Short email today since it's already 6:11 and the crew gets here at 7. . .

We got a lot of rain on Saturday night/Sunday. 2 and 5/8". Luckily our garlic is planted in raised beds, away from the standing water. It's on our never-ending to-do list to put in some drainage at the "wet end" of our main vegetable field to prevent the over-saturation that happens with heavy rain.

Luckily I was able to squeeze in an 8 hour day of tractor work on Saturday before the rain. It's sometimes nice to work alone for a day. I spread compost on an acre, harrowed an acre and a half, mowed and plowed in cover crop on an acre and cleaned up a few odds and ends in the field in the process. I'd love to not be working 60 hour weeks in spring (or ever) - but that is also on my list of long term goals. The reality is, farm work needs to happen when the weather is right, and if you aren't willing to work with nature, you just aren't going to get it done.

Luckily I have the best partner ever (yesterday was our 13 year anniversary of the day we met) who played with Harvey, ran errands, did laundry, cleaned and helped a new crew member moving in feel at home. Take that, gender norms.

Gem lettuce are in this week! And baby bok choy. Some are a little bolty (small flower buds in the center). These are essentially broccoli cousins so think of the flower buds as a bonus! It's all edible. Keep enjoying your greens. Asparagus season is just around the corner.

Also, just a note: we have great big plans for increasing the diversity of produce available in the spring share. More herbs, shallots, onions, green garlic, sweet potatoes, beets, parsnips, ruhbarb. Thanks for being with us and enjoying what we are able to produce now which is helping us grow and do better each season.

Another note: pea tendrils. Thanks for eating them. They are a great way for us to offset the cost of heating our propagation greenhouse. The propagation house is the only greenhouse we use supplementary heat in, all the rest are passive (just the sun). I'm working on a grant to use radiant heating in the floors to decrease the use of fuel to heat the tunnels, but currently I couldn't grow tomato/cuke/zucchini/pepper/eggplant/melon seedlings without it. I'd never heat a greenhouse to grow a tomato plant in ground out of season (if you are seeing tomatoes from farms in New England before July, they most likely used some form of heat to get them there). I just can't justify it.

So, the pea tendrils are a food crop we can grow and sell in the greenhouse alongside the tomato and pepper seedlings that help us pay for the heat and feel better that food is also being produced. Try them with eggs. Or toss in with a stir fry right at the end. They really, really keep well in the fridge, so you can use them towards the end of the week.

I made a salad for me and Kev last night of just chopped up pea tendrils and claytonia with olive oil and salt. It is simple, easy and you know you are doing something good for your body when you eat that way. Over the weekend I added raisins and walnuts to the same salad to get a little fancy.

Ok, So What's in the Share!?

Choose 2 bags greens spinach

3/4 pound bok choy

2 heads gem lettuce

Mix and Match 2 pounds Carrots, potatoes and daikon radish

Choose 1 bunch: scallion, cilantro, dill (maybe - it is still small)

*Please note* we do our absolute best to estimate what our customers will prefer when it comes to choices based on years of CSA and market experience and data collection. That said, sometimes a crop is more popular than anticipated and we do run out of that choice. We try to avoid this, but have determined this is a better alternative than not giving choices.

*Please remember* this share costs less weekly than all of our other shares. The standard price is $22/week. It has a lot of high value but light-weight greens in it so it can sometimes seem smaller than a summer share, where instead of bags of greens you are getting multiple pounds of fruits and roots. This is the nature of seasonal eating in New England. We will get better at growing storage crops and overwintering crops so we can more "heavy" choices in spring - but for now, this is the spring share, exactly as we planned it, and we are very proud of what we are able to make available in APRIL!!!

Recipes

Hi - Jess Girotti here. If you have a recipe that you love that you'd like to share with other members or if a recipe link isn't working for you, feel free to email me at jgirotti@live.com. (Please note that I can't re-print a recipe from a cookbook that isn't already online.) Don't forget to check out the recipe pages on the Upswing website if you need more ideas for your other veggies.

ROASTED RADISHES

Fellow CSA member, Ruth Potter, made roasted radishes this week and wanted to share with everyone. "I’d never had roasted radishes until I tried them recently at Clover Food Lab and had to try and recreate them."

BRIGHT SPRING SALAD

This is a gorgeous spring salad packed with veggies like radishes, peas, asparagus, and avocado and topped with chickpeas, avocado, and feta and a lemon-basil-mint vinaigrette.



SPRING BUDDHA BOWL

We've been loving bowls at our house recently and this one is perfect for the spring share. The beauty of this recipe is that you can use the spring veggies that you have on hand (think radishes, rainbow carrots, microgreens, etc). Don't have miso? This dressing will still be delicious without it. I highly recommend serving these bowls over a generous portion of spring greens, like arugula, claytonia or pea tendrils.

SPINACH, ROASTED RADISH, AND HERB FRITTATA

As a chicken owner, I make a lot of frittatas. I love the colorful twist of this one!

PEA TENDRIL-PISTACHIO PESTO

Pesto is a great non-salad use for greens! Toss it with some pasta, smear it on a sandwich or add it to soup. I love to freeze pesto in ice cube trays so I can thaw out a few cubes at a time all year long.

CARROT CAKE MUFFINS WITH CREAM CHEESE FILLING

We love muffins for grab-and-go breakfasts and, even though it is arguably actually a cupcake...I still think it's a lot healthier than most of the breakfast cereals out ther AND it's got veggies. I would absolutely make them with whole wheat flour - I promise, you won't be able to tell the difference with all of those spices in there.

