CSA Week 11
This week you MAY have corn, onions, herbs, TOMATOES!!!! and some other stuff that seems to be a moving target this week…so be sure to message or email if you have questions or do not know what you have. SPECIFICALLY, if you get something that could possibly be a melon. There is no winter squash in the box, so do not cook a melon by mistake. LOL
Ya baby! We kept them healthy through the rain and humidity and now it’s happening…TONS of TOMATOES! Enjoy the extra GIANT bag this week…when everything is ready, it’s ready, can’t try to hold it to spread out the love sometimes 😉
Get your order in now for bulk tomatoes, it’s time, don’t wait. Order by the 22/25 lb box for pick up at the farm or one of our market locations. Tomato season is finally under way and it is such a joy to have a fat slice on a sandwich or just by itself. Caprese anyone?
Recipes
Corn and Tomato Salad
- Corn kernels from 4 ears of corn
- 1+ lbs tomatoes, dices
- 1 cucumber diced (if you have it, this works without too)
- basil
- lime juice
- S & P
Toss all the ingredients together and enjoy this simple refreshing salad anytime.
Make anything with Caprese in the title this week
Salsa?
Refrigerator pickles
Summer Pasta
Enjoying our tomatoes in sandwiches, on burgers, BLT, etc this week
Farm Dirt
YES! You are still welcome to come to the farm – the New Braintree farm 🙂 I have yet to update the map for this year…but it will happen. The good news is the raspberries, apples and blueberries don’t move around much 😉 Please feel free to park wisely in the barnyard or houseyard, or on street where/when safe. it is also advised to let someone know you are here so you don’t get kicked out 😉 Also: wear sensible shoes, pack snacks, pick snacks, avoid the temptation to step over the rows and accidentally damage our/your plants. Also resist the temptation to walk through any vining crops like melons and squashes. It takes more skill than you might think to tiptoe through without stepping on the vines – once crushed, there’s no fixing that once the damage is done. Having said all that, it is a great experience to roam the farm and harvest some extras for yourself…and it is one of the best perks having a CSA with us. There will be an official invite later in the season, MUCH LATER, when it is gleaning time (before the killing frost, likely after CSA is over). This date is typically late October, and we always hope it is at the very end of October or even November.
I gotta can tomatoes!
This is the time of year I reflect upon the wisdom of a dear friend. Stephanie, who lives just down the hill from us, is 99 this year and was awarded out town’s Boston Post Cane!!! She served in WW II, met her husband of New Braintree while he also served. I cannot begin to tell her story, and if there was a woman or young woman looking for a pinnacle of strength to emulate, she’s it. When “putting by” season is upon me, I ALWAYS think of a couple stories that she shared with me about her mother-in-law. I will share one here that all my long-timers will recognize: Oh to complain about providing for the family! Think how easy we have it now with our food processors, electric or gas stoves, and freezers. (Even I was outside with my boiler on the sidecar of the grill processing dilly beans) Every year I think of our dear friend Stephanie and a story she told me about her Mother-in-law: It seems her Father-in-Law returned from market with 10 baskets of peaches (oh how I miss peaches) that were dead ripe…meaning the next day they would be spoiling. It was late in the day, but after supper, Mother started in on them. Stephanie, being large with child, went off to bed. In the morning, she woke to find all the peaches had been put up…it must have taken all night, and that was with a wood cookstove in August! I figure it would have been 150-200 quarts. Stephanie later told me she counted 2500 quart jars (of everything that had been put by) in the cellar that year. Plus I know there were crocks of meat and kraut. A tremendous achievement for anyone keeping the house and pantries stocked! What work ethic!
I got a container of half sours started this week and several quarts of dilly beans. I don’t normally make them, but a great customer gave us 2 quarts we did not even wait the appropriate amount of time to consume – YUM!
Also like clockwork, just when you think it is still high summer and can’t possibly be back-to-school time, the weather changes and you can smell Fall, apples, milkweed, second and third hay cutting……..
I spoke with Faith today and it has cooled of to a temperate 86, LOL, not back to school weather for a New Englander but I guess for those in the South! LOL
We are talking about the 2 Week extension to CSA this year so we can get to more of the late season crops like Brussel sprouts, broccoli or cauliflower, cabbage, apples, winter squash, new and interesting late fall greens…
Our 2 week extension has been very popular and brings one right up to Still Life Farm’s Winter CSA start date. A few people have asked me why we don’t just offer an 18 week Summer CSA and it is mainly due to us not wanting to overpromise on something we actually have little control over. In other words, it takes us this deep into the season to be able to predict what and how much of some crops we will have. This year we are uncertain about the potato crop, last year it was the winter squash…
Wildlife: The Barn Swallows left today, right on time, every year, you can keep your calendar by it. That means it’s time to start watching for the Night Hawk migration.
Eat well,
Geneviève Stillman
