Allandale Farm

I went to the graduation party of one of my math buddies on Friday. It was good times. Besides a tour of the beautiful grounds and endless maze of a house, and firing off a potato cannon, there was amazing food. As it turns out, they found a farm that would cater their party. Billed as "Boston's last working farm," Allandale farms is located in Brookline and has been around for 250 years.

http://www.allandalefarm.com/

The food was simple, which you can do with great ingredients. They had quartered radishes with an herb dip, and the radishes seemed to magically have only the good part of the radish taste, without any of the bitterness. One of the first things I grew when I was a kid was a row of radishes. They grow to harvest in 21 days, great for impatient children, but then you pick them and they have this bitter taste. I ate them anyway, because I grew them. I can't tell if this farm used a better brand of seeds, or watered and fed them better than I did when I was 7.

At the party, a friend of mine stared at his salad in disbelief. It was pretty much just lettuce and dressing, but the lettuce was crisp, sweet, amazing. He asked if that was what lettuce really tasted like. I said, yep, that's why I have a farm share. My food tastes a lot better. The lettuce last spring was better than this year because we had more rain, but it's still better than the grocery store.

They also had a beautiful pasta with quartered steamed potatoes and herbs. You've never had a potato melt in your mouth like this...you don't even need butter. And there was a simple pea soup, steamed asparagus, and a quiche-like item.

At the end there was rhubarb crumble. Simple, sweet, again showcasing just the good part of the rhubarb without any of the bad.

I wonder if they are tax-exempt. I know that my friend's wife is considering raising cattle on their land to cut down on the taxes. I can imagine that would be one way to keep a 100-acre farm going. (I can't find it on their website, but I asked one of the caterers about the acreage.)

The farm has a retail store, but they also sell to Whole Foods. I need to check if there's a way to see the source of vegetables at Whole Foods. Their actual retail store is here:
259 Allandale Road
Brookline, MA 02467
and open 9-6 on weekends.

June 4 meat share

I picked up my first meat share on Wednesday in Arlington, MA. I had no idea what to expect, thinking that my 10-pound share would probably include four pieces of meat that I'd have to divvy up. It wasn't like that at all! There were lots of little packages, almost like it was designed for one or two people. It included:
- 2 packages that each had two hamburger patties.
- 2 packages of ground meat.
- 3 breakfast sausage.
- 3 lamb sausage.
- 1 large ham steak.
- 1 London broil steak.
- 2 beef rib Delmonico steaks.

I was surprised that there wasn't any chicken in the share, but I know that this is the start of chicken season so we might not get any for a month or two. I committed to six months, and the ten pounds cost $70. I also bought two dozen eggs at $4 per dozen. Kim, the farmer, said that you can leave the eggs out on the counter for up to 10 days and they taste better. She also said that the USDA might disagree with that method, and that eggs last up to a month in the refrigerator.

I put the London broil into my meat and parsnip crockpot. Elena took hers out at 6am and said it was wonderful, but when I took my serving out at 8am the steak was too tough. Organic, grain-fed meat is much leaner than conventional meat, so you should take about 30% off of cooking time. I told Kim that I am Irish and can't cook meat, and she said, "Don't boil it!" And look what I go and do.

June 3 vegetable share

I talked to the farmer at The Food Project, and she said this spring was cold and dry "which isn't good for growing anything!" Last June was warm and rainy, so I was a little surprised at the first share this year. I picked up:
- 2 heads of lettuce (different varieties)
- 5 parsnips (which had been in the ground all winter)
- mint
- sage

Elena and I have been making lettuce salads all week, with sweet vadalia onion dressing. I have no idea what to do with sage.

Oddly enough, Elena and I both had dreams about parsnips the day after the share. Shaped like a carrot, parsnips have a slightly sweet flavor to them and taste great steamed or in soup. I made a meat and parsnip stew when I got my meat share.

It rained for two days this week, and we're in the middle of 3 days of 90-degree weather, so my hopes are up for my veggies in future weeks.

Hooray for CSAs!

The title of my blog, "An overcrowded chicken farm produce fewer eggs" is a Chinese proverb that I thought fit the idea of the CSA. If you treat your animals and your vegetables well, you can more out of the land.

Farm shares are not for people who like planning meals. Some weeks you'll have enough lettuce for a rabbit farm, and other weeks you'll wonder how you'll consume five pounds of tomatoes. Experiment! And watch Iron Chef like it's your job.

Last year was the first year I participated in community supported agriculture (CSA). Each week, I'd go to The Food Project http://www.thefoodproject.org/ in Lincoln, MA to collect a share of whatever they harvested each week. I share my share with my sister Elena.

This year I also found a meat share that distributes in my area. Based in Hardwick, MA, Chestnut Farms http://www.chestnutfarms.org/ sends their truck to different towns in Massachusetts once per month. You pick up a cooler full of meat, and they also offer eggs "these were all laid yesterday" for purchase.

This blog will include what I received in my weekly vegetable share and my monthly meat share. I'll post successful recipes, articles about CSAs, and may veer into farming news or farmer's markets every now and then.

I always wanted to live on a farm, and even took a course in organic farming when I was at UMass Amherst. I grew tomatoes and peppers and peas at my parents' house, but now I live in a condo in city. CSAs seem to fill that need for seeing things grow, picking tomatoes, and chatting with other people who care about where their food comes from.

Drop me a line if you have any questions or information you would like me to post.