CSA Weekly Box Info & Recipes
January 27th Winter CSA #5
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Small Share:
Garlic, Kohlrabi, Beets, Carrots, Daikon Mix, Sweet Potatoes, Butternut Squash, Popping Corn, Blue Cornmeal
Full Share:
Garlic, Kohlrabi, Beets, Carrots, Daikon Mix, Sweet Potatoes, Butternut Squash, Popping Corn, Blue Cornmeal, Watermelon Radishes
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Hello from the fields,
This week’s accomplishment on the farm has been filling this year's Apprenticeship Program positions. We've conducted many dozens of interviews, reviewing applicants with a broad range of backgrounds, all intent on seeking careers in agriculture. We've chosen an excellent group, and in late March, we'll welcome these six newcomers from around the country to our crew for an exciting season where they'll receive intensive training in all aspects of our diverse farming operation. They're in good company; this season’s farm team includes 11 returning farmers from last season, ten of whom are our own apprentice graduates who are back for a second, third, or even eighth season.
While we await the arrival of the new crew, our existing team is working through the seed order, and each day more boxes arrive, heaped with envelopes filled with the hundreds of vegetable, herb, and flower varieties we grow at the farm. The off-season at the farm is actually deceivingly short; we'll turn on the greenhouses in less than six short weeks, so in the limited downtime we have left, we'll continue to make repairs, clean up, get organized, and nail down our field plans for the busy season ahead.
Since this is the very last pickup of the 2023 winter share, we may not see you for a bit, but don't be a stranger! We welcome you to come see us at the market and to visit the goats and chickens or just take a lap around the field. We'll be open in Amagansett every day apart from a short winter break for two weeks in late February. As always, thank you for your support as part of our CSA program, it's our pleasure to feed you and we can't wait to do it again in 2024!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
January 13th Winter CSA #4
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Small Share:
Garlic, Collard Greens, Baby Kale, Kohlrabi, Koginut Squash, Beets, Carrots, White Daikon Radishes, Watermelon Radishes, Sweet Potatoes
Full Share:
Garlic, Kale, Collard Greens, Baby Kale, Kohlrabi, Koginut Squash, Butternut Squash, Beets, Carrots, White Daikon Radishes, Watermelon Radishes, Sweet Potatoes, Flour
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Roasting radishes brings out their sweetness and a milder flavor.
Farro with Roasted Squash, Mint and Feta
Substitute our wheat berries for the farro.
Spicy Stir-Fried Collard Greens with Green or Red Cabbage
In this stir-fry, the collard green and cabbage are a change from more traditional stir-fry veggies, but they remain firm when cooked. In addition, collards are a great source of calcium.
Sweet potato and kale create a delicious combination: sweetness from the potatoes and a nutty, earthy flavor from the kale.
Fresh herbs, roasted garlic, and parmesan cheese, all baked to golden deliciousness, will make the best garlic bread!
Pasta with Kale Pesto and Roasted Butternut Squash
A five-star recipe from the NY Times - garlicky kale pesto and sweet roasted squash.
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Hello from the fields,
What a year! We’ve spent much of 2023 looking back on 15 seasons of growing food in Amagansett. Our humble beginnings in 2009 producing vegetables on a single acre have evolved into the present-day community farm we’d dreamed of creating at Amber Waves. We’ve been taking stock of what we’ve accomplished and eagerly looking ahead to the next chapters at the farm: updated infrastructure, a greater reach for our educational programs, and continued open access to the farm for visitors. We couldn’t have a community farm without you, the community, who’ve been critical to our success throughout our 15 seasons. We’re grateful for your commitment, support, feedback, and investment in the farm through your annual subscriptions. Your early-season CSA share purchases have made a meaningful difference in the leanest months of the year, especially in the early years when we barely had access to credit and it was a challenge to carry even the two of us through the winter months. Now, surrounded by a team of dozens of dedicated farmers, bakers, cooks, educators, creators, managers, and all our staff, we thank you for remaining a core part of our mission and daily operations - especially you diehards with winter shares! While there are still a few weeks left of the winter share, we’re excited to announce 2024 CSA subscription signup is only a week away! We hope you’ll join us again for another season of crunchy greens, aromatic herbs, juicy tomatoes, and hearty winter crops - look for details in your inbox in the coming week.
From our entire Amber Waves Farm family here in Amagansett, we’re sending you wishes for the happiest and healthiest year ahead.
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
December 30th Winter CSA #3
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Small Share
Garlic, Sage, Baby Kale, Collards, Kale, Butternut Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Beets, Carrots, Daikon Radishes
Full Share
Garlic, Sage, Baby Kale, Collards, Kale, Butternut Squash, Koginut Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Beets, Carrots, Daikon Radishes, Kohlrabi, Wheat Berries
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Beets are a great way to add color and texture to your salads. They are delicious roasted and contain a wide range of nutrients. Deep maroon-red beets add stunning color and earthy flavor to any dish. Golden beets are slightly milder, while the sweeter Chioggia beets are an Italian heirloom with gorgeous candy cane red and white rings. Our beets are small to medium-sized with thin skin, making them perfect for roasting without the hassle of peeling. Beets are a good source of key nutrients, including folate, manganese, and copper. Beet greens are also very nutritious and high in iron.
Here are some popular methods for preparing and cooking fresh beets:
Roasting: The easiest way to cook beets is to roast them in foil; the skins rub off easily after the beets are cooled. Preheat your oven to 400°F. Trim the tops and roots of the beets. Toss the beet pieces with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 25-30 minutes or until tender.
Boiling: Peel and chop the beets into chunks. Place them in a pot and cover with water.
Bring the water to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 20-30 minutes until the beets are tender. Drain and let them cool before slicing or dicing.
Grilling: Slice the beets into thin rounds. Brush the slices with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill for 4-5 minutes per side until they are tender and have grill marks.
Raw in Salads: Grate or thinly slice raw beets and add them to salads for a crunchy, earthy flavor.
Pickling: Peel and slice beets. Prepare a pickling liquid with vinegar, sugar, salt, and spices.
Submerge the beets in the liquid and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
Beet Chips: Slice beets thinly using a mandoline. Toss the slices with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Bake in a single layer until crispy for homemade beet chips.
Remember to wear gloves when handling beets, as they can stain your hands.
Storage: Keep washed beets in an open container with a moist towel on top for up to two weeks.
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Collard Greens are a milder member of the brassica family and can be eaten in many ways. Use them raw as a wrap instead of a tortilla; their sturdiness works very well holding a wrap together. Mix in braised meats, stir into a soup, cook in a stir-fry, shred into a casserole or add to chili. The traditional Southern way to cook collards is low and slow, with smoked meat, onions, and garlic to render them tender and flavorful.
Collard greens are nutrient-dense and low in calories. They're a good source of calcium, folate, and vitamins K, C, and A and are high in fiber and antioxidants.
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Hello from the fields,
What a year! We’ve spent much of 2023 looking back on 15 seasons of growing food in Amagansett. Our humble beginnings in 2009 producing vegetables on a single acre have evolved into the present-day community farm we’d dreamed of creating at Amber Waves. We’ve been taking stock of what we’ve accomplished and eagerly looking ahead to the next chapters at the farm: updated infrastructure, a greater reach for our educational programs, and continued open access to the farm for visitors. We couldn’t have a community farm without you, the community, who’ve been critical to our success throughout our 15 seasons. We’re grateful for your commitment, support, feedback, and investment in the farm through your annual subscriptions. Your early-season CSA share purchases have made a meaningful difference in the leanest months of the year, especially in the early years when we barely had access to credit and it was a challenge to carry even the two of us through the winter months. Now, surrounded by a team of dozens of dedicated farmers, bakers, cooks, educators, creators, managers, and all our staff, we thank you for remaining a core part of our mission and daily operations - especially you diehards with winter shares! While there are still a few weeks left of the winter share, we’re excited to announce 2024 CSA subscription signup is only a week away! We hope you’ll join us again for another season of crunchy greens, aromatic herbs, juicy tomatoes, and hearty winter crops - look for details in your inbox in the coming week.
From our entire Amber Waves Farm family here in Amagansett, we’re sending you wishes for the happiest and healthiest year ahead.
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
December 16th Winter CSA #2
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Small Share
Garlic, Kale, Spinach, Kohlrabi, Koginut Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Watermelon Radishes, Rye Flour
Full Share
Garlic, Kale, Collards, Spinach, Fennel, Kohlrabi, Koginut Squash, Kabocha Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Watermelon Radishes, Rye Flour
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Watermelon radishes are also known as Chinese daikon radishes, belonging to the Brassicaceae family. They originated in Asia and are commonly used in Chinese and Korean cuisines. These radishes have a rich pink or magenta flesh color with pale green or white skin. The color contrast is quite beautiful and vibrant when sliced.
Watermelon radishes have a mild, peppery flavor, less intense than other types of radishes. They have a firm and crunchy texture, making them popular for salads, slaws, and other raw preparations. They are a good source of vitamin C, fiber, and other nutrients and contain some minerals, such as potassium and folic acid.
Enjoy watermelon radishes in various ways - raw, pickled, braised, roasted or mashed, although they may be best raw since they lose their color when cooked.. Slice them and add them to salads or use them as a garnish. The beautiful colors make them visually appealing! Here’s a tasty salad recipe with goat cheese.
Store them in the refrigerator, preferably in a plastic bag, to maintain freshness. They can typically be stored for several weeks.
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Kohlrabi is a unique vegetable belonging to the Brassicaceae family, including cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. Kohlrabi is believed to have originated in Europe and is commonly used in German and Eastern European cuisines. This alien-looking vegetable has a mild flavor and texture of a tender broccoli stem. Kohlrabi is not a root vegetable but is often described as a root. The kohlrabi bulb grows above the ground and is part of the kohlrabi stem.
Kohlrabi has a mild, sweet flavor similar to the taste of broccoli stems. The flesh is crisp and juicy, making it suitable to enjoy raw and cooked. Slice thinly, eat it raw with hummus, or marinate it in lemon juice. When grated, kohlrabi combined with grated carrots makes a delicious slaw. Prepare kohlrabi by roasting it in the oven with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper and top it with parmesan for a delicious side dish. Add the stems and leaves to soups and salads. The leaves can be prepared like other leafy greens. Kohlrabi's unique taste and texture make it a delightful addition to salads, stir-fries, soups, and other dishes. Its versatility and adaptability in raw and cooked forms make it a favorite among those looking to incorporate a diverse range of vegetables into their diet.
Kohlrabi is a nutritious vegetable, rich in vitamins C and B6 and dietary fiber. It also contains small amounts of minerals like potassium and copper.
Remove the leaves before storing them; they can draw moisture from the bulb. Kohlrabi can be stored in the refrigerator for a few weeks.
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Hello from the fields,
In the coming week we welcome the winter solstice and the very shortest days of the year. While some suffer through the darkness of winter with a feeling of melancholy, many of us vegetable farmers revel in the freedom to call it quits at dark, meaning a shorter workday and more time for rest, getting together with friends and family, and the general indoor coziness brought on by the cold months. This week was the last true week of fieldwork at the farm, where the crew did the last bit of mulching the overwintering garlic crop, and mass harvested the remaining storage radishes, kohlrabi, carrots, and beets. Today, we collected soil samples for our annual soil tests and shipped them off to the lab for analysis. This afternoon the dwindling crew is saying their goodbyes for the season and traveling home to various states across the country to take a well-deserved break before next season. We have a core crew of year-rounders here at the farm that will continue daily farm chores (feeding the chickens and goats) and weekly harvests of the few remaining fresh crops (kale and broccolini). Additionally, this is the season of planning. Primed with our notebooks full of mid-season scribbles and notes on the fly: best-performing crop varieties, suggestions on timing tweaks, and new equipment we’re drooling over, we head into winter with a long to-do list to prepare for the 2024 growing season. We’re ordering seeds, outlining the crop plan, researching new equipment, and hiring next season’s apprentices, which is actually quite a bit to do before we’re back on site full-time on March 1st, so don’t worry about us, we won’t be bored!
We are wishing you and your family a happy, healthy holiday season and look forward to seeing you once more in 2023 for the last pickup on the 30th.
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
December 2nd Winter CSA #1
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Small Share
Garlic, Sage, Kale, Fennel, Broccolini, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Kabocha Squash, Honeynut Squash, Sweet Potatoes
Full Share
Garlic, Scallions, Sage, Kale, Saute Bouquet, Dandelion Greens, Fennel, Broccolini, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Kabocha Squash, Honeynut Squash, Sweet Potatoes
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Winter squash is in the cucurbit family, including cucumbers and melons, an impressive range of edible fruits! Kabocha squash is a Japanese winter squash variety that is sweet with dense flesh. You can simply steam it or roast it at a high temperature.
You don’t have to peel this squash. The skin is edible, so peeling it is optional. If you find cutting this squash in half before baking it difficult, consider cooking it whole. Prick the skin and bake it until tender. Let it cool, cut it open, scoop the seeds, and enjoy! Puree it for soups or mash it with brown butter and parmesan cheese.
This squash has staying power. It should last up to two months if stored properly in a cool, well-ventilated place.
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Sage is the perfect seasoning for fall and winter dishes like roasted squash, chicken, or turkey. Try making sage brown butter by gently cooking butter until golden brown, then add chopped sage for a delectable pasta sauce.
For an easy midweek dinner using winter squash and sage, scoop out the seeds from winter squash and roast the squash in a sage and brown butter sauce. Make roasted squash ravioli with goat cheese and top it with the sage brown butter sauce for a more involved preparation. Finish with plenty of freshly ground pepper.
Sage, known as Salvia officinalis, is a perennial herb with a woody stem, grayish-green leaves, and a distinctly earthy, slightly peppery flavor. It's a member of the mint family and is commonly used in Mediterranean and European cuisines. Sage has a long history of culinary and medicinal use and is known for its aromatic qualities.
Use fresh sage leaves to infuse a robust flavor into dishes, especially pasta and risotto.
Pair sage with thyme, rosemary, and oregano. It complements the flavors of poultry, pork, and sausages. Create sage-infused olive oil or butter for a flavorful base in cooking. Heat the oil or butter gently with sage leaves, allowing the flavors to meld.
Use whole sage leaves or sprigs to season meats before roasting or grilling. This imparts a delightful aroma and flavor to the dish. Garnish your dishes with finely chopped fresh sage over finished dishes just before serving for a burst of fresh flavor.
Sage has a strong flavor, so it's best to start with a small amount and adjust to your taste preferences. Additionally, the flavor of sage can intensify upon cooking, so a little goes a long way.
Week of November 13th
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Small Share
Garlic, Parsley, Sautee Bouquet, Cauliflower, Butternut Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Watermelon Radishes
Full Share
Garlic, Parsley, Sautee Bouquet, Cauliflower, Broccolini, Delicata Squash, Butternut Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Watermelon Radishes
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If you’re having trouble cutting open a butternut squash, make several large slits into the squash with a sharp knife and microwave it for a few minutes. You’ll find it easier to slice your squash now. Cut off the top and bottom ends of the squash, place the squash on a cutting board with the flattest surface down, and then slice or cut the squash in half. Simple, roasted butternut squash makes a delicious side dish, or top your salad with roasted butternut squash!
Butternut squash is high in vitamin C, vitamin B-6, vitamin A, and potassium. The seeds are also nutritious - try roasting the seeds of any winter squash variety! You can soak them in salty water to help remove the bits of squash flesh, toss them with oil, and roast them in a 400˚F oven for about 15 minutes. Check the seeds often since they can quickly burn.
