CSA Week 3, 2020

CSA Week 3

You MAY have any type of summer squash, lettuce?blueberries?chard or kale,  peas or beans, cucumbers and front of the week folks – arugula. Please don’t panic if you do not get something I list, you are sure to see it sometime – as I have said previously, sometimes the week is split and I can never be totally sure what goes into the box/bag each day.

This is gorgeous salad weather! A note about our greens for those who have missed it the first time: our greens are rinsed, but not washed. You should wash all your greens. We do not spray our greens, so there sometimes may be creatures on them. I always fill my salad spinner with salted water and let the leaves soak for a few minutes; then give a rinse, spin dry and store in fridge.

What I really want to talk about is summer squash season!  We generally stay on top of picking it so there are not any large ones; the great thing is even the large ones are super tender and not seedy when they grow fast. Any squashes with tender skin harvested in the summer are technically summer squash. There are slight flavor and texture nuances, but nothing to prevent you from using them interchangeably. I love that they have become the go-to replacement for pasta and why not? They are low carb, low calorie, high in vitamin C and a good source of fiber, B-6, Potassium and Magnesium. Get the spiralizer out and make some veggie noodles. I have always used my mandoline to make thin ribbons or matchsticks for salad or think slabs for lasagna until I was gifted a spiralizer. It is pretty sweet and tossing up some zoodles with sauce or lots of parm is yummy.

Don’t forget, there are no pickups or markets on the 4th. That’s the only day (okay, sometimes I skip Labor Day too ;)), all other pickups will go on as scheduled. CSA days that we skip/cancel are made up at the end of the season.

Zucchini Bread from Tammy

• 3 ½ cups shredded zucchini
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup applesauce
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 ¼ cups sugar
• 4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tsp vanilla
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup nuts

Preheat oven to 350, oil 2 8×4” loaf pan

Sift all dry ingredients together except for the sugar then stir to combine. Beat eggs, applesauce, oil, sugar and vanilla. Slowly add liquids to dry ingredients and mix. With rubber spatula fold in nuts and shredded zucchini. Pour into prepared pans and bake 45-60 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from pans and cool on wire rack.

*Tammy adds a little cinnamon and brown sugar to top before cooking for crunchy – yummy topping.

Need more guidance on utilizing squash in every recipe?

Zucchini and Summer Squash Lasagna
Swiss chard, summer squash, black bean quesadillas
Sautéed Summer Squashes (any variety)
Here’s one from the Inspiralized website cold-spiralized-sesame-noodle-salad

One tip, no matter what you are doing with your squash, is to lightly salt it after spiralizing, slicing, etc, to draw out some of the water. In a fresh salad this process tenderizes the squash and also prevents your dressing from becoming watery, if used as the lasagna layer it won’t make your finished dish runny, and if sauteing will allow the squash to brown.

Sprinkle squash with 1/2-1 tsp of salt, let sit for 10 minutes, drain and pat with paper towel if needed.

Check out the squash page

Grilled Summer Squash

any summer squash
S&P
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar

Wash and trim squashes. Cut into 1/3″ slices. Yes, you can go thicker or thinner, but you have to really be watching to make sure they don’t burn into up into squash paper or get to black while you are waiting for the center to cook. Preheat the grill. Lightly salt the squash, let drain and blot off excess moisture. Toss with oil and vinegar. Place the squashes on the grill, cooking for a few minutes per side. These can char pretty quickly, so don’t get involved with a good book. When done, they should be perfectly fork tender and have nice grill marks. Season with another drizzle of oil and vinegar, ground pepper, and salt if needed.

We got some much needed rain at the front of this week…likely 4″ that refilled the irrigation ponds. the pond which was dwn about two feet ;looks to be at normal level now. The corn is in tassel and we would be picking now if we had gotten rain. We learned today that corn is bringing $40 a bag for corn WHOLESALE which is $8 a dozen. Did I mention that was WHOLESALE. HS! I checked some other local prices and squash is at $2/lb WHOLESALE. So we are not calculating at those numbers but we are trying to compensate for the extra labor involved with all the packing 😉

We are truly thankful and for those of you who pray or reach to another spiritual power, we welcome your prayers for the farm and all who we employ, always. You may not think of it (I mean, why would you?) but while Glenn and I hope for a successful year so we do not let down – our awesome CSA members that keep the cash-flow in a positive direction, we also count on success for all the employees that depend on this job for their livelihood. We have fourteen families from Jamaica that depend on this work and they in turn have been able to send their children to college, build homes, and, yes, buy things as simple as rice and toilet paper – not always available to them at home…or it is very dear. We also employ three immigrants who are now US residents and support families. We even bought a house for one of them to rent (which is very subsidized by us) so he could send his youngest to school out here – getting him away from some of the negative influences of the Bronx. He graduated and is now attending college. Again at New Braintree, we gave a young mother a shot when she came for a job a few years ago – straight out of high school; she has turned out to be amazing and wonderful help. Her daughter is delish as well. She recently purchased a new (to her) truck that looks pretty fly and has been looking to buy a home. For what it is worth, we continued to pay our managers at BPM and WPM full wages the entire time we have been shut down and they stayed plenty busy filling mercato deliveries. Our wonderful veggie butcher in Boston stayed with us and we were able to keep her at close to full salary and pay for her Charlie Card too 😉 We actually have many more employees who are equally valuable to us that I won’t list here. If something goes sideways here, if sales go down, if we are not supported, it is bad for all these people too.Our farm family is large and diverse. Our farm family is not just us and our kids and grand kids, but all our employees who depend on us and we likewise depend on them. So know with your CSA support, you support our entire farm family: people of color, immigrants, single moms, working moms, new Americans, my 80 year old mum, our grown children, our children still in school, our grandchildren.

You are part of that. Thank you!

Blueberries are ready! Peas and beans are looking good. SOOO early for those of you who are new to New England. Corn and tomatoes are forthcoming.

With that, July will bring the first of so many things. It is a perfect time to plan a visit to the New Braintree farm. Yes, come on out. Wear sensible shoes, plan on getting dirty, pack a picnic lunch or check our local attractions page for other options. Yes, you can pick some produce, bird watch, catch frogs, walk your dog, and see where and how your food is growing.

We wish all of you a SAFE and HAPPY Independence Day!!!

Eat well,

Geneviève Stillman