CSA « boston localvores

CSA

Can Someone Do Me a Fava?!?!?

I can admit it: I’m a little obsessed with fava beans. While I was living in Spain, my co-worker/buddy would make me my favorite dish when I was grumpy. Known as “habas con jamon y huevos,” it is an amazing combo that I’ve never seen someone NOT enjoy. Although, apparently some people have a genetic disorder called “favism” that results from eating them…

Fava Beans

Having never eaten fresh fava beans (we used frozen in Spain), I jumped at the chance to re-create the dish while at the farmer’s market. I bought a few pounds from Parker Farms and then swung by Savenor’s on my trusty bici to get the coveted Jamon Serrano. With eggs from Austin Brothers Valley Farm and onions and garlic from my Red Fire Farm CSA, this was guaranteed to be an awesome meal. [The only thing missing was authentic Spanish olive oil, which truly can’t be beat, but that’s a blog story for another day.] The desired result was even better than I remembered.

I have since returned to buy almost 30 pounds of fresh fava beans for freezing purposes, from Parker Farms and Drumlin Farms. Fava beans are only around for two or three weeks a year from what I understand, so I may have gone a little overboard, especially given the tiny freezer in my apartment. For freezing purposes, you need simply to shuck the beans, parboil for two to three minutes, dunk them in cold water to cool them off, drain, lay them out in a single layer, freeze through, then bag them up! You’ll have to shuck them out of their giant pods and THEN peel the outer layer off of each bean to actually cook them for eating right away (or after defrosting later). I recommend watching an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents on Hulu while shucking. A friend is certainly helpful, too…

HABAS CON JAMON Y HUEVOS

NOTE: I don’t really do measurements for certain recipes. If you like something more than something else, use more of it. If you want the ham to egg ratio to be 5:1, have at it, I say.

1 pound shucked/peeled fava beans (this is about 2 pounds of whole fresh fava beans)
Small piece of Jamon Serrano, slice should be ¼ to ½ inch thick, cubed [DO NOT TRIM THE FAT!!!
Eggs
Onion
Garlic
Olive Oil
Salt/pepper
Love (you should always have this on hand and always use it)

Fry onion and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes, taking care not to brown the garlic.
Toss in the ham and let the fat melt. Toss in the fava beans and continue frying until the beans just start to brown and the onions start to caramelize and the ham gets a bit crispy, but not too crispy.
Make little wells within the mixture and crack an egg into each one. Fry the eggs until desired level of eggness. Putting a lid over the frying pan will help to cook the tops of the eggs, rather than attempting to flip them.

I find that this meal works for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, whatever, and is quite filling. Or enjoy with a nice Chianti, as Hannibal Lecter recommends.

Happy eating!!

CSA — No Comments
2
Jul 09

CSA: Week Fo’

Cucumbers! Already! And kohlrabi, lettuce, carrots, turnips, chard, scallions, cabbage, beets and zucchini.

CSA — No Comments
24
Jun 09

CSA: Week 3

Here she is: week three of the CSA.

This week’s share includes cabbage, kale, onions, dill, cilantro, turnips, broccoli, zucchini, lettuce.

CSA — No Comments
17
Jun 09

CSA: Week 2 + does anyone need a share?

We’re going to start photographing our share every week.

This week: Kohlrabi, turnips, zucchini, garlic scapes, dill, scallions, lettuce, salad mix, spinach, carrots, broccoli, courtesy of Red Fire Farm in Granby, Ma.

Also, in their newsletter this week, they said they still had shares available. Because I feel it is my duty, I’m reporting that, but secretly I’m hoping there will a huge surplus of vegetables.

CSA / Community / Meat — 1 Comment
5
May 09

Met the meat

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On Sunday, May 3, as a project of Boston Localvores, 31 hungry, curious, urban localvores descended on unsuspecting Hardwick, Ma in two unmarked vans and one renegade car.

It wasn’t until we arrived at the Stillman’s house and unloaded that we looked like a wedding party that some UFO dropped in a pasture. Thirty plus people is more than you’d think. Also, we brought questions on behalf of every man, woman and child in Boston. But that was good. You know how sometimes you’re at an event and the speaker asks for questions and gets stony silence in return and you’re kind of embarrassed for everyone? Not the case!

