Westfield Area CSA Blog

Savoy cabbage

Cabbage

Cabbage is a leafy green or purple biennial plant, grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. Closely related to other cole crops, such as broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts.  Smooth-leafed firm-headed green cabbages are the most common, with smooth-leafed red and crinkle-leafed savoy cabbages of both colors seen less frequently.  The cabbage heads are generally picked during the first year of the plants’ life cycles, but those intended for seed are allowed to grow a second year. (more…)

Potato Lettuce Soup

Potato Lettuce Soup

Found on epicurious.com, this lettuce soup recipe is a great way to use the lettuce’s outer leaves and ribs, which usually go to waste.  Any kind of potato and any salad greens, including lettuce, arugula, spinach, and watercress, will work fine.  Yields 4 servings. (more…)

Greek Salad

Greek Salad

Known as horiatiki, this traditional Greek salad, from Delish.com, is made with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, kalamata olives, thinly sliced red onion, and feta. The easy dressing is a mixture of red wine vinegar, fresh lemon juice, dried oregano, and extra-virgin olive oil. Simply said, it’s the best.  Yields 4 servings. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – July 8, 2024

Hello everyone! First the weather – it’s too damn hot! The good news is that we had a nice rain last Friday night – almost an inch. Of course, it began as I was riding my seeding tractor up and down seedbeds planting carrots. I had three beds to finish, when the first round of storms chased me out of the field. It’s a trick I’ve developed over the years to bring on the showers, my personal rain dance! (more…)

Best Cobb Salad

Best Cobb Salad

Try this classic Cobb salad made with a quick homemade dressing, courtesy of delish.com.  If you want to make this ahead of time, we recommend storing the lettuce, eggs, chicken, bacon, and chives in one container.  Then you can peel the avocado and chop it along with the tomatoes before adding to the salad and tossing with dressing. Everything will keep in the fridge like that for up to 3 days.  Serves 4-6. (more…)

Cheesy Zucchini Casserole

Cheesy Zucchini Casserole

This recipe submitted by a CSA member comes highly recommended!  From Food & Wine blog, this casserole is made with chopped fresh zucchini that’s been sautéed with onion, then mixed with farmer cheese, a fresh form of cottage cheese you can find at some supermarkets.  Serves 8. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – July 1, 2024

Hello everyone! We made it through the first heat wave and received about an inch and a half of rain since my last update. The precipitation came from two passing storms, the second of which dropped an inch in less than an hour. This is not ideal, because much of the water runs off and does not have a chance to soak in, but we take what we can get. (more…)

Summer Squash

Summer Squash

Welcome to Summer Squash season!  As you may have noticed already, summer squash appears in a variety of shapes and colors, the most prevalent being the well-known green zucchini, the straight or crooked necked yellow squash, and the round, flat, often scalloped edge, patty pan squash.  All these varieties are tender, warm-season vegetables that differ from their fall and winter cousins in that they are selected to be harvested while still immature.  Thus, the entire vegetable, rind, flesh, and seeds, can be eaten. (more…)