Westfield Area CSA Blog

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…)

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…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 7, 2020

Hi Folks, I hope you had a pleasant and safe Labor Day weekend. Of course, here on the farm every day is labor day, which I suppose is better than every day being Ground Hog day but not as good as every day being Christmas. We’re working hard for you! The good news for this week is that we have summer squash and zucchini coming in again. The bad news is that our tomato production has plummeted. We will try to get everyone a few more tomatoes over the next couple of weeks. (more…)

Cippolini Onions

Cippolini Onions

Cippolini (aka Cipolline) are small flat onions with a mild flavor. Their flat shape and size make them excellent candidates for roasting whole.

The biggest problem with these little gems is getting the skin off. Use a paring knife to cut strips of the skin from one end to another. Boiling briefly may also help to get the skins off.  But all that work is well worth it! (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – August 31, 2020

Hi Everyone!  We received .4 inches of rain from the remnants of Laura on Saturday.  We may get a little more precipitation tomorrow.  Soil moisture is good, seeds are sprouting, and the transplants have taken root.  Mostly moderate temperatures are forecast for the week ahead but with some cool nights. (more…)