Remember, you heard about it here and here first!

We scored:

• leeks
• kale
• broccoli
• red potatoes
• brown potatoes
• acorn squash
• butternut squash
• mustard greens
• broccoli rabe greens
• salad greens

This being the last week, some review of the season seems in order. CSA is Community Supported Agriculture. The eater makes a financial commitment to the farm before the growing season begins and becomes a shareholder in the farm’s bounty as well as assuming a share of the risk (flood, drought, pestilence–the sorts of things that could happen on a farm).

Our CSA share with Waldingfield Farm cost $550 (a full share) for 20 weeks ($27.50 a week). As you can tell by looking at the quantity, quality, and variety in my CSA posts, we got our money’s worth and often more. And it’s organic too!

A full share is designed for a family of four. We are a family of two adults. Due to work or other commitments, we don’t always eat dinner at home. Additionally, we are dieters (the portion-control weight-maintenance kind). So, our share provided a lot more vegetables than we were able to consume in a week. This worked out well since we are also year-round locavores and were able to put by some vegetables for the dark days.

My farmers (Patrick, Quincy, and Daniel)–and I’ve come to refer to them as my farmers–specialize in tomatoes, so we had the opportunity to enjoy many heirloom tomatoes this year. I still can’t name many of them by sight, but loved each one of them. Maybe next year I’ll make an image chart called The Heirloom Tomatoes of Waldingfield.

My Farmers: Quincy Horan, a friend of theirs, and Patrick Horan

Part of having a CSA share is dealing with nature along with the farmers. This was a difficult year for tomatoes all around. Due to an inordinate amount of rain at a critical point in the growing season and some other weather-related issue, many of the tomatoes were late or didn’t give the yields they normally do. That’s life. Another part of having a CSA share is eating what grows when it grows. Barbara Kingsolver’s husband said it best (and I’m paraphrasing here): Instead of taking a recipe and going on a scavenger hunt for ingredients, why not take the food you have and get creative with how you can prepare it? And that brings us up to squash, the ubiquitous indigenous food. This year, we had an opportunity to sample several varieties of squashes of which I’d never heard of before.

Patrick asked what we’d like to see in the future, so here goes: I’m an Italian American and am particularly fond of the vegetables I had growing up. I was pleased with their supply of zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, and arugula and definitely want to see those continue. To the extent that it’s possible, I’d like to see escarole, fennel bulbs, Italian roasting peppers, San Marzano tomatoes, artichokes, and garlic. Waldingfield did plant broccoli rabe this year and the shares had lots of the greens, but unfortunately nature didn’t cooperate with shoot development this year. Another thing I’d like Waldingfield to consider is a winter CSA. I really got swamped trying to put by enough food for the winter, my freezer is packed, and still I doubt I have enough to stay greater than 75% local through next June.

Some other things I’d like to be able to get from the farmers in this region (not necessarily from Waldingfield (I don’t expect them to grow everything) are chestnuts, hazelnuts, mushrooms, figs, wheat, and beans (legumes).

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed having a CSA share and can’t wait for next year. If you’ve been contemplating joining a CSA, I’d suggest doing so soon since they tend to fill up rather quickly. I believe Waldingfield has a waiting list already!

We scored:

• purple potatoes
• leeks
• acorn squash
• butternut squash
• mustard greens
• broccoli

I also picked up

• baby carrots and jalapenos from Stone Gardens Farm
• Pleasant Sun and herbed cheese (without the herbs) from Sankow’s Beaver Brook
• tomatillos from Rose’s

And there was music!

We scored:

• purple and red potatoes
• butternut squash (not pictured)
• acorn squash
• “spring” greens
• broccoli rabe greens
• Parisian squash
• leeks
• swiss chard
• kale (not pictured)
• broccoli

We scored:

• mustard greens
• broccoli rabe greens
• red potatoes
• green beans
• butternut squash
• Kabuko squash
• Turban squash
• broccoli
• baby bok choy
• arugula
• apples for saucing

Plus we picked up some of Waldingfield’s own Farmer’s Vinaigrette salad dressing and their tomato chutney from an old secret family recipe. (I snitched a taste and it is goooood!).

Next week is the last week of the Sandy Hook Organic Farmer’s Market behind St. John’s Episcopal Church.

We scored:

• two heads of lettuce
• mustard greens
• broccoli rabe greens
• potatoes
• lots of mini eggplants
• green beans
• assorted tomatoes
• 10 lbs of tomatoes for paste
• butternut squash
• acorn squash
• Cinderella Pumpkin or maybe Orange squash
• three sweet potato squash
• two bunches of kale
• assorted hot peppers

Looks like Thanksgiving came early!!!

Okay, so I’m not sure about some of the squashes. Here’s an interesting pictorial squash reference and you can decide on your own.

We scored:

• three heads of lettuce
• mustard greens
• broccoli rabe greens
• two bags of potatoes
• several mini eggplants
• green beans
• assorted tomatoes
• butternut squash
• acorn squash

In honor of all of those greens, I made my own salad dressing from local (according to my statement) and regional ingredients (except, of course, the olive oil). Until I can think of a better name, I’m calling it:

Northeast Autumn Salad Dressing

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (from Gingerbrook Farm, S. Washington, VT; discovered at LACE in VT)
2 T apple cider (Rose’s Berry Farm)
2 T maple syrup (Bluestone Farm)
1 minced shallot (Cherry Grove Farm, Newtown, CT)
3/4 tsp of Sr. Catherine Grace’s habenero sauce
1 tsp dried basil (Shortt’s Farm)
pinch salt (Maine sea salt)

Mix all the ingredients except the oil, then whisk the oil in, with a slow steady stream so that the mixture emulsifies. Keep refrigerated. It tastes better the second day.

We scored:
- two heads of lettuce and another bag of salad greens
- two bags of multi-colored potatoes
- two eggplants
- green beans
- assorted tomatoes

Check out my Waldingfield T-Shirt: Listen to your mother: eat your vegetables.

We scored:
- two bunches of kale
- two heads of lettuce
- purple potatoes
- eggplant
- green beans
- assorted tomatoes
- Swiss chard

Sandy Hook Organic Farmer’s Market Collage
(the Shortts, Jan from Stoneledge, Patrick from Waldingfield)

Shortts Farm had Macoun apples from Glastonbury!!

For dinner (no challenge) I had a salad (Waldingfield lettuce and tomatoes) with Beaver Brook Farmstead cheese, Bluestone’s pickled jalapenos, and Patrick’s vinegrette dressing.

August 26 was the tenth week of our CSA (Waldingfield Farm, pick-up point Sandy Hook Organic Farmer’s Market). Our bounty is here:

September 2 was the eleventh week of our CSA. I have no picture and will do my best from memory. We scored:
- red lettuce
- eggplant
- tomatoes, lots and lots
- and more…I can’t remember…sorry.

September 9 was the twelfth week of our CSA. Alas, no picture. We scored:
- huge white potatoes
- purple potatoes
- eggplant
- green beans
- a wide assortment of tomatoes

Tonight’s local dinner (no formal challenge) was:
- Chicken from McEnroe, roasted with Waldingfield tomatoes. We found McEnroe’s Organic Farm Market in Millerton, NY on our way back from VT. They have everything!
- a roasted vegetable medley: golden beets (I can’t remember whose, but they were definitely local), potatoes, carrots (the potatoes and carrots were actually from our own garden. See: