Creative Use of Farmshare

Tonight, I made a massive, insanely ambitious dinner, given that my kitchen faucet is broken and I have no running water in the kitchen. But we were being overrun with vegetables, and something had to be done. Our farmshare buddy is exceedingly pregnant and not at all in the mood to be cooking veggies. My plan was to cook as much of the farmshare as possible in one meal, invite my pregnant friend and her family over for dinner, and then freeze the remains for use after the baby is born.

First, I thawed a frozen lamb shoulder from my meatshare. I'd been saving it months for a special occasion, but I just threw up my hands and decided that the lamb was a special occasion in itself. I rubbed it with olive oil, shallot salt, Spanish thyme (three of only five non-local ingredients in the entire meal), and homegrown rosemary and roasted it at 425 degrees F.

While that roasted, I chopped up a variety of root vegetables: Yukon Gold new potatoes and shallots from the farmers' market, carrots and yellow onions from the farmshare, red and golden beets from my own garden (I saved the greens). I sliced these very thin, going for roughly quarter-sized pieces about an eighth of an inch thick. This I drizzled with Kate's Homemade Butter, olive oil, maple syrup from North Hadley, and table salt (non-local ingredient number four). Using both olive oil and butter is key - trust me. I laid this out in a very shallow layer on a large baking sheet and popped it in with the lamb.

Next, I looked at what was bursting out of the veggie drawer of my fridge: eggplant, zucchini, onions. Aha! Ratatouille! I ran out in the rain and picked two tomatoes. Into the skillet: olive oil, homegrown garlic, farmshare yellow onion. Once they were translucent, I added the tomatoes, chopped. And once that had broken down into a nice stew, I chopped up and tossed in three japanese eggplants, one fat zucchini, and basil from the farmshare, seasoned with salt.

I left the ratatouille on the backburner and turned back to the beet greens. I pulled out my All-Clad everyday pan (something between a skillet and a paellero, indispensible), and tossed in some chopped Applewood Farms bacon (non-local ingredient number five, but at least it's all natural and uncured). I added to this some chopped red onion from the farmer's market and sauteed until translucent, then tossed in the beet greens and swiss chard from the farmshare, seasoned lightly with salt.

While this was cooking down, I pulled out the farmshare spaghetti squash I'd roasted earlier in the day because my husband, mistaking it for a cantalope, had cut it open. I scooped out the flesh into a glass baking pan, topped with more Kate's Homemade Butter, and popped it into the oven beside the lamb to reheat.

By then, the lamb had reached 120 degrees F, the root veggies were starting to crisp up, the ratatouille was done, and the greens had wilted nicely. Time to set the table. By the time I got everything else out, the lamb was up to 140, but smelled done. I suspected the meat thermometer, so I pulled it out and made a couple of experimental slices. Turned out that the top of the roast was quite nicely done, but the muscle beneath was not. So I carved what was ready and brought it out.

Caveat: two out of three of the children refused to eat any of this except the spaghetti squash and had to be supplemented with Barilla Plus penne and melted cheese, so technically, the meal had two more nonlocal ingredients. (My two-year-old eats anything and loves vegetables, just as my picky five-year-old did, when she was two.) Otherwise, by volume, I'd guess that over 90% of the meal came from within 100 miles of our table.

The dinner was marvelous. The lamb was probably the best I've ever cooked (hurray for Chestnut Farms!), the root veggies delicious, just slightly crispy and sweet, the ratatouille perfectly cooked, neither underdone nor soggy and infused with the marvelous flavor of the basil, and the greens nicely counterpointed by the bacon. The one problem: we had almost no leftovers! I still have a bit of the lamb, and I froze about 3/4 quart of the squash and 1/2 quart of the ratatouille. But it did nicely solve the problem of my overfull refrigerator. Now, if I can just get rid of that red cabbage...

Afterwards, our dinner guests commented on how good the meal was, and I asserted that it was the ingredients, which they pshawed. But it's true. These are all dishes I make all the time, and they were just so much better with high quality, fresh, local ingredients. Hmm... now I need more lamb. Thank goodness the meatshare is coming on Tuesday.

