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Farm Notes
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 | Late Fall Fields
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Last week hurricane Sandy came to town. I prefer it when Santa Claus comes to town. Luckily, there was little damage on the farm. We spent several days beforehand cleaning up the farm and preparing for the strong wind gusts. As a result our damage was minimal. A couple of doors were ripped off of a greenhouse and after a few repairs and waiting for the fields to dry out we were right back to work.
The landscapers that we have worked with over the years began to call the day after the storm. The winds took most of the remaining leaves off of the trees in the area. The trucks will roll onto the farm in the coming weeks providing us with a lot of leaves to mulch the garlic that we will be planting soon. Whatever leaves are left over will be composted for future year's crops. That black gold (compost) brings us rich food.
Elsewhere on the farm, our interns from Brazil and Ukraine have all headed home to finish their university degrees. Fruszi and Balasz will remain with us into December before they head back to Hungary. When the interns leave they are so grateful for the opportunities they have been given to improve their English, experience American culture, and learn so much about practical agriculture. As they return to their ivory towers of academia, how we farm at Farmer Dave's will set a new tone in their minds of how to better grow for their neighbors back home.
Gratefully,
Farmer Dave
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In Your Share- Late Fall Week 2
| The following items may make an appearance in your share this week. As always, the contents of your share are ultimately determined by Mother Nature's harvest conditions.
- Lettuce
- Kale
- Bok Choy
- Radishes
- Broccoli
- Bell peppers
- Habanero Peppers
- Husk Tomatoes
- Winter Squash
- Potatoes
- Green Tomatoes (and maybe a few ripe ones if we're lucky!)
- Apples
- and possibly more depending on harvest conditions!
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A Note about this week's share
| About three weeks ago we had a hard freeze. The days before the freeze we picked like crazy to get the cold sensitive crops harvested before it was too late. Certain sections of certain fields we protected by laying "blankets" over the plants to hold the heat in. Some covered crops make it and some did not. Those that survived have been trying to keep growing. By keeping an eye on the forecasted nighttime temperatures, we have been able to stretch some of those harvests a lot longer than normal. Unfortunately, this week the cold appears to be settling in for good. This week we are picking the remainder of the peppers and tomatoes and putting those fields to bed. That means that this week's CSA share may look more similar to a "regular season" share than a "late fall" share.
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Recipe of the Week
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Ingredients:
- 2 cups dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight
- 2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
- 1 rib celery, roughly chopped
- 1/2 yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic (3 minced, 1 halved)
- 10 oz. squash, such as butternut,
- peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes (about 2 cups)
- 4 large kale leaves, stemmed and chopped
- 1 medium waxy-style potato, peeled
- and cut into 1/2" cubes
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1/2 tsp. crushed fennel seeds
- 8 thick slices country-style bread
Directions: 1. Drain beans and transfer to a 3-qt. saucepan along with half the carrots, the celery, the onions, and 5 cups water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low; simmer, covered, until beans are tender, 40-45 minutes. Set 3/4 cup beans aside; transfer the remaining beans and their cooking liquid to a blender and purée. Set puréed beans aside. 2. Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a 5-qt. pot over medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook, stirring often, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add reserved bean purée, along with the remaining carrots, the squash, kale, potato, and 1 cup water. Season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to medium-low; cook, covered, until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in the crushed fennel seeds and reserved whole beans. Meanwhile, toast the bread and rub it with the cut end of the halved garlic clove. Drizzle each toast with 1 tbsp. oil. To serve, place 1 to 2 pieces toasted bread in the bottom of soup bowls and ladle soup over the top. Drizzle soup with remaining oil.
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Holiday Food Drive: November 19-21st & December 10-12th
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Increasing access to fresh healthy foods is one of our core missions at Farmer Dave's. This year alone we were able to provide more than 100,000 pounds of food to the Merrimack Valley Food Bank, the Boston Area Food Bank, Neighbors in Need, The Elizabeth Peabody House, the Reading Food Pantry, Food for Free and Lazarus House.
With the holidays approaching we start to think about the families in our area that don't enjoy the same access to healthy, abundant food that we are blessed with. As such we are going to launch our first annual Farmer Dave's CSA Food Drive!
We will be collecting donations at the CSA pickups the week of November 19th - 21st and again on December 10th - 12th. Donations in Dracut will be going to the Merrimack Valley Food Bank.
In addition to any CSA veggies that you would like to donate, the food bank is always looking for canned foods, dried foods and personal care items. You can find a list of most needed items here.
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| 2013 CSA Registration | |
Registration is open for all of our 2013 CSA shares!
Spring
Summer
Fruit
Late Fall!
Visit our website to register!
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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 2012 for over thirty individuals and families, as well as shares for local food pantries.
We'd love to be able to subsidize late fall shares as well. 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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