IMPORTANT DETAILS

Below is information for pick up at all 3 of our weekly locations. If you can't remember your pick up location, please refer to the email sent on 4/10/2023.

Upswing Farm

65 Brookline St, Pepperell, MA

Your pick up day is Wednesday.

Hours are 2:00pm to 6:00pm.

Here is a list of the exact dates of your share pick up. *

I recommend stopping what you are doing and adding them to your calendar, with an alert, right now!

April 12th

April 19th

April 26th

May 3rd

May 10th

May 17th

May 24th

May 31st

Parking: Please park in the parking lot by the greenhouses and the white Upswing Farm sign. It's more like 53 Brookline if you are using GPS.

Picking Up Your Share: Please check in with Joella and cross your own name off the list !

This is very important. We need to know who has come! Then, read the signs and choose your produce based on the signs. Joella can answer any questions you have.

If you are going to be late: Text 508-215-8378. We can pack a box for you and leave it on the farm house porch (actually at 65 Brookline, up by the white barns)

If you can't make it: Please let us know a time when you can come by Thursday or Friday and we will leave your share out for you on the porch.

If you want to send someone else in your place: This is a great idea if you are going on vacation! Give your neighbor or anyone who is helping take care of your place your share for the week. Just make sure you forward the person you are sharing with the weekly email so they know pick up procedure. No need to tell us if you are going to do this.

Can't make it and want to donate your share to a local food pantry? Let us know and we will make sure it gets to one of the five food pantries we serve weekly.

Holliston Community Farm

34 Rogers Rd, Holliston, MA

Your pick up day is Tuesday.

Hours are 1:00pm to 6:00pm.

If you can't make it by 6:00, we can leave the share in the walk-in cooler for you to pick up later.

Here is a list of the exact dates of your share pick up. *

I recommend stopping what you are doing and adding them to your calendar, with an alert, right now!

April 11th

April 18th

April 25th

May 2nd

May 9th

May 16th

May 23rd

May 30th

Parking: Please driving up the driveway at 34 Rogers Rd, past the yellow house and past the farm stand and park in the parking lot. Please drive carefully, it is a narrow drive, and you will need to travel the drive from the house to the street single file. Please be patient and courteous with one another.

Picking Up Your Share: Please check in with Lindsay, cross your own name off the list !

This is very important. We need to know who has come! Then, read the signs and choose your produce based on the signs. Lindsay can answer any questions you have.

If you are going to be late: Text 508-215-8378 if you are going to be late. We can pack a box for you and leave it in the cooler to pick up later that evening or the next day.

If you can't make it and want to switch your pick up day to Thursday 1-6 at Weston Nurseries: Please let us know by Monday morning at 7am, if possible, so we can adjust our harvest for the week. Email upswingcsa@gmail.com.

If you want to send someone else in your place: This is a great idea if you are going on vacation! Give your neighbor or anyone who is helping take care of your place your share for the week. Just make sure you forward the person you are sharing with the weekly email so they know pick up procedure. No need to tell us if you are going to do this.

Can't make it and want to donate your share to a local food pantry? Let us know and we will make sure it gets to one of the five food pantries we serve weekly.

Weston Nurseries in Hopkinton

93 East Main St, Hopkinton, MA

Your pick up day is Thursday.

Hours are 1:00pm to 6:00pm.

Here is a list of the exact dates of your share pick up. *

I recommend stopping what you are doing and adding them to your calendar, with an alert, right now!

April 13th

April 20th

April 27th

May 4th

May 11th

May 18th

May 25th

June 1st

Parking: DO NOT GO IN THE MAIN ENTRANCE OF WESTON NURSERIES! There is no way to drive to the back lot from there. Instead, turn north at the light in front of Weston Nurseries onto Legacy Farms Rd North and turn right into the parking lot behind the nursery. You will see out white Box truck there, with tents. Park anywhere on the gravel lot, not too close to the tents, if possible.

Picking Up Your Share: Please check in with Anna (Ah-na) (she's new and she's great!) and cross your own name off the list !

This is very important. We need to know who has come! Then, read the signs and choose your produce based on the signs. Anna can answer any questions you have.

If you are going to be late: Text 508-215-8378. We can arrange a spot for you to pick up.

If you can't make it: Please let us know - we don't have a great alternative until the start of the Ashland Farmer's Market in Summer - so don't forget! If you can plan ahead you can come to the CSA pick up in Holliston on Tuesday. We just prefer to know by Monday at 7am if possible so we can adjust our harvest plan.

If you want to send someone else in your place: This is a great idea if you are going on vacation! Give your neighbor or anyone who is helping take care of your place your share for the week. Just make sure you forward the person you are sharing with the weekly email so they know pick up procedure. No need to tell us if you are going to do this.

Can't make it and want to donate your share to a local food pantry? Let us know and we will make sure it gets to one of the five food pantries we serve weekly.

Your Farmers,

Brittany, Kevin and the Upswing Farm Team

Also, I'm bad at spelling. I am a generalist, so as long as most of the letters are there, and there is good context, by brain prefers not to be bogged down by details. Also, I am frequently typing these emails late at night or early in the morning after or before a big day of work. I promise I'm not making spelling or grammar errors becauseI don't care. I really, really do care, I'm just no good at copy editing and I rarely have time to send these out for a proof read to Kevin who is still sleeping. I hope you can forgive me.