CSA Week 15
My perfect plan for the coming week is tomatillos with accompanying hot peppers and onion for Salsa verde! Also: broccoleaves, French Fingerling potatoes, Empire apples, butter & sugar corn, some kind of sweet pepper, and Sunshine winter squash.
Broccoleaves? Yeah, that’s a thing…some of us have insisted they are are among the best of the cole crop greens (@Genevieve @Joanne). Shredded in slaw, make cream of broccoli soup, sauté and drizzle with some lemony butter…. These leaves taste JUST LIKE their budded flower, the actual broccoli head, so don’t go thinking it is kale 😉
Because tomatillos come naturally wrapped, we cannot always tell if there is a crack. I can guarantee there will be cracks after like 2″ of rain this morning. Glenn and I just scouted them and they are protected by a new moat, which surely means there will be sucking up too much water and splitting. No worries, have that be your first task this week and remove the husk, clean up and make some salsa 🙂 Though tomatillos are in the nightshade family, they are not the same species as tomatoes. Some of you may have see their baby sister in pint boxes on our market tables – Still Life Farm’s husk cherries 🙂 Also a nice source of vitamins C, A, K, niacin, potassium, manganese, and magnesium.
Hopefully, you will get our farm favorite Sunshine winter squash. it is a bright orange kabocha variety that is a dryer style squash. Delish just baked and served with butter 🙂 Also perfect for stuffing, mashing, making soup, muffins, pie, and anything you can think to do with a squash.
Be sure to store your taters in the dark, and not in a plastic bag that will keep too much moisture on them. These are hyper fresh and hand dug, they have not been “cured” so the moisture content is very high and they cook very fast. They are extra amazing when they are so new!
Both the Fruit and Tomato CSAs are over – thanks so much for playing our extra fun CSA game!!
For those who were asking…This is week 15 for everyone except for Monday peeps. The last pick ups of the regular CSA season are:
Friday, your last day will be September 30.
Saturday, your last day will be October 1.
Sunday, your last day will be October 2.
Monday, your last day will be October 10.
Tuesday, your last day will be October 4.
Wednesday, your last day will be October 5.
Thursday, your last day will be October 6.
At least one more week for most of you :)…Monday people this is only week 14 for you.
Recipes
Salsa Verde
Thankfully, this one is snap to make, providing you have a blender or food processor. I have made green salsa completely raw, and it is perfectly fresh tasting and yummy. However, a little somethin somethin is added to the flavor profile if you roast all the veggies briefly before blending OR, my go to method, dump the blended salsa into an oiled frying pan and cook for a few minutes. Not planning on eating it right away? This freezes beautifully!
Below is a basic guideline of what I do…I like lime juice and salt 🙂 Glenn is not a fan of cilantro, so I go very sparingly and usually use the cilantro paste I keep on hand in the fridge.
- Tomatillos, peeled and rinsed
- small onion, peeled
- 3 cloves (or equivalent) garlic
- 1-3 serrano or jalapeno, deseeded it you are worried about heat.
- 2 tsp lime juice – to your taste preference
- salt to taste
- cilantro to taste
Toss everything in the blender or food processor and let her rip until everything looks nicely blended and no big chunks. Heat a generous splash of oil in frypan, when heated, carefully pour in salsa, watching out for spattering since this will be watery. Fry for a few minutes, cool and enjoy…it thickens up a little more when cool.
Farm Dirt
The harvest moon has come and gone, yet we have so far to go with the harvest. At least the onions are in. I think they are planning the winter squash harvest later next week, and we would hold off until later if the weather stays nice. Things change fast this time of year.
We had some scary thunderstorms swirl through here this morning (Thursday) and just moments after Glenn passed our amazing Champion White Ash tree, it was struck by lightening, sending huge, splintered spears of wood to the ground. Blessedly, it had been raining hard, so nothing of the tree caught fire; we are praying there is nothing major for damage and this beautiful specimen that has been a shade tree here before 1740, will be A-okay. Historically, New Braintree had been a hot spot for lightening strikes, losing a great many structures prior to the creation of the Quabbin reservoir. Glenn and I think the large water mass may cause some storms coming out of the west to move northerly, OR southerly around Hardwick and subsequently miss New Braintree. This morning’s storm was coming across in a northeasterly direction and there was no breaking it up or other force off the water. Of course, the only data we have to back up this hypothesis is that since the 1930, there has not been nearly the same incidence of structure or forest fires in our town.
