"You can't unsee them!" surfer-farmer, Laura, on pinching tomato suckers
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This Week at the Farm
The Farm Stand
Volunteering
Composting
Recipes to Dine For
Farmer 'Scrole and Beans
Dropping Funky Beets
Field Notes
Hidden Treasure
July Growth
In the News
Progreso Latino
Trending Articles
BFS Videos
Hero's Signs
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The Farm Stand
Open daily for self service of local raw honey, cut flowers, fresh herbs, veggies, seedlings (sunflowers this week), and greens. Our main market days are Wednesdays and Saturdays, but please stop in other days. Venmo and cash box for payment (we are not able to make change at this time).
** Our lettuce prices have been adjusted. Thank you for your understanding**
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Wednesday and Saturday Market opens at 10 a.m.
(certain items sellout quickly)
This week features:
escarole, green beans, Swiss chard, peas, bunching onions, romaine, kale, fresh parsley/oregano/cilantro, and lots of flowers. Beets and carrots on Saturday.
Any moment now: raspberries, chives, summer squash, zucchini, green peppers, Japanese eggplant, and cherry tomatoes
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first harvest of carrots, beets, bunching onions, and spectacular Swiss chard
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If you would like to join the volunteer corps, check times on our events
calendar
or message/call Farmer Dan at 401-834-5828. Waiver
form
required.
Volunteer Corps meet Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9-12 p.m.
Families farm on Thursday morning 9-12 p.m.
Other times noted on calendar.
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Food-scrap collection
continues at the farm stand, including fish carcasses and shells in with veggie scraps (
no
meat or chicken bone at this time).
Here are the totals for the month of
June
.
Thank you to everyone dropping off at the farm stand.
2019 collection has been converted to approximately 10 cubic yards of finished compost ready for the fields!
Have you added chickens to your backyard garden? We gladly accept any excess bedding and organic chicken manure. Find the drop-off location in this
video
plus a tour of the farm stand.
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Pictured: the first of the green peppers and Japanese eggplant flowers
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Farmer 'Scrole & Beans
(quick and easy escarole lettuce recipe)
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Ingredients:
Olive oil
1 large head BFS escarole, chopped and rinsed well but not spun
2 cloves garlic (or 2 BFS garlic scapes)
1 can cannellini beans
Salt & pepper
Rotini pasta or crusty loaf of your favorite bread
Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Start pasta cooking.
Heat olive oil in large skillet, saute garlic a bit, add wet escarole and cook down, add beans and heat through. Turn heat off and stir in parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pasta or with a loaf of crusty bread. Yum! -- Aby O.
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Dropping Funky Beets
(move over Food Network)
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So I love beets at a restaurant, they are always tender and just the right amount of sweet and the earthiness is not overpowering, but for the longest time, when I tried to cook them myself, I struggled to overcome the earthiness of the beet.
If you are nodding your head and still have that taste in your mouth, well let me tell you…… all is not lost. A few tips to mask the earth.. Citrus, salt, and vinegar. When properly utilized with a beet, you’ll be able to get that restaurant flavor @ home!
Play around with the recipe below & hopefully you can make the magic happen.
Blackberry Ginger Balsamic Roasted Beet Grapefruit Salad
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- 3 bunches of BFS beet bunches (about 9 golf ball sized beets), thoroughly rinsed, greens removed (save for later!)
- 1 ruby red grapefruit
- 2 TBS of your favorite balsamic vinegar. I used the Blackberry Ginger from https://www.nectardelavida.com/ in Warren.
- Salt
- ¼ C of olive oil
- Handful of chopped walnuts
- Sprig of mint (optional)
Seal beets in a tin foil pocket, place on a baking sheet with sides, and roast @ 425 for an hour. The foil pocket will steam the beets tender (poke a beet with a fork to confirm) & once cooled, the skins peel right off. No peeler needed! Cool, peel, quarter.
Drop the beet greens (and the purple stems) into boiling water for 2 min. Drain, run under cold water, wring out the excess water, then rough chop to your liking.
Zest about 1 teaspoon of grapefruit, then peel & remove the segments from the membrane. This takes a bit of work & can be messy. If you’ve ever been to a crab boil down in the Chesapeake, it’ll remind you of that experience
Whisk together oil, vinegar, pinch of salt & any juices from the grapefruit that ended up on the cutting board.
Fold in the beets, greens, grapefruit segments & walnuts. You can refrigerate to let the flavors meld, or serve immediately. Just add another pinch of salt just prior to serving.
Enjoy!
Additional tips:
- Add a tbs of water to the foil pouch to prevent burning, if the beets have been sitting for a few days.
- After peeling the beets, the hard work is over and you can go many different directions. Smoothies, hummus, pan frying in oil, ravioli filling. Get funky.
- The grapefruit can be replaced by any other sweet/semi-sweet citrus.
- Add some chevre to take the salad up another notch.
- If it still tastes “earthy,” add more salt, vinegar, or citrus.
