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News from the Farm – June 17, 2010

Sorry it’s been so long since we last got in touch… Here’s all the work we’ve been up to… We would love volunteers to come help out, even if you aren’t a member of the CSA. If you’re interested in helping, email brenda (at) boulderknollfarm.com

CSA distribution starts next week! (Sunday, June 20 or Wednesday, June 23)

I’ve attached a spread sheet with all of our member contact information including your pick up day (Sunday or Wednesday). PLEASE check it for errors.
The info can also help you form pick-up groups with others in your neighborhood.
If you are a Wednesday pick-up and can switch to Sunday for the season, please let me know asap. This would help, as we need to even out the days.

Here are some logistics and rules:

Pick up times at the farm:

  • Sunday 3:00 to 5:00 pm
  • Wednesday 4:00 to 6:30 pm
  1. Switching your day occasionally is fine. I need to know 2 days in advance (by Friday evening for Sunday folks and by Monday evening for Wednesday folks).
  2. Someone else can pick up your share, just have them check off your share name on the distribution list when they come.
  3. If you are going to be late, please let me know. I will put your food in a cooler. Food not picked up by the next day (unless I know you’re coming) may be donated.
  4. If you are not going to pick up at all that week, please let me know BEFORE the day’s harvest. This is important so we don’t waste time and food.

Harvest work

Please sign up to be on the harvest crew for any Sunday or Wednesday from June 20th until October 6th. Email Ann Marie Golioto with your availability as soon as you can to get these distributions fully staffed.

I’ll need folks for harvest (generally 8:30 until around 11) and prep (working in the distribution shed from around 1030 until whenever we’re done, usually around 1).

A reminder to those who haven’t been to the farm yet, each regular share is asked to contribute 12 hours of work to the farm community.

Other work

I need hardy weeders and path mulchers! Please contact Ann Marie.

Produce for next week:

  • lettuce
  • garlic scapes (we’ll send a recipe for yummy pesto)
  • Swiss chard (so beautiful, you can use it as an arrangement for your table!)
  • maybe peas if they’re ready
  • herbs like mint, chives, lemon balm
  • other surprises


See you next week at the distribution or sooner!
Brenda

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News from the Farm – May 24, 2010

The planting continues at Boulder Knoll Community Farm!

Here’s what’s in the ground:

  • some tomatoes
  • almost all the potatoes (six different kinds)
  • onions
  • leeks
  • peas
  • Swiss chard
  • kale
  • lettuce
  • Chinese cabbage
  • broccoli raab
  • beets
  • parsnips
  • flowers
  • radishes
  • scallions
  • garlic

Still to plant:

  • more tomatoes
  • eggplant
  • peppers
  • sweet potatoes
  • squash
  • cukes
  • green beans
  • more flowers
  • more lettuce
  • tomatillos
  • basil

Happenings

Members’ and friends’ farm tour, picnic lunch and work day, Sunday, June 6

Picnic lunch and farm tour on Sunday, June 6, noon until 2. See the new planting space and the improvements to the distribution shed. Bring your own lunch, something to sit on, and some gloves if you’d like to stay for some work afterward. Please RSVP with numbers and how long you plan to stay. If you can’t stay to work, that’s OK. Please come for the gathering anyway.

Domingo’s cargo bike

Member Domingo Medina has a fantastic idea that we could deliver our produce to Caseus, our restaurant friend, via bicycle on the Farmington Canal bike trail. He has purchased a cargo bike that can hold up to 400 lbs and can be assisted by an electric motor. He’ll be riding up to the farm on Wednesday morning to see if it’s a reasonable trip from his home on Canner St. in New Haven. We’ll experiment with different ways of loading the bike. It will be important to deliver produce in perfect condition, so we’ll probably need to experiment with coolers too. If it works, we’ll be asking for other people to try riding the bike to do the delivery too. We’re sure to get some press for this!

Field trip

We are hosting over 50 second grade children from Waterbury for a field trip at the farm on Friday May 28th from 10 am until noon. We’re going to teach about healthy soil including activities on composting and worms, and a garden tour and scavenger hunt. If you are interested in helping with this event and being with the kids, please send me a note. I would love to have a few more adults to help.

