Monthly Archive: June 2022

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – June 27, 2022

Hi Everyone, I need to keep it brief this time, because I must get back out in the field to get some planting done. I am almost finished with sowing the winter squash – just two varieties of acorn to go! I will be planting sweet corn and cucumbers later this evening. I like to plant late in the day, just after we till the beds. The seeds then have the night to soak up the humidity in the soil before the sun begins to dry out the surface. Tomorrow I will make the second planting of beets and the third planting of carrots. (more…)

Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing

Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing

As the herb-growing season draws to an end, we’ve been lucky to have a choice of herbs, including cilantro. I overhear many of our members say they love cilantro, so, as we promised earlier in the season when we said we’d try to find new and interesting salad dressing recipes, today we offer a Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing that also takes advantage of those “extra” jalapeño peppers — I hope some of you have taken a few and still can find them in your fridge! Give this a try and enjoy cilantro in a new form on your next fresh salad! (more…)

Charmoula Sauce

Charmoula Sauce

This is a classic Moroccan sauce typically used on grilled or baked fish, but it is also quite good on chicken. Some like to cook the fish and then add the sauce as a choice on the table, but others love how the sauce seeps into the meat when the fish is cooked with a slathering of the sauce on top. This particular recipe comes from The New York Times. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – June 20, 2022

Hello Folks! Curioser and curioser, this weather of ours. It was quite a chilly weekend, between the low temperatures and the high winds. My workers had their winter coats on again. I was busy planting the pumpkins and winter squash which I generally do in the evenings to avoid the midday heat. I was out planting all afternoon on Sunday with a sweater and a windbreaker on! Last night it dropped down to 48 degrees here on the farm. This cool weather is good for the greens, lettuces, and peas – but the peppers don’t really like it much. (more…)

Hakurei turnips

Hakurei Salad Turnips

Hakurei turnips are a Japanese salad turnip.  They are sweet and much softer than a regular turnip, and rarely need to be peeled; just wash and trim the root ends.  The leaves are also edible but should be eaten within 1-2 days.  Wrapped tightly in plastic, the turnips can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. (more…)

Baby Turnips and Turnip Greens

Baby Turnips and Turnip Greens

The following recipe, taken from the William Sonoma cookbook, Cooking from the Farmers’ Market, is a nice and easy way to use the turnips and its greens at once. As we expect the Hakurei to be small turnips, you can ignore the recommendation to trim the leaves in the recipe (below) but may follow it when using Fall turnips. The recipe yields 4 servings. Enjoy! (more…)

Vegetable Fritters

Kohlrabi Fritters

If you’ve still got those funny looking bulbs staring you down on your counter, here’s a new take on kohlrabi.  I’ll admit that for 6 years of the CSA, I never dared try them.  This recipe made me a convert.  They will never go on the swap table again! (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – June 13, 2022

Hello everyone, I hope that you enjoyed the first week of your share, because week two will be similar.  We still have tons (I wanted to write “lots” but Editor wants me to be more specific) of beautiful spinach, which I expect to continue for several more weeks.  We are heavy on lettuce, so there will be two heads of different varieties in all but the smallest share size (time to make that BIG salad, lol).   (more…)

English Peas

Garden Peas (aka English Peas)

Garden, or English peas, are your standard “pea in a pod.”  They have more nutrients and calories than snow or sugar snap peas and are a bit more work as they need to be shelled. Garden peas are sweet and succulent for three to four days after they are picked, but turn mushy and starchy very quickly after harvesting.  So use them fast! (more…)