-- Brian M.
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With a certain holiday fast approaching this weekend, this is the time of the year where farmers look left and right wondering where all the volunteers have gone. Most bets land on Block Island. However, we are hoping this year is different given the tremendous movement of volunteers at the farm. While some will be away, others have signed up for farm fun, or as we like to call it, farm fit.
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The hidden treasures gaining steam are the families joining the farming movement on Thursday mornings. With many camps having closed, and with the uncertainty of what school will look like in the fall, families are turning to the farm school for a space where fresh air abounds and the curriculum that is nature itself, unfolds in front of the little farmers' eyes each week.
Whether it's learning about red wigglers, studying the many insects and bugs visiting the farm, or picking a handful of red raspberries while tending to the gardens, the farm offers young kids and their families a wonderful experience that is safe and stress free.
With so much research pouring out about the bountiful lessons embedded in nature, it's a wonder anyone had ever missed it. Perhaps, it had simply been hidden away in an old file cabinet dusted over like an old packet of heritage seeds awaiting their turn in the soil.
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Pictured: succession in the nursery (kale, borage, basil, salanova, and other herbs, flowers, and greens, farmer Zoe becomes one with the tomatoes
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Pictured:college bound farmers, Erin and Lorelei loving the Tuesday evening green bean harvest, by the bucket load
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Thank the heavens for the much needed rain. It seemed we were running the sprinklers 24/7 for about a week. This is the month where everything grows the fastest and where succession planning for a strong fall crop is paramount. Things certainly have taken off in these few days of soaking rain.
Staying on top of the harvest is essential and this includes continuous and daily pest control. Farmers are always hard at work finding the most practical and humane way to deal with those little animals who, like us, enjoy a refreshing midday snack of brassicas or root veggies.
When we find the time, we consider other big projects like building some shelters for the equipment or revitalizing an unused field. Whatever we are doing, we always find time to enjoy some downtime on the farm under the shade of a healthy tree canopy.
Major projects this week:
- Weed and mulch fruit trees and berries
- Prepare curing stations for heritage garlic
- Clear spring lettuce beds, solarize (silage), and prep for planting (broadfork, fertilize, and compost)
- Organize wood piles and clear invasives in hammocks
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The demand for take-home seedlings is great, and we plan on continuing our offerings of basil, sunflowers, and other seedlings throughout the season.
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Dear Friends and Followers of the Barrington Farm School:
Please help us support our brothers and sisters in Central Falls, a diverse, densely-populated city of 19,000, including 6,000 children. Like many urban communities, Central Falls has been greatly affected by COVID-19, especially its
public health and economy.
We are partnering with Progreso Latino by
bringing donated products to
its large food pantry in Central Falls once a week.
WE NEED FOOD DONATIONS!
Please drop at our box
at the farm stand.
1. Unexpired nonperishable food products.
2. Boxed cereals and snacks for children.
3. Diapers size 3 and up.
Please remember to pick up something to donate when you go shopping. Just one item can make a difference. By donating once a week, we show our concern for our urban neighbors and show how much we care for people both inside and outside of our town.
Queridos Amigos y Colaboradores del Barrington Farm School:
Por favor, únanse a nosotros para ayudar a nuestros hermanos y hermanas de Central Falls, RI, una diversa y densamente poblada ciudad de 19.000, que incluye 6.000 niños. Como sucede en muchas comunidades urbanas, y especialmente en Central Falls, la salud publica y la economía han sido afectadas por Covid-19.
Por eso nos hemos asociado con Progreso Latino, que opera un food pantry en Central Falls. Llevaremos donaciones a Progreso Latino una ves a la semana.
NECESITAMOS SUS DONACIONES!
Hemos puesto una caja en el farm stand.
Por favor depositen:
1. Comida no perecedera que no este vencida.
2. Cereales en caja y meriendas para niños.
3. Pañales de talle 3 para arriba.
Por favor, cuando vayan de compras recuerden agregar algo para depositar en la huerta.
Usted puede hacer la diferencia. Donando una ves a la semana demostramos nuestra preocupación para nuestros vecinos y cuanto queremos a todos dentro y por afuera de nuestra comunidad.
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If you're headed out for a stroll or better yet, a family bike ride, perhaps you detour or head straight to the farm for a walk around the property. While the woodland trails are yet to be completed, the fields are being dressed with some cool kid-made signs, thanks to Hero and her friends (and family).
Having collected a pile of scrap wood from the farm, they went home and got to sketching out signs for various crops, designated areas, and infrastructure. These signs will be helpful should we one day decide to do some pick-your-own for berries :). Yum!
We're excited for the signs yet to come, 30 in all. Now, we're off to get more scrap wood.
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An inclusive community farm and learning center that provides farming, food, health, and environmental education supported by dedicated volunteers serving as stewards of our historic farm. Barrington Farm School is a 501(c)3, educational resource for students of all ages.
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