Spring CSA

Week Fourteen, the LAST WEEK, of the Spring CSA will include the following: Spinach, Lettuce, Zucchini and/or Summer Squash, Bok Choy, Cortland Apples, Purple Daikon Radish and/or Kohlrabi. Please note that the weekly photo is not an exact depiction of what is in your share, but rather a reference image.

A gigantic THANK YOU goes out to all of our amazing Spring CSA members who celebrated the Spring season with us.  Thanks for always making it a priority to eat local and seasonal, and to support small business and local economy.  You guys are the best!

Summer CSA.  Summer CSA kicks off in just a couple weeks.  If you haven’t signed up yet, be sure to grab a spot before they’re gone.  If a traditional summer CSA is not for you, be sure to check out a few of our other options, like our A-La-Carte CSA or our Fruit CSA.  Stillman’s Summer CSA Options.

Winter CSA.  Interested in eating local all year round?  Visit the Still Life Farm website to read more about Winter CSA .  Sign up for Winter CSA!

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.  

Weekly Featured Item: Zucchini and Summer Squash.

Early zucchini and summer squash – what a treat!

At Still Life Farm we always put in a greenhouse crop of early squash.  It’s a bit of a labor of love and often times involves setting up heat on chilly nights and extra care when it comes to pollination, but it’s totally worth it!  Having the early squash sets our farm apart at Farmer’s Markets at a point in the year when everyone has greens, greens, and more greens.  We were carefully to set aside enough squash to share with our spring CSA members because we love you guys so much!

Zucchini, also known as ‘zucca’ or ‘courgette’, is a squash that is harvested while immature, while the rind is still tender and edible. Originally native to the Americas, the squash was brought back to Italy when the Europeans colonized the Americas.  Most of the varietals of summer squash that we are familiar with now were developed in the 19th century in Italy.

As a vegetable, zucchini is high in folate, potassium, and vitamin A.  It can be eaten raw or cooked, and is most commonly used in savory dishes, but can also be added to sweet cakes and breads.  The flowers are also eaten as a delicacy in some cultures.

After a long and elegant history like that, it’s easy to see why people LOVE their zucchini and summer squashes.

Farm Dirt

Market season is reaching full swing, we started the Lexington Market this past Tuesday, and Brookline is starting on Thursday. Gearing up for Summer CSA, which is starting in just a couple weeks! Collectively, the farms continue to till, till, till, and plant, plant, plant. It is a super busy time of the year, which is why this letter is posting so late. Still Life Farm, and Stillman’s Farm are both cranking on planting our sweet potatoes today, ahead of this storm coming in. The temperatures and rain will give them the prefect time to acclimate.

Kip helped Grandma Geneviève plant the back garden yesterday – thanks Kip! Halley, Kip and Geneviève hiked the farm and you should too! The Rhododendrons are blooming everywhere and the birds are fantastic!

 

OMG Halley. that has to be the biggest kiddo backpack I have ever seen. Good show lady!

You may not consider it, but all out tractors run on diesel. AS of now, there is no electric or battery operated 135 horsepower tractor that we can use to pull our equipment. And, I guess if there was one, and it was comparable to an electric car, it would cost $270,000 for an electric tractor, if they had one. No need to worry about it, it is not an option right now, yet every single farmer across the country has to worry about how they will compensate for the increased cost in diesel, which is 3x more than 2 years ago. We buy products from our friends to resell at BPM or include in our CSA and they are all increasing their prices to reflect what it is costing them to produce what they do. Even the soap we sell went up 50 cents. Why am I sharing this? Not to worry you, or complain, but simply to explain that even we, your farmers, will have to make adjustments as expenses rise. I am looking to lock in wheat for our members now as well as olive oil and some other necessities. We will make these items available to our CSA members first.

Reid and Kirsten are back to making kale chips and kimchi. They have several batches of sauerkraut going and should be ready to jar up soon! We all love that they have taken this on as their new business and they are saving up for their wedding next Spring!!! So exciting! They have also been busy shipping tomato and pepper plants all over the country. It is pretty fun to know we have a selection of amazing plants that so many people want. If you have not made a trip out to Stillman’s Farm in New Braintree to select from our seedling options, please do so, you won’t be sorry.

Farmers Markets are starting all over the place now. If you are not continuing on with us for Summer CSA, We hope you will support the markets where both Stillman’s Farm and Still Life Farm sell their beautiful produce. You can always see where we are in the feed at the bottom of our website or by checking out https://stillmansfarm.com/marketlocations/  At almost all locations listed, you can find product from both farms –  also check out  https://stilllifefarm.com/farmers-markets.html for SLF markets.

If you have not signed up for our CSA programs, we recommend you do so quickly and lock yourself into reasonable pricing…. expenses and prices are going up and the farms are beginning to feel these increases.  

Still Life Farm’s WINTER CSA is now accepting members for 2022-23 Season.  Please visit the link to sign up: Still Life Farm Winter CSA. Email StillLifeFarm@aol.com with any questions.

Stillman’s Farm SUMMER CSA will be kicking off mid-June…with a weeklong gap at the end of the Spring CSA. If you were wondering about timing, the Summer CSA ends a week or two before Still Life Farm’s Winter CSA begins, so there’s no overlap and no need to go too long without fresh, local produce form your farmers! Sign up for Summer CSA here.

Again, we thank you for being part of the Stillman Farm Family. Your participation and support not only contributes to Still Life Farm and Stillman’s Farm, but supports all the people we employ and vendors we source from! Thank YOU!!

Eat well & love your food,

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