Butternut squash has a sweet, nutty taste, similar to a pumpkin. Its thick skin makes it a great “bowl” for serving chili. It is one of many winter squash varieties grown at Amber Waves Farm and aptly named winter squash because it will keep throughout the winter if stored correctly. Store in a cool (50-60˚F), dry place (not in the fridge!). Expect winter squash to last two weeks to a month; some varieties will store longer.
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Watermelon radishes, a fall favorite, have a green rind and bright reddish pink inside. They are an heirloom variety of daikon radishes and originated in China, where they are called shinrimei. Watermelon radishes are larger than regular radishes with a mild taste that blends slightly peppery and sweet.
If the spiciness is too intense, try slicing the radishes and soaking them in ice water before eating. Spicy radishes will also mellow if sliced and left out exposed to the air for 20-30 minutes before serving.
The watermelon radish gets its name from its appearance: green around the exterior with a deep pink to bright red center. It bears quite a resemblance to its namesake.
Store them in a plastic bag or container in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator for up to a few weeks.
Enjoy watermelon radishes raw, pickled, or cooked - braised, roasted, or mashed, although they may be best raw since they lose their color when cooked. Here’s a tasty salad recipe with goat cheese.
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Hello from the fields,
This week we’ll begin planting next year’s garlic crop; about 20,000 cloves, one at a time by hand. We’re planting seed we’ve saved ourselves, cloves from the very largest heads of this season’s harvest that were set aside immediately after the harvest back in July. The farm crew has taken advantage of any rainy day we’ve gotten over the last several weeks to prepare for this week’s planting by breaking apart these heads into individual cloves, each of which we think of as a seed. Cloves are tucked underground this first week of November where they’ll wait until late winter to sprout from the soil, often leading the way as one of the first signs of life signaling the arrival of spring. By the time the first CSA pickup of the season rolls around in late May the sprouted garlic has taken on the appearance of a leek, and we harvest some as “green garlic,” a mild but pungent spring treat in your early season boxes. We usually dedicate a couple of beds of smaller seed exclusively for the green garlic harvest, since harvesting the whole plant ends its life cycle. By late June a single scape develops on each plant, peeking out from between the leek-looking leaves. These too are edible, and we farmers snap off the twirly scape to redirect the plant’s energy to producing a bigger bulb underground rather than devoting resources to the flowering scape. It is during this time that each of the cloves we initially planted the previous fall divides itself underground, swelling into a bulb containing about six cloves. By Independence day we’ve begun the fresh garlic harvest, pulling each of the fully formed heads from the earth and ferrying them to the greenhouses for curing, storage, and to be sorted for seed, thus starting the process once again.
The garlic life cycle is remarkable, so much so that I find myself writing and talking about more than almost any other crop. No matter the time of season we are always doing something with garlic, either we’re planting, or it’s growing, or we’re mulching, or it’s curing, or we’re harvesting scapes or bulbs; it’s a full year cycle that never loses its allure for us. How fortunate we are to grow this staple crop here in the Northeast. While we are certainly locavores eating seasonally, it’s rare that we produce a crop that we may never supplement from outside the region in the off-season. Just as the prior year’s garlic crop is running out the green garlic is ready and scapes start rolling in, and we coast until the harvest.
Unless you are an aggressive garlic user (like we are!) you may have developed a stockpile of Amber Waves garlic on your counter or in your pantry over the course of the season since it’s a bonus item each week - this garlic should store well into the winter. Don’t be afraid to separate some cloves and plant them out in the garden this week if you’re up for it (plant cloves right side up, about 4 inches deep, 6 to 8 inches apart), and you can witness this glorious lifecycle yourself. Bonus: the deer don’t eat it!
Enjoy your box, see you next week!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of November 6th
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Small Share
Garlic, Cilantro, Dandelion Greens, Baby Kale, Cauliflower, Koginut Squash, Sweet Potatoes
Full Share
Garlic, Cilantro, Dandelion Greens, Baby Kale, Shishito Peppers, Cauliflower, Koginut Squash, Delicata Squash, Sweet Potatoes
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Use the Caesar Salad Dressing in our market.
This sauce is the best dipping sauce for blistered shishito peppers and is delicious on sandwiches.
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Roast Chicken Recipe
Ingredients:
1 Amber Waves Pre-Roasted Chicken
Handful of Rosemary and Sage (chopped)
4 tablespoons of butter
Farm Veggies:
4-5 carrots, chopped through the middle and halved
5-6 fingerling potatoes, halved
Half an acorn squash (or another squash) cut into wedges
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Prep your chicken: Make sure the chicken is at room temperature. In a bowl, combine chopped rosemary, sage, and 4 tablespoons of butter. Mix until well combined.
Coat the chicken: Rub the herb butter mixture all over the chicken, covering every bit of the skin.
Prepare the veggies: In a separate bowl, toss your farm veggies (carrots, fingerling potatoes, and acorn squash) with olive oil and a pinch of salt until well coated.
Bake the veggies: Place the seasoned veggies on a baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes.
Arrange the chicken: If possible, place a rack on the baking sheet above the veggies. Put the chicken on the rack, ensuring air can circulate beneath it.
Roast the chicken: Roast the chicken on top of the veggies for an additional 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is golden brown.
Rest the chicken: Remove it from the oven, cover it with foil, and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Carve and serve: Carve the chicken, plate it with the roasted veggies, and sprinkle it with grated cheddar or Gruyère cheese. Enjoy your Very British Amber Waves Roast!
Gluten-Free Cauliflower Cheese Recipe
Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower
1 tablespoon of turmeric
Olive oil
Salt
2 tablespoons of gluten-free flour
2 tablespoons of butter
1.5 cups of milk
1 cup of grated cheddar or Gruyère cheese
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Prepare the cauliflower: Cut the cauliflower into florets and season with olive oil, salt, and turmeric until coated. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
Make the cheese sauce: While the cauliflower is baking, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan. Add 2 tablespoons of gluten-free flour and stir until it forms a paste. Slowly add the milk bit by bit, stirring constantly until the sauce reaches your desired thickness.
Add cheese: Once the sauce is ready, add the grated cheddar or Gruyère cheese and let it melt in, creating a creamy cheese sauce.
Combine cauliflower and cheese sauce: Cover the baked cauliflower with the cheese sauce and place it back in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until it's heated through and bubbly.
Serve: Serve the gluten-free cauliflower cheese alongside your roast chicken and farm veggies for a delicious meal.
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A newcomer to the winter squash scene, Koginut is the best of both worlds, with edible skin and a velvety smooth texture. The taste is somewhere between a kabocha squash and butternut. Try it roasted with vegetables and herbs, then blended with chicken or veggie stock for a delicious, easy soup.
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Hello from the fields,
This week we’ll begin planting next year’s garlic crop; about 20,000 cloves, one at a time by hand. We’re planting seed we’ve saved ourselves, cloves from the very largest heads of this season’s harvest that were set aside immediately after the harvest back in July. The farm crew has taken advantage of any rainy day we’ve gotten over the last several weeks to prepare for this week’s planting by breaking apart these heads into individual cloves, each of which we think of as a seed. Cloves are tucked underground this first week of November where they’ll wait until late winter to sprout from the soil, often leading the way as one of the first signs of life signaling the arrival of spring. By the time the first CSA pickup of the season rolls around in late May the sprouted garlic has taken on the appearance of a leek, and we harvest some as “green garlic,” a mild but pungent spring treat in your early season boxes. We usually dedicate a couple of beds of smaller seed exclusively for the green garlic harvest, since harvesting the whole plant ends its life cycle. By late June a single scape develops on each plant, peeking out from between the leek-looking leaves. These too are edible, and we farmers snap off the twirly scape to redirect the plant’s energy to producing a bigger bulb underground rather than devoting resources to the flowering scape. It is during this time that each of the cloves we initially planted the previous fall divides itself underground, swelling into a bulb containing about six cloves. By Independence day we’ve begun the fresh garlic harvest, pulling each of the fully formed heads from the earth and ferrying them to the greenhouses for curing, storage, and to be sorted for seed, thus starting the process once again.
The garlic life cycle is remarkable, so much so that I find myself writing and talking about more than almost any other crop. No matter the time of season we are always doing something with garlic, either we’re planting, or it’s growing, or we’re mulching, or it’s curing, or we’re harvesting scapes or bulbs; it’s a full year cycle that never loses its allure for us. How fortunate we are to grow this staple crop here in the Northeast. While we are certainly locavores eating seasonally, it’s rare that we produce a crop that we may never supplement from outside the region in the off-season. Just as the prior year’s garlic crop is running out the green garlic is ready and scapes start rolling in, and we coast until the harvest.
Unless you are an aggressive garlic user (like we are!) you may have developed a stockpile of Amber Waves garlic on your counter or in your pantry over the course of the season since it’s a bonus item each week - this garlic should store well into the winter. Don’t be afraid to separate some cloves and plant them out in the garden this week if you’re up for it (plant cloves right side up, about 4 inches deep, 6 to 8 inches apart), and you can witness this glorious lifecycle yourself. Bonus: the deer don’t eat it!
Enjoy your box, see you next week!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of October 30th
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Small Share
Garlic, Baby Greens, Broccolini, Honeynut Squash, Murasaki Sweet Potatoes, Daikon Radishes
Full Share
Garlic, Baby Greens, Kale, Broccolini, Cauliflower, Honeynut Squash, Kabocha Squash, Murasaki Sweet Potatoes, Daikon Radishes
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Perfect Baked Japanese Sweet Potatoes
Pickled Daikon Radishes and Carrots
Winter Squash and Spinach Pasta Bake
Spicy Roasted Daikon Radish “Fries”
Caramelize Daikon radishes with soy sauce, ginger, and chili paste. Allow the underrated Daikon radish a moment to shine!
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Daikon is also known as Japanese radish, Chinese radish, and winter radish. This large root vegetable is peppery, crisp, and popular in Asian cuisine. Japanese cuisine uses Daikon in cooking in various ways: fish stew, Miso soup, radish and carrot vinaigrette salad, and garnishing grated Daikon for Tempura.
Try them in stews and soups, stir fry, or roasted with olive oil, salt, or lemon juice for flavor. Slice Daikon radishes and eat them raw with hummus or peanut dip, or add shredded raw radishes to salads. Make a Daikon radish slaw.
Pickled Daikon radish is tasty, nutrient-rich, and an excellent topping for noodle salads, sandwiches, entrees, soups, or simply eating raw.
Daikon radish is a good source of gut-boosting probiotics and provides various nutrients, including calcium, magnesium, potassium, copper, vitamin C, and folate.
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Murasaki sweet potatoes are medium to large and are oblong. Their thin skin ranges from dark purple to burgundy, depending on the growing environment. The flesh is white to pale yellow and is drier than other sweet potato varieties, making a fluffy, flaky texture. When cooked, Murasaki sweet potatoes have a slightly sweet taste with a robust nutty flavor.
The name Murasaki is derived from the Japanese word for purple. They are a good source of vitamin A, potassium, dietary fiber, and vitamin C. They also contain iron, calcium, protein, and beneficial amino acids.
Murasaki sweet potatoes can be baked, boiled, roasted, or sautéed, much like a russet potato. Scrub the skin well to clean before preparing. Murasaki sweet potatoes can be julienned for fries, scalloped with cream, diced and caramelized, or mashed with butter. Enjoy them in curries, soups, or stews. They go well with scallions, garlic, miso, mirin, soy sauce, sesame oil, olive oil, broccoli, chickpeas, and nori.
Store in a cool, dry, dark place with ample ventilation for up to two weeks, and refrigerate any cut portions.
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Hello from the fields,
In truth this message isn't being sent from the fields, but from the the Midwest, where I'm attending a conference on agricultural apprenticeships. I'm here to network and learn how other farms across the country are building effective programs, their favorite tools and resources, and how they're finding funding!
Back in Amagansett, our new trailer has arrived! As I mentioned last week, we were desperate for temperature controlled storage for the many thousands of pounds of squash and sweet potatoes sitting outside under tarps. Happily, my shopping adventure last week was successful and we procured mobile storage large enough to fit everything. I can't overstate my gratitude for our farm crew's incredible work over these last few weeks bringing in the heavy crops, what a relief to be done with that part of the fall work! Now we can shift into a fall planting mindset: continuing to sow cover crops and planting 20,000 garlic cloves and about 12,000 tulip bulbs. More updates on our progress to come!
Thank you to those of you who attended our Oktoberfeast Fundraiser this weekend. What a fun way to wrap up the season!
Amanda + Katie + The (all-star) Amber Waves Team
Week of October 23rd
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Small Share
Spicy Salad Greens, Broccolini, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Delicata Squash, Mashed Potato Squash, Sweet Potatoes
Full Share
Scallions, Spicy Salad Greens, Broccolini, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Delicata Squash, Mashed Potato Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Beets, Fennel
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A unique acorn squash with beautiful white skin and flesh, these are ideal for making a healthy version of mashed potatoes. Cut them in half, roast them with olive oil and salt, discard the seeds, and scoop out the flesh. When ready to serve, mash the squash with a potato masher or fork and mix with butter! Here’s a recipe.
Squash is native to North America and, along with beans and corn, makes up the Three Sisters planting method used by Native Americans. Each winter squash variety has a distinctly different taste and texture. It takes over 100 days to mature and isn’t ready until late September. Winter squash is high in vitamin B-6, vitamin A, and potassium. The seeds are also nutritious - try roasting the seeds of any winter squash variety! You can soak them in salty water to help remove the bits of squash flesh, toss them with oil, and roast them in a 400˚F oven for about 15 minutes.
Storage: Store in a cool (50-60˚F), dry place (not in the fridge!). Expect winter squash to last two weeks to a month; some varieties will store longer.
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Most ‘heading’ brassicas, such as broccoli, take a long time to mature (up to 100 days) and don’t like the heat, so they are only available from September to November. One exception is napa cabbage, which only takes about 50 days to reach maturity and is available from June through November.
Vegetables in the brassica family are very nutritious, all containing high concentrations of sulforaphane, a disease-fighting compound, and vitamin B-6, vitamin C, and magnesium.
The crowns of the broccoli, the part we eat, are the buds of the flowers. Chop up florets and steam with garlic and lemon or roast with olive oil. Don’t throw out the stems! Peel off the outer, tough layer and enjoy raw as crudité; cook with the broccoli crown, or set them aside to add to soup or vegetable stock.
Store broccoli in a perforated plastic bag in the fridge for up to five days.
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Hello from the fields,
In truth this message isn't being sent from the fields, but from the the Midwest, where I'm attending a conference on agricultural apprenticeships. I'm here to network and learn how other farms across the country are building effective programs, their favorite tools and resources, and how they're finding funding!
Back in Amagansett, our new trailer has arrived! As I mentioned last week, we were desperate for temperature controlled storage for the many thousands of pounds of squash and sweet potatoes sitting outside under tarps. Happily, my shopping adventure last week was successful and we procured mobile storage large enough to fit everything. I can't overstate my gratitude for our farm crew's incredible work over these last few weeks bringing in the heavy crops, what a relief to be done with that part of the fall work! Now we can shift into a fall planting mindset: continuing to sow cover crops and planting 20,000 garlic cloves and about 12,000 tulip bulbs. More updates on our progress to come!
Thank you to those of you who attended our Oktoberfeast Fundraiser this weekend. What a fun way to wrap up the season!
