Author: Seth

What’s in Upic?……

Flowers      Herbs         Cherry Tomatoes

Cabbage, cabbage, cabbage…Yes there is more cabbage this week. Hope fully not too many of you are cursing us humble farmers every time you open the fridge and see…cabbage. Here’s the reason we have had so many weeks of this hefty vegetable. The last week of August and the first week of September was the hottest and longest heat wave to span those days on the calendar in Maine history. This pushed our end of the season cabbage forward by many weeks. We plan our plantings for temperatures to be gradually cooling starting at that time and when the weather doesn’t cooperate…we have a lot of cabbage, all at once. While we did plan on giving you all of this cabbage, we didn’t plan on giving it to you in so many consecutive weeks. Look for take-home cabbage recipes at pickup.

There was a great article in the New York Times this past Saturday about Americans and their dreadfully low consumption of vegetables (cabbage is a vegetable). Amongst the many interesting points in the article (including carrot vending machines in the NYC schools) was that in today’s fast paced world, cooking vegetables is a substantial effort and this is the big stumbling block to increasing their role in the American diet. This hits the nail right on the head –eating well is an effort. By choosing to work with raw produce each week instead of opening boxes and cans is, all of you are bucking the trend and making an investment in your family’s health. Here’s the link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/25/health/policy/25vegetables.html?_r=1&hp

Tranquil Tuesdays and Frantic Fridays. Over the course of every season many of you who started out picking up on Tuesday slowing drift to Fridays. We want you to have flexibility in your pickup days but if you are finding Fridays to be too busy here for your taste you might want to try to switch to Tuesday, which is always much quieter.

CSA sign-up for 2011 begins this week. We will be taking deposits ($100) for next years CSA shares starting this week. These deposits help us plan for next year and support the farm through the winter months as well. By signing up now you also get on our winter payment plan which divides the share cost over three payments in February, April and June. As always, payment in full is great too. We will begin opening up shares to our waiting list starting art the end of the month so if you would like a share for next year please don’t delay.

What to expect in your share this week…

Lettuce                 Potatoes                   Broccoli

Cabbage               Arugula                    Carrots

Kale                     Chard

Asian Greens       Chickories

Onions                 Winter Squash

When will it end? We will continue to harvest through the end of October, making Friday the 29^th our last pickup day of the season.

Local Food Feast. The Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust will be holding a local food feast called “Hand and Hand with the Land” Sunday October 17^th from 4-7 pm at Frontier Café in Brunswick. The event will celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the land trust and celebrate their efforts to save open space and important agricultural land (like Crystal Spring Farm). Local farmers and chefs are pared together to create a seasonal menu and bluegrass music will round out the event. There will be activities for the kids run by Cathance River Education Alliance. We will be working with Henry and Marty’s restaurant. Tickets are $25 for adults ($40 per couple, kids are free) and will be available at CSA pickup, during the Saturday market and at the land trust office on main street.

Crystal Spring Farm Lamb. Starting this week we will have order sheets for whole and half lamb for your freezer. Talk to us a pickup for more details.

What’s in Upic?……

Flowers      Herbs         Cherry Tomatoes

Transition is in full bloom around here these days as the leaves are lightening, the nights are chilly, and we have both Napa Cabbage and Winter Squash in the share this week. We will be giving out the last round of tomatoes and peppers this week. It is always sad time, but the cycle of things coming and going seems to make everything taste better over the course of the year.

Napa cabbage is a great vegetable. We sometimes call it “cabbage light” as its flavor is more subtle and its texture much lighter than European cabbage. If you are unsure of what to do with this crop, start by treating it as you would standard cabbage. We often shred it into the last moments of a stir fry, just letting it wilt a bit. If you like to make stuffed cabbage the tender leaves lend themselves to the rolling process and make eating easy as well.

We start winter squash this week thanks to about twenty of you who came out to help us harvest this past Saturday. What a great crew! We had just enough kids to help their parents pass the squash into our 20 bushel bulk bins. By our estimate we gathered about 6000 lbs in about an hour and a half. The first variety we will see this week is sweet dumpling. This white and green squash is great roasted. Cleave it in half, scrape out the seeds, brush the cut side with oil or butter and cook skin up on a cookie sheet at 400 dgrees for 35-40 minutes. For those with a sweet tooth or reluctant children at the dinner table, turn the cooked squash so the cut side is up, brush amply with butter and shake/drizzle brown sugar, maple syrup or honey and set under the broiler until golden brown.

CSA sign-up for 2011 begins next week. We will be taking deposits starting next week for the 2011 season. A deposit of $100 will not only secure your share for next year but will get you on our winter payment plan. Having all of you sign up early is a great help to us by reducing the administrative duties next spring, when we are busy in the fields.

What to expect in your share this week…

Lettuce                 Potatoes

Cabbage               Arugula

Kale                     Chard

Peppers                Tomatoes

Asian Greens       Chickories

Beets                    Winter Squash

Sheep breeding has begun this week. We turned two rams out with the girls this past week and they seem to be going well. To monitor the process we make a paste by mixing pigment and vegetable oil together which is slathered all over the rams’ chest. As the ram mounts the ewes he leaves behind a mark on their hind quarter. We change the color each week and can then find out who has been bred when and how efficient the ram is doing his job. As you pass by the farm, look for brightly colored marks on the hind quarters of the ewes.

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 Searles Hall, room 315 this Wednesday, September 22^nd at 7pm. Here’s a link to the bowdoin calendar http://www.bowdoin.edu/calendar/event.jsp?bid=480229&rid=55410

More apples from our friends at Willow Pond Farm in Sabattus. Low spray macs, cortlands and pears along with the world’s best cider will be for sale at pick-up. Really, can cider taste this good or am I dreaming?

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 (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.