My first CSA box contains:
1 bunch radishes
1 bunch Hakurei Turnips
1 bag Cutting Lettuce
1 bag Braising Mix
1 bunch Swiss Chard
1 bunch Arugula
1 bunch Komatsuna
Yesterday at the farmers' markets I took notes on what was for sale. Prices vary a bit, and the cheaper farms tend to use IPM (integrated pest management, a low-pesticide farming approach) and the more expensive ones are USDA certified organic. Our CSA uses organic methods but isn't certified, so I've picked the middle price range when there were a number of farms offering the same item.
so for our small early season box, that's:
radishes, $2
turnips, $3
bagged lettuce mix, $4
bagged braising mix, $4
swiss chard, $2.50
arugula, $2.50
komatsuna, $2.50
total: $20.50
We get 24 distribution weeks at Brookfield farm for $510, $21.25 a week. (That's being slightly conservative, the last box is supposed to count as 2 distributions and be twice as big. But I'll stick to $21.25 a week rather than $20.40.) And the first week is usually the smallest distribution. It still comes pretty close to buying all that at the farmers market!
(Nobody was selling komatsuna yesterday, but I'll assume it'd be priced similarly to any of the other bunches of cookable greens that were for sale.)
(As an aside: strawberries were a dollar cheaper in Arlington than in Somerville! From the same farm who has a stand at both, even! (Because the competition at the Arlington market was a different farm, and they were selling theirs cheaper, I presume.)
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
pretty in pink
Before rhubarb season in Massachusetts completely passes us by, I though I'd better do *something* with the bunch I picked up at the farmers market. It was in my fridge for almost 2 weeks in the crisper drawer and still just fine!
Browsing for a recipe for something other than pie, I came up with a simple jam recipe that sounded like it would work for a few small jars. The recipe called for 1 lb of rhubarb and the picture showed a lovely pink jam - but as I saw when I cut up my rhubarb, I got some stalks that were rosy on the outside and quite green on the inside. Problem solved: I still have a bag of frozen, locally grown cranberries in the freezer, which would add some tart fruit and perk up the color of the jam. The recipe also called for candied ginger, and I had frozen ginger - another locally grown find last fall.
Rhubarb-Cranberry-Ginger Jam
1 bunch rhubarb, about 3/4lb, chopped into 1/2" pieces
fresh or frozen raw cranberries, about 1/4 lb
1/2 c sugar
1-2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 Tbsp water (I just let a little the ice that had accumulated on the cranberries melt.)
The other project in the picture is one of our two loaves of molasses-wheat bread. There was one local ingredient there - the whole wheat flour was grown and milled at Four Star Farms in Northfield, MA. Nothing new there, except that my daughter, reading Little House in the Big Woods expressed amazement that they had made bread without bread machines. I pointed out that that didn't have to be so different even though we live in modern times, and chose this loaf to knead by hand and bake. We kneaded it before dinner, it rose during dinner, we shaped it after dinner and it went into the pans for its 2nd rising, and it was just coming out of the oven at her bedtime.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
single-jar pickling
Canning and pickling can be a great idea when you're faced with a bounty of some particular crop from your CSA, or find a great deal on a large quantity of something, or just want to make sure you're supplied with pickles you made yourself all year round.
But if you like the taste of pickled vegetables or homemade jam, there's no reason to limit yourself to doing it as a big project.
We've used up all of our homemade cucumber pickles (note to self: buy a few more jars worth of pickles this summer!) and the smaller batch of pickled beets I made last fall too. But we still had a few beets in the refrigerator drawer from our last winter CSA pickup. So before we get our first CSA box this week, I mixed up a quick jar of pickled beets to empty out the drawer a bit and to have more cold vegetable options as we head into the warmer season.
The recipe is simple, and no do for a quart of liquid and 4 beets than it would be for several gallons of liquid and a lot more beets. Honestly, with beets I think it's easier to make one jar than more since each jar you fill requires peeling and slicing enough beets to go inside!
easy pickled beets
But if you like the taste of pickled vegetables or homemade jam, there's no reason to limit yourself to doing it as a big project.
We've used up all of our homemade cucumber pickles (note to self: buy a few more jars worth of pickles this summer!) and the smaller batch of pickled beets I made last fall too. But we still had a few beets in the refrigerator drawer from our last winter CSA pickup. So before we get our first CSA box this week, I mixed up a quick jar of pickled beets to empty out the drawer a bit and to have more cold vegetable options as we head into the warmer season.
The recipe is simple, and no do for a quart of liquid and 4 beets than it would be for several gallons of liquid and a lot more beets. Honestly, with beets I think it's easier to make one jar than more since each jar you fill requires peeling and slicing enough beets to go inside!
easy pickled beets
(makes 1 quart size canning jar)
4-6 medium beets, cooked until tender, peeled, and sliced
1 crushed garlic clove
1 tsp caraway seeds
Sterilize the jar in boiling water (I actually skip this step when I'm making a small batch that will not be stored in the pantry forever... but please don't use me as your food safety authority!) Put the sliced beets directly into the jar as you slice them. Add the garlic and caraway seeds directly into the jar.
For the pickling liquid:
6 dl (or 2.5 cups) red wine vinegar
1.5 dl (or 5/8 cup) water
60 grams sugar (a quarter cup plus a teaspoon will do, if you don't have a kitchen scale)
22 grams salt (about 3.5 teaspoons)
Heat the liquid with the sugar and salt until the are dissolved and the water comes to a boil. Then pour the water directly into the jar, cover, and let cool. The beets should be ready to eat after pickling at room temperature for a few weeks.
Store in the refrigerator after you open the jar.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Market Analysis
I haven't picked up my first CSA share yet - Brookfield farm starts deliveries next week. So for the 3rd week in a row that some market in the area was open I got to go to the farmers' market and buy as many vegetables as I thought we would eat, without worrying about duplicating what was waiting to come my way in the CSA share.
For me, what I buy even at a farmers' market where everything look tempting is still less than I'm ever likely to get in a CSA box. That's one of the things I appreciate about having a weekly box I'm committed to in advance - if it comes into the house, I will find a way to cook it and eat it. If I have to decide what I want, even if my choices are gorgeous and fresh and locally grown, I will bring home a smaller bundle.
A recent conversation got me thinking about food costs - how much do I spend at the farmers' market compared to how much those items might have cost elsewhere, how much do I take home, and how much do I get in a weeks' CSA box compared to what that costs. (Nevermind that even when I'm getting a box, I *still* go to the farmers' markets to supplement with fruit, dairy, bread, meat, and crops that my CSA doesn't grow or that I'm not going to drive 2 hours away to pick...)
I'm hoping to do a weekly report, once my CSA starts up, of the farmers' market prices that week on all of the items in my box. (Bear with me if this doesn't work out - the main challenge is that our neighborhood farmers' market runs the day *before* my CSA pickup for the week.) In the meanwhile, I'll just tally up the cost of my week's outing to Davis Square:
Blue Heron Farm, Lincoln:
1 bunch spinach, $2
1 bunch lettuce, $3
Hanson's Farm:
1 quart strawberries, $7
Enterprise Farm, Whately:
1 lb broccoli, $3.50
(in June! Brookfield's is usually ripe in August or September, I'm boggling.)
And that's it for the produce. Under $10 worth of vegetables plus the expensive fruit. (Maybe the price will come down later in the season? I don't like this trend of berries costing a dollar or two more every year.)
Then, of course, I also had to get :
a small package of smoked haddock, $5
a small package of RI-made feta from Naragansett Creamery, $7
a loaf of locally baked potato-pepper bread from Breadsong, $4.50
and a sage plant to stick on the back porch, $4
I won't claim that my CSA will save me all of those slightly impulsive add-on purchases, since I still go to the farmer's market even when it's running.
Next week, stay tuned for the first installment of actually analyzing what comes in the CSA vs. the cost of those items at the market.