Amanda + Katie + The (all-star) Amber Waves Team
Week of October 16th
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Small Share
Garlic, Parsley, Lettuce, Broccolini, Cauliflower, Kabocha Squash, Sweet Potatoes
Full Share
Garlic, Parsley, Frisee, Lettuce, Broccolini, Cauliflower, Kabocha Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Watermelon Radishes
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Kabocha is a variety from Japan with dense, starchier flesh than other squash. Kabocha (ka-BOH-cha) is in the Cucurbitaceae family, related to gourds and pumpkins. Kabocha looks like a small, squat pumpkin, but its sweet, rich flavor and velvety, dryer texture is closer to a sweet potato. Its texture makes it an excellent candidate for roasting, steaming, and frying as it maintains its shape and is also suitable for pureeing or mashing.
Kabocha is full of nutrients that are related to improving health. Kabocha provides vitamins A and C, some B vitamins, fiber, magnesium, potassium, and antioxidants and dried and roasted Kabocha seeds are a good source of plant protein.
Here are a few tips and recipe ideas:
Use in soups, sushi, and tempura dishes.
Grate raw Kabocha into a winter salad, adding a crunch and beautiful color.
Halve Kabocha, scoop out the seeds, try using an ice cream scoop, and stuff with panko, grains, cheese, mushrooms, herbs, and greens. Bake until tender.
Mash Kabocha squash instead of potatoes.
Make a creamy Kabocha squash soup.
Roast the seeds in the oven and enjoy a nutritious snack.
There is no need to peel this squash, especially used in soups, curries, or stews.
Roast the whole squash and purée the flesh with coconut milk for a silky, rich side dish.
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Watermelon radishes, a fall favorite, have a green rind and bright reddish pink inside. They are an heirloom variety of daikon radishes and originated in China, where they are called shinrimei. Watermelon radishes are larger than regular radishes with a mild taste that blends slightly peppery and sweet.
If the spiciness is too intense, try slicing the radishes and soaking them in ice water before eating. Spicy radishes will also mellow if sliced and left out exposed to the air for 20-30 minutes before serving.
The watermelon radish gets its name from its appearance: green around the exterior with a deep pink to bright red center. It bears quite a resemblance to its namesake.
Store them in a plastic bag or container in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator for up to a few weeks.
Enjoy watermelon radishes raw, pickled, or cooked - braised, roasted, or mashed, although they may be best raw since they lose their vibrant color when cooked. Here’s a tasty salad recipe with goat cheese.
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Hello from the fields,
Last week I went cooler shopping! With limited infrastructure here at the farm we typically use insulated trucks as coolers, so in reality, I went truck shopping. This time of year we’re running into the “problem” (it’s a good problem) of not having enough temperature-controlled space to store our fall harvest of squash and sweet potatoes. While we use our walk-in coolers as coolers in the summer, they function as warmers in the winter, enabling us to hold on to these storage crops until early spring, or until we run out. With overnight temperatures dipping into the 40’s next week, we’re eager to get squash and sweet potatoes inside to avoid cold damage. We currently have dozens of bulk bins, each weighing in at about a thousand pounds, stacked up behind in the market in piles that grow by the day as the farm crew brings back more and more squash and sweet potatoes from the field. We grew such abundance this season to increase our wintertime donations to food pantries, who rely on us for fresh produce donations throughout the off-season months.
While the farm crew is scrambling to get the harvest out of the field and put away, our market team has been busy rearranging our display tables to make space for a community table inside the market. We’re still enjoying these glorious fall days in the sunshine, but when the weather actually turns we'll be ready to accommodate people in our cozy indoor space all winter long! Take a peek when you pick up your box.
Enjoy this week’s box, see you next week!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of October 9th
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Small Share
Scallions, Sage, Lettuce, Kale, Honeynut Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Daikon Radishes
Full Share
Scallions, Sage, Baby Greens, Lettuce, Kale, Broccolini, Honeynut Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Daikon Radishes
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Daikon radish is a root vegetable, similar in shape to a large carrot, and has a mild flavor. Kimchi, a popular fermented dish, uses daikon radish. It's the most commonly eaten vegetable in Japan.
Eat daikon radish, either raw or cooked. Raw daikon works well in salads and slaw. Thinly slice and pickle for sandwiches, especially the classic Vietnamese banh mi sandwich, typically topped with pickled carrots and daikon. Daikon radishes are delicious in stir-fry recipes. Here's a unique recipe: Spicy Daikon Fries, a sure way to have everyone enjoy this radish.
Daikons are high in potassium and Vitamin C and contain smaller amounts of folate, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. Daikon radish can aid digestion, fight against cancer, and strengthen the immune system.
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Scallions, or green onions, are simply an onion variety that doesn’t form a bulb. Some prefer only to use the white or purple portion, but you can use most of the green part, although the very top may be a little tougher. With their milder flavor, scallions are more commonly eaten raw than regular onions. We like to use them as a garnish to add brightness to a dish, especially those with Asian flavors, or try this scallion noodle recipe.
The white end of the scallion is more intense and tastes best cooked. The green stems are more grassy and peppery in flavor and best as a garnish. If your recipe calls for cooking the scallion and doesn't specify the green or white part of the scallion, you can assume the recipe wants you to use the white part.
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Hello from the fields,
What a difference a week makes. The crew has done an amazing job over the last week bringing literal tons of winter squash out of the field, disassembling tomato and flower trellising, hacking away at the sweet potato harvest, and getting acres of cleared ground seeded with winter cover crops. We’re looking at a nice clear week before this weekend’s rain, so we’ll keep at it. By October’s end we aim to have summer crops (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant) gleaned and mowed; fall storage crops like squash and sweet potatoes hauled in; popcorn and dent corn for polenta picked and in storage; winter wheat planted; and as many acres as possible sown with a winter cover. Winter cover crops will germinate well into November, but we’re hurrying to get them planted as early as we can to get a few inches of strong growth that will mitigate soil erosion in the face of whipping winter winds. By the time the above work is complete it’ll be early November, when we'll plant garlic and tulips for harvest next year. The work this time of year is heavy but simple (food crops out, cover crops in!)The new goats are a cute distraction and the farmers are eagerly chatting about winter trips and next season’s plans.
We’ll see you next week!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of October 2nd
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Small Share
Lettuce, Baby Greens, Parsley, Lunchbox Peppers, DeSquash, Beefsteak and Heirloom Tomatoes
Full Share
Lettuce, Baby Greens, Parsley, Kale, Shishito Peppers, Lunchbox Peppers, Spaghetti Squash, Beefsteak and Heirloom Tomatoes
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Delicata squash, a butter-colored pinstriped winter squash, has a delicate flavor with pale-colored flesh and edible skin. Cut it in half, take out the seeds, and cut the squash into half-moon slices. Toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast until golden brown. As its name suggests, delicata has delicate, thin skin that does not need to be removed before cooking or eating. The skin provides much nutrition, so there is no need to peel delicata, yet another reason they are our favorite.
Delicata is a good potassium and dietary fiber source and contains magnesium, manganese, and vitamins C and B. The seeds are also nutritious - try roasting the seeds of any winter squash variety! You can soak them in salty water to help remove the bits of squash flesh, toss them with oil, and roast them in a 400˚F oven for about 15 minutes.
Delicata squash has a shorter storage life than other winter squashes. Avoid refrigeration.
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Bread flour is available as an extra this week. Our bread flour is the spring wheat grown this year for the first time in many years. Our bread flour contains more protein than other flour and is best for bread baking.
Why is higher protein flour preferred for bread baking?
Protein in flour, specifically gluten-forming proteins called glutenin and gliadin, plays a crucial role in bread baking. When you mix flour with water and knead the dough, gluten strands develop. These strands provide structure and elasticity to the dough, allowing it to trap carbon dioxide gas produced during fermentation, which causes the bread to rise.
Higher protein content leads to stronger gluten networks. A strong gluten structure can better hold the carbon dioxide bubbles produced by yeast or other leavening agents, resulting in better dough rise and a lighter, airier bread texture.
Bread with higher protein flour has a better structure, well-developed crumb, and slightly elastic texture, which is desirable for bread with a good rise and proper volume.
The strong gluten network in higher protein flour helps the bread maintain its shape during baking, preventing it from collapsing or becoming too flat. It leads to loaves with better volume and a more appealing appearance.
Higher protein flour often contributes to a crispier and more substantial crust—the strong gluten structure promotes a thicker crust that can hold its shape during baking.
While higher protein flour is ideal for many types of bread, it works for baking other items like pizza dough and some types of pasta, where a strong gluten structure is desirable.
Not all bread recipes require high-protein flour. Some bread types, like ciabatta or baguette, benefit from lower-protein flours, aiming for a more open crumb structure and a chewy yet tender texture.
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Hello from the fields,
This week we welcomed some new residents to the farm: baby goats! We’ve been talking about getting goats for about a decade, and the moment was finally right. They are 12-week-old Nigerian Dwarfs, born and raised in Riverhead and arriving at their forever home at Amber Waves to delight the farm’s many visitors. They’re tiny, about knee high, and as a dwarf variety will stay that way, topping out at two feet tall and about 40-50 lbs. Goats have many jobs on farms and homesteads around the world as sources of milk, meat, and fiber and are also known for their efficacy in clearing brushy, brambly, hard to reach land. Here at our farm, the goats’ job is to engage with the public as animal ambassadors, and while these boys are still a little shy, we know they’ll provide a welcome addition to our flock of hens that also delight visitors. Please visit the new cuties, look for the small red “barn” (it’s a shed on wheels, built by a talented CSA member carpenter) just to the right of the pick-your-own fields, beyond the Outdoor Classroom.
As summer visitors have slowly filed out, school classes have returned to the farm on field trips, and it’s a welcome sight to see lines of children following our educators like ducklings through the fields (the human kids have been thrilled to discover the goat kids!). Despite the intense rain of the last 10 days the temperatures have been mild, making for pretty pleasant working conditions in the fields for the farm crew. The pressure is on for the crew to get the acres of sweet potatoes and winter squash out of the fields by the end of this month, and to get as much open land as possible seeded with winter cover crops while dodging bouts of rain. Meanwhile, we’re thrilled to be taking you on a squash safari, introducing a different winter squash each week for the next several weeks. We’d love to hear about which is your favorite (this week a delicata, a crowd-pleaser).
Enjoy the week, enjoy your box, and get out there to pick some flowers while they’re still with us (and peek at the goats, too).
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of September 25th
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Small Share
Lettuce, Baby Greens, Parsley, Beefsteak/Heirloom Tomatoes, Lunchbox Peppers, Spaghetti Squash
Full Share
Lettuce, Baby Greens, Parsley, Kale, Shishito Peppers, Beefsteak/Heirloom Tomatoes, Lunchbox Peppers, Spaghetti Squash
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Spaghetti squash, named for its noodle-like strands, is a healthy replacement for pasta in any meal. To get the longest noodles, lay the squash on its side and cut it into rounds before roasting. After cooking, use a fork to twirl the squash apart into “spaghetti” noodles.
Spaghetti squash is a nutritious fall and winter vegetable with fiber, beta-carotene, folate, and more.
Here’s a simple and delicious way to cook spaghetti squash. Cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, rub with olive oil and salt on the inside, and roast in the oven cut-side down.
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Freezing herbs work well for basil, chives, dill, parsley, cilantro, sage, mint, thyme, rosemary, and oregano. Rinse herbs first, then pat them dry.
Here are some freezing methods:
Put chopped or pureed herbs into an ice cube tray and top with olive oil. Freeze the cube in plastic bags or airtight containers.
Place chopped or pureed herbs in oil in plastic bags. Lay the bags flat and press out the air.
Freeze woody herbs, such as thyme and rosemary, on a cookie sheet until solid. Store in airtight containers or plastic bags.
Freeze chopped herbs in ice cube trays covered with water. Once frozen, place the herb ice cubes in labeled plastic bags. Place the herb ice cubes in a bowl until the ice melts. Drain off the water and gently dry your herbs on dish towels.
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Hello from the fields,
On Monday we welcomed our apprentices back from a weekend in Maine where they attended the Common Ground Fair hosted by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA). Farmers involved in small scale agriculture are often diehard conference-goers, and as a first year apprentice at Amber Waves, attending a mid-season conference is a sort of right of passage. Katie and I can still remember our first-ever farming conference; we departed Quail Hill and traveled to Amherst, MA in August of 2008 where we had access to tours of other farms, a weekend of workshops, and met other young farmers from around the Northeast. We devoured every scrap of information we could get our hands on in preparation of our ambitious goal to start a farm of our own the next year. Since so many of us in the agricultural world credit hands-on experience rather than formal schooling for most of our training, learning how another farmer has solved a problem is one of the best ways to learn and improve. I walked away from my first farming conference wondering if I’d ever be clever enough to create any version of the ingenious systems I heard other, more experienced farmers describing.
15 years of growing food for our community has taught us a lot and by now we’ve built plenty of our own systems, but we still relish the opportunity to learn from other farmers. Increasing productivity and efficiency, perfecting the timing of our succession plantings for crop consistency, building healthier soils, and developing resiliency in our crop plans in the face of climate change are all top of mind. This joy of learning and teaching has propelled our Apprenticeship Program for more than a dozen years. The eager young people who arrive at the farm each season craving the skills they’ll need to start their own farms one day drive us to become better growers ourselves and ensure we too will be lifelong learners. The more we learn, the more we can offer to the next generation of sustainable farmers. It takes an entire career to develop the expertise we all seek; fortunately, the agricultural community is one of collaboration and innovation, and I’m already scheming which conferences I’ll attend myself this winter!
While this week the weather has shifted and we can feel a new season in the air, there’s still plenty of time left this growing season to savor our favorite flavors before winter conference season arrives. This week we welcome the first of the winter squash to the box, and there’s plenty more to come! Meanwhile the tomatoes are still rolling in, and the greens are flourishing in these cooler temperatures.
Enjoy the week, enjoy the box, and if you haven’t already, be sure to hit the pick-your-own fields for herbs and dahlias!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of September 18th
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Small Share
Garlic, Sage, Rosemary, Broccoli, Pepper Medley, Sauce Tomatoes, Beefsteak and Heirloom Tomatoes
Full Share
Garlic, Sage, Rosemary, Lettuce, Broccoli, Pepper Medley, Lunchbox Peppers, Sauce Tomatoes, Beefsteak and Heirloom Tomatoes
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Eileen's Oven Roasted San Marzano Tomatoes
Slice tomatoes in half lengthwise and place them on a baking sheet, cut side up. Drizzle with salt, pepper, olive oil, chopped garlic, rosemary, and sage to taste. Slowly cook tomatoes at 250 for approximately two hours. These roasted tomatoes are delicious eaten right out of the oven or placed in a blender and made into sauce. No boiling is necessary!
Sweet peppers with olive oil, onion, garlic and tomatoes
Parmesan Roasted Broccoli with Lemon, Basil, Garlic and Pine Nuts
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Colorful sweet and hot peppers are full of taste and nutrition. They contain the highest concentration of vitamin C of any produce, even higher than oranges. Red and orange bell peppers are also rich sources of vitamin A, and peppers are a great source of fiber, vitamin E, vitamin K, and folate, as well as B6 and potassium. Hot peppers get heat from the compound capsaicin, which is responsible for many health benefits.
Storage: You can store whole, uncut peppers in a produce bag in your refrigerator for up to two weeks. Once you cut up a pepper, refrigerate it in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Wash your peppers just before using them.