Farmers Markets Need Farmers

As an indication of how well the local food movement is doing, the Boston Globe today has an interesting article on how farmers' markets are having difficulty finding enough farmers. This helps explain why we see things like local bakeries, coffee companies, and Taza Chocolate vendors at the markets - they help fill out the available space as well as offering a nice variety of goods to shoppers.

Farmers are also making a lot more of their profit from farmers' markets, which is extremely cool. But clearly, there's a pressing need for more local farms in Massachusetts. Anyone care to start a farm?

It's August. Time to Talk Turkey.

Believe it or not, if you want a locally raised turkey for Thanksgiving, now's the time to order. Kim Denney of Chestnut Farms just sent out the following email to her meatshare members:

We raise turkeys once a year - for Thanksgiving for our CSA members. The turkeys are raised in fresh air and sunshine from birth to plate. Over the years we have become more and more adept at predator control and use an automatic light and radio to keep foxes, coyotes and fisher cats away. We have also learned to have a smaller, but still comfortable dance floor. Last year our turkeys danced across nearly five acres of pasture. This year we will offer them a space of about 1 acre and move them more frequently. We have also planted field peas in an experiment of turkey self-feeding. The peas are higher in protein than grass so we shall see if the grain consumption declines as a result.

The turkeys go for $75/bird, regardless of size, which I thought was interesting, and they're only available to CSA members. However, there are lots of other places around Boston that offer locally raised turkeys. There's a good list available at http://www.mass.gov/agr/massgrown/turkey.htm. A slightly better resource for free-range, organic, heritage birds can be found in Yankee Magazine. And Local harvest has a good search engine that yielded these results.

Here's a little more information on some of the farms.

• Bob's Turkey Farm in Lancaster lists having Broad Breasted White turkeys, famously too stupid to reproduce. The web site also implies that they are fed antibiotics for the first four weeks.
  
• Stillman's Farm in Lunenberg practices conscientious farming and raises free-range birds. They offer broad-breasted white turkeys at $65 for a 10-15 lb. bird and $80 for a 16-22 lb. bird. They also offer a few, small heritage breed turkeys: $100 for a 6-15 lb. bird. They have convenient pickup locations throughout Boston and Cambridge.
• K&M Farm in North Andover has much better prices for organic, heritage birds: 10-12 lbs $65.00 14-16 lbs $75.00 18-22 lbs $110.00. This farm also offers Indian game bird, cornish hens, and rabbits, which, I think, merits a visit sometime soon.
• Stone Pony Farm in Westford offers a small number of organic, free range, heritage turkeys.
• Many Hands Organic Farm in Barre raises broad breasted whites organically and sells them for $4.50/lb. They're quite far from Boston, though, and do not deliver to the Boston area.
• Green Meadows Farm in Hamilton raises free-range, organically fed Bourbon Red turkeys. No word on how much they cost or how to order them.
  

If you don't have a Chestnut Farms meatshare, it looks like Stillman's Farm and K&M Farm are your best bets. If you can't drive up to North Andover, Stillman's is the place to order your bird.

Chicken 3 Ways! A Benefit Dinner for the MPPU Project

Pete & Jen are at it again. They're sponsoring a chicken dinner to benefit the NESFP's Mobile Poultry Processing Unit project. Here's what Jen said in her email announcing the dinner:

Join Pete and Jen &
SLOW FOOD BOSTON at Allandale Farm for Chicken Grilling Extravaganza!

August 30, 2009
5:30 pm until the moonlight guides us home....

The summer heat is in full swing! We hope you are all busy enjoying the bounty of seasonal, local food. In the spirit of summer, we would like to extend an invitation to load up your picnic basket with a comfy blanket and a bottle of your favorite beverage - but don't worry about the food. Slow Food Boston has got that covered! SFB is hosting an outdoor gastronomic fundraiser (a Chicken Extravaganza one might say) on Sunday, August 30th in the fields of Allandale Farm. Join us and relax on your blanket watching the sunset, relishing the smell of grilling chicken, and contributing to a good cause! Chef Andy Husbands (of Hell's Kitchen fame) and the amazing Tremont 647 will be preparing three different chicken dishes, plus bbq appropriate sides (greens? yup. corn bread? check!) plus a fruit dessert luciously ripe from local orchards... OH, and we're not talking your mother's chicken here - instead think banana guava ketchup, sweet & spicy bbq glaze, and a red pepper aioli! Though it's not Pete and Jen's tasty, tasty chicken (we sold out long ago), it is sure to be divine!