For me, what I buy even at a farmers' market where everything look tempting is still less than I'm ever likely to get in a CSA box. That's one of the things I appreciate about having a weekly box I'm committed to in advance - if it comes into the house, I will find a way to cook it and eat it. If I have to decide what I want, even if my choices are gorgeous and fresh and locally grown, I will bring home a smaller bundle.
A recent conversation got me thinking about food costs - how much do I spend at the farmers' market compared to how much those items might have cost elsewhere, how much do I take home, and how much do I get in a weeks' CSA box compared to what that costs. (Nevermind that even when I'm getting a box, I *still* go to the farmers' markets to supplement with fruit, dairy, bread, meat, and crops that my CSA doesn't grow or that I'm not going to drive 2 hours away to pick...)
I'm hoping to do a weekly report, once my CSA starts up, of the farmers' market prices that week on all of the items in my box. (Bear with me if this doesn't work out - the main challenge is that our neighborhood farmers' market runs the day *before* my CSA pickup for the week.) In the meanwhile, I'll just tally up the cost of my week's outing to Davis Square:
Blue Heron Farm, Lincoln:
1 bunch spinach, $2
1 bunch lettuce, $3
Hanson's Farm:
1 quart strawberries, $7
Enterprise Farm, Whately:
1 lb broccoli, $3.50
(in June! Brookfield's is usually ripe in August or September, I'm boggling.)
And that's it for the produce. Under $10 worth of vegetables plus the expensive fruit. (Maybe the price will come down later in the season? I don't like this trend of berries costing a dollar or two more every year.)
Then, of course, I also had to get :
a small package of smoked haddock, $5
a small package of RI-made feta from Naragansett Creamery, $7
a loaf of locally baked potato-pepper bread from Breadsong, $4.50
and a sage plant to stick on the back porch, $4
I won't claim that my CSA will save me all of those slightly impulsive add-on purchases, since I still go to the farmer's market even when it's running.
Next week, stay tuned for the first installment of actually analyzing what comes in the CSA vs. the cost of those items at the market.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Salad days
The leafy greens are leafing and greening all over Massachusetts. June seems to me to be both a blessing and a curse - I'm thrilled to finally have fresh tasty greens that didn't have to come out of my freezer or be shipped to me, and salads are gloriously easy to prepare, but eventually I'm going to tire of eating my greens the same way all the time.
I can't exactly explain why "more, different, salad" makes me so excited when I'm facing the prospect of a month of salad with dinner every day. Maybe it's just that the greens I've eaten all winter have tended to be what I've frozen last summer and fall. Or maybe I should have been buying more hardy greens in winter and doing this then - but better late than never, I suppose.
Joining my lettuce based salad lineup this year is :
Shredded kale salad
Put the kale in a bowl, add the salt, garlic, and vinegar/lemon juice, toss thoroughly, and let sit for at least 30 minutes. This step will tenderize the kale.
Then add the olive oil and toss together, adjust seasoning to taste.
I can't exactly explain why "more, different, salad" makes me so excited when I'm facing the prospect of a month of salad with dinner every day. Maybe it's just that the greens I've eaten all winter have tended to be what I've frozen last summer and fall. Or maybe I should have been buying more hardy greens in winter and doing this then - but better late than never, I suppose.
Joining my lettuce based salad lineup this year is :
Shredded kale salad
- 1 bunch kale, sliced into thin shreds or ribbons (you can even leave the center rib in where it's not 1/2" thick)
- 2-3 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt
- 1-2 cloves crushed garlic
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Put the kale in a bowl, add the salt, garlic, and vinegar/lemon juice, toss thoroughly, and let sit for at least 30 minutes. This step will tenderize the kale.
Then add the olive oil and toss together, adjust seasoning to taste.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
A Guide to Locally Raised Meat in the Boston Area
What I really want to be eating is more crunchy green things. But as I think I've whined about in every post in this blog so far, they're still not quite in season yet.