Kate Stillman and Aidan Davin, of Stillman’s at the Turkey Farm, were gracious enough to bring us into their home and barn, tell us all about their farm, their business and pass out lambs for holding. There was so much to learn about. They raise chickens (broilers), eggs, lamb, pork and beef on three different farms for retail to customers and a CSA. And they’re raising a baby. And they do this with one full time and one part time employee. And their bathroom was spotless.

Aside from seeing the animals, the best part of our visit to their two farms in Hardwick (the cattle are raised on Kate’s parents’ vegetable farm in Lunenburg), was how open they were about getting started. Aidan, for example, said that he didn’t know to castrate his first litter of piglets until some old pig farmer stopped by and said he’d better, soon. I heard another tale of pigs gone wild when, in the middle of some hellacious Hardwick snow storm scene and with Kate pregnant, three pigs leapt off the truck and took off into the woods. The aspiring farmer in me took heart. Kate, Aidan, baby, pigs, business all look fine now. Thriving even.

Our final stop was to the headquarters of Hardwick Beef, run by Ridge Shinn. Ridge approaches grass-fed beef production like no one else. Maybe a bit like a mad scientist, but in the best way possible. He explained to us a few things about grass-feeding - including that most cattle eat grass at some point in their lives, but that doesn’t qualify them as grass-fed. Most also eat grain at some point (the last point). So when you’re looking for grass-fed meat, you want 100%. No grass-fed, grain-finished. No maybe/ a little/ for the most part. “It’s like pregnancy,” said Ridge. “Either you are or you aren’t.”

Ridge doesn’t really raise cattle for slaughter at the Hardwick facility (read: big hilltop pasture). He breeds only the finest cattle who make the finest meat, and sells them to other Hardwick Beef producers, most of whom are in Vermont. In pursuit of this, he recently purchased an entire herd of Rotakawa cattle FROM NEW ZEALAND who have only ever, in their lives and in the lives of their forbears, eaten grass. The current stock we have in this country, he said, have been corrupted by the industrial beef industry who feed grain.

(For those who don’t know about this stuff, basically: cows aren’t designed to eat grain. They’re designed to eat grass. When they eat grain, their rumens (stomachs) become acidic welcome mats to stuff like E. coli, the cows become sick and in need of antibiotics to stay alive, the make up of the fatty acids of which meat is comprised go all wacky, etc. etc. etc).

There is way more than I can possible justify in a blog post. But we’ll go again. Maybe some of you will, too.

One final thought:

It was a long hour and a half on slow-going Route 2 and through single lane dirt roads to get where we were going and another long hour and a half back. A drive that the Stillman’s, as an operation, make TWENTY THREE times a week during the season. Holy shit. I mean, holy shit. This is in addition to the drives they make to upstate New York to have the animals slaughtered.

We had some tired-ass people draped all over the vans, sleeping, hungry, backs stiff, maybe verging on cranky. THANK YOU to those people. You were awesome and engaged and thoughtful and fun. I guess we (Kristi and I/Boston Localvores) could make these trips alone, but where’s the adventure in that?

CSA — No Comments
25
Feb 09

git yer CSA

Hopefully most of you saw this when it was published a coupla weeks ago in the Globe. And hopefully most people with several hundred spare dollars have signed up for a CSA already. But if not, here is a rather exhaustive (but probably not quite exhaustive) list of CSAs that deliver or have on-farm pickup inside the I-495 beltway. I tried. And I now feel like I finally own the use of the word “beltway” as it pertains to interstate highways and other major roads, having spoken with dozens and dozens of farmers and asked them about their relationship with it.

Incidentally, I also now feel a new appreciation for Massachusetts geography. On a personal note, Kristi is from Massachusetts and has spent many years covering the state for various news outlets. So I always say, with much admiration, “You, my love, are the Massachusetts expert.” Not like, of the two of us (though she is), but in general. She is also the only one between us with a Massachusetts drivers license, a problem at some liquor stores. But in putting together this list, I would sometimes chime, “Is Chaffinville inside the 495 beltway?” And she would not know. But now I do. It isn’t.

