Year: 2010

What’s in Upic?……

Flowers      Herbs         Beans (waning)

Cherry Tomatoes

I’m cold as I sit here in my sweatshirt writing. It is entirely too early to be cold. Especially since just a week ago I was hot, really hot. The vegetables don’t like these swings of temperature either, especially tomatoes. The quality and quantity of tomatoes will be falling off this week as we enter the time of year when all of these heat-loving crops begin to disappear and are replaced by those that grow and even thrive in the cold months ahead.

Along these lines, look for cabbage in your share again this week. Nothing is quite so versatile as the cabbage. It keeps forever, is packed full of vitamins and is great raw in slaw or cooked. This stuff is Maine soul food.

Before we take the headlong dive into winter and winter vegetables, we all love this period of September that is in between. Like June, the temps are crisp and comfortable. As it turns out, most of our greens crops also thrive this time of year. The arugula in your share this week is some of the nicest we have cut all year. It’s a bit spicy, probably from the heat at the end of August but the overall flavor and texture is great. Lettuce mix and chard are also is perfect form.

This will be the last week of beans in the upic field. What is out there is a bit long in the tooth but we thought we would leave them for you hardcore pickers to go over once more. With any luck the fall peas will be in before the end of September.

What to expect in your share this week…

Lettuce                 Potatoes

Cabbage               Arugula

Kale                     Chard

Peppers                Tomatoes

Asian Greens       Chickories

Beets

High Tunnel. Some of you may notice the looming high tunnel next to the Upic field. This is the structure we built with a USDA grant that will allow us to extend our greens growing season starting next year. Our hardworking team of pig excavators prepared the 28 by 200 foot site earlier this summer. The pigs are now putting the finishing touches on next year’s upic field expansion project. Those pigs can work!

Fresh, the Movie. Fresh, a hopeful new film about our food system and, where it’s going and how to make it better for all humans. Showing at Bowdoin College Wednesday, September 22^nd at 7pm.

Heavy Equipment. The dump trucks and excavators in our sheep pasture are working to improve the drainage to these areas. With less waterlogged soil we can grow better grass to feed healthier sheep…

Apples arrive from our friends at Willow Pond Farm in Sabattus. Low spray macs and pears along with the world’s best cider will be for sale at pick-up. If you are looking for something to do this next weekend there is apple picking at Willow Pond Farm with horse drawn wagon rides into the orchard and acres and acres of beautiful trees. Maura, the kids and I spent some time there this last Saturday frolicking.

Race 4 Space. The Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust’s annual running and walking benefit event will be this Sunday September 19th. This is a great event for the whole family with a 4 mile run to the ocean, a mile timed run, a kids fun run and a guided walking tour of historic Pennellville, center of Brunswick shipbuilding past. More info and at www.btlt.org

or call 729.7694.

Bags. Please bring clean dry bags for your produce to pick-up…If you have extras bring them along to share.

What’s in Upic?……

Flowers      Herbs         Beans

Cherry Tomatoes

September is here and with it comes cooler weather (thankfully!) and the beginnings of our fall vegetables. Superstar among these is the potato, which arrives this week in force thanks to all of you who showed up today to work with us in the fields. By our estimation we had over fifty folks young and old getting dirty, helping us pick somewhere around 5 tons of spuds! We got some great shots which will you can see if you scroll down the web posting. This help was priceless to all of us in two ways. First, your two hours of help saved the crew what would be about 4 full days of work. Second, all of your joy and enthusiasm keeps us excited and reminds us why we do this work and who we do it for. Thanks.

Canning and preserving demos this week during pickup at the farm. Come watch Kathy Savoie of Maine Cooperative Extension demonstrate the basics of water bath canning. Kathy is also an expert in all types of food preservation and storage (including freezing) and will be on hand from 2-4 on both Tuesday and Friday (September 7^th and 10^th) to demonstrate and answer questions.

Bags. Please bring bags for your produce. From here out you will need at least 4 or five each week. By bringing used grocery bags you can help us put less plastic into the waste stream.

What to expect in your share this week…

Potatoes               Arugula

Cabbage               Carrots

Kale                     Chard

Peppers                Tomatoes

Asian Greens       Chickories

Pigs. We will be taking orders for whole and half pigs staring this week. Think of bacon, hams and pork chops in your house whenever you what them, all winter long. Talk to us at pickup for more details.

What’s in Upic?……

Flowers      Herbs         Beans

Cherry Tomatoes

Hey everyone. Summer marches forward, independent of the calendar! Our kids started getting on the school bus this week (Leila to kindergarten!) and it’s dark at 4:30 in the morning now, so it should be fall, but ninety degrees and humidity?