You can easily freeze peppers — they’ll last several months or even longer. Just wash them, remove the stems and seeds, and slice or dice them. Freeze your pepper pieces on a flat tray. Then, place frozen pepper pieces in freezer bags or containers. Label the containers.
Pepper suggestions:
Eat sweet peppers raw as a snack with hummus or another dip and in salads
Stuff peppers with soft cheeses or fillings like grains, legumes, and other chopped veggies
Use in grain bowls, tacos, and burritos
Add to Asian stir-fries and noodle recipes
Blend into spreads, dips, sauces (including hot sauces), and salsas
Include in chilis and curries
Add to sandwiches and wraps
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Be sure to remember to bring clippers and a bucket or jar along. As you harvest, immediately place stems in cool water and keep them shaded and out of the direct sun as much as possible. When you arrive home, give the flowers fresh water and a fresh cut at the tip of the stems to allow for optimal water uptake. Change the water in the vase daily and remove any floating leaves or petals, as these catalyze decomposition.
Harvesting with intention at the right time is imperative to extend the vase life of cut flowers. Harvest most flowers before pollination when the center becomes open and fluffier, and the pollen is visible before the petals have unfurled. Flowers deteriorate after pollination, so harvest the blooms before the bees do to ensure you enjoy your bouquet for as long as possible,
The morning is the best time to harvest flowers. Flowers are at their prime in the morning when temperatures are cooler, their stems are firmer, and they are not contending with heat, compromising form and vase life length.
Harvesting a proper stem length will lend to easier bouquet handling and arranging and a healthier plant. Depending on the flower type and size, 8 -12 inch stem length is ideal. However, it is vital to leave one or two sets of branches at the base of the plant so that it will continue to send up new shoots - which means more flowers! These branch sets are called ‘nodes.’ Always cut a stem above a node to allow continual growth.
For flowers with buds, harvest a stem with a couple of open blossoms (near the top) with other buds lower down the stem still closed or just beginning to open. The rest of the blossoms open with time.
After cutting a stem, use your forefinger and thumb to ‘strip’ the leaves away from the lower ¾ of the stem. A bare stem will make it easier to bunch and keep your vase environment clean and healthy. If leaves sit in water, they decay and invite bacteria into your vase, speeding up the decomposition of the flowers.
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Hello from the fields,
And welcome to the box, broccolini! As farmers, broccolini is one of our favorite crops. Broccolini’s growth habit is “cut-and-come-again,” meaning we harvest many rounds of tender shoots from the same plants over many weeks. This detail differentiates broccolini from its sibling, “regular” broccoli, which is what we call a one-hit-wonder - one head or crown is cut from each plant then that plant is done. As eaters and cooks, we prefer broccolini because there’s essentially no chopping needed, and we find the shoots to be more tender and flavorful than classic broccoli. (My favorite way to prepare it is tossed in olive oil, soy sauce, a squeeze of lemon and a dusting of paprika, in the oven on convection at a high temp - 450 or 500 - for about 10 minutes - in a roasting basket with great airflow. They come out crispy and unbelievably delicious, they’ll make you forget about whatever the “main” course was that broccolini was supposed to accompany.)
Okay but back to the fields. Across the farm we have a mix of one hit wonders and cut and come agains, each with pros and cons. For all of the effort it takes to produce a crop - sowing seeds in the greenhouse, preparing beds in the field, transplanting, weeding, in some cases trellising, applying crop protectants, etc - it’s great to get many weeks of harvest, which is true for cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and kale. On the other hand, the longer we rely on a crop to produce, the more care (work) it requires over its lifetime. One-hit-wonders like head lettuce, cabbage, onions, and radishes only need care up to the moment of harvest, then we can clear the crop, mow it, till it in, and move on! This variety in production is one of the things that makes being a small, diversified vegetable farm fun and also spreads the risk of crop failures.
The farm crew is excited to share more new fun items with you over the coming weeks as we slide through September. Cross your fingers that this hurricane (and any others after it!) spare us damaging rain and winds. We sure have enjoyed the weather so far this month, we hope you have, too!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of September 11th
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Small Share
Cilantro, Baby Greens, Broccolini, Pepper Medley, Cherry Tomatoes, Heirloom & Beefsteak Tomatoes
Full Share
Cilantro, Baby Greens, Broccolini, Pepper Medley, Lunchbox Peppers, Jalapenos, Cherry Tomatoes, Sauce Tomatoes, Heirloom & Beefsteak Tomatoes
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Tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno, and lime juice.
Roasted Broccolini and Lemon with Parmesan
This recipe will work with other vegetables like carrots, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts.
Orecchiette with Cherry Tomatoes and Arugula
We recommend our L’Isolina Pasta.
Balsamic Roasted Lunchbox Peppers
Serve as a side dish or as an appetizer with bread and cheese.
Here’s a one-pan recipe of eggs baked in a tomato-red pepper sauce spiced with cumin and paprika.
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Did you know you can freeze whole or quartered tomatoes without blanching or peeling them? Just place washed tomatoes in quart-sized freezer bags, squeeze out as much air as possible, and use them for soups and stews in the winter months. The skins can be easily removed after defrosting. Or freeze tomatoes in containers or wide-mouth canning jars. Leave space for the tomatoes to expand as they freeze.
If you prefer to blanch your tomatoes before freezing, blanch them in boiling water for 60–90 seconds or until the tomato skins split. Transfer the tomatoes to a bowl of ice water to cool. Remove the stems, skins, and cores. Place your tomatoes into quart-size freezer bags or containers and freeze.
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Cilantro is a popular herb in many cuisines, including Mexican, Indian, Thai, and Mediterranean dishes. Cilantro is used in salsas, Pico de Gallo and guacamole. Its fresh, citrusy flavor complements avocados and tomatoes. It can be used as a garnish for soups and curries and is an essential ingredient in chimichurri sauce.
Cilantro is also known as coriander leaves or Chinese parsley. It belongs to the Apiaceae plant family, which includes parsley, dill, and celery. Cilantro is known for its distinctive flavor and aroma, which can be described as fresh, citrusy, and slightly peppery. Cilantro is often confused with coriander. Coriander is a spice from the seeds of the cilantro plant,
Cilantro is best used fresh but can be preserved for longer use. To prolong the freshness of your cilantro, trim the bottom off the stems and place cilantro in a shallow cup of water with a plastic bag covering the top in the fridge, or freeze it in ice cube trays with a bit of water to use in cooking.
Some people have "cilantro aversion," making cilantro taste soapy or unpleasant. This is believed to be due to genetic differences in taste perception.
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Hello from the fields,
This week we’re including roma/sauce tomatoes with one of our favorite recipes from our late friend, Eileen Roaman. Her recipe for slow roasting the romas with salt and herbs blew our minds when we were young(er) cooks and farmers back in 2009, the year we started the farm. She would serve them on thickly cut toast, put them in a blender to make an oven-roasted sauce, or freeze them to enjoy on a far off winter day. Eileen was one of our early cheerleaders, believing whole-heartedly that we would be successful in our fledgling venture at Amber Waves. An email she sent to her contacts in the spring of 2009 brought us most of our first CSA subscribers, and we like to think that since then our membership has grown organically from that early group of 18 members, a 15-year ripple of Eileen. Her kindness, generosity, brutal honesty, and love for plants and gardening knew no bounds. In our first few seasons Eileen’s words of encouragement, surprise lunch deliveries, cashmere sweater hand-me-downs, invitations for dips in her pool, and shared meals were exactly what we needed to feel welcome in a new place. It was around this time almost 10 years ago that we lost Eileen, and we always welcome this time each season to honor her by sharing her favorite way to prepare tomatoes with you all.
While the tomatoes are still rolling in, the crew has also begun harvesting winter squash and the first sweet potatoes, get excited for next week! Meanwhile, we couldn’t be happier with this glorious nearly-fall weather, what a special treat for us all.
See you next week!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Wave Team
Week of September 4th
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Small Share
Garlic, Lettuce, Kale, Pepper Medley, Shishito Peppers, Eggplant, Tomatoes
Full Share
Garlic, Dill, Lettuce, Kale, Pepper Medley, Shishito Peppers, Cucumber, Eggplant, Tomatoes
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Here’s a recipe for a quick and easy tomato sauce. There’s no need to blanch and peel tomatoes or even use a food mill. All you need is a hand-held grater. In a matter of minutes, you’ll be simmering a small saucepan full of gorgeous tomato pulp.
First, cut the tomatoes in halves or quarters. Squeeze out the seeds, or don’t. Place the cut side against the large holes of the grater and gently rub until only the tomato skin remains in your hand. This is Bill Becker’s favorite way to prepare the tomatoes. Or, blanch, peel, and chop the tomatoes if this is your preferred method of processing tomatoes! Add a pinch of salt, a little olive oil, minced garlic, and fresh basil. A spoonful of tomato paste helps thicken the sauce.
This makes a very fresh and flavorful small batch of sauce. The cooking time is only 15 minutes. The sauce will keep for up to five days in the fridge. Freeze or can your sauce to keep it longer.
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Most people think of whole, peeled tomatoes when they think of canning, but you can also can your tomato sauce. There are quite a few steps, and you need canning jars, but it is relatively easy to learn how to can. The canning summary is: Fill jars with hot and bubbly tomato sauce and boil the sealed jars for a minimum of 45 minutes. Here is the entire canning tomato sauce recipe.
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Week of September 4th
Hello from the fields,
What a sigh of relief we let out today! The farm crew has an extra day off this Tumbleweed Tuesday, and they deserve it! This dedicated team works so hard, as does our entire staff at Amber Waves, to grow your food and keep the farm looking its best for the community to enjoy. Today, they rest, and then we’ll be back to work thinking about fall and the arrival of squash and sweet potatoes. Happily, we’ll still continue to enjoy tomatoes and our favorite summer staples for many weeks to come. We hope you can take advantage of this week’s beautiful weather as we settle into a slower pace and the quieter part of the season out east.
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of August 28th
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Small Share
Baby Greens, Shishito Peppers, Lunchbox Peppers, Tomatoes, Eggplant
Full Share
Garlic, Parsley, Baby Greens, Shishito Peppers, Lunchbox Peppers, Jimmy Nardello Peppers, Tomatoes, Eggplant
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Whole Wheat Focaccia with Peppers, Tomatoes, Olives and Fresh Rosemary
Recommended by a CSA member: a first course or a main meal.
Charred Peppers with Marinated Feta
Serve with Tzatziki and grilled bread
Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Pasta
Farmer Alle’s favorite summer pasta recipe.
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An excellent pepper for snacking, lunchbox peppers are very sweet and crunchy. These beautiful, mini-sized peppers are remarkably sweet and flavorful. They are delicious sautéed as an addition to salads and a healthy snack.
Try roasting lunchbox peppers stuffed with breadcrumbs, Parmesan, herbs, and anchovies. Enjoy them grilled, roasted, or stir-fried. Preserve by canning, drying, or freezing.
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As an active CSA member, you can Pick Your Own herbs, flowers, and veggies daily when the market is open. These special access areas need the same care and attention that our production fields receive, so please adhere to the harvest guidelines below.
Vegetable Harvest Guidelines
Shishito Peppers: Pick the green fruit when they are about 3 ½ to 4 inches long, and be sure to use two hands when you harvest - one pulling the pepper and one holding the plant to avoid pulling it from the ground or damaging a branch!
Lunchbox Peppers: Avoid pulling the plant from the ground by always using two hands to harvest - one to hold the plant and the other to pull the pepper. Although you can eat them green, wait until the peppers have ripened to yellow, orange, or red for the most delicious taste.
Cherry Tomatoes: Ripe cherry tomatoes should come off the vine easily. Harvest Sungold tomatoes when they are entirely orange and harvest red cherry tomatoes when they are fire engine red with a slight give. The split fruits on the plant won’t last very long, but they are perfect for snacking in the field!
Husk Cherries: Husk cherries, also called ground cherries, will fall off the plant when completely ripe. Fruits should be golden orange inside the tan paper lantern. Those still on the plant will likely be green, small, and sour. To collect, gently lift the leafy branches of the plant to scoop up fruits that have fallen to the ground. Peel open the husk and enjoy!
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Hello from the fields,
Oh, the bittersweet “end” of summer. For those of you with shares that end this week, we hope you’ve devoured your boxes while experimenting with Jane’s weekly recipe suggestions, taken advantage of the pick-your-own fields, and in general, enjoyed your time on the farm. Of course, we also hope you’ve learned more about life at the farm through these weekly field notes, chatting with Jane and Bill at pickup, and by observing the fields with your own eyes. We started the farm for the community to visit and explore, and your partnership with us as CSA subscribers helps fulfill that mission. We love having you as a part of the farm!
Out in the fields this week the crew is pressing on with massive daily harvests of tomatoes and eggplant. This week also marks the final week of greenhouse seeding for the season - week 26 - a milestone to be sure! Over the course of the season the greenhouses fill up and empty out and fill up again dozens of times, as the hundreds of thousands of seeds sown by hand one at a time germinate in protected greenhouse conditions and are then transplanted out to the fields. Our goal over 26 weeks of seeding is to have a near constant supply of our core crops throughout the season, taking into account the lifespan of the crop, when the demand will be highest, and the quality of the growing days each planting will have (everything grows faster in the summer and slower in the spring and fall). Of course every year is different, and there are heat waves, droughts, cold spells, and rain events that will invariably throw off the plan. As farmers it’s basically a law that we must talk about the weather, and how could we not, it dictates what the crew will do on any given day and also the quality of what we produce. If you asked us about the weather this season, as people often do, it would be hard to nail down a single answer. It was such a mild winter, then such a cool start to the summer, then incredibly dry and hot, then incredibly wet; it has been a season of extremes. With about 10 weeks left in the growing season, we’re hoping for a sunny, warm fall with enough rain but not too much!
With seeding wrapping up for the year we have one less thing to concentrate on, enabling us to shift gears. We’re now only focusing on crop care, harvest, and turning in “spent” ground of crops that have finished for the year and are now ready for cover cropping until next season (the crew will also get to rest a little, too : )
Thanks, as always, for your partnership. For those of you departing, we can’t wait to welcome you back to the farm soon. And for those of you with shares that continue through the fall, we have so much great food in store for you in the coming weeks!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of August 21st
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Small Share
Garlic, Kale, Cherry Tomatoes, Jimmy Nardello Peppers, Tomatoes, Beets
Full Share
Garlic, Scallions, Lettuce, Kale, Cherry Tomatoes, Jimmy Nardello Peppers, Tomatoes, Eggplant, Beets
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It’s Tomato Season! Fresh, juicy, delicious ripe tomatoes are a summer staple (July-October) and are full of flavor. They contain the cancer-fighting antioxidant lycopene, vitamins A and C, potassium, and calcium, and are heart-healthy!
Cherry Tomatoes: Cherry tomatoes are a great snack or addition to a salad. Sungolds are a farm favorite but are unavailable commercially because their thin skin makes them prone to bruising and damage.
Skewer cherry tomatoes with mini mozzarella balls, EVOO, and basil. Top your favorite pizza crust with these tomatoes, which will deliciously burst in a hot oven or grill. Slow-roast cherry tomatoes with garlic and herbs and toss with pasta or spoon over grilled fish. Sauté Sungolds until they burst for a quick tomato sauce. Toss cherry tomatoes with chunks of cucumbers, peppers, herbs, feta, and a little red wine vinegar for a Greek Salad.
Red grape tomatoes are firmer, so they are better suited for slicing lengthwise to add to salads. They are a great addition to a steak or Nicoise salad.
