Volume 24, Week 17

Full share & green half shares

218 Gates Avenue between Classon and Franklin
(IMPACCT Brooklyn at the Gibbs Mansion)
5:00 to 7:30 pm

Submit your recipes! As we move into the final six weeks of our summer season, we want to know what you’ve been cooking with your Windflower fruits and veggies! Your recipe may be featured in the Beet, and if 15 minutes of CSA fame isn’t incentive enough, know this: everyone who enters will automatically be entered into a raffle to win some covetable culinary prizes!

Submit a recipe!

The new member waitlist is now open for the 2026 season! If you know someone who’s interested in joining the CSA, they can now add their names to the waitlist! We will reach out to waitlisters in early spring as spots become available. Feel free to share this link with anyone who might want to add their name to the waitlist: https://clintonhillcsa.org/join. Please note: current CSA members will receive priority registration for 2026 and do NOT need to join the waitlist - it’s for new folks only!

And - winter share signups coming soon - keep your eye on the Beet!

Spice popup this week!

Bhavna, a Fort Greene neighbor and founder of Sourcery, a Brooklyn-based spice company that sources fresh, will be with us at distribution tonight with a variety of fresh spices sourced directly from small family farms in India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, including: Black Pepper, White Pepper, Timur Pepper, Turmeric, Cuming, Coriander, Fennel, Clove, Kashmiri Chilli, Mace, Nutmeg, Black Cardamom, Green Cardamom (pictured), Ginger, Cinnamon, Jaggery, Asafoetida, Masala Chai, Smoky Chai. 

This week’s share

  • Lettuce

  • Arugula

  • Bok Choy

  • Tomatoes 

  • Sweet Peppers

  • Bunched beets

  • Yellow Onions

  • Yellow Potatoes

  • Delicata Squash

  • Zucchini Squash

  • Fruit: Yonder Farm’s Bosc pears

  • Extras: bread, eggs, granola,

    Spinach, carrots, cilantro, red onions and radicchio will be coming next week. Next week’s tomatoes may be the last of the season. We expect to send apples next week.

News from Windflower Farm

Delivery #17, week of September 22, 2025

A couple of Eastern Wood Pewees are chatting away outside my window on this first day of fall. I imagine that they are discussing the drought, which is surely impacting their lives as much as it is ours. It must make finding drinking water more difficult. Is finding food more difficult, too? I’ve noticed that there are far fewer insects.   

We are fortunate in having a deep and plentiful well. It was drilled for us by Clarence Gould and his son, Clarence Jr. In return for our $6,500, they promised us 12 gallons of water per minute and ended up giving what they estimated to be a hundred. Jan spent the day with them while they drilled, which may have encouraged them to prolong their drilling. We ended up with a well that is 470’ deep and a resource that has been our salvation on more than one occasion. While our two ponds and newest well have gone dry, this one deep well keeps our greenhouses, field crops and produce packing station going. It is no exaggeration to say that without irrigation, we’d have been unable to produce a single crop this year. It’s been that dry. Yesterday, Nate irrigated Swiss chard, spinach, bok choy, kale, lettuce and arugula. Today, he irrigated two blocks of broccoli and cabbage.

It’s been a tough growing season for more than those of us who grow vegetables. Nearby dairy farmers are under stress, too – some have had to bring outside water to their herds and, because they expect declines in forage and grain production, will have to purchase additional feed. The drought is widespread. NASA has reported that the rate of drying of the Earth’s soil has accelerated worldwide. Dry places are getting dryer, while wet places are not getting wetter. Locally, the level of Lake Champlain is five feet below where it was in July. This fall, many trees are bypassing their colorful foliage stage, going directly from green to brown.

We had a first-hand peek at ground water levels here at the farm when we did some work on our well last week. Normally, ground water lies 12’ below the surface here, but now it is 16’ below ground level. We have invested nearly $3000 in cover crops seeds this year, but we’re not sure if they will germinate and so they sit in our barn unplanted. The 10-day weather forecast promises hit-or-miss showers, and we remain hopeful.

Have a great week, Ted

Recipes

Here’s a member submission from last year - submit your recipes at the link at the top of this newsletter!

Late Summer Squash Salad

1 delicata squash, sliced 1/3 inch thick and de-seeded
Olive oil/salt
3 cups arugula
3 oz goat cheese, crumbled
1 small pear, thinly sliced (any pear can work here but Bosc and Asian pears are great with this)
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts (or pepitas)
Vinaigrette (see below)

Pre heat the oven to 365 while preparing the other ingredients. Coat the squash in olive oil and salt, then place on a sheet pan in a single layer and roast until cooked through and browned a bit, about 30 minutes.

Layer all ingredients on a platter starting with the arugula. I like to do arugula, pear, squash, goat cheese, vinaigrette drizzled across, pine nuts on top for a little crunch.

Vinaigrette:
2 tsp lemon zest
1 small garlic clove, grated
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs vinegar (apple or red wine works best here)
3 tsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp dijon
Parsley, finely chopped
Salt/pepper to taste
1/3 cup good olive oil

Add all ingredients except oil to a small jar and shake. When everything is combined, add olive oil and shake until emulsified.

Did you know? Our website has recipes, food storage tips, and information about the vegetables you might come across in your share!

 
Veronica