2022 Fall CSA – Week #1

Massaro
Community
Farm

Keep farming, feed people, build community

November 2, 2022

Notes From the Farm

 

Welcome to our 6-week Fall CSA!  Whether you are continuing for on from the summer CSA or joining us for the first time now, we are so glad to have you with us.  It is absolutely beautiful on the farm right now.  These warmer than normal early November conditions are keeping our peppers and eggplants alive, and we’ll harvest as much as we can of them along with  a great mix of greens and roots from our fields and tunnels. This week features bunches of sprouting broccoli, every bit of which is edible – not just the broccoli sprouts.  The stems are tender, nutritious and cook down wonderfully, and the leaves are akin to kale or collards, who they are closely related to. The larger heads of broccoli you can find in stores have not grown consistently well for us historically, with heat waves causing early bolting or misshapen heads, and heavy storms causing rot.  As a result we’ve been growing the sprouting broccoli for a number of years now.  We think they are incredibly delicious and reliably productive, a real gem that you don’t typically find elsewhere.  We hope you like it too.

Thanksgiving is not far off, and if you want a turkey raised on  pasture in CT, you can order one from our friends at Ramble Creek Farm, with pickup here at Massaro on Monday, Nov 21 from 12:30-5:30pm. Turkeys are ready for pre-order now. We’ll offer a Thanksgiving produce bundle for pickup here that day as well.  Details and ordering for the produce bundle will open next week.

Our 2023 CSA season is on sale now at our GrownBy page, or print out our CSA Registration Form. Signing up now is extremely helpful to us in our planning for next season, so if you know you will participate, please don’t wait. We are offering sliding scale pricing once again, so you can self select the tier that fits for you. And while payment in full is helpful for us, you can start with a deposit and then pay the balance in the spring, or choose a weekly or monthly payment plan, with automatic payments made through a credit card. Thank you in advance for helping us get a start on the 2023 season!

 

-Farmer Steve and our Farmers: Alyssa, Alanna, Ariel, Cass, Hali, Kayla, Leah, Maia, MC

2023 CSA Sign Up
Turkey Pre-Order 
This Week’s Anticipated Harvest:

Sprouting Broccoli, Arugula, Radicchio or Spicy Salad Greens, Carrots*, Sweet Potatoes*, Chard, Radishes, Eggplant or Peppers,

*From Red Fire Farm

 

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

Sprouting Broccoli with Chili, Garlic & Lemon

Adapted from www.delish.com

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 bunch sprouting broccoli
  • 1/2 red chili, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
  • Zest and juice of 1 lemon

DIRECTIONS

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan (or wok) over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the broccoli and stir fry until turning golden brown, 3-4 minutes.
  2. Add the chili, garlic, and lemon zest and stir fry for 1 minute, making sure the garlic doesn’t burn. Season with salt and pepper and add 100ml water, cover with a lid or some foil, and steam fry the broccoli until just tender, 3-4 minutes more.
  3. Once cooked to your liking, transfer to a serving plate and pour over the lemon juice.
  4. Serve immediately.
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 – 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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

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