Spring CSA

We have reached the final delivery of Spring CSA! Thank you so much for your continued support of our small farms and of local agriculture. Local agriculture is the most critical part of building a sustainable food system – and you, our CSA members, play a huge role in that mission – so thank you!

Bag 7 of the Spring CSA should include the following: Pea Shoots, Kale, Bok Choi or Napa Cabbage, Asparagus, Kohlrabi, Fennel or Radishes, Green Garlic, Hakurei Turnips, Sweet Potatoes, Parsnips, Onions, and Mushrooms. Please note that the weekly photo is not an exact depiction of what is in your share, but rather a reference image.

The weekly letter will be coming to your inbox the day before your pickup and is also available at stillmansfarm.com/blog and stilllifefarm.wordpress.com.  

Saturday: May 27, Jamaica Plain, 12-3pm

Sundays: May 28, Lunenburg, 12-1pm

Thursdays: June 1
Boston (Boston Public Market) 12-6pm
Brookline (Beals Street) 1-6pm
Watertown (City Hall) 12:30-1pm
Natick (Princeton Rd) 1:30-6pm
Worcester (Deadhorse Hill Restaurant) 5-9pm
Hardwick (Still Life Farm) 4-6pm
New Braintree (Stillman’s Farm) 12-6pm

Eat local all year round! Enrollments open for Summer and Winter CSAs. Reserve your share today!

Summer CSA.  Just a few more weeks left to sign up for your Summer CSA Share through Stillman’s Farm.  Check out their excellent selection of summer options – the Standard Summer Share, A-La-Carte Shopping Credit, Tomato CSA, or Fruit CSA.  https://stillmansfarm.com/csa/

Winter CSA.  Still Life Farm Winter CSA 2023-24 just dropped, and they’re offering an Early Bird Discount now through June 1!  Sign up for your Winter CSA share early and BE your farm’s literal seed money. https://csa.farmigo.com/join/stilllifefarm/winter20232024

Featured Item: Green Garlic

Green garlic is the immature stage of the garlic plant.  This stage can be harvested any time from April through June (garlic typically matures by mid-June and is then ready to be picked and dried for long-season storage).  To use green garlic, chop from the bulb all the way up the stem to the first leaf.  Throw it into all your favorite dishes as a garlic substitute.  Same great garlic flavor with a little jump on the season!

Other interesting items in your bag:

Mushrooms. A mix of oyster, lion’s mane, piopinno, and/or chestnuts coming from Joyberry Farms in Mason, NH.  Check out their website for all suggestions mushroom…

Fennel.  We trialed fennel in the greenhouse this spring.  If we had transplanted one-two weeks earlier, we would have had a little more size on them, but these are beautiful and tender, perfect for any fresh application!

Napa Cabbage.  Another greenhouse trial!   Pretty happy we can enjoy this crisp crunchy cabbage this spring.  Perfect for slaws, stir fry, lettuce wraps, just anything, really.

Pea Shoots.  The tender first small shoots of the pea plant.  They taste just like spring!  I love these raw under soft-cooked eggs or in a spring salad.  If you do cook them, be sure to do so only briefly, they are very delicate.

Farm Dirt

Stillman’s Farm.  It’s hard to focus on the farm right now because everyone is in final prep mode for Reid & Kirsten’s wedding (May 27th!!!).  The farm has been landscaped and manicured within an inch of its life, and everything is looking perfect and wedding-ready.  Meanwhile, Farmer Glenn is trying to keep the focus on the farm with one of the busiest farm weekends of the season.  Memorial Day marks the Massachusetts frost date – the last recorded date for frost in the area, and the first safe date to put tenders out without worry – so there is TONS of transplanting happening.  The first farmers markets have opened, so market loads are being picked, packed, and trucked off.  And the greenhouses are overflowing with plants ready for your gardens (come and get them at the New Braintree farm or at any of our local markets).

Still Life Farm. Lots of ups and downs at SLF this week.  We had a really devastatingly cold freeze last Wednesday night and many of our fruit crops took a hit.  Between the cold dip in March and now again in May we have lost our cherries, stone fruits (think peaches, nectarines), some of our apples, and some of our gooseberries.  So far, our raspberry and blackberry crops seem ok – fingers crossed – but we are hearing reports throughout New England of heavy losses from fruit farmers.  It’s only May and already farm season 2023 is off to a rough start.  BUT in true farmer fashion we have to keep our chin up and keep working.  Curt has done a ton of field prep over the last few weeks.  Sweet potatoes slips arrived Monday and were transplanted into the field on Tuesday.  All three high tunnels have been flipped to summer crops – cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers.  Brussel sprouts and kalettes were seeded a few days ago.  Onions are being transplanted as I type this.  We will be transplanting like mad over the next few weeks to stay on schedule.  Good thing we have a good crew!

Farmers Guild of Hardwick.  It’s time to introduce the newly formed “Famers Guild of Hardwick”. Many of you remember the racetrack debacle that threatened our local farmland this past January.  The formation of The Guild is one way we are working to actively protect our small farms and MA farmland. The mission is to “support, promote, and encourage the sustainability and advancement of the agricultural endeavors of the farmers of Hardwick and the surrounding communities, and, to protect the sanctity of farmland which is the foundation of a thriving, successful, meaningful and productive local food economy.”  Please follow along with our journey.

Facebook: @farmersguildofhardwick

Instagram: @farmers_guild_of_hardwick

Eat well & love your food,

Halley Stillman (Still Life Farm) & Genevieve Stillman (Stillman’s Farm)