Wish list

  • large sheets of cardboard or craft paper for paths
  • 1/2 inch plywood (pieces will be used to cover hoop house end wall)
  • wood chips (if you know any tree service people, I’ll take a quantity of chips – Have them contact me.)
  • railroad ties or the equivalent for making a raised bed next to the hoop house distribution shed
  • string for trellising
  • compost fixins from your kitchen (please dump them on the right hand compost pile)
  • a good, relatively lightweight wheel barrow or garden cart
  • metal “T” posts
  • cedar posts

Work at the farm

Thanks a million to the folks who have come to the farm to work. Our farm sure wouldn’t function very well without the contributions of all the members.

If you haven’t had a chance to get out there yet, check out the available work times every week. Even a small amount of time worked makes a big difference on the farm. I think everyone has enjoyed themselves and I can find jobs for all physical abilities. Come to do some of your 12 hours before it gets too hot.

Make sure our work coordinator, Annmarie Golioto, knows when you plan to come and for how long. When you’re done for the day, send her a note so she can keep track of the work that you’ve done.

Your veggie farmer,
Brenda

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News From the Farm – April 14, 2010

Hi Everyone –
Well, the warm weather is great and the weeds are growing like gangbusters! We’re clearing garden beds as fast as we can.

Thanks to Mary Ann, Bill, Bob, Amanda, Domingo, Terry, and Marie who have helped get us going!

Urgent work need!!

The leeks and onions are here!

There are literally hundreds of baby plants to get in the ground right away. If you can kneel and lean over a bit, I can use your help.

I’ll start early (around 8 or 8:30) Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings and work until about 5 each day. On Sunday I will start around 11 and work until about 430.
Please let me know if you can lend a hand – even an hour will be a help.
My cell phone number is 203-645-1734, home is 203-393-1245.

Your exhilarated farmer,
Brenda

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Welcome to Boulder Knoll Community Farm

Greetings to members of Boulder Knoll Community Farm for 2010!

Welcome to new and returning sharers!

I’m anticipating a great growing season. We appreciate your enthusiastic support of our farm and of local food. We look forward to some great happenings this year – cooking demos, pick your own flowers and maybe berries, fruit from High Hill Orchard in Meriden, and a farm dinner or two by talented chefs from Caseus Fromagerie Bistro. We’ve expanded our membership to 53 CSA shares and will donate food to two soup kitchens in Waterbury and Meriden. We’ll continue to sell produce to Caseus and host educational programs to area youth and children.

Now that the rain has let up we can start to transplant the many seedlings that I have started in the greenhouse. They’re happily awaiting their permanent homes in our rich soil. Kale, scallions, Swiss chard, leeks and onions can be transplanted in the next week or so. Beets, carrots, peas, and greens will get direct seeded in April. Flowers, tomatoes, eggplant, basil, escarole, lettuce and peppers are growing, but need a few more weeks. Wow, there sure is a lot to do!

The farm needs your help

April and May are busy months for cleaning up, prepping beds and planting. I’ll be sending periodic emails to update you on our progress.

Since we really need your help in these early months I’ll be sending notes with available work times and descriptions of tasks that need doing.
You’ll never be on your own; I will always be there to teach and supervise your work. I’m generally at the farm for at least part of every day, so weekdays and weekend times will be available.

I’ll need someone organized who can act as work coordinator for the farm. Last year a couple of members split the season; their work was invaluable to me. Please let me know if you’re interested in doing this job for your work contribution.

I’ll be scheduling a potluck/ work party sometime this spring – a fun way to get to know other members and get a lot done as a group. Watch for it!

Upcoming events

  • Healthy Kids First with Tim Cipriano, Saturday April 10, 2010, 4 – 6 pm,
    Hosted by Greg Melville, 474 Maple Avenue, Cheshire, CT 06410

    Chef Tim Cipriano, the dynamic Executive Director of Food Service for the New Haven Public Schools will speak on bringing healthy food from  local farms to school children in Cheshire and New Haven. For more information about Tim and New Haven school food please check out Tim’s blog.

    Everyone’s invited! For more info or to RSVP, please click here.