Maura, the kids, and I had a great week away full of swimming, eating, family, and resting. We came back to a farm that looked ship shape, thanks the exceptionally hard work of the farm crew. This a tough time to get away as there is so much to harvest, on top of all the other usual crazy stuff. Having a group of solid, focused, farmers to run this complicated place made it possible and we are very grateful.

Carrots are back in the share this week and we hope to have a good supply for you from here on out. This week’s variety is probably the longest we have ever grown. Some are over 18” long. We’re not sure why they are so long but we’re happy to have carrots of any length back in the mix. Bumped off the roster are summer squash and zucchini. We had a good run with them this season and this time of year it always seems okay to say goodbye. After a winter away they always taste that much better in the spring. In addition to adding carrots, we also have the return of cabbage. Gear up for this crop as we have more coming in the weeks ahead. Don’t get behind! Pretend the heat is Fourth of July and make another round of cole slaw. Our favorite recipe is on the website (along with a few others) http://crystalspringcsa.com/archives/category/recipes/cabbage

What goes better with cabbage than potatoes? Next Monday join us in the fields for our famous Labor on Labor Day potato harvest. On Monday September 6 at 10 a.m. we will be harvesting our potato crop. This is a blast for all ages and a great way start the fall season. The tractor digs the potatoes and we pick them up. Kids love this event and don’t even think of it as work! We’ll meet in the field. Just look for the equipment and park where you can.

Canning and preserving demos next week during pickup at the farm. Come watch Kathy Savoie of Maine Cooperative Extension demonstrate the basics of water bath canning. Kathy is also an expert in all types of food preservation and storage and will be on hand from 2-4 on both Tuesday and Friday (September 7^th and 10^th) to demonstrate and answer questions.

What to expect in your share this week…

Broccoli               Arugula

Cabbage               Carrots

Lettuce                 Melon

Peppers                Tomatoes

Asian Greens       Chickories

Look for leeks, beets and our first winter squash in the next few weeks! Pray for rain, but no hurricanes.

What’s in Upic?……

Flowers      Herbs         Beans

Cherry Tomatoes

A short newsletter this week as Seth and the Family take a few days off the farm to swim, play and sleep!

Here’s what to look for in your share this week:

Chard                  Arugula

Kale                     Summer squash

Lettuce                 Melon

Peppers                Tomatoes

Asian Greens       Chickories

We are coming upon peak season this week with melon, tomatoes and the end of summer squash. Look out for our first winter squash in the weeks to come and potatoes in September!

Labor on Labor Day. Come out for our traditional labor on labor day harvest party. Monday September 6 at 10 am. We will be harvesting our potato crop this morning. This is a blast for all of us and a great way start the fall season. The tractor digs the potatoes and we pick them up. Its a great event for kids and adults. We’ll meet in the field. Just look for the equipment and park where you can.

What’s in Upic?……

Flowers      Herbs         Beans

Cherry Tomatoes

Here’s what to look for in your share this week:

Chard                  Arugula

Kale                     Summer squash

Eggplant              Lettuce

Green Peppers     Tomatoes

Cucumbers          Cabbage

Asian Greens       Chickories

What is summer without watermelon? Well thankfully we don’t have to figure that out as our favorite melon variety, Sugar Baby, comes in this week. These melons were close to being lost completely as we decided yesterday morning to not pick them this week, the thinking being that another week on the vine would give us even better consistency in sweetness and color. Yesterday afternoon we were picking tomatoes right next to the melon and noticed that crows had destroyed over fifty melons from the back part of the planting we hadn’t looked at earlier in the day. Needless to say, we put it into high gear and harvested all of the Sugar Babys, saving them from the local crows and ensuring that all of you will have one in your share. There may be a few “underdone” melons in the bunch. Our apologies if you get one of these…blame it on the crows.

