Westfield Area CSA Blog

Beet Cake

Beet Cake

Yes, this cake is made with beets!  Very highly reviewed on food.com.  According to the recipe, the batter looks red, but the red bakes out.  Try it with almond flavored frosting, or serve it with homemade whipped cream. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – October 5, 2020

Hello everyone, so after three weeks without rain we received a little over three inches last week. We have gone from bone-dry to muddy conditions, but at least we have a respite from moving the sprinklers around. Nighttime temperatures have been dropping, but we have not had any more frosts. At this point we are covering anything tender and worth saving anytime the forecast calls for temps in the thirties. We have a large planting of beans which have been flowering profusely and are loaded with small pods. They are growing very slowly with the shorter days and cool nights, but we hope to have beans for next week. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 28, 2020

Hi Everyone! Farming can be a very rewarding endeavor – producing high quality food in a sustainable and environmentally conscious manner is important and gratifying. It can also be tremendously heartbreaking. As last week went by, the extent of the damage from four successive night of frost became apparent. We tried to cover and protect as much of the more sensitive crops as we could, but it is not possible to cover ten or more acres of crops. I estimate the losses to be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Some of this loss is manifest as income loss on crops we would have sold at market – we loss most of our cut flowers for example. Some of the loss is reflected in both market sales losses and what we have available to put in the CSA shares, reducing the value of the shares. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 21, 2020

Hello Folks, so the weather has turned on us again. It has been nearly 2 weeks with no rain and another week to go before any precipitation is predicted. Worse than that we have had frost on 3 consecutive nights with a fourth forecast for tonight. I say forecast but actually the predictions have been for 37-38 degrees and there were no frost warnings. We covered some of the more delicate crops on the first night and then, once we saw the effects, started covering as much as we could. (more…)

Orzo with Caramelized Fall Vegetables and Ginger

Orzo with Caramelized Fall Vegetables and Ginger

Found on the website, thekitchn.com, this recipe is colorful and delicious, even if it takes a bit of chopping and stir-frying.  The dish is built from the ground up in one big skillet, browning, caramelizing, and sautéeing until you’re left with a big pile of chewy orzo and dark, delicious fall vegetables.  (Use your biggest stove burner, and your biggest sauté pan!)  The recipe serves 4 as a main dish and 6 as a side dish. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 14, 2020

Hi All! So, the days are getting shorter and the nights cooler. This begins to slow down the warm weather crops. We are taking a break from peppers for a week or two to allow the fruit to size up and ripen, so that we can get you another round of colored peppers. We also hope to send eggplant one more time this season – the plants are loaded with fruit but are growing very slowly. We will have to see how long we can keep the zucchini coming… (more…)