Community Supported Agriculture

In This Issue
Farm Notes
In Your Share
Storage Notes for your Greens
Recipe of the Week
Groundwork Share-a-Share

Tuesdays

Choice Style
3:00pm - 6:30pm

Pre-Boxed
3:00pm - 7:00pm

Farmer Dave's Farm
437 Parker Road
Dracut, MA
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Summer Colors!
 

The true colors of summer are now appearing on the farm.  These colors show the beauty that nature can provide.  The deep orange is hidden inside our melons.  Behind that husk of corn appears the bright yellow kernel next to a pure white kernel.  The deep red of this week's tomatoes is a mere precursor to the apples that will soon ripen as well.  The true blue of our blueberries is a rarity in nature.  Inside these beautiful colors lies the beautiful flavors of our summer harvests.  And within these flavors lies the density of nutrients that brighten our lives.

 

To Summer Flavors,

 

Farmer Dave 

In Your Share: Week 8
 Welcome to the seventh week of the vegetable share!  We're starting to see more and more variety of vegetables ripening in the fields.  This is when things start getting really exciting!

This is what we are planning and hoping to harvest this week.  Ultimately Mother Nature has the last word so the actual contents of your share will vary.
  • Kale or swiss chard 
  • Cucumbers
  • Tomatoes
  • Beets  
  • Green beans 
  • Sweet  or hot peppers  
  • Corn
  • Garlic or onions  
  • Kousa, summer squash, patty pan or zucchini   
  • and possibly more depending on harvest conditions!  

In your fruit share: Week 3  

 

Reminder: the fruit shares are not pre-boxed so be sure to bring some bags with you to transport your share home! 
  • Blueberries
  • Raspberries (weather dependent)
  • Cantaloupe  
  • And possibly more depending on harvest conditions! 
CSA Updates:
Tomatoes    

Our Own Tomatoes in Farm StandWe've reached tomato season!  Which means that the tomatoes that we're harvesting are often too delicate to place inside the CSA boxes.  They have a tendency to slip to the bottom and get crushed by the sturdier vegetables.  To keep this from happening and to ensure that every CSA member gets the best quality tomatoes possible we will often be sending the tomatoes separately to your CSA pickup. 

If you have a pre-boxed vegetable share don't forget to stop and pick up your tomatoes before you leave!

Save the Date!
Farmer Dave's Tomato Festival! 
Sunday, August 11th

More details coming soon!

Meet the Author Event at Burlington Presbyterian!
Thursday, August 22nd at 7:00pm

Meet Edith Maxwell, author of A Tine to Live, A Tine to Die, a local food mystery novel! 

Download the poster here!

A Note about our Corn

We plant the earliest corn on the sandiest fields as they dry out and warm up first in the spring. The early corn was faring well with all of the rain in June. But, the middle of July gave us over two weeks with virtually no rain. These sandy fields dried out a little and when the corn plant senses that it is lacking water, it stops growing the ear of corn a little short. On the farm we call this "dry tip".

 

"Dry tip" does not affect the flavor of the corn, just the appearance and length of the ear. The later corn of this season is not planted on such sandy ground and so should be more aesthetically pleasing.

Recipe of the Week 
 
Creamy Fennel and Greens Soup
Adapted by Farmer Dave's From Epicurious

Ginger made this soup last week and loved it.  It's simple, hearty and used up all of her stockpiled fennel and greens.  It was equally delicious cold the following day.

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
  • 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and chopped (or 2-3 bunches of baby fennel)
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 bunches mixed chopped leafy greens (Such as swiss chard, kale, beet greens, etc.)
  • 6 cups water or chicken stock  
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice      

Directions:

  1. Heat oil and butter in a heavy pot over medium heat until foam subsides.  Add fennel, onion, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until softened and lightly browned, 7-8 minutes.
  2. Add leafy greens and water to pot and simmer, covered until greens are tender, about 30 minutes.
  3. Carefully puree soup in batches in a blender until smooth, then return to pot. Stir in cream and lemon juice and reheat over low heat.  Season with salt to taste. 
Have a recipe that you'd like to share?  Email it to Ginger to be included in a future newsletter and on our recipe blog!

 

Meet Farmer Ramon  
 

 

Farmer Ramon Meet Farmer Ramon who is interning with us this summer from the Federal University of Vicosa in southern Brazil.  You'll see Ramon making CSA deliveries throughout the week and helping out at the Andover Farmers Market. 

Ramon had a big checklist for this summer and he's been steadily checking things off.  He's already been to a Celtics playoff game and a Red Sox game.  He'd also like to visit Washington D.C. and Philadelphia. 

Be sure to chat with Ramon if you see him.  He's only started studying English two years ago but we think he's doing great!  He said that he loves to see the faces of the CSA members when they open their boxes and get excited about the beautiful vegetables.  Because he has the unique perspective of seeing the vegetables from seed to harvest to delivery he says that he really wants to be able to explain to people the whole process of how the vegetables are getting onto their plates.

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.

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 2013!  

 

Contact Us:

Farmer Dave's CSA
437 Parker Road
Dracut, MA 01826

(978) 349-1952