Letter from a Farmer,

All the rain in late July made it impossible to cultivate with a tractor to control the weeds in a 2-acre field of cabbage, kale, broccoli, collards, napa cabbage, and cauliflower. We had a few drier days to cultivate our carrots and beets so they weren't as weedy. We tackled hand weeding those two crops first because while they had weeds it wasn't going to take too long. Then we looked over to the brassica field and sighed. I was tempted to just mow and disc the whole field, vegetables and all. The team said we couldn't loose all of those veggies, that they were up for trying to save the crops.

First I cultivated with two different tools to at least remove most of the weeds in between the rows to minimize the hand weeding. With that accomplished we still had two acres of weeds towering around each vegetable plant. We do have a machine that can destroy the weeds between the plants but once the weeds are waist high that doesn't work anymore. Hand pulling was our only option. Fortunately the wet weather keeps the soil soft so the weeds weren't as hard to pull out as they could be. With all hands on deck, we tackled the field row by row. And the team did it, they saved your kale, cabbage, two plantings of broccoli, napa cabbage, collards, and cauliflower. And the plants look beautiful. It seems they like growing under the shade of 4 ft tall weeds.

We are calling this our brassica field glow up after the Tik Tok (or Instagram for us older people) videos of showing how people change through their awkward teenage years. The kale in this week's share is a result of all that hard work to make the field go from a weedy disaster to tidy rows of fall vegetables. Hats off and water bottles raised to Team Roxbury. ~Jody

2023 Sweet Potato Harvest Party!!

Please join us on Saturday, September 23 at 9:00 am

for the sweet potato harvest.

We will grill Roxbury Farm CSA burgers at 1:00 pm and celebrate with a potluck lunch. Please bring a dish to share!

Click HERE to let us know you will be attending.

We are located at 2343 State Route 9H, Kinderhook, NY 12106. The easiest way to find us is to type in this whole long thing into Google Maps: Roxbury Farm Commercial Delivery Access Road. Other GPS and Apple Maps take you to the wrong location. Our farm entrance is just south of the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site and just north of the intersection of County Route 25 on the west side of Route 9H.

Brassicas pre-weeding

BEEF #3: Week of September 4

CHICKEN SHARE #3: Week of September 19

PORK SHARES: In late September or early October

If you can't pick up your egg or meat share a particular week, please contact the farm and we can hold your share and send it another week.

ROXBURY FARM CSA

PORK and BEEF

We have our own beef and pork available to purchase by the cut.

Click HERE to see what cuts are available

head lettuce, scallions, slicing tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, plum tomatoes, carmen sweet peppers, winter squash, kale, hot peppers, green beans, and napa cabbage

Brassicas post weeding

This week's full share: head lettuce, delicata squash, plum tomatoes, sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, carmen sweet peppers, kale, dill, arugula, bell peppers, and scallions

FRUIT SHARE: plums

This week's small share: delicata squash, plum tomatoes, carmen sweet peppers, sweet corn, kale, dill, arugula, and slicing tomatoes

COOKING TIPS AND RECIPES

Chickpea Salad Toast with Dill

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature

2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

8 thick slices sourdough or French bread

2 15-oz. cans chickpeas, rinsed

2 to 3 scallions, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

1 red pepper, finely chopped

8 oz. extra sharp cheddar, coarsely grated

½ cup coarsely chopped cornichons

½ cup coarsely chopped dill

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

Flaky sea salt

Heat broiler. Heat 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature, and 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Cook 4 thick slices sourdough or French bread, turning once, until golden brown and crisp, about 3 minutes. Repeat with 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil and remaining 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature, and 4 thick slices sourdough or French bread. Arrange slices on a baking sheet.

Place two 15-oz. cans chickpeas, rinsed, in a large bowl. Using a wooden spoon, potato masher, or your hands, coarsely crush some of the chickpeas, keeping pieces fairly large (leave at least one third of the chickpeas whole). Add scallions, finely chopped, 2 celery stalks, finely chopped, red peppers, finely chopped, 8 oz. extra sharp cheddar, coarsely grated, ½ cup coarsely chopped cornichons, and ½ cup coarsely chopped dill; drizzle with oil and season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Mix well.

Pile some chickpea salad on top of each toast, covering edge to edge. Broil until cheese is melted, 3–4 minutes.

Sprinkle toasts with flaky sea salt; drizzle with hot sauce. www.bonappetit.com

Dill Sauce

1 cup full fat Greek yogurt (or half mayonnaise and half yogurt*)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon dried dill

¼ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as necessary

1 tablespoon water, or more as necessary

Chop the dill. Juice the lemon.

In a small bowl, stir together the Greek yogurt, dill, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic powder, dried dill, and kosher salt. Stir in the water, then add a bit more as necessary until it comes to the desired consistency.

Taste and add additional pinches of salt as desired. Refrigerate up to 2 weeks. (Leftovers will become thicker in the fridge, so allow to come to room temperature and/or add a splash of water or lemon juice as necessary.) www.acouplecooks.com



Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Squash

For the winter squash

2 lbs delicata squash

⅔ tsp coarse sea salt, or to taste

¼ tsp ground black pepper

4 tbsp olive oil

For the tomatoes:

1 lb. cherry tomatoes

2 tbsp olive oil

0.3 oz. garlic clove, grated

1 tbsp aged balsamic vinegar, or balsamic vinegar

½ tsp coarse sea salt

¼ tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp fresh thyme

For the poached eggs:

4-6 whole eggs

1 tsp apple cider vinegar, or white wine vinegar

Other:

Olive oil, garnish

Fresh thyme, garnish

Preheat the oven to 425F (218C).

For the squash:

Scrub the delicata squash clean, pat dry, and slice into ½-inch rounds (length-wise). Scoop out the seeds and remove the stringy parts, using a grapefruit spoon. In a large mixing bowl, toss the squash with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Coat well. Line a large baking sheet with parchment. Spread the squash out in a single layer over the sheet.

Bake in a middle rack for about 20 minutes and flip the rinds to bake 8-10 minutes extra.

For the tomatoes:

Place the tomatoes in a baking dish. Add the ingredients from oil to thyme. Stir to coat well. Roast until the tomatoes are soft and beginning to burst, about 20 minutes.

For the poached eggs:

Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the vinegar. Turn heat down to a simmer. Crack an egg into a small bowl. Stir the water with a wooden spoon to get it spinning in one direction. Gently lower the egg into the water. Cook for 5 minutes and remove with a slotted spoon. Reheat with other eggs.

To serve:

Arrange 3-4 squash rinds to each serving plate or shallow bowl. Divide the tomatoes among plates and drizzle with the cooking juices. Place the poached eggs on top. Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, a few sprigs of thyme, and salt. Serve warm.

www.iheartumami.com