Our organic pastured eggs are coming in well these days and the birds are really starting to make use of the green forage around the eggmobile. Having fresh grass in their diet helps the birds maintain their health but also ensures their eggs are packed with omega 3 fatty acids. These are the polyunsaturated “good fats” we all need and our bodies can use to for energy and metabolic function without raising cholesterol levels. All you have to do is notice the deep orange color of the yolks and you know these are not grocery store eggs. If you eat eggs, take a look at the following link to the NY Times from this past Sunday that gives detail to how most eggs are produced in the US. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/weekinreview/15marsh.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=farming+eggs&st=cse

This is the point in the season when harvest takes over our lives on the farm. From mid-August until mid- September there are so many crops coming in such abundance that we barely have time to move the sheep on pasture and collect eggs. Yesterday we harvested about 1200 pounds of watermelon, 300 pounds of tomatoes, 160 pounds of eggplant, and 150 pounds of summer squash in addition to processing 200 pounds of onions that we picked last week.  Today we will cut 25 pounds of tatsoi, 65 pounds of lettuce mix, 20 pounds of mustard, 15 pounds each of endive and escarole, 60 pounds of chard, 20 pounds of kale, 30 pounds of baby bok choi, and 40 pounds of arugula.  Add in the washing and weighing of all of these crops and you’ll understand why we’ll be panting when you show up at 2:00 today. The best part of all of this work is seeing all of you take this food home to your families; the end result of us watching, waiting and nurturing these plants over the past few months.

Labor on Labor Day. Come out for our traditional labor on labor day harvest party. Monday September 6 at 10 am. We will be harvesting our potato crop this morning. This is a blast for all of us and a great way start the fall season. The tractor digs the potatoes and we pick them up. Its a great event for kids and adults. We’ll meet in the field. Just look for the equipment and park where you can.

Who moved Maine below the Mason-Dixon line while I wasn’t watching? This heat is crazy –but the produce loves it as long as we can keep the water to them.

Tomatoes arrive in your share this week along with a return to a wider selection of greens.

The next few weeks are going to really be the golden days of the CSA this year. Tomatoes, red peppers, and watermelon will all be coming in together and great meals will just seem to spill out of the bags you bring home from the farm.

We have been irrigating quite a bit this past week and will continue until at least the weekend. It’s great to have the option of adding water to the fields (much easier than taking it off, which is what we needed to do last year!). The process is complicated though as we have a single well for irrigation that must serve all of our fields on both sides of Pleasant Hill. To do this we run aluminum pipe in 30 foot lengths through the woods, along the ditches and under the roads. The aluminum pipe ends at a green reel that holds 400 feet of black tubing with an irrigation gun at one end. To water sections of the field we pull the black tubing off the reel and set up the gun at the end of it. When the water is pushed through the tubing and out the gun it sprays a 120 foot swath and once the tubing is pressurized a winch on the green reel pulls the tubing back in very slowly. With over 400 feet of tubing we can water over an acre each time we set up the system. The downside is that to add an inch of water to this big area requires about 10 hours. The real kicker for the farmer is that if we irrigate during a sunny day we lose a large percentage of the water to evaporation which means we try to water in the evening and at night, times when farmers would rather be sleeping. Pray for rain everyone and we’ll keep the coffee brewing.

Here’s what to look for in your share this week:

Chard                        Arugula

Kale                                    Summer squash

Eggplant                        Lettuce

Green Peppers            Tomatoes

Cucumbers                        Cabbage

Asian Greens             Chickories

Superstar farmhand Bethany has two cats that she is looking to find a temporary home for. If you have space and would like a couple quiet feline guests talk to Bethany at CSA distribution this week or email her bethanylallen@gmail.com

This is the last week of Farm Camp here at Crystal Spring and it has been a solid success thanks to Maura and Emily’s efforts over summer. The young farmers have been working hard around the farm caring for all of our livestock (feeding and collecting eggs has been the favorite chore) and helping out in the fields. Yesterday they transplanted over a thousand Swiss Chard plants that all of you will be enjoying in your shares come

late September. We have all really enjoyed having their energy and enthusiasm around the farm. The smiles on kids faces when they get to share in true meaningful work recharges us all and reminds us how even in this modern world we all still have some basic need to get our hands dirty.

Stay cool and eat well.

Eggplant is the crop of the week as these plants are coming in strong.  We have both the well-known “Italian” eggplant (pear shaped, thick skin) as well as the lesser-known Asian variety (smaller, slender and tender skin) in the fields this year. Both the Italian and the Asian actually originate from India but pasta is really from China, so names and origins can’t be too closely connected. Eggplant in general is not a vegetable that tends to make or break anyone’s CSA experience.  We rarely get comments on it in the end of the year survey and after week three of taking it home some of you may regard it along the same lines as cabbage or kale: More eggplant!  What am I going to do with it? The growing habit of this crop is such that we have to enjoy it while we can. Eggplant is started in the greenhouse in April and set into the field in late May with row cover over it and black plastic under it to make the conditions in Maine something like those in Central India. From planting it takes six weeks before the first flowers form and two months before we have our first fruit. Unlike carrots or lettuce where we have several successive plantings we just have one shot to get eggplant, so we have to enjoy it while we have it!