Heirloom Tomatoes: ‘Heirloom’ indicates an open-pollinated variety. Unlike hybrid crops, heirlooms have not been bred for productivity or long shelf life. They have been kept and passed around farming and gardening communities because of their exceptional taste and beauty.
Slice your Heirlooms, add a sprinkle of salt and a drizzle of olive oil. When cooked, Heirlooms also produce a beautiful sauce with a deeply complex and unique flavor. For a classic Caprese salad, layer tomatoes with sliced mozzarella, basil, and EVOO. Chop them for salads and slice them for open-faced sandwiches. Our favorite way to eat heirloom tomatoes is to drizzle them with EVOO, balsamic vinegar, fresh herbs, and salt and pepper - herbed heirloom tomato salad.
Beefsteak Tomatoes: The classic beefsteak tomatoes are round and red, but there are also orange, pink, and yellow beefsteak varieties. Beefsteaks are perfect for burgers and sandwiches or fresh salsas. Our favorite way to use beefsteaks is: Think BLT.
Storage: Store beefsteak and heirloom tomatoes at room temperature or only slightly chilled but not cold (above 50 degrees to maintain good flavor and texture). Store them in a single layer, upside down; the shoulders are the strongest part of the tomato and will last longer that way! Expect tomatoes to last up to a week, depending on their ripeness. For maximum flavor, store cherry tomatoes outside of the fridge.
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Jimmy Nardellos are a sweet Italian heirloom pepper variety. They are named after Giuseppe Nardiello, an Italian immigrant who brought the seeds to the United States in the early 20th century. The peppers are known for their vibrant red color, thin skin, and sweet flavor.
Roasting Jimmy Nardello peppers enhances their flavor and sweetness. Place the peppers on a baking sheet and drizzle them with olive oil. Roast in the oven at around 400°F until the skin blisters and chars slightly, turning them occasionally. Once roasted, place the peppers in a bowl, cover them with plastic wrap, and let them steam for about 10 minutes, making it easier to peel off the skin.
Sauté these peppers with olive oil and garlic for a simple and flavorful side dish. Add them to pasta dishes, sandwiches, or as a topping for pizzas. Use sliced Jimmy Nardello peppers in stir-fries with other vegetables and protein sources. Fill the peppers with rice, ground meat, cheese, and herbs, then bake until tender.
Pickle Jimmy Nardello peppers for longer shelf life. You can also freeze roasted and peeled peppers for later use.
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Hello from the fields,
Happily the fields have dried out a bit over the last week, and despite falling behind on some weeding, seeding, and transplanting due to the wet weather, we’re trying our best to catch up. For much of the season we spend the mornings harvesting, aiming to finish by lunch so the afternoon can be dedicated to field work: preparing the soil for new plantings and actually caring for existing crops, rather than just harvesting them. This time of year though, with tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers coming in in droves and our biggest weekly CSA subscriber count of the season (300 families in the month of August!), most of the workday is consumed with harvest. This is also the time of year we ramp up production of shelf-stable preserved items: tomato sauce, bloody mary mix, ketchup, and hot sauce, so we’re hustling to get ripe romas and hot jalapenos off the vine and into the coolers, ready for processing. We depend on sales of our jarred products to supplement fresh in-season produce sales at the market, especially during the winter months when there’s very little coming from the fields. In early summer we grew bigger crops of cucumbers for pickles and napa cabbage for our “spicy ginger pick mix” to get these items processed and out of the way to allow time and space for the tomato deluge that arrives in August and September. So we’ve planned all season for this, and we’re ready for it!
The sun-kissed farm crew is tired but also honored to feed you this and every week. Thanks for your support and we’ll see you at pickup!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of August 14th
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Small Share
Baby Greens, Lettuce, Green Pepper, Cherry Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Eggplant
Full Share
Basil, Baby Greens, Lettuce, Green Pepper, Cherry Tomatoes, Shishito Peppers, Tomatoes, Eggplant
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Burrata and Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad
Concentrated sweet-savory flavor! Enhance a pasta dish, spread on toasted bread, mix with zucchini and corn, spoon over grilled fish, or add to frittatas.
From CSA member Lynn F. A quick and easy vinaigrette for a salad dressing, sauce, or marinade.
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Eggplants take about 60 days to mature and thrive in the summer heat. They have a wide variety of nutrients, including copper and manganese. Eggplant is delicious as a pizza topping and a key ingredient in ratatouille.
Amber Waves grows different varieties of eggplant, including the classic Italian heirloom Black Beauty and the stunning purple and white Italian variety Nubia. Grill Italian eggplant with a little olive oil, salt and pepper or roast and caramelize it in the oven. Blend with tahini and garlic for baba ganoush or layer with mozzarella, Parmesan cheese, and tomato sauce for eggplant parmesan.
Sicilian eggplants are a round variety and come in different shades of violet. Their skin is a little thinner and less bitter than other varieties, and their round shape makes them perfect for some cheesy eggplant parm.
Hands down, our favorite eggplant is the Japanese eggplant. They have thinner skin than Italian eggplant and creamy flesh. Simply cut them in half and grill with olive oil and salt.
The Fairytale eggplant is a mini eggplant with delicate purple and white stripes. We love this eggplant grilled whole, sliced in half lengthwise, or glazed with miso.
Storage: Store whole eggplants in a cool, dry place, like a pantry, not in the refrigerator. Properly stored eggplants keep for about three to four days. Fridges are typically too cold to store eggplant; however, storing them in the crisper is better than leaving them at room temperature.
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Our herb garden is always open to CSA members. Each plot has a label with an illustration and the herb's name. To harvest woody herbs, always cut above a junction or fork in a branch to encourage new growth to sprout from the fork. You will get multiple harvests from the plant by cutting the tender, new growth and leaving the darker, woodier branch.
All the ‘woody herbs’ we grow in the herb garden are perennials that go dormant in the winter and send up new growth in the spring. Herbs are an easy way to add depth of flavor to any dish! They are available from spring until the first deep freeze in late fall.
‘Woody herbs’ are hardier than ‘leafy herbs’ and can last two to three weeks. To extend their life, wrap woody herbs in a damp paper towel and wrap them in plastic wrap or put them in a plastic bag in the fridge. When ready to use, strip the leaves off the stem by running your thumb and forefinger from the top of the stem to the bottom.
Oregano: A little spicy, oregano is the perfect pizza seasoning! It is used frequently in Mediterranean dishes and goes great with tomatoes, white beans, and poultry.
Thyme: Thyme is essential to Middle Eastern and French cooking and a popular medicinal herb for killing infections and preventing illness.
Sage: Sage is the perfect seasoning for fall and winter dishes like roasted squash or Thanksgiving turkey. Try making sage brown butter by gently cooking until golden brown, then add chopped sage for a delectable pasta sauce.
Rosemary: Rosemary’s fragrance is reminiscent of pine. Our favorite way to use it is with roasted potatoes and garlic!
Lavender: An exceptionally fragrant and beautiful herb, lavender has many uses. It only blooms briefly, but you can have the calming scent year-round by drying a bunch - just hang it upside down in a dry place. Remove the dried blossoms and use them in a lavender shortbread or steep them in hot water for a soothing tea.
The leafy herbs grown in our Pick Your Own fields are available between late spring and fall. Leafy herbs are flavorful and can transform a dish by providing freshness and vibrant green color.
Basil: A classic summer herb, basil is most commonly used for pesto. Combine basil, garlic, olive oil, and a nut or seed in the food processor, toss with your favorite pasta, or enjoy with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. To have basil year-round, try freezing pesto in ice cube trays and transferring it to a plastic bag. When using fresh basil, cut it into ribbons rather than small pieces to avoid bruising.
Putting basil in the fridge when it’s wet causes it to turn black - so don’t wash it before you put it away! To prolong its freshness, cut the bottom off the stems and place them in a shallow cup of water outside the fridge or keep (unwashed) basil in plastic in the fridge. Store other fresh leafy herbs in the fridge in a glass of shallow water with a plastic bag covering the top. Change the water every day or two. Leafy herbs will last up to two weeks if stored properly.
Parsley: Rich in iron and vitamin C, parsley is an assertive herb that can be used as a garnish or the star of a sauce. Try making tabbouleh, a refreshing Middle Eastern salad with lots of parsley and lemon. Freshly chopped parsley also adds a zingy brightness to any dish.
Chives: A member of the allium family along with onions, garlic, and scallions, this grass-like-looking herb has a mild onion flavor. The best way to cut up chives is to snip them with scissors to avoid bruising. We like to use them as a garnish for potato dishes or blended in salad dressing. The beautiful magenta blossoms are edible, but beware; they also taste oniony!
Mint: We have many varieties of mint, including apple mint, peppermint, and spearmint, each with a slightly different appearance and flavor. Our favorite thing to do in the summer is make sun tea with various varieties for a cooling drink.
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Hello from the fields,
It is WET out there in the fields these days, which makes for pretty tough conditions for both the crops and the farmers. These intense rain events of multiple inches over just a few hours are stressful for the plants, not only because hard rain batters their foliage but also because rain that comes at a rate faster than the ground can absorb leads to soil washout and pond-sized puddles of standing water. Storm systems bring plant diseases up the coast, and stressed plants weakened by waterlogging are more susceptible to diseases and insects that thrive in wet conditions. Our crew must harvest every day, regardless of weather, so while they’re careful to avoid getting field vehicles stuck in the mud, it’s hard to avoid the wet spots on foot, where you might sink up to your ankles in a matter of seconds. We don’t bring tractors out into the fields when it’s this wet, as working with heavy equipment in wet conditions causes soil compaction, so we are delayed in mechanical tillage, seeding, and weeding. This means weeds will get a jump on us, we’ll have some presence of disease, transplants will sit around in greenhouse trays for too long, and we’ll miss field seedings of baby greens that will result in a disruption of availability. While we never wish for challenges for other farms, it’s somewhat of a relief that all of our neighboring farmers are in the same boat with the same conditions right now; we’re sharing these circumstances as an agricultural community.
As farmers, we’re gambling every year, crossing our fingers that conditions will be suitable for healthy, productive crops. As CSA and direct-market growers, we spread our risk by growing a variety of crops that mature at differing rates over the course of a long harvest season, relying on this diversity in the field to both satisfy our customers and mitigate the possibility of complete failure caused by natural conditions. As a nonprofit and teaching farm, we use any adversity we face in the fields to educate our Apprentices about resiliency and sound agricultural planning and to educate our subscribers, members, and customers about the high-pressure challenges of farming, acknowledging these pressures will intensify with a changing climate.
Whatever the challenges we’re currently facing, we’re grateful we’ve been spared the far worse conditions of flooding in some parts of the country and fires in others - so we’re counting our blessings. And, despite the rain this week, we have a beautiful box for you to enjoy. The tomatoes are really starting to surge, and happily there’s plenty of crunchy lettuce for delicious summer salads.
If you’ve already made a pledge towards our “Tomatoes on the Vine” summer fundraising campaign - thank you! Your support keeps Amber Waves afloat so we can do the educational work we are so passionate about, fight local hunger, and keep the farm open to the public. We couldn’t do it without you.
With gratitude,
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of August 7th
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Small Share
Basil, Baby Greens, Shishito Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes, Tomato, Eggplant
Full Share
Basil, Baby Greens, Broccoli Rabe, Zucchini, Shishito Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Eggplant
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Easy Summer Ratatouille
1 medium zucchini - chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 medium. eggplant - chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
¼ - ½ cup olive oil
12-15 cherry tomatoes
Salt to taste
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes until translucent and fragrant. Next, add the chopped garlic and sauté for another minute, stirring to avoid burning the garlic. Add the eggplant, the zucchini, and a heavy pinch of salt and saute for another five minutes, occasionally stirring to evenly brown and cook the vegetables. Add another splash of olive oil if the pan looks dry. Now add your cherry tomatoes and lightly smash them with a wooden spoon or spatula to release their juices. Reduce the heat to low and cook, occasionally stirring, until the vegetables are soft and the mixture resembles a thick stew. Taste and adjust the salt if needed. Serve with fresh basil and toasted bread.
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Our favorite pepper, the shishito, is a Japanese frying pepper. The tried and true way to prepare shishitos is to saute, roast, or grill them whole until the peppers begin to char and blister and then sprinkle with coarse sea salt. No chopping or cutting is needed! Beware - one in 20 is spicy! Peppers are in the same plant family as tomatoes and eggplant and are incredibly high in vitamins C and A.
Additional cooking ideas: Roast and blister them and finish with either soy sauce or, even better, fresh lime juice and salt. Blister and serve as an appetizer with an aioli garlic dip. Use the stem as a little handle. Add shishitos to a stir-fry or salad, remove the stems, and thinly slice. Make shishito pickles by pickling them in a brine made with soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar.
Store shishito peppers in the refrigerator's vegetable drawer in a plastic bag. Do not wash them, and make sure they are dry for storage.
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Be sure to remember to bring clippers and a bucket or jar along. As you harvest, immediately place stems in cool water and keep them shaded and out of the direct sun as much as possible. When you arrive home, give the flowers fresh water and a fresh cut at the tip of the stems to allow for optimal water uptake. Change the water in the vase daily and remove any floating leaves or petals, as these catalyze decomposition.
Harvesting with intention at the right time is imperative to extend the vase life of cut flowers. Harvest most flowers before pollination when the center becomes open and fluffier, and the pollen is visible before the petals have totally unfurled. Flowers deteriorate after pollination, so harvest the blooms before the bees do to ensure you enjoy your bouquet for as long as possible,
The morning is the best time to harvest flowers. Flowers are at their prime in the morning when temperatures are cooler, their stems are firmer, and they are not contending with heat, compromising form and vase life length.
Harvesting a proper stem length will lend to easier bouquet handling and arranging and a healthier plant. Depending on the flower type and size, 8 -12 inch stem length is ideal. However, it is vital to leave one or two sets of branches at the base of the plant so that it will continue to send up new shoots - which means more flowers! These branch sets are called ‘nodes.’ Always cut a stem above a node to allow continual growth.
For flowers with buds, harvest a stem with a couple of open blossoms (near the top) with other buds lower down the stem still closed or just beginning to open. The rest of the blossoms open with time.
After cutting a stem, use your forefinger and thumb to ‘strip’ the leaves away from the lower ¾ of the stem. A bare stem will make it easier to bunch and keep your vase environment clean and healthy. If leaves sit in water, they decay and invite bacteria into your vase, speeding up the decomposition of the flowers.
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Hello from the fields,
This is a good box this week; we’re excited about all the colors! As we move into August, more and more of our heavy crops are ready for harvest - as opposed to the luscious but lightweight greens and radishes that populate the spring and early summer boxes. This shift in season changes the way we run our daily harvests. Whereas we harvest exactly what we need of bunched and baby greens, head lettuce, radishes, and herbs based on our CSA, kitchen, and retail market, heavy crops get harvested multiple times per week based on what’s ready. We date and store hundreds of full bins in our coolers and pull what we need each day from our cooler backstock (so the coolers start to get pretty full this time of year!). Our internal terminology for this sort of harvest is a “walk.” We “walk” the entire crop to harvest everything that’s ready. “Walked” crops like zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, and eggplant are more prolific when picked regularly, as regular picking encourages more flowering and growth. Annual vegetable plants have a one-track mind: produce seeds. We want the plant to keep working on producing seeds, putting out more fruit. Old, mature fruit left on the plant sends the message of “mission accomplished.” The plant will slow down in production of new flowers and fruit, instead sending resources to the maturing fruit still on the vine, and that’s where we come in, to harvest regularly, keeping the plant producing.
