Powisset Happenings!

Hi All!

The Powisset blog has been very quiet on the event and program front, but we are back in action and we have lots to say!

We are in the midst of a 3 week series - a collaboration between the Dover Parks & Recreation Department & Powisset Farm. Each week is different but all weeks involve food! Last week focused on chickens & eggs. This week, we will focus on harvesting carrots. And the final week is pumpkin whoopie pies as we prepare for Halloween! To prepare for next week's whoopie pies, I made these over the weekend, based on the recipe by Renato Poliafito (see the 11/11 class below). Yum!





We have several events & programs happening this fall which can all be found here or click on the specific links below:
10/29: Powisset Farm Trail Run: whether you are a serious runner or only up for the 1-miler
11/4: The 4th Annual Tri-Town Hike. Hike the entire 13 miles (through Hale Reservation, Noanet Woodlands, Powisset Farm, and Rocky Woods) or one of the shorter sections.
11/8: Thanksgiving Pie Baking Class with Julia!: At this class, you will take home 2 sweet pies which you can save/freeze for Thanksgiving....or eat right away!
11/11: Pumpkinpalooza with Baked NYC: Join well known owner and chef of Baked (in NYC) who will lead a class focused on pumkpins. This will Renato's 2nd time at Powisset.

We hope to see you around the farm!

Summer CSA: Week 18

2017 Mobile Market Crew: Allison, Estela, Kelvin, Sadrak

Howdy Folks,

We've got really innovative and exciting programs we are cultivating at Powisset. This week our guest writer is Mobile Market Manager Allison Pekel. keep reading to learn more about the expansion of our meat CSA and winter share options!

In my 8 years as a Boston resident, I've always lived and worked in and around the city, surrounded by tall buildings and people in business suits. As much as I've enjoyed that part of my Boston life, what an absolute dream it's been to get to experience a summer at Powisset Farm! As the manager of The Trustees Mobile Farmers Market, which launched its' first season this year, I have the added benefit of getting to share some of the bounty of this gorgeous farm with the people of Dorchester and Roxbury.

The Mobile Market is a new food access venture run by The Trustees with this pilot season funded by a grant from the USDA. The project is designed to bring the same fresh, local, seasonal produce you get in your CSA shares every week, into the city where finding quality fruit and veggies can be a struggle. We try to make this produce as attainable as possible by both accepting payment from government supported programs like SNAP (Food Stamps) and WIC's Farmers Market Nutrition Program in addition to the usual cash, debit, and credit cards.

At this point you've undoubtedly seen me driving our brightly colored 16-foot Mobile Market truck up and down Powisset Street on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays on my way to and from market days. We'll be running the market until November 4th and next time you see me, feel free to swing by, say hell, and take a quick tour of the truck. We couldn't do projects like these without the support of the wonderful community  you've built up around this farm. So thank you!

For more information on the project, you can find us on Instagram @TrusteesMobile, in the new, Fall issue of Special Places or watch our CBS News broadcast! 

 
 
 

 

The Trustees Winter Meat CSA is growing!

Cattle on pasture

For a second year, a full variety of sustainably-raised, grass-fed and pastured meats from Trustees farms are available from our Winter Meat CSA program. CSA shares include beef, pork, chicken, and (new this year) lamb! An add-on option for eggs is also available. The CSA runs from November through May this winter. Sign up now to reserve your share!

Winter Meat CSA pickups will include 7 lbs. of frozen meat—cuts will vary, ranging from steaks to ground beef, chops to sausage, as well as chicken. Choose the frequency that best suits your needs: every-other-week or once-a-month, beginning the week of November 7 and running through the week of May 22. Shares total either 105 pounds (every-other-week share) or 49 pounds (once-a-month share) of meat. All meat is frozen and the cuts vary each pickup with an option of adding one dozen free-range eggs. We hope provide CSA members with a chance to try some new and adventurous meals while accommodating the supper-time realities of everyday life! Pickup at Powisset Farm will be Wednesdays from 2-6.

