Fall is a simpler season in many ways on the farm. Plant growth has slowed down, which means we have less crop maintenance to do and more time to focus on reaping the benefits of all the planting, weeding, mulching, pruning and trellising we did over the spring and summer. Many of the crops we will be enjoying over the next weeks have already been harvested and are in storage (like winter squash, sweet potatoes, onions and garlic), and others such as carrots and beets are done growing and ripening and just waiting for us to harvest in the field when we need them. There are still leafy greens and other crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts that need regular harvesting when ready but they are largely done needing any other maintenance from us.
While we are enjoying the fall harvest and cooking season, we are not in a “stress free” farm zone yet! Storage of fall crops can be complicated if you don’t have the right amount of space or the proper storage conditions. This is a challenge we are constantly trying to work around, as our barn is small and humid, which leads to lots of premature storage crop rot. We have better storage conditions in the farm stand (which we have been able to utilize more this year with our modified farm stand and CSA set-up), and the Town made some space available to us in their red barn this fall. This has helped a lot, but we’ve still needed to store some crops temporarily in the white barn before freeing up space elsewhere, so there has been a lot of moving vegetables around, and still more rot than we’d like to see. We lost a lot of delicata, red kuri, acorn and buttercup to rot already, but fortunately the butternut, tetsukabuto (a new squash we grew this year) and pie pumpkins made it into better storage space this year and are looking good!
Another complication in the fall is figuring out how to fill in when there are partial crop failures of fall staples as it is well past the time when planting can help make up for losses. We had an intense drought this year (and we are still in the midst of one - check out how low nearby waterways like the Assabet River, Nashoba Brook and Macone Pond are!) and irrigation was tough to keep up with. While the timing of our irrigation efforts worked okay for some potato varieties, it wasn’t enough for others. We’ll have potatoes again this week for the Main Season CSA but they will be the last, so we will buy in organic potatoes from Western Massachusetts to supplement the late fall CSA. We’d already been toying with the idea of buying in local storage potatoes more regularly, as our soil type and historic pest pressures make our land not very suitable for potato growing, but the drought this year forced our hand on this!
While this year has been tough for some crops, we are excited that our investment in four unheated high tunnels on the property is bearing fruit - literally! The colored peppers in particular have been amazing in the high tunnels this season. We didn’t devote an entire high tunnel to colored peppers this year because we had heard that some growers found them to be an inefficient use of space. However, we have been really impressed by the yields from them and are particularly excited to be pulling gorgeous colored peppers out of the tunnels two weeks after a frost! Next year we plan to grow a full tunnel’s worth so that we can hopefully have enough for both the store and CSA over a longer season. We’ve also got high tunnel kale, spinach, salanova and fennel coming later, and this week we are harvesting our fresh ginger for the store!
In the CSA this week:
Pie pumpkins - roast them and puree the cooked flesh to use in your favorite pumpkin recipes like pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread or pumpkin soup.
Leeks - they’re back!
Potatoes - Satina variety, they are yellow skinned with yellow flesh.
Hakurei salad turnips - delicious raw in salad, roasted, or sauteed in butter!
Spinach
Escarole - A fall cooking green.
Broccoli
Cabbage - Tendersweet and Savoy
Beets
Arugula
Mustard greens - a beautiful red spicy green that can be eaten cooked (it gets milder when cooked) or mixed in raw with a salad.
Salanova Lettuce Mix
Lettuce- red and green leaf
Garlic
CSA PYO:
We have had a a couple of frosts, so most PYO is done for the season, and the herbs need a break for a week. Hopefully the parsley and herbs in our raised beds will recover for more picking before the end of the CSA, but things do grow quite slowly this time of year!
PYO Flower CSA:
Flower picking is done for the 2020 season.
In the Farm Store:
In addition to the items listed in the CSA we will also have scallions, colored peppers, and fresh ginger from our high tunnel. We will also have organic cranberries from Fresh Meadow Farm in Carver, MA, honey from Double B Honey (harvested from hives on the property), sweet corn and jack-o-lantern pumpkins from Verrill Farm, and mushrooms from Fat Moon. Fat Moon has an abundance of mushrooms, and is making 3 pound boxes of mixed mushrooms available for $50. If you would like to order, please email Lise (lise@barrettsmillfarm.com) by Thursday at noon and we will add it to our order for Friday. It would be available to pick up after 2pm on Friday or on Saturday. Regular online pre-orders continue, but please note that pre-orders are available for Tuesday, Friday and Saturday pick-ups only. The link for online orders is https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop. Online ordering opens at 2pm the day before pick-up. Walk-up sales continue to be open for all Tuesday-Saturday.
Farm Store Hours
Tuesday - Friday 11am - 6pm
Saturday 9am-3pm
Please wear a snug fitting mask with multiple layers when approaching the farm stand. If you cannot wear a mask, simply order online and include a note in your order letting us know what car you will be driving (as well as roughly what time you will arrive) and we will bring your bag out to your car when you arrive. Thank you for your understanding!
Pumpkin Cranberry Ginger Scones
from Bon Appetit, November 2014
· ½ cup granulated sugar
· 2 teaspoons baking powder
· 1 teaspoon ground ginger (or try using some grated fresh ginger! - use more like 1 tbsp)
· ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
· ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
· ½ teaspoon kosher salt
· ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
· ¼ teaspoon baking soda
· 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
· ¾ cup (1½ sticks) chilled unsalted butter
· ½ cup chopped fresh cranberries
· 1 large egg
· ½ cup pumpkin puree (roast halved and de-seeded pie pumpkin until fork tender, scoop out flesh and puree)
· ¼ cup buttermilk, plus more for brushing
· 2 tablespoons raw sugar
Whisk granulated sugar, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, cloves, baking soda, and 2 cups flour in a large bowl. Using the large holes on a box grater, grate in butter, tossing to coat in dry ingredients as you go; toss in cranberries. Mix in egg, pumpkin, and ¼ cup buttermilk. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and pat into a 1½”-thick disk. Cut into 8 wedges; transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze until firm, 25–30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400°. Brush scones with buttermilk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden, 25-30 minutes.
Pumpkin Mushroom Soup
· ½ Pound Mushrooms
· ½ Cup chopped Onions
· Butter or Oil
· 2 Tablespoons Flour
· 1 Teaspoon Curry Powder
· 3 Cups Chicken or Vegetable Broth
· 1 Pound of cooked pureed Pumpkin
· 1 Tablespoon Honey
· 2 Tablespoons Dash of Nutmeg
· Salt and Pepper to Taste
· 1 Cup Evaporated Milk
Sauté mushrooms and onions in the butter (or oil). Add flour and curry powder and stir. Slowly add the broth and stir. Add pumpkin, honey and spices. Stir and simmer 10-15 minutes. Add evaporated milk. (Do not allow to boil after milk has been added.)
Spinach Pesto
from chow.com
• 8 ounces baby spinach
• 3/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
• 2 medium garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 ounce), plus more for serving
• Finely grated zest of 1 medium lemon (about 1 1/2 teaspoons)
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 1 medium lemon)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Place half of the spinach and all of the pine nuts and garlic in a food processor fitted with a blade attachment. Pulse, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed, until coarsely chopped, Add the remaining spinach and pulse until coarsely chopped, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the Parmesan, lemon zest and juice, salt, and pepper and process until combined, about 30 seconds. With the motor running, slowly pour in the oil and process until a smooth paste forms, about 30 seconds. Serve on top of pasta (or whatever else sounds good to you!).
Fresh ginger sharing space with pepper plants and fennel.