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Field Notes
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 | Farmers Alidio and Manuel performing the Olympian task of combating weeds in the brassica crop.
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Over the past weeks the CSA shares have been big enough for an Olympic athlete. The wonderful, yet dry, growing season has provided us all with Olympic proportions of the type of foods that elite athletes know they should eat to keep their bodies in the top notch condition that they must maintain. While we may not be striving to be Olympians ourselves, we can use them as our inspiration for keeping our bodies and minds as healthy as can be. While Popeye ate his spinach, the good athlete knows that all types of greens should be in the balanced diet. Eat your greens and eat all your veggies as the first step to the top begins with the right diet. Good farmers build healthy soils to produce healthy veggies that make for healthy bodies. Enjoy the games, Farmer Dave |
In Your Share - Week 8
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The following items will most likely make an appearance in your share this week (and as always, the contents of your share is ultimately determined by Mother Nature's harvest conditions):
- Tomatoes; Slicing and cherry
- Swiss Chard OR Bok Choi OR Tatsoi
- Eggplant OR Bell Pepper
- Beets or Carrots
- Kousa, Zucchini, or Summer Squash
- Pickling and Slicing Cucumbers
- Corn!
- Hakurei Turnips
- Scallions
- Garlic
- Herbs
- And likely more, depending on harvest conditions!
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Fruit Share Week 1
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The 13-week fruit share season would normally begin the week of July 30. However, this year's warm spring has pushed the fruit harvest to begin earlier than normal. So, the previous two weeks were a bonus before the true first week, this week! In the fruit shares this week:
- Peaches
- Nectarines
- Blueberries
Questions? E-mail Ginger; she'll be happy to help you out! |
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Member Tip of the week!
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This week's Member Tip comes from Kerry who picks up her share in East Somerville. Thanks, Kerry!
Don't know what to do with all that zucchini and summer squash? Make smoothies! Wash, peel, and dice the squash and it makes a great smoothie thickener (but doesn't really affect the flavour the way some greens can). My 2 year old son loves having smoothies in the morning, and this is a great way to get even more veggies into him. This recipe is one of our favourites - as prepared, it has 281 calories, and 26 grams of protein. (For my toddler, I leave out the protein powder, boost the yogurt, and use honey instead of Splenda.)
Pumpkin Banana Squash Smoothie
1 cup unsweetened almond milk 1 banana, sliced and frozen 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (chilled) 1 cup peeled & diced zucchini or summer squash
2 scoops vanilla protein powder
1/4 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice 2 tbsp Splenda (or honey,or agave nectar) 1 cup ice TIP I also plan to blanch and freeze any zucchini we don't eat this summer, and use it in place of ice cubes in my smoothies this winter: Here's a helpful tutorial from the Kitchn.
Got a tip to share? Send it on over!
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Storage Notes
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Some tips for storing your share this week:- Greens do best when in the fridge and kept cold. If you find your greens are not lasting as long as you would like, try turning your refrigerator a degree or two colder - it makes a big difference!
- For root vegetables, such as beets, radishes and turnips, cut the greens off and store them separately from the roots. The roots will keep much longer, and you can cook the greens separately (just like you would spinach or Swiss chard!)
- Tomatoes will keep their flavor best at room temperature - store them on your countertop! Refrigerators rob tomatoes of their flavor. The flavor does not usually return when they are brought back to room temperature.
- If you run out of space in your crisper drawers, try using some large tupperware-like containers. You'll find your veggies last a long time in those!
- If you're looking to wash your lettuce ahead of time and eat it over a few days, check out this video to learn how to store your washed lettuce.
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Crushing on Cucumbers
| One of the first questions that gets asked when you join the team at Farmer Dave's is, "What's your favorite vegetable?" Like most of our CSA members I had a hard time answering that question because there are just too many amazing veggies to choose from! However, cucumbers are very high on my list of favorites and completely under-rated. We have them in abundance just when the long, hot days demand that you eat something water-filled, cooling and crunchy. I find it reassuring when Nature provides us with what we need at just the perfect time. During the height of the summer I eat (and drink!) cucumbers with every meal.
Here's to abundant cooling recipes while we have abundant cooling cucumbers!
-Ginger
Cucumber Drinks- Emerald Palmers (This combines two of my favorite things: cucumbers and matcha. Matcha is a concentrated green tea powder that you can find as Asian groceries, Whole Foods and Starbucks.)
- Cucumber-Blueberry Smoothie (Great quick breakfast.)
- Cucumber Agua Fresca (Leave out the ginger and add 5 cups of watermelon for a more kid-friendly drink)
- ...And don't forget cucumber water! Thinly slice a cucumber and toss into a pitcher of water for the most refreshing drink ever for a hot day.
Cucumber Salads
Meals utilizing cucumbers
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Get to Know Your Farmers: Victor
|  Farmer Victor
For the past several years Farmer Dave has hosted agricultural interns through an international program. This summer we are very happy to have welcomed a record number of seven interns from Brazil, the Ukraine and Hungary!
Victor was the first of the interns to arrive in April. He comes to us from Ribeirao Preta in the northern part of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Victor is studying Agronomy at the Universidade Estadual Paulista in Jabaticobal,Sao Paulo. He was most excited about the opportunity to intern at Farmer Dave's because it provides him with an excellent opportunity to improve his English speaking skills, learn more about agriculture in the United States and make some new friends and colleagues.
Victor is extremely gregarious and we've found that the easiest way to find him on the farm is to follow the sound of laughter. It should come as no surprise that Victor's favorite part of his work here is meeting and talking with people at the CSA pickups and farmers markets. He's also been enjoying site-seeing in Boston and the surrounding areas this summer.
Victor's favorite vegetables are tomatoes but be sure to ask him for his recipe for jilo eggplants later this summer!
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This week on the farm.
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 | | Harvesting Garlic |
M.O.V.E. brings the East Boston Let's Get Moving program to Farmer Dave's
Farmer Dave's was very happy to host a group of students from the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center's Let's Get Moving Program. After learning about how we grow different types of foods they helped us harvest some of the garlic that you might find in your shares this week! Thank you, Let's Get Moving and M.O.V.E. for facilitating a great visit!
 | | Learning about blueberries |
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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 still have some individuals and families on a waiting list. 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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