With the Italian variety always more popular, I have to put in a few good words about the stunning Asian eggplant.  Unlike the Italian eggplant, this smaller, more slender variety called Orient Express is a truly versatile dream in the kitchen.  Its skin is thin so no peeling is required.  It is easy to cut thinly which makes quick cooking possible.  In addition, the texture of this crop is tender all the way through, lacking that pithiness that the pear-shaped varieties can have.  I’ll share two easy ways we like to use Asian eggplant. One way is to slice thinly on the bias (diagonally) into quarter inch pieces and toss into hot (almost smoking) oil (peanut or canola with a little sesame are great) and turn for a few minutes until it softens then add bok choi, broccoli and tofu or tempeh. A sweet rich Asian sauce goes great here. Try one of our sauces from the website: http://crystalspringcsa.com/archives/category/recipes/sauces .  A second simple way to enjoy this crop is on the grill.  Slice the eggplant lengthwise, slather liberally with olive oil and throw it on the grill along with summer squash (prepped the same way), potatoes kabob or this week’s sweet onions.  Don’t turn them until they are almost black – wow!  Peanut sauce, hot sauce or even a tart salad dressing finish this off nicely.

Here’s what to look for in your share this week:

Chard                        Potatoes

Kale                                    Summer squash

Eggplant                        Lettuce

Green Peppers            Sweet Onions

Cucumbers                        Broccoli

Organic Blueberries. Our second and final week of organic blues from Stoneset Farm in Brooklin, Maine will be delivered today and Friday. If you still want a quart, 5lb. or 10lb. box let us know by Wednesday at noon and we can have them for you on Friday. We will have a few extra quarts for sale on both days.

Maples Organic Gelato has new flavors…sea salt with caramel and ginger cardamom and really good.

What’s in Upic?……

Flowers                Herbs   (more Beans next week)

I know we keep talking about how early this season has been but potatoes in July is just too much. Here is the story….  We plant seed potatoes in mid-May when the soil warms to about 45 degrees.  For those not in the know, potato plants are grown by planting small potatoes or pieces of large potatoes that then sprout and grow into plants that then produce more potatoes amongst their roots. Prior to planting we use a technique called green-sprouting to kick the tubers into high gear before they are put in the ground. This process usually entails putting our potato seed (all 1500 pound of it) into a small room in the barn and heating that room up to about 75 degrees for a week. Then we take the seed to the greenhouse and empty it in single layers into big vented trays that allow sunlight to hit the now sprouting tubers. The greenhouse is kept at about 60 degrees night and day while the seed is there. During this time the potato seeds begin to sprout from their eyes. If we’re lucky we can start planting after about 14 days in the greenhouse. This spring we received our potato seed in April and one variety, Carola, was already sprouting.  It must have been on a loading dock for a while or in a hot part of the warehouse.  By the time we went through the green-sprouting process with all of the other varieties of potatoes the Carolas were beyond sprouting; they were growing! The sprouts coming from the eyes were over half an inch long, deep green, and ready to hit the soil. After planting, the Carolas were the first up and looked strong. Being the first ones up they were also the first to be hit by the dreaded Colorado Potato Beetle. We watched closely and thought we were keeping ahead of the beetle but in in the course of a few days their population exploded and the Carolas went down.  This is a very sad thing to see as a farmer.  A strong beautiful plant skeletonized over the course of a few days.  Once the foliage is gone from the plants there’s no going back so we mowed off the stems and a week later here we are, sharing some small but tasty potatoes. Carolas are great roasters. Just toss them in olive oil, salt and pepper and put them on a cooking sheet in a 400 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. More potatoes to come, but hopefully not too soon.

Here’s what to look for in your share:

Chard                        Potatoes

Kale                                    Summer squash

Tatsoi                        Lettuce

Mustard                        Napa cabbage

Cucumbers                        Broccoli

Organic Blueberries will be delivered this week for those that have preordered. If you missed  out on this order don’t fret we will be taking orders again this week for delivery next week. We will also have some extra quarts for sale on both Tuesday and Friday if you want try them out…they make oatmeal sexy.

Our first group of pigs for August are sold out. If this is disappointment to you don’t fret. We will have another group available for order come early October. Watch the newsletter for more info.

Crystal Spring Farm Lamb now available at CSA pick-up. Look for our own loin chops, lamburger, legs and more. Talk to a farmer about what we have available.

Eggs are coming in…the girls are ramping up production so hopefully if you haven’t had a chance to try a dozen there will be one available at your next pick-up.