We expect shares to sell out this winter, so don’t delay! More information is available at www.thetrustees.org/meatcsa and we’ve answered some frequently asked questions on the Meat CSA blog, http://trusteesmeat.blogspot.com/.

In this weeks share:

Livestock manager Jesse

Pullet eggs

Spicy greens mix
Onions
Potatoes
Garlic
Scallions
Beets
Carrots
Broccoli Raab
Spinach
Winter Squash
Sweet Peppers


PYO:
Herbs
Hot Peppers
Feel free to pick cherry tomatoes, husk cherries, and tomatillos
as well. We will be turning these fields in soon to put down
cover crops.

 Your farmer,

Zannah

Summer CSA: Week 17!

Howdy folks,

Andrew mastering the
tine weeder

Where did the summer go? I can't believe that it is October already. This has absolutely been the fastest summer I have experienced as a farmer. I took my dogs for a hike to the summit of Mt. Cardigan in New Hampshire on Sunday (time and energy for such adventures is a sure sign that the season is winding down). It was the perfect New England day with a crystal clear blue sky and a hint of orange and red in the maple leaves.
With clear skies and cool temperatures we are sure to get our first frost soon. This week we will be staging row cover next to our fields of tender fall greens. Ready to pull the covers over if the temperatures dip down into the 30's. We are also continuing our sweet potato harvest. The sweet potatoes need at least 2 weeks to for the skins to toughen and the flesh to sweeten. I expect to have them in the last two weeks of the summer share as well as in the winter share.

A nest of snapping turtles
hatched this week

 2017 WINTER SHARE SIGN-UP IS OPEN!!!

 

Follow this link: https://secure3.convio.net/ttor/site/SPageServer?pagename=powissetfarmcsa

 

OR Bring payment to the farm stand!!! You can now register and pay for your 2017 winter share at the farm stand while you are picking up your summer share!!!

In the share this week:
Potatoes
Winter Squash
Onions
Garlic

I found this horned caterpillar
 in the beets

Spicy greens
Lettuce
Carrots
Peppers
Spinach

PYO:
Herbs
Hot peppers

Your Farmer,

Zannah

Summer CSA: Week 16

Howdy folks,

 

2017 Apprentices: Diane, Phil, Jared

This week you get to hear a new voice from the field. Phil is completing is first year as an apprentice at Powisset and his second year farming. I have invited other members of the farm crew to share their perspective of the farm over the next few weeks

Farming leaves me dumbfounded.　 Our crops grow big, ripe and delicious from nearly nothing.　 Sure, we expect this.　 It's the whole point.　 We spend our days ensuring this growth, doing things that have worked for millions of farmers over centuries.　 We're a skilled group at Powisset, and we expect success.　 Still, while we farm I can't shake the feeling that what we do is ridiculous, even insane - that messing around in the dirt all day cannot actually make food grow. 　

For example: we start the season with white paper envelopes filled with seeds.　 These seeds are tiny, dry, and unremarkable.　 Some look like dark grains of sand.　 Some are larger and horned and usually you'd only notice them if they became stuck inside your hiking boot.　 These lifeless bits of trash we bury in dank soil.　 We hose them down.　 The next day, we hose them down again.　 Same thing the day after that, and the next.　 Within a week or two - are you kidding me - from the spots where each seed was buried, fragile sets of matching leaves poke through the soil, waving from tender shoots.　 Pretty soon, the leaves are recognizable: there's basil, there's lettuce, kale, beets, cabbage, et cetera.　 How can I match the silly little things I did, the burying and the watering, with this miraculous result?　 You'd think I must have cast a magic spell over each seed to make life arise where no life had been.　 At the least, you'd think I must have been concentrating very hard.　 But when life began I probably wasn't even paying much attention - my mind likely wandered elsewhere, to the smells in the greenhouse, my bank account, the stiffness in my neck, or a joke from one of the knuckleheads on the farm crew. 　