But fortunately meat keeps going all year round - and we're getting plenty of tasty things from our Chestnut Farm meat CSA. There are a few meat CSAs in this area, which all work pretty similarly - the season runs year round and you sign up and pay for 3 or 6 months of deliveries up front. Each month you pick up an assortment of meat selected by the farm based on what they've slaughtered that month. It comes frozen and you bring it home to your freezer and defrost it before cooking.
During farmers market season and at stores that specialize in local produce, these farms and others can also allow you to shop for specific cuts of meat.
Meat CSAs
Austin Brothers Farm in Belchertown has a monthly pickup in Central Square, Cambridge. The share includes beef and pork. You can order 5, 10, or 20 lbs for $9, $8.25, or $7.75 per lb respectively. You can add on eggs to the share. They offer metro pedal power bike delivery to your door (for an additional delivery fee) as well, to Watertown, Somerville, Cambridge, Boston, Charleston, Jamaica Plains and South Boston.
Chestnut Farms in Hardwick has a monthly pickup in Arlington Center (and a few other towns west of there as well.) The share includes beef, lamb, pork, and chicken. You can order 6 months at a time, 10 lbs for $8/lb, 15 lbs for $7.75/lb, 20 lbs for $7.50/lb, or 25 lbs for $7.00/lb. Shareholders can also add on Thanksgiving turkeys, easter hams, and buy eggs and bargain cuts (mainly offal) at the monthly pickups. You can request no-pork (kosher) shares or no-lamb shares if you wish.
Stillman's Farm in Hardwick has monthly pickups in Brookline, Jamaica Plain, Quincy, and Cambridge. The share includes beef, lamb, pork and chicken. You can order 6 months at a time, 5 lbs for $9/lb, 10lbs for $8/lb, and 20lbs for $7.75/lb, or 12 months at a time for additional discounts on 10 and 20 lb shares.
Other ways to buy local meat
Stillman's farm also sells meat at the Farmer's Market in Union Square, Somerville on Saturdays, as well as many other locations (downtown Boston, Lexington, Bedford, Cambridge, etc). A full list of their farmer's market locations is here You can contact them in advance to order specific items. Occasionally Cuisine en Locale sets up a meat order and delivery in the off-season in the Cambridge area as well. The price list to place orders is here.
Chestnut Farm sells meat at the Arlington Farmer's Market in Arlington Center on Wednesday afternoons, as well as the Natick and Lexington farmer's markets. You can also place orders in advance with them.
Austin Brothers Farm sells meat and eggs at the Central Square Farmer's Market in Cambridge on Monday afternoons, and some farmer's markets in Western MA. I believe they may have pasture raised veal available too, but don't see any references to it on their site.
Codman Community Farm in Lincoln has a farm store open daily (except Mondays, I believe - the farm itself is closed on Mondays) with meat from their cows, goats, and pigs and eggs from their chickens (supplemented often by eggs from Chip-in Farms in Bedford). Selection varies according to season. Choose meat packed into several freezers.
Drumlin Farm, a Mass Audubon site with many farm animals to visit as well as rescued birds, also has a freezer of meats for sale although selection is limited.
Natick Community Organic Farm sells meats at their farm store and at the Natick Farmer's Market and Natick Winter Farmer's Market.
River Rock Farm in Brimfield sells beef at the Somerville farmers' market in Davis Square on Wednesdays. They will deliver anywhere in Massachusetts for $10 for a $50-$150 order, $5 for a $150-$250 order, or free for orders over $250.
Signal Rock Farm in Charlton sells sheep milk products and lambs, at the Davis Square farmer's market on Wednesdays and the Lexington Farmer's markets on Tuesday afternoons in the fall.
Pete and Jen's in Concord sells chickens (which sell out like hotcakes), eggs, pork, rabbit, beef from another farm, and lamb by pre-order or from their mini-store in Concord.
Golden Egg Farm in Hardwick sells chicken and duck eggs at the Arlington, MA farmers markets, as well as sometimes whole chickens or the occasional lamb or goat. I'm watching closely - ducks may be available this summer.
