Massaro Community Farm Keep farming, feed people, build community Aug 1, 2022 Notes From the Farm Today we woke up to a welcome touch of rain on the farm and a brief reprieve from the heat before temps pick back up tomorrow. One of my favorite ways to enjoy the harvest and stay cool and refreshed is to make gazpacho. Much of what we are bringing in these days can be included: tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, basil, peppers, onions, and even fennel can be blended up or cooked down and chilled to create a gazpacho. There are many different configurations and recipes out there. Tomatoes and squash are coming in heavy now, but I’m including a recipe variation, with just zucchini and basil in the section below. Let us know if you have a favorite gazpacho recipe that we can include in the newsletter. We are going to continue picking the cherry tomatoes for you, but if you are eager to get out there and pick some for yourself, we’ll open the U-Pick area for this week. Speaking of staying cool, Addeo’s Fire & Ice Truck will be here this Tuesday only, 2:30-6:30pm. Each 2022 CSA subscriber will get one ticket for a FREE Italian ice. More will be available for purchase and the truck will be open to the public as well. -Farmer Steve and our Farmers: Alyssa, Alanna, Ariel, Cass, Hali, Kayla, Leah, Maddie, Maia, MC This Week’s Anticipated Harvest: Cucumbers, Mixed Tomatoes, Lettuce, Zucchini & Summer Squash, Onions, Shishito Peppers, Eggplant or Peppers, Fennel or Escarole, Basil U-Pick: Cherry Tomatoes Fruit Option: Blueberries continue. Typically we would have peaches now and for a few weeks around this time, but the peaches harvest is minimal at High Hill Orchard this year, I’m sorry to report. 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 Zucchini Pickles with Chilies and Garlic Adapted from www.cooking.nytimes.com INGREDIENTS 3 ½ cups white-wine vinegar 1 ½ cups sugar 2 teaspoons black peppercorns 1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt 6 long red chilies (or cayenne peppers or jalapeño peppers) 10 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed 4 medium zucchini, trimmed and cut into 2-by- 1/2-inch sticks PREPARATION In a nonreactive saucepan, stir together the vinegar, sugar, peppercorns, salt, chilies and garlic. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Place the zucchini in a large heatproof container and pour the hot liquid over them. Let stand until cool. Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before using. Basil Zucchini Soup Adapted from www.loveandlemons.com INGREDIENTS ⅔ cup sliced leeks, scallions or onions Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling 1 garlic clove, chopped 2 small zucchini, chopped (plus a few strands of spiralized or julienned zucchini for garnish) juice of ½ lemon, more to taste ½ tablespoon miso paste 1 cup water, more as needed for consistency ½ cup packed fresh basil sea salt and freshly ground black pepper ¼ cup hemp seeds (optional) garlic croutons: 2 cups cubed sourdough bread ½ garlic clove, minced Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling Instructions Slice the leeks or onions into rings. Rinse well, drain, and let dry. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add the leeks and a pinch of salt and cook until very soft, 5 to 8 minutes. Taste one, the leeks should be a bit translucent and should not have a bitter taste. Stir in the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds. Remove from the heat. In a blender, combine the leek mixture with the zucchini, hemp seeds, lemon juice, miso, water and a few grinds of pepper and blend until smooth. Add the basil and blend again. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more lemon for brightness and salt to taste. Add more water if you prefer a thinner consistency. Make the garlic croutons: Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. On the baking sheet, toss the croutons with the garlic and a drizzle of olive oil. Bake until crisp, about 8 minutes. Serve the soup at room temperature, or lightly chilled, with the garlic croutons and a drizzle of olive oil. CSA Pickup Instructions and Reminders A request for 10-week Flexible/Half CSA subscribers: Please send your pickup plan in an email to [email protected] if you haven’t already. The majority thus far have chosen to begin picking up Week 1 and doing alternating weeks from there. If you haven’t yet sent your plan in, you can help balance out our harvest days and limit crowding by starting with Week 2 or choosing even numbered weeks (2,4,6, 8, etc.). We generally suggest picking up every other week, beginning either week 1 or 2, but the plan is flexible to allow you to choose any 10 weeks you would like. Please send us your plan now. 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 below. 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]. Build a Farm Pavilion 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 Buy a Brick (203) 736-8618 41 Ford Road, Woodbridge, CT www.MassaroFarm.org