  • Join us for a tour of the farm. Sunday April 25, 12:00 noon. You and your family can have a walk through the garden. I’ll tell you about the logistics of the CSA and answer any lingering questions you may have. Bring a bag lunch if you’d like. I’ll supply the drinks.

Farm Blog

Check out our website and blog at boulderknollfarm.com. Thanks to Dan Groberg, web-master extraordinaire, we have a recipe and food ideas section to which we hope you’ll contribute. There’s a member forum for asking questions and sharing thoughts, a work needs page and a page on which I’ll post the anticipated harvest for the next week. We hope this site will be useful and well-used!

Wish List

Almost everything on the farm is begged, borrowed and even picked off the side of the road at bulk pick-up time.

Here are a few things we need this year:

  • garden trowels
  • digging forks (especially the kind with D-shaped handles and 4 or 5 straight tines)
  • 2x4s or 2x3s in decent condition (for construction)
  • two large water coolers with a spigot for drinking water and hand washing
  • hoses of any length (with non-leaky fittings)
  • large sheets of cardboard for paths
  • your kitchen scraps for our compost pile (put them in the right hand pile for now)
  • racks that we can dry onions on (look for closet shelving or other closely spaced grates)
  • saw horses
  • a “garden weasel” (this is a spiky, rolling thing with a waist high handle that you use to break up the soil surface)

Thanks again to everyone who joined the farm this year. I’m looking forward to great food, great learning and great community.

Brenda Caldwell
Your grateful farmer
Boulder Knoll Community Farm

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News from the Farm – February 10, 2010

Hi Everyone,

Join the CSA for 2010

CSA members from last year and those on the waiting list can sign up for the 2010 CSA starting Feb 15th. After March 1st, we open up to the rest of the world, so if you want to get in, sign up early. We have a few 60 hour and 30 hour work-intensive slots available (permission of the farmer required!). We’re increasing to 50 members this year, but we expect to fill up by the end of March. CSA members will get fruit grown by High Hill Orchard in Meriden as part of this year’s share. We’re planning for pick-your-own strawberries, raspberries and flowers. We’re going to be growing a lot of the crops that folks asked for – cukes, purslane, sweet potatoes, big sweet onions.

Website

Check out our updated website at http://www.boulderknollfarm.com. Along with information on the CSA, you can visit our “Updates” page to find recipes, storage tips and general ideas and questions. Email info@friendsofboulderknoll.com if you have anything to post. Read about additions and changes to the 2010 CSA and find out how to sign up.

Seed orders are done!

I’ve ordered from Fedco, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Pinetree and Seed Saver’s Exchange. I also buy leeks and onions from Dixondale Onions in Texas and sweet potatoes from Tennessee. In a few weeks I’ll be starting tomatoes, peppers and eggplants and flowers and keeping them on heating coils in my basement under lights. When it gets a little warmer I’ll be growing lots of flowers and vegetables in a new hoophouse that I have at home.

Boulder Knoll Community Farm on the radio

Boulder Knoll Community Farm will be featured on WPKN 89.5 FM, Thursday, Feb 11 from 12 – 1 pm. Thanks to DJ Richard Hill for asking me for an interview.

Farm dinners by Caseus

Jason and Joe from Caseus Fromagerie Bistro in New Haven have promised a couple of on-farm dinners this season. Stay tuned for dates for those events. Check out their outstanding restaurant (and call ahead or you probably won’t get in!): Caseus Fromagerie Bistro, 93 Whitney Ave, New Haven CT 06510, ph 203.624.3373 (6.CHEESE) www.caseusnewhaven.com

CTNOFA Winter Conference

I encourage anyone interested in organic food, growing, and sustainable living to attend the winter conference of the CT Northeast Organic Farmers Association. I always have a great time listening to the keynote speaker (this year: Michael Shuman, author of The Small Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition), attending workshops, shopping at the vendors’ booths and gorging myself at the potluck lunch. If you’ve never been, you’re in for a treat. For info go to http://www.ctnofa.org

Stay warm and dry!
Brenda Caldwell
Your cozy farmer

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Boulder Knoll Communiy Farm in the Advocate

Looks like we missed this one. Alan Bisbort of Cheshire discusses Boulder Knoll Community Farm in his March 3 article ”The Party’s Over” in the New Haven Advocate.

