By Ashley
We are in the heart of winter. I'm sure you have heard the phrase "It's time to be quiet and still" or maybe "Wintertime is the time to go within and rest." Those are good phrases, healthy ways to look at winter as opportunity to connect with yourself.
We feel it right now at the farm. Summer seasonal crew is gone, it's just a small few now with another leaving us in just a month. The pace of the days have grown slower, more methodical. We have larger projects to do, but not in the way we do in the summer. They are longer projects that take time and attention, like the slow shaving of a whittled down piece of wood.
I think its hard to be slow. Not only in the sense of we are not used to it and so it doesn't come easily to us, but also in the sense that it is scary. Because it is scary, no? To be slow, to have space, to move with intention is to have the opportunity for the things we have been avoiding to approach us and ask to be seen. It's these slow times where the deepest healing comes from picking up that deeply unsettling object in our lives and integrating it into ourselves. We want to avoid these things, we want to stay busy so we do not see them, don't have to hear them speaking to us. It is easier to avoid them. Yet the nights are long and time spent not moving grows until the solstice and even then, it is a far ways off from spring.
If I have learned anything from farming is that putting off a project that needs to happen to move the farm along a path of good working only creates larger and more complicated problems farther down the road. It is necessary, even if I personally don't like it, to make potting mix now when it is not raining so we have good soil to put seedlings into for the crops of next year. It is necessary to sit down to oil and sharpen the tools so they last us into the next season, though it may be boring or messy or lonely if doing it alone. It is necessary to get dirty, wet and sometimes a little bit cold to pull out weeds, cut down old growth in the perennial garden so that when the sun comes back around and the soil warms the plants will have space and energy to grow new shoots for us to enjoy. It is not easy and sometimes it is not enjoyable, but it is necessary.
I find it helpful to face the things I dread when I have filled more of my down time with beautiful things I enjoy. To sketch and to read and maybe to sew had given me enough time to sit and ponder the hard things and take into account all that I've avoided. At the farm, we have more opportunity to sit and chat with one another and gain valuable perspective on the way our lives move around one another. And this rhythm will never cease, even when we are dead. Time will continue to move and somewhere in the universe there will be creation and destruction moving its way towards infinity.
CSA Barn Hours:
Winter break: We are closed 12/25-12/29!
Winter hours: 2:30-6PM
Summer hours: 2:30-6:30PM (starts the week after daylight savings in March)
Pick List:
Eggs
Red Gold, La Ratte Fingerling, and Yellow Finn Potatoes
Cortland and Cabernet Red, Cipollini Sweet Onions, Monastrell Shallots
Leeks
Evergreen Hardy Scallions
Yaya carrots
Rhonda Beets
Purple Top Turnips
Purple Daikon and Watermelon Radish
Joan Rutabaga
Mars Celeriac
Hablange Parsnip
Kossack Kohlrabi
Primo and Caraflex Green and Ruby King Red Cabbage
Song Cauliflower and/or Covina Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts
Rosalba, Sugarloaf, and Castelfranco
Celery
Red Russian Kale
Ruby Red Chard
Prize Choi
Regiment Spinach
Cilantro
Winter Sweet Kabocha, Spaghetti, Acorn, Butternut, and Delicata Winter Squash
Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin
Pick your own herbs, mostly in the herb circle (and maybe a few flowers)
Stoneground cornmeal from our dry corn! FYI: It does have large pieces of the outer skin in it which creates a different texture than the more uniform cornmeal. If you do not enjoy this, you can sift it with the right size screen. (Please BYO jars!)
Tea Blends (Please BYO jars!)
Whole Korean Dried Hot Peppers and Ground Chile Peppers
Beef Bone Broth for sale again! (Made by Olla Products)
Saltonstall Olive Oil for sale (Please BYO jars!)
Revolution Bread will be on a break while Eli recovers from illness. We wish him a smooth recory!
Open Field Farm 2023 | The "ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW" guide for members
Beef Cheek Tacos
One or two beef cheek packages
One red onion
Small head of garlic
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon basque pepper
1-2 pinches of salt
Cabbage slaw
1/2 cabbage in a Cuisinart or thinly sliced
2 tablespoons of lime juice
2 teaspoons of cumin
Cilantro lime dressing
One full bunch of cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons mayo
Should make enough for 5 or so tacos
I like to defrost a beef cheek or two and put them into a slow cooker while I'm at work. I will place one large red onion and a head of garlic, black pepper, cinnamon, salt, and basque into the water and let it simmer.
Once it is done and I'm ready to be home I will grab cilantro, mayonnaise and lime juice, blend them together for a citrus sauce, heat up tortillas (homemade will always be more delicious but of course, more time intensive), make the cabbage slaw, and put it all together for a delicious and quick beef cheek taco that tastes delicious with very minimal work.