By Alyssa
Next week we welcome the rest of our new crew members to the farm! We will have many new faces in the field this year. I am excited. I feel the fresh, new energy like a burst of spring growth. As the season begins to pick up, I have been reflecting on my first months at Open Field two years ago. This is the longest I’ve been at a job, and the longest I’ve lived in one place since my childhood home. It feels good. The stability, the connection – I’m beyond grateful to have come to this place.
In my first few months at the farm, we planted two new areas of perennials, the asparagus and the raspberries. Most of you have tasted the raspberries by now – they fruited the first year they were in the ground, and have been generous with their sweetness ever since. We put out some of the asparagus for a couple of weeks last year, but the crowns were still too young to give us much. Asparagus is slow to establish – it takes the crowns a few years to build enough strength to withstand an extended harvest. I feel a bit like the asparagus. It has taken me time to put down roots, to grow more steady and sure in this ground. I still have so much to learn about being a part of this community, but I am glad to be able to offer more of myself each year.
Last week’s sunny reprieve dried the soil enough for us to give the perennial planting areas on the farm some love. In the asparagus, we cut the grass back and put down a thick layer of woodchip mulch. We cut back last year’s raspberry canes, to spur the growth of new canes for this year’s fruit. And for the first time, we planted some fruit trees – plum, apple, pear, and persimmon varieties that we hope are hardy enough for our cold, wet winters. It will be years until they fruit productively; as with the asparagus, they are an offering to the future of this place.
I really wanted to find an asparagus poem, but failed. If you know one, please share! Instead, a poem about moles that reminds me of spring.
Moles
by Mary Oliver
Under the leaves, under
the first loose
levels of earth
they’re there—quick
as beetles, blind
as bats, shy
as hares but seen
less than these—
traveling
among the pale girders
of appleroot,
rockshelf, nests
of insects and black
pastures of bulbs
peppery and packed full
of the sweetest food:
spring flowers.
Field after field
you can see the traceries
of their long
lonely walks, then
the rains blur
even this frail
hint of them—
so excitable,
so plush,
so willing to continue
generation after generation
accomplishing nothing
but their brief physical lives
as they live and die,
pushing and shoving
with their stubborn muzzles against
the whole earth,
finding it,
delicious.
CSA Barn Hours:
Current Summer hours: 2:30-6:30 PM
(Winter hours: 2:30-6PM)
Pick List:
Eggs
Sangre Red and Harvest Moon Purple Potatoes
Cabernet Red Onions
Leeks
Parade Scallions
Yaya carrots
Rhonda Beets
Purple Daikon and Watermelon Radish
Joan Rutabaga
Mars Celeriac
Hablange Parsnip
Kossack Kohlrabi
Green Cabbage
Fennel
Prize Choi
Rubro Radicchio
Mixed Looseleaf Chicories
Ruby Red Chard
Fava Greens
Lettuce Mix
Regiment Spinach
Esmee Arugula
Cilantro
Winter Sweet Kabocha, Spaghetti, Tetsukabota, and Acorn Winter Squash
Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin
Pick your own herbs, mostly in the herb circle (and maybe a few flowers)
Stoneground cornmeal from our dry corn! FYI: It does have large pieces of the outer skin in it which creates a different texture than the more uniform cornmeal. If you do not enjoy this, you can sift it with the right size screen. (Please BYO jars!)
Sonora Wheat Flour
Tea Blends (Please BYO jars!)
Whole Dried Hot Peppers
Beef Bone Broth for sale! (Made by Olla Products)
Saltonstall Olive Oil for sale (Please BYO jars!)
Revolution Bread only on Friday
Miso Leeks with White Beans, from nytimes.com, by Hetty McKinnon
For the leeks:
2 large leeks (about 1 lb), halved lengthwise, white and green parts thinly sliced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 sprigs fresh thyme
4 eggs
2 (14 oz) cans of white beans, drained
Handful of fresh herbs, roughly chopped to serve
Toasted bread (optional), for serving
For the miso vinaigrette
4 tsp white miso paste
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, grated
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil
1. Rinse and drain the leeks.
2. Heat a large Dutch oven or skillet on medium-high for 1 to 2 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, along with the leeks. Season generously with salt and black pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid cooks off and leeks start to stick to the pan, 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the garlic and thyme. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Boil eggs for your preferred length of time, and peel.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients.
5. Uncover the leeks — they will have reduced into a silky, jammy consistency. Discard the thyme, transfer the leeks to the bowl and stir to coat in the miso vinaigrette.
6. Stir in the white beans and herbs. Drizzle with olive oil and top each serving with a halved egg. Serve with toast, if desired.