“Where I live, this effort — no matter how nascent or small — can be seen in the revival of what was once the largest working farm in town. It’s more than a desire to return to New England quaintness. It may be the path to the future. The farm was acquired about 10 years ago as open space, soon after which the environment commission (on which I sat at that time) wrote a management plan for the property that included a farming component. But then it died, paralyzed by town hall’s petty bickering.

Out of frustration, a group of active citizens came together to pitch the idea of a community-supported agriculture (CSA) project on the farm. After much wrangling (and the loss of a season’s planting), they finally got the approval. The first crops are going in this year and shares are being sold even as we speak. It is a small step (two acres will eventually be cultivated), but it is a step, and the whole town is jazzed. As a “subscriber” in the past to a CSA in another town, I was astonished by how much food could be grown on half an acre of carefully tended land.”

Click here to read the full article.

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News from the farm – Week of October 20, 2009

Annual Meeting
You are warmly invited to the annual meeting of the Friends of Boulder Knoll at 7 pm on Thursday, October 22, in the Old Chapel at Elim Park, 140 Cook Hill Road in Cheshire.  We will review and celebrate the past year, elect this coming year’s Board of Directors and officers, and discuss plans for the coming year.

Work needs
I have been away for a few days but am back now ready to get the garden ready for next year. If you can spare a few hours during the week or the weekend, please let me know.

I am planning to be at the farm during afternoon hours for the next few weeks in good weather. I do have some flexibility, so if you would like to come out in the morning, please email or call me (home 393-1245 or cell 645-1734). We need to spread manure and compost on all the growing beds, pull out and compost plants, take down trellises, plant cover crop, mow, weed and put wood chips on paths.

Garlic Planting
Stay tuned for info about this November event.

Extra Share
Thanks to all those who took the opportunity to receive an extra week of veggies from the farm. We opened this up to those on the waiting list after you signed up. We will receive over $250 in donations from existing members and friends for this (very cold) effort. If you haven’t sent your donation, please send a check made out to Friends of Boulder Knoll to PO Box 1329, Cheshire, CT 06410.

Compost
Keep it coming! We want kitchen waste including coffee grounds, egg shells, paper towels and napkins. I’d welcome leaves too (no large sticks please). Please place new stuff on the far right side of the bins.

Thanks to all of you, especially people who have come out to help even after they’ve put in all of their requisite hours and Fellis, who knows just when I need a hot cup of coffee, a muffin, or a warm veggie treat.

Brenda – Your exuberant and sometimes chilly farmer

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News from the farm – Week of September 23, 2009

Potato harvest this Friday from 430 – 530
Bring a garden fork, gloves and a kid or two. And good grief, let’s get some pictures!

Harvest Potluck postponed until Sunday, Oct 4th, noon – 2 p.m.
due to predicted rain. Please bring a dish made with CSA or other local ingredients. Please also bring your own eating utensils and bowl or plate if you can. We’ll have some there too. The benefit art and bulb sale will happen at 474 Maple Ave on Saturday from 10 – 6 even if it’s raining. If it rains on Sunday too, we’ll have the potluck indoors at 474 Maple Ave. Thanks Greg Melville for the use of your home.

Last share-out harvest next week
Anticipate a distribution of potatoes, leeks, lettuce, parsnips, bok choi, maybe beets or carrots, parsley, broccoli or broccoli raab.

Extra share on Thursday, Oct 15th!
For a $10 donation to the Friends of Boulder Knoll, I will provide an extra share on Thursday, Oct 15 from 5 – 6:30.We are opening this up to folks on the waiting list and other members of the wider Friends of Boulder Knoll organization, but shares are quite limited. Please sign up by emailing me at mariebrenda@SBCglobal.net or at the farm at next week’s pick up. If we get a big response, Thursday could be too late so let me know soon if you are a Thursday pick-up. There will probably be many different kinds of greens, broccoli, bok choi, carrots, lettuce, parsley, etc.

Request
Please remember to tell me if you can’t pick up or email or call (393-1245 or 645-1734) if you have forgotten. I’ll be happy to save it for you. Doing the work to harvest food that isn’t picked up wastes time on busy harvest days.