Look for our new labels around the farm stand

Because I'm very new to farming, the strangeness of this job is still clear to me.　 Farmers make changes to the ecosystem which favor the seeds they've planted.　 Sometimes these changes are simple, like weeding.　 Other times they're complicated, like adding nitrogen to deficient soil.　 But no matter what changes we make, we can't take credit for the mystery at the center of what we do.　 Life starts, and food grows.　 We facilitate the mystery, but we aren't responsible for it. 　

 

Phil, 2017 Apprentice

 

This weeks share:

Scallions

Lettuce

Beets

Winter squash

Peppers

Bok choi

Garlic

Potatoes

Simba is always ready to distract with snuggles

This hot weather has stressed out the fall lettuce. This week we have to harvest it small because it is starting to bolt (go to seed) prematurely.

 

In the Farm Stand:

 

- Wild Maine Organic Blueberries: Available in 1 pound and 10 pound cotainers

- A variety of Bushel and Crumb take and bake pies

- Powisset grown Tomato Puree

- and so much more!

 

2017 WINTER SHARE SIGN-UP IS OPEN!!!

 

Follow this link: https://secure3.convio.net/ttor/site/SPageServer?pagename=powissetfarmcsa

 

OR Bring payment to the farm stand!!! You can now register and pay for your 2017 winter share at the farm stand while you are picking up your summer share!!!

 

Your farmer,

 

Zannah

 

 

Summer CSA: Week 15

Howdy folks,

We are expecting several inches of rain over the next two days. I am anticipating that the rain will wipe out the remainder of our field tomato crop (I am keeping my fingers crossed for the cherry tomatoes). I didn't put tomatoes on the list this week for that reason. On the up side, the rain is really good for our fall lettuce, radishes, arugula, and salad mixes. It is going to be a slog out there the next few days however I am grateful that hurricane Jose is weakening and I have those whose lives have been impacted by Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, and Hurricane Maria which is currently building in the eastern part of he Caribbean.

Over the next few weeks I am handing the blog over each week to one of the farm apprentices. I am looking forward to hearing their perspectives of the farm and to take a little vacation from writing.

Winter Share sign-ups are officially open! There are 3 distribution; 2 in November and one in December.

1) November 3-4: pick up either Friday 2-6 or Saturday 10-2
2) November 17-18: pick up either Friday 2-6 or Saturday 10-2
3) December 8-9: pick up either Friday 2-6 or Saturday 10-2

The shares will be larger than our average summer shares and consist of broccoli, sweet potatoes arugula, shallots, lettuce, winter squash, onions, leeks, garlic, potatoes, popcorn, herbs, carrots, and more. The first share will have more leafy greens and as we progress into December you can expect mostly crops that store the longest such as roots (carrots, beets, radishes), tubers (potatoes, sweet potatoes), alliums (garlic, onions, shallots) and winter squash in the share. We will have recipes and storage guides to help you make the most of the winter bounty.

The link to sign up is:
https://secure3.convio.net/ttor/site/SPageServer?pagename=powissetfarmcsa

This weeks share:
Arugula
Bok Choi
Peppers
Beets
Carrots
Lettuce
Potatoes
Fennel
Eggplant


Your farmer,

Zannah

Summer CSA: Week 14

Howdy folks,

 

Still cleaning onions

Here we are at week 14 of the summer CSA. It is hard for me to believe that we only have six more weeks of the summer CSA left. This summer has really flown by. The maple trees along Powisset Street are turning their fiery reds and oranges. I hope that this year we will witness more spectacular fall colors then last year. Everything suffered with the drought last year and as I remember it the fall leaves were pretty dull.

Look for our cool new labels on items
in the farm stand

I don't have much to report from the farm from the last week. As my farm mentor Amanda used to say, with an emphasis on the "st", the weather has been outstanding the past few weeks. I love this time of year on the farm. Cool and dry. The days have been shortening for several months now but I am only starting to really notice it as we pack up after the CSA.  The last thing we do on those nights is take out the compost and close up the field gates. As we progress into fall we have to wonder into the inky darkness to complete those chores. I am ready for the farm to quiet down a bit. Fall encourages farmers to slow down and winter forces farmers to take a pause. We have just a few more bulk harvests to get out of the fields over the coming weeks. The sweet potatoes are up next. I think the popcorn will be ready in short order as well.