Foxboro Cheese and Lawton's Family Farm in Foxboro are selling veal at the Davis Square farmer's market this
season (along with dairy products.) Dairy farms are often great source for local humanely treated veal - they have to do something with the half of their calves that aren't going to produce milk.
Sherman Market in Union Square, Somerville - a tiny locavore grocery store - has poultry and meat from a variety of local farms (not all mentioned here by name because they don't otherwise distribute to the Boston area) including Hardwick Beef, Misty Knoll poultry.
But fortunately meat keeps going all year round - and we're getting plenty of tasty things from our Chestnut Farm meat CSA. There are a few meat CSAs in this area, which all work pretty similarly - the season runs year round and you sign up and pay for 3 or 6 months of deliveries up front. Each month you pick up an assortment of meat selected by the farm based on what they've slaughtered that month. It comes frozen and you bring it home to your freezer and defrost it before cooking.
During farmers market season and at stores that specialize in local produce, these farms and others can also allow you to shop for specific cuts of meat.
Meat CSAs
Austin Brothers Farm in Belchertown has a monthly pickup in Central Square, Cambridge. The share includes beef and pork. You can order 5, 10, or 20 lbs for $9, $8.25, or $7.75 per lb respectively. You can add on eggs to the share. They offer metro pedal power bike delivery to your door (for an additional delivery fee) as well, to Watertown, Somerville, Cambridge, Boston, Charleston, Jamaica Plains and South Boston.
Chestnut Farms in Hardwick has a monthly pickup in Arlington Center (and a few other towns west of there as well.) The share includes beef, lamb, pork, and chicken. You can order 6 months at a time, 10 lbs for $8/lb, 15 lbs for $7.75/lb, 20 lbs for $7.50/lb, or 25 lbs for $7.00/lb. Shareholders can also add on Thanksgiving turkeys, easter hams, and buy eggs and bargain cuts (mainly offal) at the monthly pickups. You can request no-pork (kosher) shares or no-lamb shares if you wish.
Stillman's Farm in Hardwick has monthly pickups in Brookline, Jamaica Plain, Quincy, and Cambridge. The share includes beef, lamb, pork and chicken. You can order 6 months at a time, 5 lbs for $9/lb, 10lbs for $8/lb, and 20lbs for $7.75/lb, or 12 months at a time for additional discounts on 10 and 20 lb shares.
Other ways to buy local meat
Stillman's farm also sells meat at the Farmer's Market in Union Square, Somerville on Saturdays, as well as many other locations (downtown Boston, Lexington, Bedford, Cambridge, etc). A full list of their farmer's market locations is here You can contact them in advance to order specific items. Occasionally Cuisine en Locale sets up a meat order and delivery in the off-season in the Cambridge area as well. The price list to place orders is here.
Chestnut Farm sells meat at the Arlington Farmer's Market in Arlington Center on Wednesday afternoons, as well as the Natick and Lexington farmer's markets. You can also place orders in advance with them.
Austin Brothers Farm sells meat and eggs at the Central Square Farmer's Market in Cambridge on Monday afternoons, and some farmer's markets in Western MA. I believe they may have pasture raised veal available too, but don't see any references to it on their site.
Codman Community Farm in Lincoln has a farm store open daily (except Mondays, I believe - the farm itself is closed on Mondays) with meat from their cows, goats, and pigs and eggs from their chickens (supplemented often by eggs from Chip-in Farms in Bedford). Selection varies according to season. Choose meat packed into several freezers.
Drumlin Farm, a Mass Audubon site with many farm animals to visit as well as rescued birds, also has a freezer of meats for sale although selection is limited.
Natick Community Organic Farm sells meats at their farm store and at the Natick Farmer's Market and Natick Winter Farmer's Market.
River Rock Farm in Brimfield sells beef at the Somerville farmers' market in Davis Square on Wednesdays. They will deliver anywhere in Massachusetts for $10 for a $50-$150 order, $5 for a $150-$250 order, or free for orders over $250.