If you folks have any questions about CSAs in general or some of these CSAs in particular, or anything about Massachusetts (especially municipal structure, but up to and including statute and tax law), please write to us! info at bostonlocalvores.org

PS: We ended up going with Red Fire Farm out of Granby again this year because they have a cool deal wherein if you get your ass out there, you can pick tons of stuff for *free*. And we did last year and it was pretty awesome to wander around their sunny farm in summertime t shirts and pet the goat and nearly kill ourselves on cherry tomatoes off the vine. But lots of them do this kind of thing, or offer egg, fruit, herb, cheese or winter shares. Be sure to ask when you’re signing up.

PPS: We have a winter share right now with Enterprise Farm out of Whately (that’s in Western, Ma, yo!), and it’s delivered to Kickass Cupcakes in Davis Square, but Metro Pedal Power, a bike service company, picks it up and bikes it to our house for only $3 a week!

OK, go to it!

2009 CSAs

CSA / Updates — 2 Comments
16
Jan 09

Props to local rockstars

Last week we were happy to report that new and delicious opportunities to get local food (in winter!) have evinced themselves…. but just as that information was circulating the interwubs, two bits of sad news made their way to us. Namely that Chris Crandall wouldn’t be running his InSeason business any longer and that Gretta Anderson wouldn’t be farming in Belmont anymore.

This is disappointing for many reasons but not the least of which: we scored several lovely chickens, a few batches of homemade pasta and some tasty hydroponic basil, thanks to a handful of InSeason deliveries to our home. And in Oct - Dec, we collected three beautiful, bountiful winter CSA shares from Gretta and her squad of eminently friendly and efficient farmers. Gretta and Chris are both very wise and articulate about the importance of this localvore thing and I can say with certainty that they approached the work of feeding us yummy, sustainable food within a thoughtful, global, political and … dare I say it… radical context.

Here’s the deal, in their words: Chris sent out an email saying:

So, here I sit, loving the business but knowing it needs more than I can give it at this point. In Season is going on hiatus, for now.

And Gretta sent out a letter to shareholders:

Unfortunately, I will not be returning to farm in Belmont next year. The decision was very difficult to make, and certainly disappointing, but I believe it is the right decision. The owners of the farm and I have been unable to come to agreement about my continued use of the farmland in Belmont.

She also said that Bruce and Jenny Wooster at Picadilly Farm will bring CSA shares to Belmont this season, with first pick to Belmont CSA shareholders.

We salute these localvore warriors and we hope to hear more of their work and victories in the not-so-distant future…

CSA — 6 Comments
6
Jan 09

New Winter CSA! New citrus share!

We have some excellent news to share with you about a little something called the East Coast Foodshed.

The very heroic people at Enterprise Produce and Heaven’s Harvest farms have forged a partnership with producers who live and work below the Mason-Dixon line. There, exotic fruits like oranges and grapefruits grow and beloved veggies, like kale and peppers, keep coming, well past the day when everything has turned gray and died here in New England.

Why have they done this? Because they think it’s a crucial part of the local foods movement to share resources, to diversify the work of sustainable farming and to give us good eaters access to quality produce in the winter — from our part of the world, not just California and South America.

So here’s the deal:

Both farms are selling *new* Winter CSA shares that include veggies from these farms, plus greenhouse veggies + storage crops from New England farms.

Both are ALSO offering citrus boxes — pure, delicious organic fruit from East Coast farms. All of this is available now through March and you can sign up any time. You can buy ‘em both, or just the share, or just the citrus box.

Details:
Disclaimer: The info available on the farm web sites is a little hard to parse. I talked to both farms on the phone and got a little more clarity, but a lot of this work is new so it seems like they’re still sussing out the specifics. I encourage you to contact them directly if you have questions. Apologies if I get any of this wrong.

Heaven’s Harvest (New Braintree, Mass)

If you go here, then click on the most recent newsletter (and scroll way down) you can find a sample of what was in the last CSA share delivery. Don’t know the pricing on that.
If you want just a citrus box from them, it’s $65 for a full box of mixed fruit/$35 for a half share.
They deliver anywhere (seriously, anywhere). But they’re keen on developing drop offs for multiple shareholders in one place. So if you’ve got a business, a big enough apt., etc, and want to set this up, contact them at heavensorganic@yahoo.com. You can get a free share if you’re a host.
Use the same email address to sign up.

