The Food Project: Youth. Food. Community.

CSA Survey

Please help us by filling out the CSA Survey. Part of what is nice about community supported farming is that you have a voice in the process, so let us know what you think. Thank you!

Final News from the Farm

With our last harvest fast approaching on Thursday, Tim and I have been working hard to get beds ready for winter. We've been cleaning up the farms, spreading compost and planting rye as a cover crop (to hold soil and add organic matter to it) so next spring we can hit the ground running.

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CSA Survey

We depend on your feedback to help shape next year's planning. In order to make sure we get your input, we have set up an online survey: CSA Survey. It is very short and simple, and your participation helps us a ton. We are also leaving printed surveys at each site this week in case you would prefer to participate this way. Thank you!!!

Blog Note

As you may have already seen, we're experimenting with carving the farm newsletters up into blog posts a little differently this week. Your North Shore recipe is in the preceding post: Simple Miso Soup.

I’m not 100% sure what triggered this, it may have been Sundays 59-0 Patriots snow infused dismantling of the Titans or that the fields have transitioned from summer crops to fall, but I started thinking about miso soup today. Most seasons the transition from ratatouille to miso soup isn’t as pronounced. The 2009 season has yet again surprised me.

Simple Miso Soup a la today’s share:

Ingredients:

Olive oil
3 or 4 carrots cut thin
2 or 3 leeks cut thin
2 or 3 bok choy , both stems and leaves cut thin
miso, 5 or 6 tsp (I use traditional red and well worth a special trip to the supermarket)
block of tofu, cubed
water
crushed black pepper and soy sauce (tamari) to taste

Preparation:

Add olive oil, carrots, and leeks into a pan and sauté until carrots are less crunchy (approx 10 minutes).

Add bok choy, tofu, and water to just cover the veggies and cook until bok choy is tender.

Remove from heat and add miso (follow directions for use on miso container).

Add crushed pepper and soy sauce to taste.

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Even in the Rain As you have probably heard, the weather tomorrow is looking to be very cold and probably wet.

Given this, and the fact that everyone who has RSVP'ed for tomorrow's event picks up their share in either Swampscott or Lynn, we've decided to move the event to our office at 120 Munroe St. in Lynn.

We will be having a potluck lunch in the warmth at our office from 12- 1 PM, followed by tours of our new urban farm on Munroe street, and cider pressing.

Hope to see you there!

Best regards, James Harrison

News from the Farm

Dear Members,

We hope to see you at Long Hill at our Fall Fiesta this coming Saturday. We'll be having a potluck lunch from 12:00 - 1:00 PM, and then will be pressing apple cider afterwards with our old-time cider press until 3:30 PM. Please join us for all or part of the day.

During my pre-farmer days (while in college) I read a passage from Hermann Hesse’s Beneath the Wheel that struck me with the beauty of Fall and of sharing a harvest. I found the passage on Google books just now:

The crunching of the apples sounded harsh but appetizing. Anyone passing by who heard this sound could not help reaching for an apple and taking a bite. The sweet cider poured out of the pipes in a thick stream, reddish-yellow, sparkling in the sun. Anyone passing by who saw this could not help asking for a glass, taking a sip and then just standing there, his eyes moistened by a sense of well-being and sweetness which surged through him. And this sweet cider filled the air far and wide with its delicious fragrance.

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Save the date

What: CSA Fall Celebration
Where: Long Hill Reservation, 572 Essex St., Beverly
When: October 17, 12:00 - 2:00 PM

Please RSVP to nscsa@thefoodproject.org by October 12

News from the farm

One of my favorite things about farming is the feeling of Abundance. There are points in every season when I find myself in the middle of picking, and just can't believe how much food is out there. Whether picking tomatoes, summer squash or potatoes, I just start laughing at how much food, and therefore how much more work, lies ahead of me. I can only describe it as a kind of giddy-despair. While this season has been shorter on these moments than usual, with farmers across the state reporting record low crop yields in everything from hay to pumpkins to tomatoes to honey, we have found Abundance in abundance in the Kanner Orchard in Lincoln.

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SAVE THE DATE

What: CSA Fall Celebration!
Where: Long Hill Reservation, 572 Essex St., Beverly
When: October 17, 12:00 - 2:00 PM

Please join us for a state-of-the-farm tour and potluck lunch on October 17. This will be a great opportunity to meet and hear from the staff, youth, and other members that make up the community of our community supported agriculture program. We will provide salad, dessert, and the opportunity to press as many apples as you like into fresh, delicious cider. This is a kid-friendly event, and will be a lot of fun.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP by October 13.

Hope to see you there!

If you would like to come work on the farm with our D.I.R.T. Crew (Dynamic, Intelligent, Responsible Teenagers) beforehand, our Serve and Grow Volunteer Program starts at 9:30 AM. Let us know if you would like to participate.

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In the share

cilantro
basil
cabbage
eggplant
peppers
spuds
squash
wax beans
apples

Fish Tacos

I’ve been getting a little compulsive about fish tacos of late and have tried to pair our cabbage, cilantro, and hot peppers with a keeper striper…no luck yet on the striper, but the fish tacos have been great. Here are a few ideas, including an article about fish tacos that was in the Globe a couple weeks ago. The epicurious recipe is really nice and simple once you get the hang of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLCjpm0_TfA
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2009/09/09/fish_tacos_land...
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Grilled-Fish-Tacos-242128

Recipes of the Week

Fish Tacos

Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay

Prep Time: 35 min
Inactive Prep Time: 25 min
Cook Time: 45 min

Tacos:

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News from the farm

listening This month marks a transition to the Academic Year Season when the youth in our programs return to school, and we welcome hundreds of volunteers to the land to assist with harvests, planting, weeding, and closing the farms for winter. Many youth at The Food Project continue working and learning with us throughout the school-year as participants in our "DIRT" Crew, or as Interns. The DIRT Crew and Intern Program are the 2nd and 3rd levels, respectively, of our three-tiered youth development system that takes youth through the high school years.

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News from the farm

cabbages This has been a great week on the farm. With our spading machine back in business after a couple weeks in the shop and a string of beautiful sunny days, we have been able to finish preparing the final beds of the season for planting. With a little help from the weather, we will plant our last seedlings from the greenhouse into these beds this week. This marks an important transition in the farm season: all the months of crop planning and planting have come to an end, and now we harvest and hope for a long, warm fall…..

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