So why this 'fowl' celebration you ask? Well, beyond the phenomenal food, we're also continuing to raise funds for the Mobile Poultry Processing Unit, eliminating the need for MA farmers to share the ONE unit that's available throughout the entire state. These mobile units are one of the few ways that small producers have to guarantee that the quality & care of their work is maintained all the way from the farm to your table. We will be at the picnic to share first-hand how the MPPU project is making it easier for us to produce and process our birds and for you to buy local, healthy, sustainably-raised food.

This event is a double BYOB - bring your own blanket, as well as the beverage of your choice. Cost is $40 for adults and $20 for children under 12. Reservations & payments must be made in advance on the Slow Food Boston website.

Plan to arrive early! Starting at 5:30pm, John Lee, Allandale's farm manager, will be giving hayrides of Boston's last working farm - concluding in time for dinner to be served at 6:30PM. Oh, and if it happens to rain, we'll convene the next night Monday, August 31st same time, same place.

Pete & Jen's Egg Carpool Mailing List

We love our eggs from Pete & Jen's Backyard Birds, but their store in Concord is just a bit far for a casual shopping run. Some time ago, we noticed that Pete & Jen had put out a signup sheet for an egg carpool mailing list. The idea was to connect customers that live in Lexington, Arlington, and North Cambridge so that they can arrange to pick up eggs for each other as convenient.

Since we run a data center, BaseSpace.net, it's easy for us to create mailing lists. So we offered to set it up for them, Jen send us the list of email addresses, and voila! My husband set up the pjeggpool mailing list.

Now we can post when we make the journey out to Concord to see if anyone in our area would also like some eggs. If anyone responds, we can then arrange a pick-up location for the eggs. While the folks currently on the mailing list are all in Lexington, Arlington, and Cambridge, I see no reason why people from other areas around Boston can't also arrange pickups in the same way.

If you'd like to get in on the EggPool, send email to pjeggpool-subscribe@basespace.net.

Poultry, Poultry Everywhere

Sheesh! I got busy for a few days, and when I looked up: poultry!

Here's a brief synopsis of poultry-related topics that I'll elaborate upon as time permits:

1. Pete & Jen's Egg Carpool Mailing List - send email to pjeggpool-subscribe@basespace.net.
   
2. Chicken 3 Ways! A Special Farm Dinner to support the MPPU project
3. Order your Thanksgiving turkey from Chestnut Farms NOW
   

Busa Farm Conceptual Drawings - Tuesday, August 11 at 7:30pm

The Lexington Community Farm Coalition is meeting tomorrow to review conceptual drawings:

Come find out more about farm plans, learn what you can do to help, and see a conceptual sketch of our farm! Come to a Farm Planning meeting for updates on our progress and dark brown refreshments. Meet at Lexington's Cary Memorial Library community room, Tuesday August 11 7:30 pm.

Early Impressions of the NOFA Conference

My head is spinning from all the information I've been gathering at the NOFA Summer Conference. I've attended workshops on how to start a CSA, how to make the most of your forested land, and, of course, lots of workshops on mushrooms and mycology. One of the two keynote speakers, Paul Stamets, is a recognized mycological expert, and the projects that he's detailed have been wide-ranging and utterly fascinating, including:

• Counteracting bioterrorism
• Cleaning up toxic oil spills, in soil and in the sea
• Finding better treatments for tuberculosis and smallpox
• Growing crops like corn twice as strong and productive
• Finding treatments for neurological disorders such as Altzheimer's
• and so much more...

The conference has had fantastic child care for the kids, including grooming Jersey heifers, painting banners, marching in a parade, and putting on a play, so this has been something of a vacation for my husband and I. Well, a vacation in which we are constantly racing from workshop to child care to workshop to child care to lunch to child care to workshop, etc.

Aside from the sheer amount of information I'm gathering, a couple of things have really surprised me. One is the number of cool things I'm now thinking, Hey, I could do that. The other is the sheer number of random people we've connected with, including a CSA family from New York and a couple from Santa Fe trying to start a community farm.