We break our daily harvests up into “miscellaneous” and “walks” to differentiate between taking specific amounts indicated by orders and taking a “walk” to harvest everything that’s ready. Being on the walks team this time of year is heavy and hard, but there is such fulfillment in finally harvesting the crops we’ve been caring for since the spring - worth the weight and worth the effort.
We hope you enjoy this week’s box with several new additions, including the first of the cherry tomatoes. So many more tomatoes in all colors, shapes, and sizes to come! For those of you with large shares getting Swiss chard - I have to tell you that as a young farm apprentice at Quail Hill 16 years ago, harvesting Swiss chard was one of the things that made me fall in love with farming, I couldn’t get over the stem color, I still can’t. So while we’re thrilled to welcome tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant to the shares this week, I’ll forever have a special place for humble chard. Enjoy!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of July 31st
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Small Share
Basil, Baby Greens, Carrots, Cucumber, Zucchini, Cherry Tomatoes
Full Share
Basil. Baby Greens, Carrots, Cucumber, Zucchini, Cherry Tomatoes, Swiss Chard, Shishito Peppers, Eggplant
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We have everyone’s favorite cherry tomato this week or next week, orange Sungold tomatoes! We harvest Sungolds when entirely orange, at their sweetest. Sungolds are the perfect snacking tomato and will not last long on your counter.
These cherry tomatoes are a farm favorite but are unavailable commercially because their thin skin makes them prone to bruising and damage. Amber Waves also grows other cherry tomato varieties, each with a distinct, complex flavor profile and in many colors.
Chop cherry tomatoes into salads, savor them for a snack with hummus, or make a sweet, tangy tomato salsa to spread on avocado toast. One of the most popular uses for Sungold cherry tomatoes is as the base for pasta sauce or in your favorite chili recipe. The sweetness pairs perfectly with more savory ingredients and brings balance to the dish as a whole. Cherry tomatoes are also popular in Caprese salads, tacos, and any tomato-friendly dish!
Canning or freezing cherry tomatoes is a great way to enjoy this summer favorite in winter.
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Basil is said to have originated in Asia and has been cultivated and savored for the past 500 years. In the CSA Pick Your Own Field, you will find Italian and Dark Opal basil to harvest, and Italian basil is in your CSA box this week.
Putting basil in the fridge when it’s wet causes it to turn black - so don’t wash it before you put it away! To prolong its freshness, cut the bottom off the stems and place them in a shallow cup of water outside the fridge or keep (unwashed) basil in plastic in the fridge. Change the water every day or two. You can loosely cover it with a plastic bag, which helps keep the basil fresh longer. Basil bruises easily, so cut it with a very sharp knife or a pair of scissors. You can also tear it by hand.
Basil is most commonly used for pesto. Combine basil, garlic, olive oil, and a nut or seed in the food processor, toss with your favorite pasta, or enjoy with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. To have basil year-round, try freezing pesto in ice cube trays and transferring it to a plastic bag. If you blanch basil for a few seconds in boiling water and then place it in ice water, it will remain bright green.
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Hello from the fields,
This is a good box this week; we’re excited about all the colors! As we move into August, more and more of our heavy crops are ready for harvest - as opposed to the luscious but lightweight greens and radishes that populate the spring and early summer boxes. This shift in season changes the way we run our daily harvests. Whereas we harvest exactly what we need of bunched and baby greens, head lettuce, radishes, and herbs based on our CSA, kitchen, and retail market, heavy crops get harvested multiple times per week based on what’s ready. We date and store hundreds of full bins in our coolers and pull what we need each day from our cooler backstock (so the coolers start to get pretty full this time of year!). Our internal terminology for this sort of harvest is a “walk.” We “walk” the entire crop to harvest everything that’s ready. “Walked” crops like zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, and eggplant are more prolific when picked regularly, as regular picking encourages more flowering and growth. Annual vegetable plants have a one-track mind: produce seeds. We want the plant to keep working on producing seeds, putting out more fruit. Old, mature fruit left on the plant sends the message of “mission accomplished.” The plant will slow down in production of new flowers and fruit, instead sending resources to the maturing fruit still on the vine, and that’s where we come in, to harvest regularly, keeping the plant producing.
We break our daily harvests up into “miscellaneous” and “walks” to differentiate between taking specific amounts indicated by orders and taking a “walk” to harvest everything that’s ready. Being on the walks team this time of year is heavy and hard, but there is such fulfillment in finally harvesting the crops we’ve been caring for since the spring - worth the weight and worth the effort.
We hope you enjoy this week’s box with several new additions, including the first of the cherry tomatoes. So many more tomatoes in all colors, shapes, and sizes to come! For those of you with large shares getting Swiss chard - I have to tell you that as a young farm apprentice at Quail Hill 16 years ago, harvesting Swiss chard was one of the things that made me fall in love with farming, I couldn’t get over the stem color, I still can’t. So while we’re thrilled to welcome tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant to the shares this week, I’ll forever have a special place for humble chard. Enjoy!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of July 24th
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Small Share
Parsley, Kale, Beets, Potatoes, Cucumbers, Zucchini
Full Share
Leeks, Parsley, Dill, Lettuce, Kale, Beets, Potatoes, Cucumbers, Zucchini
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Serve chilled with julienned zucchini.
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Root vegetables are a great way to add color and texture to your salads, are delicious roasted together as a medley, and contain a wide range of nutrients. Beets are a good source of several key nutrients, including folate, manganese, and copper.
Storage: Keep washed beets in an open container with a moist towel on top for up to two weeks. Store the greens separately like you would a cooking green (in a perforated plastic bag with a damp paper towel in the fridge), and they will last up to 5 days.
Deep maroon-red beets add stunning color and earthy flavor to any dish. Golden beets are slightly milder, while the sweeter Chioggia beets are an Italian heirloom with gorgeous candy cane red and white rings. Our beets are small to medium-sized with thin skin, making them perfect for roasting without the hassle of peeling. Try cooking the greens like spinach - they are very nutritious and high in iron.
The easiest way to cook beets is to roast them in foil; the skins rub off easily after the beets are cooled.
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Rich in iron, folate, and vitamins A, C, and K, parsley is an assertive herb that can be used as a garnish or the star of a sauce. Try making tabbouleh, a refreshing Middle Eastern salad with lots of parsley and lemon. Freshly chopped parsley also adds a zingy brightness to any dish.
Use it to garnish and enhance potato dishes (boiled or mashed potatoes), rice dishes (risotto or pilaf), soups, fish, chicken, lamb, steak, stews, and salads.
Store fresh parsley in the refrigerator for up to a week, and it can also be dried or frozen for longer-term storage.
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Hello from the fields,
The wheat harvested last week is drying nicely in our grain dryer, and the fields have largely dried out as well after 5.5 inches of rain a little more than a week ago. We still have a few acres of grain to harvest (spring wheat and remaining culinary rye), which we hope to finish before the end of the week. Meanwhile, with the milestone of the garlic harvest behind us, the farm crew will spend much of this week catching up on weeding. There is always weeding to catch up on, to be sure, but there are also some one-and-done projects out there that are incredibly satisfying, where if we time it right, we save ourselves a world of future trouble. Two such opportunities for victory are winter squash and sweet potatoes. Both these crops provide excellent foliar cover - as in their own broad leaves completely blanket the soil with shade, starving any newly germinating potential weed competitors of sunlight. If we can get these two crops hand-weeded in time (about 3 acres of weeding), they’ll take care of themselves for the rest of the season and we’ll seldom have to go back to them until harvest time in the fall. The long, branching vines adorned with large leaves creep from one row to the next, eventually knitting together a shade quilt that traps moisture in the soil and prevents weeds from succeeding. Happily, we have already nailed this timing again this year, so the crew is focusing on weeding scallions, basil, lettuce, beets, and the pick-your-own field.
This week your box contains another celebrity guest appearance of a crop we don’t grow ourselves - potatoes, which follows last week’s special treat of sweet corn. Both of these additions come from our neighbors at Balsam Farms, and we like to include them both each season as they’re such iconic east end favorites. We also brought them in now to save a bit of our own crew’s time to focus on the aforementioned weeding - and bringing in potatoes this week cuts down on our time dedicated to harvesting for CSA shares, a win-win.
We hope you enjoy this week’s box - cherry tomatoes coming next week; we’re so excited! Beefsteaks and heirlooms will follow right after that!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of July 17th
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Small Share
Garlic, Fresh Onion, Mint, Baby Greens, Corn, Cucumbers, Zucchini
Full Share
Garlic, Fresh Onion, Mint, Basil, Lettuce, Baby Greens, Corn, Cucumbers, Zucchini
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Grilled Garlic Herbed Zucchini
Grilled zucchini slices drizzled with a garlicky herb mixture.
Cucumber & Red Onion Salad with Mint and Feta
A cool cucumber salad for hot summer days.
Serve with a marinara dipping sauce for an Italian-inspired appetizer or side dish.
Jazz up any salad, add them to a bowl or sandwich or pile them on burgers.
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In the cucurbit family, cucumbers are a summer crop, available between June and late summer, and take between 50 and 60 days to reach maturity. Cucumbers are particularly susceptible to disease, making them difficult to grow, especially organically. Cucumbers are essential for many summer dishes and a great way to stay hydrated during hot, humid summer days.
Cucumbers are originally from India and are popular worldwide, either fresh or pickled.
Crunchy and refreshing, cucumbers are great in a summer salad or cold soup. Tasty Jade cucumbers are a crunchy seedless Asian variety with thinner, less bitter forest green skin. They are long and slender, and their length is between English and Persian cucumbers. Classic slicing cucumbers have thicker, slightly bumpy skin, allowing them a longer shelf life. Gherkins are smaller varieties generally used for pickling because they stay crunchy but are also delicious raw. Pickling cucumbers are shorter and bigger than slicing cucumbers and have drier flesh, allowing them to soak up more of the brine they're pickled in.
Store cucumbers in your refrigerator's crisper drawer, and they will last about a week.
Easy Cucumber Salad
Mix sliced cucumbers and sliced onion, your favorite white wine or apple cider vinegar, a little sugar or agave, a splash of good quality EVOO, freshly ground pepper, and fresh herbs.
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We grow a few different types of mint at the farm, including apple mint, peppermint, and spearmint, each with a slightly different appearance and flavor. One of our favorite things to do in the summer is make sun tea with mint or infuse mint and citrus in water for a cooling drink.
For herbs with higher moisture content, like mint and parsley, drying or dehydrating is not an effective option for preservation. Freezing mint is fast and easy and retains much of the fresh herbs' taste, smell, and nutrients. To freeze mint leaves, place them in a resealable plastic freezer bag. Place a single layer, squeeze the air out of the bag, and seal it. Your mint will last for up to six months in the freezer.
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Hello from the fields,
Last week we began to tackle the annual task of harvesting our winter wheat. We only have about three or four acres of grain planted - wheat, hull-less oats, and culinary rye - but at a target harvest of about one ton per acre, that’s enough to supply our kitchen, CSA, retail, and our handful of wholesale customers. The wheat harvest is always a bit anxiety-inducing because the harvest window is short and we use old, sometimes finicky equipment (our “new” combine is from the 1970s) because its size is more appropriate for our extremely small scale. Modern combines designed to harvest tens of thousands of acres are not appropriate for just a few acres (not to mention they sell for nearly a million dollars - not an exaggeration). We used our “new” old combine, an Allis Chalmers Gleaner K model, for the first time this past week. We bought it last year at a dealership in Michigan, and shipping was such a challenge to arrange that it didn’t arrive in time for last season’s harvest; thankfully, Balsam Farms was kind enough to let us borrow theirs. I joked that the combine didn’t arrive late. It was nearly a year early for the 2023 harvest! With any new piece of field equipment, new or used, the first couple hours/days are filled with getting the settings right, making repairs and adjustments, and learning the quirks of the machine. After a rough start last week - we couldn’t get the thick rye straw to run smoothly through the combine - it kept jamming the threshing cylinder - we did finally get one acre of soft red winter wheat out of the field, along with half of our rye. Once grain is harvested the clock starts ticking on getting it cleaned using a grain cleaner, basically a series of screens and fans, and dried by applying heat and air to get the grain down from 17% field moisture to 13% storage moisture. As soon as the fields dry out a bit from this weekend’s torrential rain (yikes! More than 5 inches!), our mechanic Riley and I will head back out to bring in the remaining winter wheat and rye; oats and spring wheat are still a couple weeks away.
While we were sweating in the cab of the combine last week, the Apprentices and field crew were sweating through the garlic harvest - and they finished! The greenhouses are now full of nearly 20,000 beautiful bulbs; it looks like the best garlic harvest ever here at Amber Waves.
No one was expecting as much rain as we got on Sunday, and we unfortunately experienced some limited crop washout (a few rounds of cucumbers are still under water two days later), although nothing compared to our friends in the Hudson Valley and northern Vermont, some of whom have suffered complete crop loss and season-ending damage. It was a sobering reminder that farming is risky, and we are not in control of nature; we’re merely aiming to control what limited factors we can to produce food season after season.
Thanks for your support in this endeavor. We’re honored to feed you and share our stories along the way!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of July 10th
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Small Share
Fresh Garlic, Leeks, Parsley, Baby Greens, Cucumbers, Zucchini
Full Share
Fresh Garlic, Leeks, Parsley, Lettuce, Baby Greens, Beets, Fennel, Cucumbers, Zucchini
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Zucchini, Basil & Leek Soup
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 leeks, white part only, sliced
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp white pepper
3 very large zucchini, cut lengthwise, then chopped – about 7-8 cups
4 ½ cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 cup tightly packed fresh basil leaves
½ cup parmesan cheese
In a medium size pot or Dutch oven, saute leeks and onion in olive oil and butter. Add salt and pepper and cook until softened, but don’t let them brown – about 15 minutes.
Add zucchini and broth, boil, lower the heat, and cook for 15-20 minutes or until zucchini is fully cooked and soft.
Turn off the heat, add the basil and cheese, and immediately puree in small batches in a food processor, blender, or immersion blender. Adjust salt/pepper and more cheese to your taste. Delicious hot or cold.
Quick and Easy Refrigerator Pickles
Pickling cucumbers are perfect for crisp pickles.
From a CSA Member - Mix thin cucumber slices with soba noodles and finish with this dressing. Or, use it as a salad dressing or over veggies and chicken.
Leeks with Lemon, Thyme, and Lentils
Farmer Andrea’s favorite leek recipe. Leeks are the stars in this hearty, vegetarian dish.
Use many of your vegetable trimmings from your CSA box.
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We use the terms “zucchini” and “summer squash” interchangeably at Amber Waves farm, with zucchini referring to green varieties and summer squash to the yellow varieties. Our favorite heirloom zucchini is an Italian variety called Costata Romanesco.
A summer staple, grill zucchini sliced or halved, and you have a delicious side dish in minutes. Grate zucchini to make pancakes and fritters, spiralize to make “zoodles,” or cut it into thin rounds for zucchini parmesan crisps.
To grill zucchini, salt it first to remove moisture, so your grilled zucchini will have a firmer texture. Sprinkle salt over the cut zucchini, place it in a colander, let it sit for ten minutes, and dry it off with a paper towel. Then they are ready for the grill. Season zucchini with balsamic vinegar, garlic, herbs, bar-b-que sauce, garlic butter, or simply with only salt and pepper.