Looks like we are in a Tuesday rain cycle for a while, and I will say, FWIW, we don’t need to make up for the drought in 2 or three days with 2-3″ at a time. having said that, what we are currently experiencing in New England is not unusual, or extreme, this is what farmers have been dealing with for millennia. Many of you recall I love to read Bradford’s History of Plymoth Plantation, his accounts of the weather, is both interesting and enlightening – especially for history nerds (me). They were worried about famine, Bradford writes “…by a great drought which continued from the 3. weeke in May, till about the midle of July, without any raine, and with great heat (for the most parte), insomuch as the corne begane to wither away…” and “In the begining of the year was a great drought, and no raine for many weeks togeather, so as all was burnte up, haye at 5li. a load; and now all raine, so as much sommer corne and later haye is spoyled.” Here’s an account of a hurricane that struck and Bradford predicts the damage will still be present for 100 years “This year, the 14. or 15. of August (being Saturday) was such a mighty storme of wind and raine, as none living in these parts, either English or Indeans, ever saw. Being like (for the time it continued) to those Hauricanes and Tuffons’ that writers make mention of in the Indeas. It began in the morning, a litle before day, and grue not by degrees, but came with violence in the begining, to the great amasmente of many. It blew downe sundry houses, and uncovered others; diverce vessells were lost at sea, and many more in extreme danger. It caused the sea to swell (to the southward of this place)above 20. foote, right up and downe, … it tooke of the borded roofe of a house which belonged to the plantation at Manamet, and floted it to another place, the posts still standing in the ground; and if it had continued long without the shifting of the wind, it is hke it would have drouned some parte of the cuntrie. It blew downe many hundered thowsands of trees, turning up the stronger by the roots, and breaking thehiegher pine trees of in the midle, and the tall yonge oaks and walnut trees of good biggnes were wound like a withe, very Strang and fearfull to behould.” (“withe” references a woven basket)
In extra FUN news: We were visiting friends in Hardwick (next town over) and were delighted to see a deer and her fawn wander across the lawn in front of us, and then EIGHT!!! Sandhill Cranes fly right over us. What a take! I spent some quality time handling Ghost peppers on Tuesday, packaging them up for Ghost Vodka! GlenPharmer Distillery in Franklin will be making their award winning Bhut Vodka with our peppers, how cool is that? Speaking of hot peppers, this is the time to get them! All you hot heads among us looking to feel the heat: we have Ghost (obviously), Scotch Bonnet, Cayenne, Reaper, Scorpion, Dragon flame (or something like that) Lemondrop, habanero in red, orange or chocolate flavors, Thai, Korean, serrano, several types of jalapeno and more!
The leaves are turning, particularly the Swamp Maples, but even the Ash and Sugar maples have some color. I guess the peak will be in a few weeks, maybe a hair earlier due to the earlier drought. Stay tuned for gleaning…which, as always, we hope will be at the end of October and not sooner:)
Eat well,
Geneviève Stillman
Two more weeks of CSA extension option!
Why not keep things rolling until Still Life Farm winter CSA begins!!! Add two more weeks to your 16!! (we are on week 13 this week) We are offering an extension to current CSA members of an additional two weeks for $70. That way you will have your winter squash, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, late season apples cabbage, and other fall crops. It’s simple, just complete your purchase for 2 more weeks and we will keep you on your existing list. These two weeks will blend seamlessly filling the gap between our Summer CSA and Still Life Farm’s Winter CSA.
Discounts will be applied to Stillman’s Farm “store credit” (think electronic Stillman’s Bucks!) for you to use at anywhere you can find us and for any product we sell (yes, for honey, sauce, pickles, plants, etc)
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Here are the bundle options (please note– you must purchase bundled options at SAME TIME to qualify for bundle discount):
- 2 week CSA extension + Summer CSA 2023 for
$620$550 ($70 2 week extension is FREE!) - 2 week CSA extension + Spring CSA for $490 ($30 bottle of Oleatrees olive oil, honey or maple syrup FREE and 7% discount off 2 week extension)
- 2 week CSA extension + Spring CSA + Summer CSA 2023 for
$1045$975 (Includes 2 week extension FREE! $30 bottle of Oleatrees olive oil, honey or maple syrup FREE)
Not feeling the 2 week extension?
- Spring CSA + Summer CSA 2023 for $975 (Includes $30 bottle of Oleatrees olive oil, Stillman’s farm honey or Grend Maple syrup FREE and $60 store credit)
Just interested in the Winter CSA for now? Sign up here
- 2 week CSA extension + Summer CSA 2023 for
Woot!
Don’t want any more CSA bags this year and not ready to sign up for next year? No worries! We will still be offering our large discount (in the form of store credit) to returning members through November. The early sign up discount offer will go out to members later in October. Also, you can always sign up for Still Life farm Winter CSA or Stillman Quality Meats meat bucks whenever. The 2 week extension special bundle offers expire October 1st.
All the bundles are listed at the bottom and this year you can order your perfect bundle in one fell swoop 