I have gotten lots of inquiries about the Winter CSA. It is happening again this year! Signups will be online this year. Our IT team is working on updating the website and the link to sign up will be coming in the next week or two.


In case you haven't had time to put up
your own tomatoes we have
Powisset grown pureed tomatoes
available in the farm statnd!

Harvest Fest!
Please join us for harvest fest this Saturday! The farm stand will be open and you will be able to pick up your share however the Pick Your Own Fields will be closed to picking on Saturday. There will be many vendors and events at harvest fest. The cost is member: 9/person, $24/family and non-member $15/person and $30/family. Follow the link to learn more:





http://www.thetrustees.org/things-to-do/greater-boston/event-33152.html?srregion=&srrelated_property=56508840&srevent_type=&dateType=srevent_start_date&srstartDate=&srendDate=&x=9&y=9

**Parking on Saturday will be in the event field on the other side of the barn from where you usually park for pickup**
**the CSA will be open on Tuesday and Thursday until 6:30 to offer more time this week to do your pick your own your share**



We had a special visitor while weeding beets on Thursday

In this weeks share:
Potatoes (red and blue)
Onions
Garlic
Lettuce
Arugula
Carrots
Peppers
Tomatoes (still holding on but really slowing down)
Cooking greens (the kale is still rebounding, please be patient with your farmers as we coax it back to health)

Your farmer,

Zannah

Summer CSA: Week 13

Howdy folks,

We have briefly entered into fall over the past week. A friend of mine who farms on the north side of town even got a little bit of frost on Saturday morning on his sweet potatoes. No signs of frost at Powisset but it has been cool and crisp. We've been adding to that fall feeling as we harvest our winter squash. This is one of my all time favorite harvests. The whole crew works together and I am always blown away by the beauty of these delicious fruits. This week we will be enjoying one of my favorite squashes, delicate. Delicata  is a winter squash though it is belongs to the same species as most types of summer squash, Cucurbita pepo The fruits are torpedo shaped with green or orange pin stripes running lengthwise. Unlike many winter squash the flesh of delicate is edible making them very easy to prepare with no need to peel them.

Other happenings on the farm this week include a lot more coyote activity. I witnessed one hunting the Canada geese on Sunday morning. Just as I arrived she sprung out of a vegetable field. She didn't catch one but it was quite dramatic. Sunday also marked the Outstanding In The Field dinner. We had an incredible meal that included Powisset vegetables and pork, created by chef Josh Lewin and his talented team at Juliet in Somerville. If you are unfamiliar with Outstanding In The Field check out their website: http://www.outstandinginthefield.com/.




In the share this week:
Ripe peppers
Delicata squash
Potatoes
Onions
Fennel
Lettuce
Radishes
Tomatoes
Carrots

No cooking greens this week as we are between plantings. We've been battling flea beetle and fusarium wilt (a fungus) all season in all our brassicas (kale, collards, cabbage). Our third planting of kale needs a bit more time to grow before we start harvesting it.

If you are looking to something to do with your fennel this week here is a recipe to roast it:  http://www.food.com/recipe/roasted-fennel-406749
I really like roasted fennel on pizza or tossed with pasta with fresh tomatoes, Italian sausage, and mozzarella.

A little note about ripe peppers as well. Powisset has the unfortunate honor of supporting a pepper fly population. The pest is hyper regional. one farm may be effected while the next farm over is not. These flies lay there eggs on the calix (green top that attaches to the stem of the pepper plant). When the egg hatches the larva then bores into the fruit of the pepper. This week we will do our best to cull the fruits that have been affected. If you find that you have an infected pepper fear not. You can remove the soft spot that the larva creates. The rest of the pepper is perfectly good.

Reminder that next week the CSA will be open until 6:30 on both Tuesday and Thursday. This is because on Saturday the 16th we will be celebrating our harvest festival. The CSA will be open on the 16th however the pick your own fields will not be open for picking.

Your farmer,

Zannah