Enterprise (Whately, Mass)

Their Winter CSA is about $110/month for a small share and $150/month for a large share. Sign up any time and they’ll pro-rate what you owe.
They’re delivering in JP, Arlington and in Davis Sq — though they’re running low on slots in Davis. Home delivery is also available through Metro Pedal Power in Cambridge, Somerville and Charlestown. If you’re in some other ‘hood and want in on this action, they might be able to negotiate with you.
Click here to see what was in the first delivery.
Info on their citrus boxes is also here: $50 for a large order/single variety; $55 large order/variety box; $27 small order/single variety/$30 small order/variety box.

Also, both farms have open enrollment for their regular season CSA shares. They’re doing rather innovative work in terms of coordinating with these East Coast regional farms and I encourage you to investigate this and consider signing up.

If you wanna do any of this:

…But you think you can’t handle a full or half share on your own. Write to us and we’ll help connect you to a neighboring good eater to split the loot (and the cost) with! Just send us your name and where you live, info@bostonlocalvores.org.

CSA — 6 Comments
19
Dec 08

CSA opinions?

We’ve got a little group on Facebook* that we use mostly for inviting people to food parties, but everyone once in a while a member will post a question on the wall. There’s not a great notification system, though, and I don’t think people tend to go there looking for these things. So I present you, here, with a recent query from Elizabeth:

————-

Hi everyone,

I am looking into finally joining a CSA and wanted to know who you are with and how it has been going? With the growing list of choices it can get overwhelming to a person new to all this. Thanks in advance!

————-

I think this is an excellent time to have this discussion. Can we help her?

I’ll start: we had a Red Fire Farm (an organic farm in Granby, MA) share this season. Darry and I split it with a friend of ours (a certain little Cate) and it still felt like plenty of food, but definitely not too much. I don’t know how to really quantify the amount, but I guess we were kinda hoping it would be a bit more plentiful, like verging on overwhelming. Maybe depending on the season it is.

We cook a lot and in general, we thought the goods from Red Fire were a perfect *foundation* of ingredients for everything we wanted to make (supplemented by smaller trips the farmers’ market). Which is to say, the share was pretty much standard veggie fare, peppered with a couple of more exotic things every once in a while. Like arrowhead cabbage, celeriac and delicata squash. Maybe exotic is a stretch. But they were new to us, and we had to get creative.

There were a couple of weeks when we were awash in green beans and zukes, but you could suffer a far worse fate than that. Somehow we made it through every last one of them. On a Saturday in late summer, we drove out to the farm for some pick-your-own action (this is available weekly/monthly, depending on the produce, for Boston area members) and made off with a Civic full of seriously gorgeous herbs and _quite a few_ cherry tomatoes. I am still fantasizing about that day.

Obviously, the staff rocked — in Granby and in Central Sq, where we picked our share up. The farm, in person, was heavenly. The veggies were always exquisite. And making the trip to the parking lot behind the Co-op was rather handy (between 4:30-7 on Wednesday nights).

*if you aren’t a member, join here!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6718454942

CSA / Community — 3 Comments
16
Dec 08

Local Popcorn?!

What a strange treat to find in our winter CSA share!

I’ve often wondered where popcorn comes from, since the kernels on a regular old butter and sugar ear don’t resemble the stuff you throw in a pot of hot oil and explode.

Here are the directions that Gretta, mistress of our CSA, posted about dealing with it:

“Unshelled popcorn should be stored at temperatures near 32F and high relative humidity. Once or twice a week, shell a few kernels and try popping them, either in an air popper or on top of your stove using a little oil and a pan with a lid. When the test kernels are popping well and tasting good, shell and store the rest of the kernels. Store the kernels in sealed, airtight containers. If stored popcorn fails to pop, it may be too dry. Add 1 tablespoon of water to a quart of popcorn. Cover and shake at frequent intervals until the popcorn has absorbed the water. After 3 or 4 days, test pop a few kernels to see if it is ready.”

My gut says to just throw them into the smoking hot shimmering oil and let nature take it’s course and dispense with all this storing, shelling, etc. I’ll let you know how the experiment goes. I’ll even provide visuals. Stay tuned.

CSA