Signal Rock Farm in Charlton sells sheep milk products and lambs, at the Davis Square farmer's market on Wednesdays and the Lexington Farmer's markets on Tuesday afternoons in the fall.
Pete and Jen's in Concord sells chickens (which sell out like hotcakes), eggs, pork, rabbit, beef from another farm, and lamb by pre-order or from their mini-store in Concord.
Golden Egg Farm in Hardwick sells chicken and duck eggs at the Arlington, MA farmers markets, as well as sometimes whole chickens or the occasional lamb or goat. I'm watching closely - ducks may be available this summer.
Foxboro Cheese and Lawton's Family Farm in Foxboro are selling veal at the Davis Square farmer's market this
season (along with dairy products.) Dairy farms are often great source for local humanely treated veal - they have to do something with the half of their calves that aren't going to produce milk.
Sherman Market in Union Square, Somerville - a tiny locavore grocery store - has poultry and meat from a variety of local farms (not all mentioned here by name because they don't otherwise distribute to the Boston area) including Hardwick Beef, Misty Knoll poultry.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Steam and Freeze
Our CSA box still won't start up until June, but from our small urban backyard comes a surprise early season edible - weeds!
Stinging nettle is far more common around woods in Europe than I though it was in Massachusetts - but last year I discovered a single plant while trying to pull up another giant weed. (Me: "dear, can you go pull up that 6 foot weed with the purple berries? I can't quite seem to get it loose." Him, from the back corner of the yard: "Weird! Did you know we have a stinging nettle plant back here?" Me: "Ohhhh! That's why my hand is tingling.") This year, in the same corner of the yard, there's a small patch of it. It stings when you touch it with bare hands, but after cooking the stinging is gone.
Stinging nettle is a fairly versatile green, high in iron, and tasty in things like lasagna, scrambled eggs, spinach pie, etc. My wild edibles guide says to harvest it directly into a large pot, rinse thorougly in the kitchen sink with tongs, and then steam thoroughly and use the cooked greens. I chose to remove the greens from the stems after steaming so I didn't have to worry about stinging. And since it'll only be good for harvesting and eating for a few weeks and I don't really need to be having stinging nettle every 2 or 3 meals, I'm using one of my favorite tricks from when bulky greens are in season : steam and freeze. Once it's steamed, I squeeze it down to some fist-sized dense balls, put those in a plastic bag, and freeze them for later use. If your tastes run to more conventional vegetables and you don't have a patch of stinging nettle in your yard, this is a convenient way to wind up with handy frozen spinach, chard, or kale when you have access to more of it than you can fit in your fridge or eat in a particular week.
Stinging nettle is far more common around woods in Europe than I though it was in Massachusetts - but last year I discovered a single plant while trying to pull up another giant weed. (Me: "dear, can you go pull up that 6 foot weed with the purple berries? I can't quite seem to get it loose." Him, from the back corner of the yard: "Weird! Did you know we have a stinging nettle plant back here?" Me: "Ohhhh! That's why my hand is tingling.") This year, in the same corner of the yard, there's a small patch of it. It stings when you touch it with bare hands, but after cooking the stinging is gone.
Stinging nettle is a fairly versatile green, high in iron, and tasty in things like lasagna, scrambled eggs, spinach pie, etc. My wild edibles guide says to harvest it directly into a large pot, rinse thorougly in the kitchen sink with tongs, and then steam thoroughly and use the cooked greens. I chose to remove the greens from the stems after steaming so I didn't have to worry about stinging. And since it'll only be good for harvesting and eating for a few weeks and I don't really need to be having stinging nettle every 2 or 3 meals, I'm using one of my favorite tricks from when bulky greens are in season : steam and freeze. Once it's steamed, I squeeze it down to some fist-sized dense balls, put those in a plastic bag, and freeze them for later use. If your tastes run to more conventional vegetables and you don't have a patch of stinging nettle in your yard, this is a convenient way to wind up with handy frozen spinach, chard, or kale when you have access to more of it than you can fit in your fridge or eat in a particular week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)