Happy Holidays + 2017 Events & Programs!

Last night we celebrated the winter solstice with Fondue Night! Our amazing French & Swiss volunteer, Christiane, led a demo, where we learned the process, which cheeses and wine are the best to use, and what can accompany all this cheese. Our cutest attendee (to the right) really enjoyed his first fondue meal!

Tuesday (Dec. 27th) is our last class on 2016! Come with the kids for Latkes & Lanterns. First we will grate, fry, & eat some traditional (and not so traditional) potato pancakes, then we will create our very own mason jar lantern!

And to give you a sense of what is coming in January....we have a full calendar:

• January 8th: Revive, Renew & Refresh with Vision Board
• Jan. 11th: Whole Gran Bread Workshop (which usually sells out)!
• Jan. 14th: From Nest to Table: Chickens, Eggs & Quiche!
• Jan. 21st: Time to Make the Donuts 
• Jan. 26th: Hot Stuff: An Indian Cooking Class & Meal
• Jan. 28th: The Poor Yoricks: An Evening of Improv Fun at the Farm

We wish you the happiest of holidays and hope to see you in 2017!

Winter Share 4

Wintery oat and pea cover crop

Winter Share 4

Our 2016 farm season wraps up this season with our final winter share distribution this Friday (12-4) and Saturday(10-2). Yesterday we had our final harvest of the year. Andrew, volunteer extraordinaire Mark, and I brought in the last of the kale and carrots. It is always bittersweet to reach this point in the season. It's another aspect of farming that we plan for and yet have no control over. This year we have experienced a mild fall and a decent amount of moisture. This has meant bountiful greens and big beautiful heads of cauliflower and broccoli. Carrots, a crop that was hit so hard by the drought, have reached a harvestable size and are sugary sweet. Yesterday as we rushed to pull the last carrots from the ground before it froze solid we witnessed a fox trotting through the fields. This is the time of year when the  farm is turned back over to the wild creatures that call Powisset home. A friend asked me the other day what my favorite season is and my response, somewhat to my own surprise, was winter. I love the quiet it brings and the wild rawness that envelopes the land. One of the questions I get asked most often is "what do you do in the winter". The answer is I keep farming. There are so many facets to farming that keep me busy through the winter; fixing equipment, ordering seeds, planning what to plant and where next season, hiring staff, writing my budget, attending professional development workshops, etc. The winter to do list is a long one.

The bountiful harvest of greens has also softened the impact of the loss of our crops stored in the root cellar. We take food safety very seriously and have zero tolerance when it comes to potential food contamination. The food in the root cellar had the potential of being contaminated by the leak therefore it was not distributed and has been composted. We are fixing the problem so that this issue does not happen again.

As it ends it begins. 2017 potting soil delivery.

We are expecting sever temperature lows tomorrow during distribution time. Because of this, on Friday only, we are moving the operation into the barn kitchen and classroom space. Temperatures are supposed to be more moderate on Saturday and the classroom space is being utilized for other activities.

This weeks share will be comprised of cauliflower, potatoes, carrots, kale, watermelon radishes, daikon radishes, rutabaga, popcorn, and spinach.

Farm Stand:
The farm stand will be open Friday and Saturday with all your favorite Powisset items

Jordan Brothers Seafood will be joining us on Friday from 1-4.

Pop Up Meat Sale and Demo:
This Saturday Livestock Manager Connor Young will be selling beef, pork, and chicken from The Trustees livestock program. He will also be performing a cooking demo with some samples and a q&a in the kitchen at 11am.

This will be last blog post for a few weeks. We will miss you all this winter but look forward to seeing you back on the farm next summer.

Be well,

Zannah, On behalf of the farm staff.

Holiday Happenings + More!

Hi everyone! Thank you again to the talented musicians who graced us with their presence on Saturday at "Seasons Unplugged: Acoustic Tunes". Suzanne Greenwald kicked things off on her amazingly beautiful harp, followed by Steve Lewis of The Lewis Brothers and Joe Sabourin of My Mothers Mustache. The 3 of them came together as a trio, for the grand finale, playing a hair-raising (in a good way) version of Silent Night.

Thursday kicks off the first Meat CSA pick up here at Powisset. Even if you did not sign up for the CSA, you will still have the opportunity to buy individual cuts of meat - beef, pork and poultry, from 2-6pm. 

Saturday is a big day for Powisset - lots of stuff going on! As you may know, it is our last Winter CSA pick up before we put the barn to sleep. More info to come from Zannah....In conjunction with our Winter Share we are having our first ever Meat Sale! We will be selling many cuts of beef (steaks, roasts, ground), pork, and pasture-raised poultry. Come and get it while you can from 10-2pm. At 11am, our Livestock Manager, Connor Young, will be leading a discussion on the benefits of grass fed beef and its differences in taste. The day will end by learning how to make Latkes & Lanterns at 2pm. We hope to see you on Saturday!

Winter share 3

Winter Share 3

Howdy folks,                     

I apologize for the late post. We have had to reorganize this weeks share because yesterday our root cellar, where we store most of our winter vegetables, was affected by a ruptured pipe. We are assessing the extent of the damage caused by the leak. It is likely that we will lose some of our crops that were being stored in the cellar. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we have a good deal of crops that were not affected and we will have a share full of carrots, broccoli, head lettuce, cauliflower, potatoes, radishes, scallions, kale, popcorn,  and collards this week. We will also have herbs available as pick your own.

In the farm stand:

Cauliflower!
 

We will have all of our delicious vegetables (including lots of broccoli and cauliflower) available for sale in the farm stand. We will also have Powisset Farm eggs, Powisset Farm sausage, Peter's Farm honey and jams, frozen organic wild Maine blueberries, Natick Community Farm Maple Syrup, and Spindrift Soda.

Starting Saturday we will be selling Trustees beef and whole chickens raised at Moose Hill Farm. We will also have additional pork cuts from Powisset's own pigs!

Bushel and Crumb Pies!!! We have frozen pies available in the stand-up freezer next to the bottle cooler.

Welsh Cakes: Chocolate chip, cranberry, and currant

Jordan's Seafood will be selling their amazing seafood and soups at the farm on 12/3 and 12/16 from 10 - 2

Winter Share and Farm Stand hours are:

Third pick up: 12/2 12-4 or 12/3 10-2

Fourth pick up: 12/16 12-4 or 12/17 10-2

Zannah, on behalf of the farm crew