Recipes
Don’t forget to check out this week’s recipes on our blog at http://tr.im/AhSf

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News from Boulder Knoll Community Farm – Week of 7/20/09

Hi everybody,

I’m having a lot of fun growing food for all of you. I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing.

The rain and coolness has slowed the growth of the summer veggies (squash, peppers, tomatoes) a bit, but as of now no serious disease problems have shown up. We’ve been very lucky.

Monday folks got lettuce, parsley, potatoes, radishes or sumac berries (for a yummy lemony tea), beets, carrots, squash or tomatillos, haricots vertes, and pick your own herbs. Thursday sharers will probably get roughly the same.

Thanks to all who have come to the farm to help with weeding, tomato caging, planting, trellising, harvesting, digging, prepping, supervising, teaching, painting, mowing, compost turning, bring iced coffee, laughing, etc. etc. Please, if possible, pitch in sometime for a harvest. It’s fun and we really need the help. We start at 830 am. With 3 or 4 people the harvest takes 2+ hours and the prep (bunching, rinsing, and sorting) follows. Remember to let Liz know when you can work and when you did work so she can log it.

I am planning to be away on vacation during the first week of August. Several members have agreed to manage the harvest. It will be important for them to have enough help. Please let me and Liz know if you can help the CSA with the harvest or if you can go over and check on things any other morning that week.

Youth from the Waterbury Police Athletic League Workforce program have been out to the farm to learn and work for several weeks now. It’s a great program and we’ll be happy to be asked to participate again next year. Thanks to those members who have come out (Fellis Jordan and Bob Behrer) to be with the group as they learn to dig in the soil, plant and taste new veggies.

Here are a few more ideas for greens:

Alice’s Tuscan Beans and Greens
From Ox Hollow Farm,

Serves 2-3 as a main dish – 30 min. cooking time – a family favorite!

  • 3-4 oz bacon (preferably all-natural),
  • Diced 2T extra virgin olive oil + more for drizzling
  • 8 – 10 garlic cloves, peeled, cut in thirds
  • 1-2 shallots, sliced ½ tsp.
  • Herbes de Provence
  • ¼ tsp. black pepper
  • Pinch red pepper flakes
  • 1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
  • About ½ cup canned chicken stock
  • Very large bunch of washed greens — enough to fill a large salad spinner (kale, chard, spinach, escarole, mustard greens); big ribs and stems removed, roughly sliced
  • Aged balsamic vinegar and salt to taste

Oops they didn’t include any other instructions – check Jeff Rapoport’s printed recipe for appropriate cooking directions.

Kale Soup (a simple favorite in my household)
From Walter Greist at Mill River Valley Gardens

  • 3 minced garlic cloves
  • 1 lg chopped onion
  • 3 T olive oil
  • 6 c. veggie stock
  • 2 c. pureed tomatoes
  • 1 bunch shredded kale
  • 1 can cannellini beans (or other large beans)
  • Parmesan cheese
  • Salt, pepper, herbs to taste (maybe try summer savory, rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano, mint from our herb garden)

Saute garlic and onion until translucent. Add veggie stock, tomatoes and drained beans. Heat to boiling. Add kale and cook on medium heat for 20 minutes. Serve with Parmesan cheese on top.

Another great use for kale

Chop it up and add it raw to your favorite potato salad recipe. The mayo or other dressing will wilt and tenderize it. It’s really delicious.

See you at the farm,
Brenda

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CSA Share This Week

CSA Members,

Here are some items that may be in your share today or Thursday:

  • Chinese cabbage
  • Peas, glorious peas!
  • Parsley
  • Swiss chard
  • Beets with greens
  • Herbs (mint, catnip, dill, cilantro, lovage, etc.)
  • Choice (maybe rhubarb, mizuna, dandelion greens, garlic scapes, lettuce)

Reminder – If you have worked, make sure you send Annmarie Golioto a quick note with your hours. If you haven’t worked yet, sign up for harvests (10 – 1), veggie prep (11 – 2), staffing the distribution shed during the 4 – 7 time slot, or field work. I especially need help now making and set tomato cages. They are easy but time consuming.

Your farmer,
Brenda