Zucchini, a summer crop in the cucurbit family, is available between June and late summer. Zucchini takes between 50 and 60 days to reach maturity. It is particularly susceptible to disease, making it difficult to grow organically. Zucchini is a good source of vitamins C and B-6.
Storage: Zucchini will last about five days in the crisper drawer in the fridge. They bruise easily, so treat them gently and avoid nicking the skin.
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Freeze celery tops, onion skins, leek tops, garlic, and carrot ends in a plastic bag for vegetable broth. Make vegetable stock when the bag is full. Freeze your broth in ice cube trays or freezer mason jars.
Make green juice (parsley, celery, cucumber, apple, lemons, water, kale, spinach, mint). If you don’t have a juicer, place greens and vegetables in a blender and simply serve or strain the mixture. Serve over ice.
Freeze grated zucchini to use later for baking and zucchini butter spaghetti.
Make a green breakfast smoothie.
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Week of July 10th
It’s birthday week here at Amber Waves! Of the 80(!) people on our team this time of year, 8 of us have birthdays this week (we also had 3 last week, what are the chances?). Our team has grown considerably since we started in 2009 - some of you original CSA members from the “old days” will remember when it was just Katie and me working out in the field, hosting CSA pickups, and running our tiny weekend farmstand under a tent by the farm gates. Now our team is bigger and includes a mix of aspiring farmers, talented cooks, a driven market team, farm educators, and of course, Jane and Bill! Becoming a place where young people have their very first jobs, where farm apprentices hone their skills, and where others build their careers has been an unanticipated source of joy and inspiration for Katie and me. We have loved watching “kids” who started with us as teens take over greater responsibilities each summer - our East Hampton Outpost is run by two former 16-year-old newbies, now 21, and helping to run the show! Much of the work at Amber Waves is done behind the scenes; it takes a small army to keep the kitchen cranking, the farm producing, the outdoor classroom bustling, and the pick your own fields ready to welcome eager harvesters. In particular, the farm crew has their hands full this week with finishing the garlic harvest, transplanting the last of the winter squash, weeding, seeding, and preparing for the wheat harvest. July is an exciting time to be on the farm - there’s nowhere we’d rather be than with this group in our magical spot on the East End!
We hope you enjoy this week’s box and the bounty that continues to come from our fields, thanks to the hard work of our whole team at the farm.
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of July 3rd
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Small Share
Fresh Garlic, Basil, Lettuce, Baby Greens, Carrots, Cucumbers, Zucchini
Full Share
Fresh Garlic, Basil, Parsley, Kale, Lettuce, Baby Greens, Carrots, Cucumbers, Zucchini
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Recommended from a CSA Member - a hit we never get tired of.
Honey Roasted Carrots with Almonds
You don't need to peel your baby carrots; trim them and leave them whole.
Easy Cucumber Salad
Mix sliced cucumbers, thinly sliced onion, your favorite white wine or apple cider vinegar, a little sugar or agave, a good quality EVOO, freshly ground pepper, and fresh herbs.
Fresh mint is available in the CSA Pick Your Own field
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We use the terms “zucchini” and “summer squash” interchangeably at Amber Waves farm, with zucchini referring to green varieties and summer squash to the yellow varieties. Our favorite heirloom zucchini is an Italian variety called Costata Romanesco.
A summer staple, grill zucchini sliced or halved, and you have a delicious side dish in minutes. Grate zucchini to make pancakes and fritters, spiralize to make “zoodles,” or cut it into thin rounds for zucchini parmesan crisps.
To grill zucchini, salt it first to remove moisture, so your grilled zucchini will have a firmer texture. Sprinkle salt over the cut zucchini, place it in a colander, let it sit for ten minutes, and dry it off with a paper towel. Then they are ready for the grill. Season zucchini with balsamic vinegar, garlic, herbs, bar-b-que sauce, garlic butter, or simply with only salt and pepper.
Zucchini, a summer crop in the cucurbit family, is available between June and late summer. Zucchini takes between 50 and 60 days to reach maturity. It is particularly susceptible to disease, making it difficult to grow organically. Zucchini is a good source of vitamins C and B-6.
Storage: Zucchini will last about five days in the crisper drawer in the fridge. They bruise easily, so treat them gently and avoid nicking the skin.
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Carrots are root vegetables that add color and texture to your salads and are delicious roasted or eaten raw. One serving of carrots provides over 200% of your daily recommended requirement of vitamin A. Carrots take more than two months to mature and are available between July and November.
Surprisingly, carrots were originally purple but were bred to be orange in the 16th century. Carrots are loaded with beta-carotene, an antioxidant your body converts into vitamin A.
You can also eat the carrot tops, so consider saving them and using them to make carrot top pesto or as a garnish for a carrot-based dish. Or dehydrate them and use them as a parsley-type herb.
Storage: Remove the green tops from carrots to prevent them from drawing moisture from the roots. Keep them in an open container with a moist towel for up to two weeks. If carrots lose their firmness, place them in water to crisp them up again. Store carrot tops separately in a plastic bag in the fridge.
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Hello from the fields,
The farmers wish you a happy, safe, and delicious July 4th.
Enjoy the box, see you next week!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of June 26th
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Small Share
Fresh Garlic, Cilantro, Broccoli Rabe, Lettuce, Baby Greens, Cucumber, Zucchini
Full Share
Fresh Garlic, Scallions, Basil, Cilantro, Kale, Lettuce, Baby Greens, Cucumber, Zucchini
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Our farm crew has harvested the first garlic of the season. This fresh, uncured garlic is moist and has yet to be cured. The cloves are plump and flavorful and can be enjoyed immediately. Slice thinly and savor its beautiful translucence, vibrant flavor and juiciness. Fresh garlic is so full of moisture that it cooks faster than older, cured garlic.
Cut the bulb from the stalk and cut the roots off of the bulb. Peel your garlic bulb and be delighted by its moistness. Peel the outer wrapper off each clove. These moist skins are tender and garlicky and can be eaten as well as the cloves. Use your garlic cloves as you normally would: crush, roast, bake, mince, etc.
Fresh garlic ideas:
Rub a wooden salad bowl with a cut clove of garlic before adding salad greens or grate a clove of fresh garlic into a vinaigrette.
Mash a clove of fresh garlic, salt and pepper, and some minced herbs such as basil, cilantro, mint, oregano, thyme or any combination. Mix in mayonnaise, add a little hot sauce and enjoy a flavorful green mayonnaise for sandwiches.
Rub fresh garlic over toasted bread. Top with tomato, basil, mozzarella, or sautéed greens.
How about roasting your fresh garlic? Cut the top and bottom off of your garlic bulb. Place the garlic bulb into a baking dish wrapped in aluminum foil. Drizzle olive oil over the bulb, then season with salt and pepper. Bake for 45-60 minutes at 350 until the cloves are soft. Spread roasted garlic over a fresh baguette.
Fresh garlic has a shelf life of about three weeks, whereas cured garlic remains fresh for up to six months. Store any unused cloves in an airtight container in the fridge.
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Cilantro is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae, the same plant family as celery, carrots, and parsley. Cilantro refers to the leaves; cilantro’s dried seeds provide the spices, coriander seeds and coriander.
Cilantro leaves can be used as a garnish, added to salads, salsas, and soups, or added to various cooked dishes. Cilantro is an essential flavor for many Mexican-inspired dishes as it adds color and brightness. Make chimichurri by blending cilantro, parsley, oregano, garlic, olive oil, and vinegar or lemon for a vibrant sauce.
Separate the leaves from the stems by holding the top of the bunch and pulling the leaves downward. Chop the leaves finely or leave them whole, depending on your preference and recipe. Cilantro stems are also flavorful, stronger than the leaves and used in cooking. If you desire a stronger cilantro flavor, use the stems! Finely chop the stems and use them as an aromatic base for stir-fries, curries, marinades, or sauces. Use cilantro on everything from vegetables to grains to meats.
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Hello from the fields,
It’s an unavoidable cliché for farmers to talk about the weather, but how can we not? Really we’re caught up with the lack of accuracy in the weather forecast; inches of heavy rain predicted that (thankfully) never arrived, unexpected showers that appear seemingly from nowhere. We’re refreshing our weather apps constantly, keeping an eye on the wind and clouds, doing our best to triangulate whether to prioritize irrigation, planting, or inside work for the crew. The weather affects most of the decisions we make day to day, and the changing forecast makes planning ahead a fool’s errand.
Weather talk aside, we’re excited about a couple things in particular this week. First, welcome aboard to our 4th of July members! We’ve had a great spring season so far, and we’re excited for the bounty to come. Next, the “real” garlic harvest has begun - as opposed to green garlic and garlic scapes that sprinkled your boxes for the first several weeks of the season. We’re pulling whole heads now, and for the next three weeks it’s considered “fresh” garlic; juicy cloves enclosed in still-thick skin that will slowly dry down into the papery covering everyone is more familiar with. The garlic was planted last fall in planted in three rows per bed, 8 inches between plants. Now that we’re ready to harvest, we first straddle the bed with a tractor equipped with a lifting implement that cuts and lifts the soil underneath the root zone, loosening the ground and making each garlic plant easier to pull by hand - which matters, because there are nearly 20,000 out there to harvest. We’ll tackle this once-per-year harvest a few hours at a time over the next ten days, loading freshly plucked bulbs into the greenhouses for curing (so they last through the winter) and sorting (the largest heads are set aside as this fall’s seed garlic, medium and large heads are for sale and CSA, and we farmers take home the small and “weird” ones, nothing goes to waste!) The garlic in this week’s box has stem and root on - we’ll trim it for you after this week - but it’s such a cool plant we just have to share it with you in its natural form.
Enjoy the box, see you next week!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of June 19th
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Small Share
Garlic Scapes, Parsley, Basil, Kale, Lettuce, Baby Greens, Zucchini
Full Share
Garlic Scapes, Parsley, Basil, Kale, Lettuce, Baby Greens, Fennel, Cucumber, Zucchini
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Perfect for garlic bread, over steak, fish, or chicken, or mix into pasta
~ Lacinata Kale & Wheat Berry Caesar Salad
A side dish or a main course
~ Italian Basil & Parsley Vinaigrette
Substitute garlic scapes for garlic
Only zucchini, flour, eggs, scallion, and olive oil
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Wheat berries are whole grain kernels or seeds of the wheat plant and include the grain’s bran, germ, and endosperm. Milled, ground wheat berries produce whole wheat flour.
Use this chewy, nutty, high-fiber whole grain like any other whole grain. Cook wheat berries with plenty of water or bouillon, boil them, and then simmer them in a covered pot for 45 minutes to an hour or until they soften. Drain the water. For quicker cooking, cook them in a pressure cooker.
Use cooked wheat berries in soups, salads, side dishes, or as a base for a stir-fry. Stuff peppers or zucchini with them, add them to oatmeal, or create a wheat berry salad or chili—store uncooked wheat berries in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days and cooked wheat berries in the freezer for up to three months.
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Parsley is among the world’s most popular herbs in European, Middle Eastern, and American cooking. Parsley is in the same plant family as carrots, celery, and dill. It is native to the Mediterranean but is now grown and used worldwide.
Parsley is a powerful herb that can be a garnish or the star of a sauce. It’s an excellent source of vitamins A, C, and K, folate, and iron. It also contains antioxidants, such as flavonoids and lycopene, contributing to its health benefits.
Try making tabbouleh, a refreshing Middle Eastern salad with lots of parsley and lemon.
Freshly chopped parsley also adds a zingy brightness to any dish and is commonly used as a flavoring in sauces and marinades. Parsley adds a fresh, slightly peppery taste to dishes and complements the flavors of other ingredients. Use it to garnish and enhance potato dishes (boiled or mashed potatoes), rice dishes (risotto or pilaf), soups, fish, chicken, lamb, steak, stews, and salads.
Store fresh parsley in the refrigerator for up to a week, and it can also be dried or frozen for longer-term storage.
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Hello from the fields,
Welcome back to the box, zucchini! There comes a time in late summer when we’ve all maxed out on our zucchini quota for the season, both as growers and eaters, but for now, we’re reveling in its return to our daily harvest list. We hope you’ll share this excitement with us as we celebrate the summer solstice this week and welcome the transition from a spring of luscious greens to a summer of colorful squash, crunchy cucumbers, and aromatic basil. Last weekend’s rain was just what we needed; the crops (and the weeds) seem to be smiling back at us, slurping up the rainwater and basking in the increasingly warm, sunny days.
We hope you, too, have a happy solstice!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of June 12th
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Small Share
Garlic Scapes, Chimichurri Herb Bunch (parsley, oregano, cilantro), Kale, Lettuce, Baby Greens
Full Share
Garlic Scapes, Scallions, Chimichurri Herb Bunch (parsley, oregano, cilantro), Napa Cabbage, Kale, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Baby Greens
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Use garlic scapes, parsley, cilantro, and oregano, all in your box this week
~ White Bean and Garlic Scapes Dip
Serve with sliced kohlrabi and radishes
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Baby greens are one of the fastest growing crops at Amber Waves Farm, ready in weeks from when we sow seeds directly into the soil, depending on the time of year. More tender than full-sized greens, baby greens are perfect to use raw in a salad. Many of these crops don’t like the heat, making them difficult to grow in the hot months of summer. Despite this challenge, we do our best to get baby greens into your boxes as often as possible. These greens are a great source of folate, vitamin K, and vitamin A.
Storage: The bagged baby greens in your box have been pre-washed. Store your fresh baby greens in a plastic bag or container surrounded by damp paper towels in the refrigerator, where they will last up to 5 days.
Arugula: Arugula, also known as rocket, has a spicy bite that makes salads more exciting. In the heat of the summer, it gets even more peppery. Fresh lemon juice and olive oil salad dressing pare well with an arugula salad. Try adding raw arugula to the top of a pizza while still hot! Or, top grilled fish with a small bunch of arugula; the heat will wilt the greens, and finish with a lemon vinaigrette.
Salad Mixes: We grow a few different salad mixes at the farm! Each mix has a variety of colors, flavors, and textures to add to a salad. Our signature “spicy salad” mix is a mixture of Asian greens, such as mizuna, tatsoi, Bok choy, and burgundy mustards that give the mix a flavorful, spicy bite! Our other mixes aim to please, such as our “salanova salad mix” with different varieties of tender greens, colors, textures, and flavors.
Baby Kale: Our favorite baby kale variety is called Red Russian. Its tender yet sturdy leaves are perfect for adding to a raw salad or sautéing quickly in olive oil and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Look for its signature blue, green leaves and light purple stems in your box this year.
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Here are some simple recipes for enjoying kale:
Kale Salad - Finely chop washed kale and place it in a large bowl. Gently massage a vinaigrette (olive oil, vinegar, tsp. mustard) into the kale and let the kale salad rest for 15 minutes. Finish with Parmesan, salt, and pepper, or add nuts, fruit, raisins, cooked wheat berries, or cheese; goat cheese or feta work best.
Simple Sautéed Kale - Sauté sliced onion and garlic or garlic scapes in olive oil. Add chopped, washed kale and sauté until color brightens and leaves become tender, just a couple of minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and chili flakes and serve warm.
Kale Chips - Start by massaging your kale lightly with oil, spread the kale on a rimmed baking pan, sprinkle with salt and bake for 20 minutes at 300 degrees.
