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CSA Yields

Important news from the farm:

We hope all of you are enjoying the vegetables we have been providing so far this year. For those of you who have been members from the beginning or if this is your second season with us you may have noticed a decline in yield of some of our crops like salad greens, lettuce heads and cooking greens as well as the size of our peppers and cucumbers. We have been been facing some different challenges this year especially with irrigation and water supply. We wanted to update you as to what we have been encountering and share our concern for potentially lower yields in the weeks to come.

This year we had implemented a new system on a new field we call,”Gadbois Field”. The system is drip irrigation which utilizes drip tape the runs the length of each bed that we grow in and as the word implies water drips out of the tape to irrigate our plants. The drip tape and bed is covered with plastic mulch to stop weed growth and the paths in between each bed is mowed to keep everything accessible for harvest and a healthy environment for growth. The water source is a pond adjacent the field that is pumped to the drip tape that runs up and down 60 beds (about 4 acres). We noticed about 2 months ago that our veggies were not growing as expected and started a comprehensive fertility program using fish emulsion and calcium, and irrigated more often. Still something was not right and as we were planting our fall crops last week we discovered the answer when the pond went dry during an irrigation attempt. It became apparent that we had been irrigating less water then needed by clogging up the pumps filtration lines with sludge from the “near” bottom of the pond. This is not good news as what has not received enough water during this period are a good amount of the vegetables we had planned for the next 4 weeks. So expect some sparse pick ups in the near future.
For the fall crops we have hope that a well the neighboring farmer agreed to let us use will pull us through the remainder of the season. It has only been 3 days since our discovery and that we have been using the well. It is not a deep enough well to irrigate all 60 beds at once so we have started with 3 at a time and will be adding a bed at a time until we find the wells “breaking point” and irrigate as often as we must to save as many crops as we can.

Rain…Rain…Rain!!! We need rain. We have had only a few rain falls since May which plays into our struggle greatly. Both the pond and the well is dependent on rain fall.

As all of you are part of our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program we do greatly appreciate your understanding and continued commitment through all the good and challenging times the farm has had in the past and the struggle we are encountering currently. Thank You!

“Know Your Food!”

Julia and David Smagorinsky
Woodbridge Farm LLC
30 Woodbridge Road
Salem, CT 06420
phone: (860) 531-8090
e-mail: woodbridgefarm@sbcglobal.net
www.woodbridgefarmonline.com

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Grill-a-Chef Recipes

Josh Stokes had a hand-out at distribution on Tuesday with a few very nice recipes, including the kale kimchi and zucchini relish that he had samples of. If you didn’t grab a piece of paper, here’s the PDF:

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Grill-a-Chef at Distribution this Tuesday

I’m really excited that the core members who organize our Second Tuesday events have pulled Josh Stokes down to Grand Street this week. Josh is a chef and a friend to farmers market addicts (and CSA members) who die a little at the end of the week when they have to throw away some veggies that just didn’t make it to the plate in time.

He’s put together this project called Grill-a-Chef, which is, unbelievably, a free kitchen advice service for you and me. He’s got a great blog, with recipes and other advice. He hangs out at the Union Square Greenmarket every Wednesday morning, 9am – 12pm, just to answer questions you may have about all the good stuff for sale. He does the same thing at Chelsea Market every other Friday, 12pm – 4pm.

But he’ll also just answer any question you email to him or post on his Facebook page. And he does this all for free (at least until someone in NYC puts him on TV or something).

Anyway, as noted previously, he’ll be at our distribution on Tuesday until 7:30, and he’s ready for any question you have related to the CSA or anything else going on or blowing up in your kitchen. So come prepared!

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2nd Tuesday!

Too much zucchini on your hands? Chef Joshua Stokes of Grill a Chef will be with us at the pickup this Tuesday from 5:15-7:30 to answer any kitchen questions you might have about how to make the most of your share via new ideas, different techniques, or just general info. So bring your culinary quandaries, whatever they might be and hopefully he can help you sort them out.

Grill-A-Chef personally guides cooks through their own kitchens, in order to encourage cooking and eating well. It offers free advice in the form of tips, recipes, fundamental techniques and simple demos. Use an unfamiliar ingredient, try a new style… Grill-A-Chef hopes to inspire creativity in the kitchen and to help your ideas to the table. See the latest newsletter here.

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Amplify Exhibition at Abrons

Our hosts at Abrons Arts Center have invited us to tonight’s opening reception for their Amplify Exhibition. From the postcard:

How to live a creative and sustainable life?

Designers, academics, organizations, and urban activists joined forces to identify individuals and communities that are creating more sustainable ways of living and working.

The exhibition will ask questions and demonstrate new ideas for solving old problems by showcasing installations about creative communities on the Lower East Side and around the world.

Opening reception is tonight, 6-8pm. The exhibition remains open through September 15.

