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Field Notes
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 | | Tomatoes in the high tunnel were kept safe from the weekend's cold temperatures. |
This past week we have had some nice strong sun to push along the crops in the greenhouses. A sunny fifty degree day means a day in the eighties under the greenhouse roof. These summer-like conditions are wonderful for the tomatoes we planted recently in the unheated high tunnel.
Over the weekend I received a few calls from the media asking what damage had been done to the crops by the cold night temperatures. I could not give them the disaster story they were looking for. Although we had some frosty nights, the temperature never dropped lower than thirty degrees. All the crops that we have growing in the fields at this point in the season are tolerant to below-freezing temperatures. If it had dropped below twenty eight degrees, we would begin seeing damage. Night temperatures below twenty six would have led to below- freezing temperatures in the high tunnel and caused injury to the tomatoes. If there had been blossoms on those tomatoes already, we would have lost the blossoms in the last few nights, since the tomato blossoms would wither in conditions below fifty degrees. We are a week away from blossoms on those tomatoes, and so while the damaging temperature right now is "freezing," within the next two weeks the damaging temperatures to those tomatoes will be fifty degrees.
The corn that we planted last week is just about to emerge from the ground. The corn that we seeded earlier in the greenhouses will be transplanted out into the field this week. We delayed transplanting this corn while we knew there could be frosty nights.
Elsewhere on the farm, we are finishing the last of the apple pruning on some of the later varieties. Normally, we would have finished pruning long before blossom. Yet, normal blossom would typically not occur for at least another week. This spring's warm weather has pushed most of the fruit to blossom at least a week before normal. Temperatures below twenty five can kill a fruit blossom. This spring's early blossom is causing a lot of anxiety amongst those of us who grow fruit. Luckily, we have skirted just above the damaging temperatures so far.
To warm May nights,
Farmer Dave
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Meet Farmer Dave in Burlington this Saturday!
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Farmer Dave will be speaking at the Burlington Presbyterian Church (335 Cambridge Street, Burlington) on Saturday, May 5 at 7 p.m. He'll be sharing about his agricultural development work in the Republic of Georgia, and about our CSA!
We hope to see you there!
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Brox Farm Open for Flowers and Plants
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Brox Farm is open as of Tuesday, May 1. We'll be offering a large selection of perennials and annuals 7 days a week, from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Our Spring Open House is this weekend! |
 Spring Open House This Weekend! |
Our Spring Open House at Brox Farm Stand is upon us! Come see us on Saturday, May 5 or Sunday, May 6 any time from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. We're offering: - A CSA info session at 10 a.m.
- A greenhouse tour at 11 a.m.
- A gardening / perennial Q & A session from 12 p.m. - 4 p.m.
- 10% off plant purchases for 2012 CSA members (and those who sign up for the CSA at the open house!)
- 20% off plant purchases for donations made over $50 to the Groundwork Share-A-Share fund (must donate at the Open House to receive the discount).
- Door prizes and more!
Learn about the CSA, tour our greenhouses, and get your gardening questions answered. This is a perfect opportunity to for CSA members (and new members!) to pick out their container and in-ground plants before the Mother's Day rush (and purchase them at a CSA-member-only discount!). Mark your calendars! |
Vegetable Shares Begin in 6 Weeks!
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Now that spring is here and the weather is warm, registration is picking up fast for our pre-boxed vegetable, choice-style vegetable, fruit, and late fall shares. Over 200 vegetable shares were spoken for in the last month! Now is the time to sign up and reserve your space for all pick-up locations. If you owe us a payment for your shares, please mail it in as soon as possible. If you have any questions about what your balance or when your payment is due, please contact Ginger. As always, feel free to contact us with questions any time! |
In the Spring Shares - Week 7
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The following items made appearances in the spring shares this week:- Field-grown spinach
- Other greens
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Cucumbers
- Chives
- Hakurei Turnips
- Nasturtiums (edible flowers)
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CSA Q & A: Walking and Weeding
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Q: We enjoyed visiting the farm during "Walking and Weeding" last year. Will you be offering that again this year? A: Yes! We'll be offering Walking and Weeding on the first Friday of each month, from June through September. Details can be found here.
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Recipes of the Week
| (Almost) Mariel's Amazing Salad Dressing
Adapted by Farmer Dave's from The Food Network
Ingredients:- 4 cups fresh spinach, washed and dried
- 1/2 cup (or to taste) fresh basil leaves, parsley leaves, or mint leaves
- Pinch organic sweetener, such as honey, or Stevia
- 1/2 cup yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 10 kalamata olives, pitted
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use. Mixture can be used as salad dressing or marinade.
Country Muffins with Carrots, Coconut, and Pecans
Adapted by Ginger Carver from Foster's Market
This very moist, chewy muffin is similar to carrot cake in texture and flavor. You can mix the batter the night before, refrigerate it overnight, and then bake the muffins in the morning.
Makes 1 Dozen Muffins
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (you can use half whole-wheat flour and half-all purpose flour, if you'd like)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/3 cups sugar (or 3/4 cups honey)
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups canola or safflower oil (or 1/2 cup oil plus half cup unsweetened applesauce)
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 large carrots, peeled and grated
- 1 Granny Smith or other tart apple, peeled, cored, and diced
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 1/3 cups sweetened flaked coconut
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
2. Line 12 large muffin cups with paper liners and spray the top part of the pan with vegetable oil spray.
3. Combine or sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinamon in a a large bowl.
4. Whisk together the sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla in a separate bowl.
5. Add the carrots, apple, raisins, coconut, and pecans to the egg mixture and mix well to combine.
6. Add the flour mixture to the egg-carrot mixture and stir just until the dry ingredients are moist and blended. Do not overmix. The batter should be thick enough to mound slightly above the muffin pan line.
7. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan with a large ice cream scoop or 1/3 cup measure.
8. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until the tops spring back when pressed lightly and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
9. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Turn the muffins out of the pan and serve immediately.
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Groundwork Share-A-Share™ Update
|  Thanks to generous donations by you (CSA members) to the Groundwork Share-A-Share™ fund, we were able to subsidize the cost of shares in 2011 for over twenty individuals and families, as well as shares for local food pantries.
For 2012, we'd like to continue to offer subsidies to those in need. We already have around 25 individuals and families on a waiting list, and in order to be able to subsidize everyone, we'll need to raise almost $10,000.
Please consider helping us in our efforts to make the CSA accessible to more families by donating to Groundwork Share-A-Share.
To learn more about the program, click here. Thank you all for helping us keep this program going in 2012! |
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Contact us:
Farmer Dave's
437 Parker Road
Dracut, MA 01826
(978) 349-1952
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