Massaro Community Farm Keep farming, feed people, build community September 18, 2023 Notes From the Farm The fall equinox is nearly here, and the seasonal shift is starting to show on the farm. We have full heads of cabbage ready to harvest this week, and lush greens to go along with the continuing harvest of summer tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. We’ll keep those summer crops going as long as we can; some years the conditions allow us to harvest them all the way through October and in to November. Overall, the changing climate conditions have made for a more reliable extended season harvest, but once we get to fall, a frost can come any time and put an end to those heat loving crops, so enjoy them while we still can! Our 6-week fall CSA extension begins in November, immediately following the end of our summer CSA, and continues in to December after a one-week Thanksgiving break. Sign up online through our GrownBy store or mail/bring payment to the farm; $180 for on-farm pickup, $204 for District pickup. Pickup will be available on Wednesdays at District in New Haven, and Fridays at the farm. There will be no Tuesday pickup at the farm. We downsize a bit for the fall and winter so space for the fall CSA is limited. Upcoming events and workshops on the farm: This Thursday, September 21, 4-7pm, we host the CT Sustainable Business Council for a farm tour, panel discussion and networking. Speakers include Mike Vilarino of Baronet Coffee, Sam King of Blue Earth Compost, Steve Munno and Jon Gorham of Massaro Community Farm. Click here to register. Our final beekeeping workshop of the season is set for Saturday, September 23 at 9am. This workshop will take place in our bee yard where Ted Jones will instruct you on how to perform a hive inspection, treat for mites if needed, and prepare the hive for the upcoming winter months. Click here to register. Join Chris Loscalzo for a bird walk through our Nature Trail on Sunday, September 24th at 9am. Chris will take you on a guided walk through our trail pointing out native birds along the way. All ages are welcome to participate in this free event. Be prepared to walk on uneven and wet ground, and bring your binoculars if you have them! Click here to register. This fall we’ll have three cooking demos lead by Caty Poole: Tuesdays 9/26, 10/3 and 10/10. Each cooking demo will begin at 6pm, and will take place in the barn or learning garden pavilion, depending on conditions. To register, Click here to register. -Farmer Steve and our Farmers: Alyssa, Alanna, Aloe, Cass, Cierra, Kate, Kayla, MC This Week’s Anticipated Harvest: Lettuce, Kale, Chard, Garlic, Cabbage, Eggplant, Peppers, Mixed Tomatoes, Basil U-Pick: Cherry tomatoes Fruit Option: ‘Cortland’ Apples Big Green Truck Pizza Big Green Truck Pizza will be at the farm from 3-6pm on Tuesdays once per month: Tuesday, October 3 They’ll be parked in the parking area, making a variety of their favorite pies for you to choose from. Payment can be made to Big Green Truck here with cash, venmo, or paypal. 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 Quick Cabbage with Tomatoes from marthastewart.com Ingredients 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 small green cabbage, halved, cored, and cut lengthwise into ½-inch wedges ½ cup water Coarse salt and ground pepper 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar ¼ cup roughly chopped fresh parsley Directions In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high. Add cabbage and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to soften and brown around edges, 4 minutes. Add water, cover, and cook until cabbage is crisp-tender, 5 minutes. Uncover and season with salt and pepper. Add tomatoes and cook, uncovered, until they soften, 3 minutes. Stir in vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper and top with parsley. Note: This simple cooked cabbage dish goes well with steak, pork tenderloin, or egg noodles. 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 your continued patience and understanding on this. On-Farm Pickups – Tuesdays 2:30-6:30pm; Fridays 12:30-5:30pm Come on in to the big red barn: 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 note that we will no longer be offering the drive thru pick up option. We will make up a few bags in advance for a quick pickup option for those who might need it. There is a handicap parking spot and an additional accessible spot next to the entry/exit on the south side of the barn. 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. 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). 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 Pickup along with your vegetables on your regular pickup day and location. Massaro Farm Egg cartons can be returned to us as long as they are in good, clean condition. 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. 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 also share news, stories and photos on facebook and instagram. If you have a question, request, feedback, or need to be in touch for any reason, emailing us at csa@massarofarmcsa.org 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 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 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 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 at 197 Dixwell Ave in New Have on Wednesday afternoons from 3-6pm and some weekend markets again beginning in late July. 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: csa@massarofarmcsa.org. (203) 736-8618 41 Ford Road, Woodbridge, CT www.MassaroFarm.org Follow Us