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Plum Crumble

CSA member Amy Carlson suggests this recipe from the New York Times for this week’s Italian plums:

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1½ tablespoons plus 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  • ¼ plus ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 2 heaping tablespoons finely chopped candied ginger
  • 12 purple Italian or prune plums, cut in half and pitted
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 well beaten egg
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
  • Vanilla ice cream, optional.

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 375 degrees, with rack in center.
  2. Thoroughly mix brown sugar, 1½ tablespoons flour, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ground ginger and candied ginger. Add to plums and mix well. Arrange, skin side up, in ungreased, deep 9-inch pie plate.
  3. Combine remaining sugar, baking powder, flour, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. Stir in egg. Then, using hands, mix thoroughly to produce little particles. Sprinkle over plums.
  4. Drizzle butter evenly over crumb mixture and bake 30 to 35 minutes. Crumble is done when top is browned and plums yield easily when pricked with cake tester. Remove from oven and cool.
  5. Serve warm or refrigerate for up to two days or freeze well covered. If reheating, bring to room temperature then warm at 300 degrees. If desired, serve with ice cream.

Total time: 50 minutes
Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

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Watermelons are not melons

Waterberries

Fun fact passed along at distribution this afternoon and confirmed tonight on the internet: watermelons are actually berries.

It has to do with the fruit being produced from a single ovary, and seeds embedded in and spread throughout the flesh of the fruit.

Just to drive you crazy, that means grapes, bananas, and tomatoes are really berries, too.

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Fresh Fruit Compote

CSA Member Donna Gallers shares this recipe:

This refreshing dessert is a great way to use up all that extra fruit from the farm share or farmer’s market before it gets over-ripe (or even when it does — just cut away any parts that are bad). It is thickened with kuzu root starch, which is available as a chunky powder in natural food stores, often in the macrobiotic foods section. The kuzu adds no discernible flavor to the dish.

Prep & cooking time: Approximately 45 minutes (plus cooling time if serving chilled)
Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 cups fresh peaches and plums (I used 6-8 small peaches and 6 small prune plums)
  • Handful of blueberries if you have them
  • 3 tbsp kuzu root starch
  • 1 ½ cups water
  • 1-2 lemon wedges
  • 1-2 tbsp natural sweetener of your choice (optional—you can try agave, honey, maple syrup, etc. I have also used lucuma powder.)

Directions:
Wash, pit and cut fruit into small pieces (approx. bite size). Place in a saucepan and add water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Add the juice of the lemon wedges, and sweetener if desired (I like the naturally tart fruit flavor and often leave mine unsweetened).

Simmer at low to medium heat for about 20 minutes, until fruit softens and breaks apart. (You can help it along by mushing up some of the fruit with a wooden spoon, but leave some small chunks for texture.)

Dissolve kuzu root starch in 6 tbsp cold or room temperature water.** Add to the fruit and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until thick. Pour into dessert dishes. Serve warm or chilled. If served immediately, dessert will be a very thick liquid; for a more gelled texture, chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour (this is how I prefer it!).

Serve plain or be creative with toppings: try chopped nuts, granola, or (for chilled version) a dollop of fresh whipped cream or plain yogurt.

You can also experiment with cooking other fruits, such as nectarines, berries, or cherries. If you like a tart dessert, try adding some cranberries.

**The general rule for thick desserts is: 1 tbsp kuzu dissolved in 2 tbsp water for each cup of liquid, i.e. cooked fruit. So if you cook a larger amount of fruit, increase kuzu and water accordingly.

Donna Gallers is a licensed massage therapist and holistic health coach based on the Lower East Side.
www.donnagallers.com or www.dgallers.vpweb.com

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Zero Waste Weekend at Hester Street Fair

With help from the Lower East Side Ecology Center, Hester Street Fair is hosting a Zero Waste Weekend, this Saturday and Sunday, 10am – 6pm, at the Fair on Hester and Essex.

  • E-Waste — computer monitors, keyboards, mice, scanners, printers, fax machines, cables, TVs, DVD players, etc. A great opportunity to get rid of the broken-down junk cluttering your closet.
  • Compost — collecting compostable items and demonstrations for setting up simple composting bins in your home.
  • Fabric and Clothing — donate your unused clothing and fabric.
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Podcast: Farming, Economics, and Government Involvement

From this week’s Just Food CSA Newsletter:

As a CSA member, you are probably lucky enough to know your farmer, how they grow their crops, and you can be confident that your payments are helping a small farm to be both environmentally and economically sustainable.

But what about the large-scale farms that produce most of our food in this country? Where does the money for this kind of agriculture come from, and how well is that system working?

The environmental news & commentary blog Grist recently posted a podcast featuring an interview with “local food economist” Ken Meter to discuss this issue. In the podcast, Meter and host Tom Philpott look at the history of agricultural loans and subsidies, government programs for farmers that have been lost, and lessons that we should have learned from previous economic disasters. The second part of the podcast, in which Meter and Philpott will discuss alternatives to this system (like CSA) that help keep wealth in our communities, will be posted next week.

To listen to Part 1 the podcast, click here.