And there's the amazing range of niches and markets represented here: alpaca farmers, black walnut orchards, raw milk dairies, and yes, I even found a farm that produces sunflower oil. Too much to describe right now, and it's time to put the girls to bed. More tomorrow.

Locavore Media: Boston Globe Article on Mass. Wine and Cheese

This morning, the Boston Globe had a nice article on wine and cheese produced in Massachusetts. Some of the stories of how these businesses got started are fascinating. Now, if only there were a list of where we could buy these products. I'd really like to try some blueberry wine.

Locavore Activism in Cambridge: Henrietta Davis Goes Local

Henrietta Davis is kicking off her election campaign to retain her seat on the Cambridge City Council by hosting a "locally inspired potluck supper" and a screening of the movie, "Fresh." The event is titled "All Politics is Local" ad will be held August12th at Davis's house, 120 Chestnut St. The potluck starts at 6pm, and grilled foods will be provided. Attendees are asked to bring a salad, dessert, or "other local dish." The movie starts at 8pm. Her invitation came with a guide to Cambridge Farmers' Markets and a list of Local Food resources.

I encourage locavore residents of Cambridge to show up and let Henrietta know you support her efforts.

Locavore Activism: Lexington Selectmen Discuss Busa Farm Tonight

The Lexington Selectmen are scheduled to discuss the Busa Land Lease Agreement tonight under “Items for Individual Consideration” starting at 7:50 pm: see http://ci.lexington.ma.us/Selectmen/agenda.cfm for the complete schedule. The Busa Land Lease likely refers to the the town's plan to lease the land back to the Busas for two years following the town's September 17 closing on the land. Selectmen's meetings take place at the Selectmen's Meeting Room, 1625 Mass Avenue (Town Office Building), second floor.

In the Media: Video of Butter-making in Maine

Boston.com today has a great article accompanied by a video on Kate's Homemade Butter, which really is made in the owner's home garage in Maine. You have to see it to believe it. I love Kate's Homemade Butter, but I almost never shop at Shaw's anymore, and thus never see it available. Perhaps I'll make a special effort for this award-winning butter.

Locavore Activism: Busa Farm in Lexington

Today, I visited Busa Farm in Lexington. Located just over the border from the Arlington Reservoir, Busa Farm is 7.85 acres of severely neglected farmland. When we visited, it had a tiny farm shop which supplemented the farm's produce with eggs from Chip-In Farm, honey and preserves from McClure's, and fruit from California. I did buy an enormous zucchini for only 25 cents that I intend to stuff for dinner (tonight, homemade pizza with locally made fresh mozzerella).

Outside, the flats of perennials, annuals, and patio tomatoes showed that Busa Farm has definitely fallen on hard times. The paths were overgrown with weeds, all the seedlings showed signs of stress, and the tomatoes were dying in their pots. The greenhouses were missing many of their panes of glass, and not by design, and these, too, were overgrown with weeds. Of the three greenhouses we saw, two had been abandoned to nature. The buildings other than the farmstand were in various states of disrepair, and the chicken coop we spied down the road looked forlorn and empty.

Which is why, in May, the City of Lexington purchased the land from its owners. The owners will continue to run the farm and maintain the property until at least Dec. 31, 2010 while Lexington figures out what to do with it. Lots of ideas have been floated: recreational parkland, community gardens, affordable housing, community farm.

Yes, you read that correctly. A group of citizens is pushing to turn the space into a community-run farm. Apparently, this model has precedent. Newton bought Angino Farm in 2005 and operates it as a community farm. During the summer, much of the farm is maintained by volunteer middle and high school students from Newton.

Our mission is to preserve and improve this historic open space site for the benefit of the community, to provide local, sustainably grown produce, and to educate the public about sustainable use of land and other natural resources.

This sounds like a fantastic option for Lexington. I'd be contacting the Lexington Community Farm Coalition right now, offering to get involved and start raising awareness amongst my neighbors... if only I lived in Lexington. If you are a Lexington resident, I encourage you to contact your local representatives and urge them to preserve Busa Farm as an educational, community resource. Also see the web site for other ways to help this worthy cause.