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Hello from the fields,
As of this morning, the crew will have finished “scaping,” or removing, all of the scapes from the garlic crop! That’s nearly 20,000 scapes, snapped off one by one. The scape-less plants remaining in the field are now using these longest days of the year, the last of their life cycle, to develop larger underground bulbs that will be ready to pull from the soil in just a few short weeks. It’s satisfying and less common to actually check something off the list for the season, as we can with scaping. Much of our work is instead anchored repetitive care: weed, water, weed again, water again, etc. The handful of crops we grow that we plant, care for, and harvest en masse (garlic, sweet potatoes, winter squash, wheat) are a welcome contrast to the repetition of other annual vegetable crops.
Elsewhere in the fields, we’re doing repetitive work: chasing our tails moving irrigation around, as we’re experiencing one of the driest early seasons we can remember, and the plants are thirsty. For bare-ground direct-seeded crops (baby greens, radishes, carrots, and sunflowers) this means hauling our irrigation reel (basically a large steel spool wrapped with a few hundred feet of 2-inch hose) from one place to the next, towing out the hose to the field edge. We station someone at the well to dial in appropriate pressure for the run and another person to monitor the reel, ensuring the rotating sprinkler gun at the end of the hose is spinning as it should and that the reel is correctly (and ever so slowly) retracting the couple hundred feet of hose as the sprinkler works its way across the field. Once it’s running well, we can walk away for the remainder of the 3-hour session, and with a 20-foot watering radius, we can irrigate ten beds at once. With more than 50 direct-sown beds under cultivation at any given time and the constant pressure of surface evaporation, we’re moving the reel a lot.
The majority of our crops, though, are planted under a biodegradable mulch film and are supplied with a line of drip irrigation tape at the time we form the raised bed with our mulch layer. About 300 mulched raised beds are in production now, spilling over with the early veggies you’ve already enjoyed this season (lettuce, kale, herbs, kohlrabi, bok choy) as well as heat-loving crops like tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini that are on the way. This accounts for more than 12 linear miles of drip irrigation to monitor, which includes tracking down leaks, tears, punctures, faulty valves, and lines that have become detached. Whichever crew members are assigned to irrigation spend the few hours it’s running chasing down these issues, equipped with a drill, hose clamps, and pockets full of replacement valves, “oopsie” plugs, and and couplings to repair the lines that have been unintentionally severed by tractors and harvest knives. The session ends with soggy boots, muddy knees, several sprays directly to the face, and, hopefully, 12 miles of vegetables that received a much-needed drink.
Despite the irritation of irrigation, we’re lucky to have access to plenty of water here in New York, and a dry year is easier to manage than a wet year, so our lamenting is measured in comparison to the challenges farmers face elsewhere. Enjoy this week’s box, stay hydrated, and we’ll see you next week!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of June 5th
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Small Share
Garlic Scapes, Dill, Kale, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Baby Greens, Beets
Full Share
Garlic Scapes, Dill, Bok Choy, Kale, Kohlrabi, Fennel, Lettuce, Baby Greens, Beets
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~ Herby Salad with Dill, Pomegranates & Tahini - Seed + Mill
~ Kohlrabi and Carrot Slaw
Julienne equal amounts of carrot and kohlrabi. Mix slaw with a creamy yogurt dressing, lime juice, herbs, and a small amount of honey. Perfect for fish tacos.
~ Grilled Garlic Scapes
Wash and pat dry garlic scapes. Cut off the tapered end. Toss scapes in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Preheat your grill, oil the grates or a basket, and add scapes. Grill until slightly browned, about ten minutes.
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Amber Waves grows hardneck varieties of garlic. Hardneck garlic has fewer and larger cloves than its softneck cousin and produces a stalk in the spring that turns into a flower bud called a scape. We harvest the scapes to help direct the plant’s energy to develop cloves. The beautifully curled scapes are milder than garlic but still pack a strong punch.
Use them in place of garlic in any recipe or add them raw to salad dressings or pesto - don’t use the tapered end, which can be a little tough and fibrous. Our favorite and simplest way to eat scapes is to roast or grill them whole, which considerably mellows their spiciness.
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Dill is the classic pickle flavor and goes well with fresh cucumbers, potatoes, and fish. Dill is delicate and works particularly well with eggs or in salads. Try chopping the feathery leaves and adding them to dairy-focused dishes to cut through some of the richness. When used in cooking, dill will lose flavor the longer it is cooked, so add it at the last minute.
Make the tzatziki sauce by combining plain yogurt and lemon juice with chopped garlic, scallions, basil, and dill. Dill is also so good to use as a garnish. The dill leaves are beautiful and a small sprig of dill can add a noticeable aroma to a dish. Dill is the key ingredient, along with buttermilk, in giving homemade ranch dressing its unique flavor.
Dill is an annual herb related to celery that tends to replant itself and spread widely, which is good to know if you're considering planting it in your garden.
Storage: Wrap fresh dill in a damp paper towel. Place in a plastic bag or airtight container. Store in the crisper drawer in your fridge for up to two weeks.
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Hello from the fields,
This week we celebrate the return of the garlic scape, a seasonal specialty that lasts only a few weeks each year. The twirly scape emerges from the overwintered garlic plant in June, signaling that the “real” garlic harvest is about a month away. The scape is actually the flowering component of the garlic plant, and by removing it we encourage the plant to devote all of its energy to growing a bigger bulb underground rather than producing a flower. Happily, the byproduct of this chore is the crunchy, pungent, garlicky scape that's delicious grilled or as a garlic substitute in sautees, sauces, etc. Scapes also lend themselves to being pesto’d (we farmers kind of think you can make a dip or pesto out of anything - what’s better than dipping a vegetable in another vegetable in a seasoned, blended form?). Over the next week or ten days, we’ll complete all of our “scaping” - removing all the scapes - about 15,000 of them - by hand, one at a time. These scapes will make an appearance in your boxes over the next few weeks before we welcome the first of the bulb garlic in early July.
Scaping is one of the many activities we farmers do to take advantage of a plant’s predictable, biological behavior to get it to do what we want it to do: remove a scape to redirect energy to the bulb; harvest outer leaves of cut-and-come again greens to encourage new growth from the center of the plant; pinching basil below a branch junction to encourage more branching; trellis tomatoes and flowers to encourage sturdy, long, upright stems. The plants and the weather run the show. We’re just along for the ride, racing around to get the plants what they need, stepping in where we can to encourage the outcomes we desire.
Besides scaping, getting the plants what they need this week includes freedom from weeds! We mechanically cultivate (meaning kill weeds) with tractors equipped with a variety of blades, baskets, fingers, shoes, and tines as much as we can to save time and labor. Still, the precision of human hands is needed to get into the hard-to-reach spaces between plants within the row. The crew has been working hard at work hand weeding/thinning direct-sown sunflowers, carrots, and cilantro crops. As I mentioned last week, there’s heavy weed pressure in our new Cozzens field, in particular a weed called nutsedge, which is both insidious and aggressive with its ability to pierce and grow right through our biodegradable mulch film, meaning it hassles not only our bare-ground baby greens but also our mulched raised bed production of lettuces, kale and brassicas, tomatoes, flowers, etc. As many farmers before us have said: “There’s job security in the weeds.” There certainly is! Enjoy this week’s bounty. See you next week!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of May 29th
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Small Share
Green Garlic, Bok Choy, Kale, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Baby Greens
Full Share
Green Garlic, Thyme, Bok Choy, Kale, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Baby Greens, Hakurei Turnips
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~ Grilled Bok Choy
Preheat your outdoor grill—lightly oil the grill grates. Cut the Bok Choy lengthwise in half or quarters—season with salt and pepper. Place Bok Choy on the grill. Brush with a little olive oil and any additional seasoning, such as a mixture of minced green garlic, soy and sesame oil. Grill until the bok choy stalks show grill marks and the leaves are crisp at the edges. Grill both sides. Remove and serve!
Kale Salad with Apples and Cheddar
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Hakurei turnips, a Japanese salad turnip, are crunchy and sweet. They’re great as crudité, in a salad or sauteed.
Sauté sliced hakurei turnips in butter for 5-10 minutes or until tender over medium heat—season with salt and pepper. Add the chopped turnip greens and cook until just wilted. Finish with a bit of honey.
Try them caramelized in a hot pan or the oven with a drizzle of sesame oil or butter. Don’t forget to cook the greens! Or, sauté quartered hakurei turnips in white miso and butter and add a little maple syrup at the end for sweetness.
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This alien-looking vegetable, a member of the cabbage family, has a mild flavor and texture of a tender broccoli stem. Kohlrabi is not a root vegetable but is often described as a root. The kohlrabi bulb grows above the ground and is part of the kohlrabi stem.
Slice thinly, eat it raw with hummus, or marinate it in lemon juice. When grated, kohlrabi combined with grated carrots makes a delicious slaw—Roast kohlrabi in the oven with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper and top with parmesan.
Add the stems and leaves to soups and salads. Peel larger kohlrabi with thicker skin, but small ones are tender all the way through and do not need to be peeled. Like all other brassicas, the kohlrabi greens are edible too, just like the bulbs and you can treat the leaves like kale or any other cooking green.
Kohlrabi should last up to two weeks, properly stored in your refrigerator.
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Hello from the fields,
In seasons past, when we greeted you from “the fields,” it has included our 10 acre home base here on Main Street, 10 acres on Town Lane leased from Peconic Land Trust, and another 6 acres on Buckskill Road leased from the Town of East Hampton. This season we have the extraordinary opportunity to begin farming another field - the land immediately adjacent to the western edge of our home base on Main Street. We’ve been gazing longingly at that field for years, particularly as our farming operation has grown and we’ve become tighter and tighter on productive acreage, even with three existing fields. The new field was acquired by the Town of East Hampton in late 2021 using the Community Preservation Fund - the account funded by the “2% tax” on real estate transactions that enables the Town to invest in the preservation of farmland, wetlands, open space, and sensitive/at-risk habitat on behalf of residents. In early 2022 we submitted a proposal in partnership with Balsam Farms for a long-term lease on this 17-acre parcel - and we got it! This field was one of the largest remaining unencumbered, open agricultural fields in East Hampton, so we’re relieved it was preserved and utterly thrilled to be the ones farming it.
More farmable space means more flexibility within our rotations: the ability to avoid growing the same plant family in a field year after year and the freedom to rest fields once in a while, instead sowing them with a cover crop to boost our soil organic matter and overall soil health. This spring, we quickly got to work plowing and planting the 8-ish acres that make up our portion of the shared field with spring wheat, flowers, baby greens, cucumbers, and zucchini. Getting to know a new field is a process that takes time, as its secrets are slowly (and sometimes suddenly) revealed. We’re currently learning about the low, and therefore wet, spots (not as bad as we thought), the intensity of perennial weeds (a little worse than we thought), pest pressure (more birds tearing things up than we were expecting), and other fun surprises and treasures (rocks, gulleys, forgotten pipes, tools, chains, etc. - usually found suddenly by our mower or tillage blades). We needed to begin using the field as soon as we could this season, so we’re producing crops and discovering these details in tandem. I delight in old things that once had another life - buried rusty tools, antique bottles - and the farm crew knows this - so I have been amused to see the “treasures” they discover during tillage wind up outside the barn door for me to see, a mosaic of the field’s life before we walked upon it. Pulling a rusty horseshoe, a bit of chain, or the blade of a hoe from the soil connects us to the farmers before us, who undoubtedly lamented the loss of any of these articles that found their way back to us decades later. We are honored and excited to be the next stewards of these soils, speckled as they may be with some weeds and forgotten tools.
We look forward to sharing the bounty of produce and stories of our successes and challenges on this new acreage with you throughout the season!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team
Week of May 23rd
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Small Share
2 Green Garlic, Green Goddess Herb Bundle (chive flowers, mint, oregano, savory), Lettuce, 2 Baby Greens, Radishes
Full Share
3 Green Garlic, Green Goddess Herb Bundle (chive flowers, mint, oregano, savory), Broccoli Rabe, Lettuces, 2 Baby Greens, Radishes, 1 Amber Seedling
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~Amber Waves Green Goddess Dressing
Combine the green goddess herbs in a blender or food processor with 1 tbsp. of vinegar or lemon juice, 1/4 cup of olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste. Blend in a blender or food processor until well combined.
Variations: Add your Green Goddess Herbs to Greek yogurt or blend into hummus for a tasty dip for radishes!
Use chive blossom vinegar in salad dressings, potato salad, and marinades.
You can harvest chive blossoms in the CSA Pick Your Own herb area beyond the flower fields and magnolia trees.
~Quick Refrigerator Pickled Radishes
Thinly slice a bunch of radishes and place them in a pint-sized canning jar. Combine ¾ cup of apple cider vinegar and ¾ cup of water with two tbsp. of sugar or honey and 1 tsp of salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and pour it over the radishes. Add jalapeno or crushed red pepper if you prefer spicy. Cover and refrigerate. Serve over a salad made with baby greens or on tacos.
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Green garlic is a young garlic plant. Chop, mince, dice, and slice green garlic as you would leeks. Green garlic has a milder flavor than cured garlic, so use it generously.
Enjoy the whole green garlic! Use the white bulb and stalk just like you would use garlic. Mince the green tops and use them instead of garlic or chop your green garlic and roast it with assorted vegetables. The green garlic will get crispy and even more delicious!
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A member of the allium family along with onions, garlic, and scallions, this grass-like-looking herb has a mild onion flavor. The best way to cut up chives is to snip them with scissors to avoid bruising. We like to use them as a garnish for potato dishes or blended in salad dressing. The beautiful magenta blossoms are edible, but beware; they also taste oniony!
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Hello from the fields,
Welcome to the 15th season of our Community Supported Agriculture program! We’ll be spending the year celebrating this milestone, and as we reopen our gates this season we're filled with nostalgia and gratitude for the years of learning, growth, laughter, struggle, love, triumph, and ultimately the fulfillment of our passion; our life's work. We were in our early 20’s when we began this adventure as new farmers, full of energy, ambition, and naivety. We're slightly older and considerably wiser now, but our love for our work remains unchanged. This season is a springboard for everything that's next at Amber Waves: sharing healthy food, growing new farmers, cultivating more land, and a greater reach on the East End. We're excited to take the journey with you - we couldn’t do this without you.
Out in the fields the farm crew has been hard at work preparing for the launch of CSA this week. We had a mild winter that evolved into a fairly gentle spring, and as such, many of our plantings are several days ahead of where they would typically be. Despite the “easy” conditions, the earliest crops of the season are often the most painstaking. Things grow slowly when it’s colder, meaning a radish crop that would be ready in 21 summer days might take almost twice as long to mature in the early spring. We do our best to give our young crops as much protection from the brisk temperatures as we can, trudging back and forth across the farm laying out acres of row cover that provides a few extra degrees of warmth for the fledgling seedlings underneath. Weeds also thrive under row cover, so every week we peel it back, weed/hoe/mechanically cultivate, and then drag it over once again, locating heavy sandbags every few feet along the edges to keep the wind from catching it like a sail. Happily, the spring is a mix of this tedious outdoor work in chilly conditions interspersed hours in the 70-80 degree greenhouses, where new crew members get to know each other, some of them making lifelong connections as Katie and I did as young farm apprentices back in 2008 (more on our apprentices in the coming weeks!)
As is tradition, the first box of the season contains a variety of luscious baby greens, pungent and peppery herbs, and fragrant green garlic. It’s salad season for the next several weeks as we track towards cukes and zukes and garlic scapes in June. We hope you enjoy this first box of the season, there’s so much great food and fun ahead - see you next week!
Amanda + Katie + The Amber Waves Team