Oct. 17 - 21 Chatfield CSA e-news

Dear CSA Shareholders,

Despite some pretty substantial frosts our plants continue to amaze us with their bounty. We still have multiple varieties of peppers this late in the season! We are already planning for next year and we will begin the share renewal process next week.

We hope you all can make it to our final CSA potluck for the season on Nov. 5 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Feel free to bring friends and family - and your appetite!

this week’s produce (October 17-21)

• Peppers (hot and sweet)
• Eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage
• Beets, carrots, turnips – delicata and butternut winter squash
• Salad greens, spinach, and arugula
• Parsley and cilantro
• Leeks

this week’s fruit (October 18 and 20)

One bag of apples and one cider. 

weekly recipe
adapted from Creative Squash Cookery by Mary Mazzia

Delicata Squash Cookies

1 cup cooked, mashed delicata squash
1 cup brown sugar or honey/agave substitute
½ cup oil
2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ teaspoon of each: cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice
¼ tsp. ginger
1 cup raisins
¼ chopped nuts (not a necessity)

Mix dry ingredients and then wet ingredients together. Drop by spoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet and then bake at 400° F for 10 minutes.
 

farm topic – return of the gatherers
Leigh Rovegno, Horticulture and CSA Manager

Throughout the last two seasons of the CSA there has been an undeniable trend emerging: Women/ladies/farm girls have become our main source of labor that make your veggies, herbs and flowers possible each week. When I started dreaming about the possibility of starting a CSA at Chatfield I never thought that I would be working with predominantly women in the field running the tractors, hauling rocks, digging holes, planting plants and harvesting hundreds of pounds of produce each week. 

As I look back on the season I see the many faces of mothers, daughters, nurses, pilots, water engineers, accountants, students, baristas, urban gardeners, archaeologists, teachers and more. We all share a love of good food and an appreciation of the harvest. Each week we exchange recipe ideas, celebrate our canning, cooking and baking adventures, and brag about how we have utilized each piece of produce from that week's bounty. We share stories from our pasts and dream about the future.

I can't help but imagine that this is where we all come from; the spirit of the gatherers in the fields who labored to bring home food for their families. It's where we all come from and what we've now returned to; gathering together around the joy of food. I am incredibly grateful to be able to share this experience with so many wonderful people. I have learned so much from each and every one of you.

Thank you!

mark your calendars

- The final CSA potluck is Saturday, Nov. 5 at the Green Farm Barn from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. 
- The CSA volunteer appreciation event will be Friday, Dec. 16. Details to follow.


food safety note

Please note that although we have washed our produce once after harvesting it in the field, members should wash the produce at home again before eating. Our farm produce should be treated the same way as grocery store produce: always wash before eating! The best way to wash produce is by running it under cool water. Cleaning products are not necessary.