NOFA Conference: Mission for Missin' Local Products

I try to eat as much local, organic food as I can, but there are some things I have to buy nonlocal. A few of these are preferential - I have New Mexico green chile on my breakfast burrito every morning. I've tried growing it here, and it just doesn't come out right. Then there are things that just can't be grown in New England that we consider essential: coffee, black tea, chocolate, bananas, olive oil, cinnamon and similar spices.

And then there are the things that ought to be available locally that I can't find: nuts, mushrooms, oils, and sugar. I was delighted to find a workshop at the NOFA conference on growing black walnut trees for nuts and timber. Hopefully, I will meet other nut growers there and find out where I can buy local nuts the way I used to buy pinon nuts on the side of the road in New Mexico. Similarly, there are lots of workshops on mushrooms, which I have yet to spot at a farmers' market anywhere.

Oil and sugar are the two that burn my noodle most. In the land of maple, you can find lots of maple syrup and maple candy, but no actual, commercial granular maple sugar. Why? And beets grow prolifically in New England. Why is there no beet sugar available? Admittedly, cane sugar from Florida is not a terrible compromise, but it just bugs me.

Finally, I have yet to find, anywhere, locally produced cooking oils. Olive oil is admittedly impossible (and the top on my list of crops I'd grow if I ever return to New Mexico), but surely there are plenty of other sources: corn oil, sunflower. Does rapeseed grow here for canola oil? And cycling back to the discussion on nuts, what about walnut or almond oil? Of late, I've been substituting locally produced butter, but there are a lot of cases where I'd much rather use a good oil instead. With any luck, I'll find a source of locally produced oils at the NOFA conference.

What are some other examples of things you ought to be able to find locally and can't? Please comment.

Buying the Farm

Right now, my two-year-old is chanting "Old McDonald Had a Farm" just as I'm contemplating becoming Old McDonald myself. It's a tough question: do I want to become a farmer?

My husband and I have been exploring the possibility in the last few weeks, ever since we returned from Sweden. There are a lot of pros and cons.

PROS:

1. I grew up on a farm. I run a community garden. I have a clue what it takes to successfully raise vegetables.
2. Local CSAs have absurdly long waiting lists, on the order of years. Many won't even advertize their shares anymore. So there is huge demand.
3. The New Entry Sustainable Farming Association has a list of farm properties near Boston available for lease or sale but not enough farmers to work them.
4. It would be highly satisfying in many ways. We'd have the freedom to grow our food (produce, eggs, meat) any way we like.
5. It's a healthier lifestyle and would encourage us to get a lot more exercise.

CONS:

1. I grew up on a farm. I know how much work it is, and that's rather daunting.
2. I grew up on a farm in New Mexico. That's an utterly different climate, and I'd have a lot of learning to do. It was a cattle farm, and I'm unlikely to want to raise cattle here, though I did have a herd of goats growing up and know how to care for them from birth to butchering. We never milked them, though, so that would be an interesting learning experience right there. And I know almost nothing about the use and maintenance of farm machinery.
   
3. My husband did not grow up on a farm. He was utterly astonished the first time a seed I'd planted sprouted. Nor does he have any desire to be a farmer. He doesn't like outside work, he doesn't like the smell of dirt, he doesn't even like houseplants. He says he's willing to take care of the business end of farming: finances, hiring labor, etc., but I'm dubious. I do not want to be stuck with all the work, and I'd miss the family- and community-building aspects I know and love.
   
4. My health is not the best. I have multiple chronic illnesses, almost all of which I control with diet, and I sprain joints at the drop of a hat. While more outside work would undoubtedly be very good for me, our business could outright fail if I sprain an ankle again.
5. We have two small children, one just about to start kindergarden. They're a full-time job in themselves right now, and at the very least, we should wait until they're old enough to contribute to the farm in a meaningful way. (My five-year-old wants goats.)
   
6. We live in a wonderful, supportive community, and we're not sure we want to leave it, although there are good reasons why we might, farm or no farm.

My current inclination is not to buy a commercial farm. It's too risky, and I don't think we have the proper resources. Microfarming, on the other hand, makes some sense to me. Defined as mixed-use farming on two to five acres, this seems like a manageable amount of farm to me. My grandfather's farm was five acres, and on this scrap of land, he grew alfalfa for his cattle, orchards consisting mostly of apples and pears, a large amount of corn, and two good-sized gardens for family and friends. Pumpkins grew up into his macintosh trees, the strangest apples you ever saw.

