By Sage

Activity on the farm is picking up and since most of the fields have been planted, we are shifting our focus to making sure everything is growing well - weeding, cultivating, trellising, and transplanting to fill in any missing plants. I had my final tractor training last week and can now help drive the tractors when we are planting and watering plants in the field. I had never used a transplanting implement on a tractor before and it is really cool to watch the tractor move forward and leave plants in the soil behind it. After a few days of planting eggplants, peppers, brassicas, and some lettuce and celery, we transplanted all of the winter squash on Wednesday and it is so exciting to see how many plants are sprouting and getting bigger in the sun. On Friday, we harvested the rest of the green garlic and laid it out. This was a big project, but it gave us a chance to peek at the strawberries that are situated right next door. (They are just about ready!)

CSA barn hours:

• Summer hours: 2:30-6:30 pm (starts the week after daylight savings in March)

• Winter: 2:30-6 pm (starts the week after daylight savings in November)

Pick List:

This week, the list is yet again slim and quantities will be limited. Last week, with the warmer afternoons, we saw tremendous growth in the plants. We are back to cooler weather this week, which makes harvest predictions difficult. We have so much food planted in the fields and it will be ready at some point! We had our first taste of strawberries this week and we can’t wait to have enough to offer.

• Eggs

• Cortland Yellow Onions (Last week!)

• Joan Rutabaga (Last week!)

• Fresh garlic

• Mideast Peace Cucumbers

• Evergreen Hardy Scallions

• Lettuce

• Spinach on Tuesday; Pink Beauty Radish on Friday

• Cilantro and Dill

• Sonora wheat flour and wheat berries

• Herbal Tea (Blends are done until the fall)

• Whole Dried Chile peppers (Please bring your own jars!)

• Pick your own flowers and herbs

• Saltonstall Olive Oil (Please bring your own jars!)

• Revolution Bread: Fresh bread on Tuesday and Friday (Frozen bread available.)

Open Field Farm 2023 | The "ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW" guide for members 

Personal Chocolate Chip Cookies

One of my go to recipes is for a personal batch of chocolate chip cookies. It’s the perfect amount for a quick dessert and fits perfectly in my tiny oven. Using flour and eggs from the farm, these cookies are crispy on the outside, but gooey in the center. I usually use one less tablespoon of sugar, and have found that this ratio of liquid to flour works well without any all purpose flour. 

• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

• 4 Tablespoons brown sugar, packed

• 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

• 1 egg yolk

• 6 Tablespoons all purpose flour

• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 3 Tablespoons chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Brown the butter over medium heat, stirring constantly until the butter begins to foam and turns a golden brown, emitting a nutty aroma. Take butter off the heat and allow to cool.

3. In a small mixing bowl combine the butter and the sugars and mix well. Add the egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth and homogenous.

4. Add the flour, salt and baking soda. Mix until just combined and no streaks of flour remain. Last, fold in the chocolate. Do not over mix.

5. Shape into 2 huge cookies or 2 medium size cookies and place on your prepared cookie sheet.

6. Bake for 11 minutes, or until the edges are just golden brown and the centers have puffed up but are still gooey.

7. Allow to cool before eating!

Recipe from bromabakery.com