown, about 5 minutes. (Covering the sweet skillet helps the sweet potatoes to cook more quickly.)
- Remove the lid, add the rice, garlic, and ginger, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice is warmed through and starts to crisp up a bit, about 5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat, add the egg and soy sauce, and cook, stirring frequently, until the egg is set, about 1 minute. Transfer immediately to a bowl (or bowls), top with hot sauce and sliced scallions, and serve.
Radicchio Pasta with Goat Cheese
Adapted from www.liveeatlearn.com
Ingredients
- 1 lb of bow tie pasta (or any other shape)
- 1 medium-sized head Radicchio
- Olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp of ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp of red pepper flakes (if you like spiciness).
- 4 oz of soft goat cheese and
- fresh shaved parmesan to top
- balsamic vinegar to top
- Optional veggies to include: cherry tomatoes, chopped kale, broccoli or asparagus
- Optional add ons: Crunchy nuts, like walnuts, pecans, or pistachios; pops of flavor, like dried cranberries or raisins
Directions
Step 1: Cook the pasta
First, bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package. It will need to be al dente. Reserve ½ cup of the pasta water for later.
Step 2: Prep the radicchio
Cut each radicchio in half lengthwise, then cut out the stem. Lay the halves flat side down, and then cut into strips. To help remove the bitterness at this point, soak the leaves in water for 15 minutes.
Step 3: Sauté the radicchio
Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sliced radicchio. Cook until the radicchio wilts down, about 5 minutes. Sautéing is another crucial step in helping to reduce the sharp bitterness of the radicchio.
Step 4: Add the flavorings
Add the spices, goat cheese, and leftover pasta water. Stir to evenly combine.
Step 5: Combine and serve
Stir the radicchio mixture into the drained pasta and serve warm. Top generously with fresh grated parmesan and balsamic vinegar (or balsamic reduction).
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.
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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