He couldn't and didn't make his living off of it, but he did make our lives much richer, healthier, and more fulfilling. It's the kind of life I can imagine being extremely satisfying. I could grow my own vegetables, trying different varieties and preserving heirlooms. I could have a greenhouse for fresh produce all winter long. I'd have orchards of fruit and nut trees chosen for easy maintenance and flavor. We could have a small goat herd and some chickens, maybe even ducks if we have a pond. Herb beds. Grape vines. Mushrooms. Corn.

I still have my doubts, which is why our whole family is attending the Northeast Organic Farming Association Summer Conference next weekend. We received the program booklets just a few days ago, and I'm fascinated and frustrated by the workshops listed. Should I attend the Backyard Medicinal Herb Walk, the Easy No-Knead Artisan Bread at Home workshop, the Farm and Garden Native Bee Habitat Creation workshop, or the Simple Gifts Farm tour? ARGH!

Just the fact that I get this excited about these topics tells me I'm on the right track. And perhaps the conference will help me figure out which less-traveled path I should take.

Backyard Local: Fight Tomato Blight

Warning to all backyard gardeners: there is a serious epidemic of late blight this year affecting tomato and potato plants. This is the same fungus that caused the Irish Potato Famine, and a combination of conditions this year (wet weather and contaminated tomato plants sold at places like Home Depot) have made this the worst outbreak of late blight in decades. Our CSA, Brookfield Farm, just mowed down all their potatoes in the hopes of saving the tubers and preventing the spread of the fungus to their tomatoes.

What makes this fungus particularly pernicious is that its spores are airborne, passing from plant to plant on the breeze. If you have tomatoes in your garden, regardless of where you got them, please go out and check them for blight. See www.longislandhort.cornell.edu/vegpath/photos/lateblight_tomato.htm for pictures of late blight. Look for brown patches on the stem and wilting leaflets around it. If you find blight, remove ALL affected foliage immediately. If it's in the stem, you will likely have to remove the entire plant.

Do NOT put infected foliage in your municipal yard waste, where the fungus can infect their mulch and compost. Bag it and throw it away. In New Mexico, we'd burn it, but I doubt that's allowed around here.

If you have other tomatoes or parts of tomato plants that show no blight yet, spray it with fungicide immediately and after every rainfall (yes, this is a pain, but, o! the horror of a summer with no tomatoes). There are many recipes for homemade fungicide, including:

• http://site.cleanairgardening.com/info/recipe-for-home-made-fungicide.html
• http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090619125802AABbIUf (you can substitute dishsoap)
  

Or you can buy this organic fungicide: http://www.cleanairgardening.com/greencure.html. Brookfield Farm is using copper as a fungicide.

Here's a good FAQ on late blight and how to deal with it: http://www.longislandhort.cornell.edu/vegpath/lbfaq.pdf

Also, keep in mind that there are plenty of other fungi around to prey on your tomatoes. The tomatoes in my community garden have early blight, and I'll be directing our gardeners in foliage removal and fungicide spraying this afternoon. Early blight is much less deadly than late blight, but it can transfer to other species like eggplants. It's treated in the same way as late blight, although treated plants are much more likely to survive. Tomatoes are going to be precious and rare at farmers' markets this year, so it will be well worth it to maintain your own love apples. And squash plants of all kinds are likely to be affected by fungus as well, so it's worth checking your squash for a white dusting on the leaves and treating it with fungicide or at least soapy water.

On the plus side, all the rain has had other benefits. Our greens, carrots, cucumbers, beans, and squash are going crazy, and despite the cool temperatures, I've got a lot of peppers and eggplant (hurray for black row covers). And for the first time this year, we had a noticeable blueberry harvest (we suffer from alkaline soil, but we seem to have finally brought up the acidity enough - sulfur helps, too) and will harvest our first lingonberries ever!

Side note: if you have midsummer-bearing raspberries, they should be running out of fruit right now. Once the fruit is gone off the canes, you should prune away the fruitbearing canes, leaving the new canes (those with no little stubs from the fruit) to grow as much as possible before winter. These non-fruiting canes will bear fruit next year. Removing the old canes means the roots only have to support the new canes, and they will be healthier and more prolific next summer.