HISTORY ALIVE!

Gazette columnist and blogger Michael Maddigan, visits Middleboro's floral history this week in his "Recollecting Nemasket." Specifically featured: DAHLIAS!

Naturally this is of particular interest to us here The Dahlia Farm CSA in Middleboro, where we take our name from our farm's historic past.

Continually cultivated since the first building of record in 1839, our farm here has produced sweet corn, potatoes, gladioli, seeds, herbs, blueberries, holiday crops such as Easter lilies & poinsettias, hardy mums, dent corn, and perrenial cutflowers. But it was EASTVALE FARMS (1920's-1950's) which made this site historic, when at their zenith they became the largest dahlia farm in New England.

Be sure to read Mr. Maddigan's column (which can be linked to from this blog). His series has been one that is not only historically fascinating, but painstakingly researched and archivally unique in its focus.

CSA shares to begin shortly

This week we began eating our first five-minute-salads... Salads that were in the garden five minutes prior, that is!

And while we know you're awaiting your first week's share, we're doing the rain-dance here at The Dahlia Farm and knitting mantras for a delicate balance of temperate days and evenings. It won't be much longer...

Presently we're seeing pea tendrils, radish, arugula and mizuna ready for harvest, but rather than jumping into a false start, we're holding off just a little bit longer on the weekly shares.

Those of you who have not yet signed up for an egg share, may also want to consider this. Egg shares are available seasonally as well as annually and may be a full-share (one dozen per week) or half-shares (one dozen every other week). Our current egg-shareholders are enjoying wonderful, bright orange, high-doming, exceptionally flavorful eggs daily. In fact, my NEW favorite sandwich is a dropped egg (soft-boiled) on toast. Once-upon-a-time that sounded awfully bland, but these eggs are just so darned tastey. Here's what one MIDDLEBORO GAZETTE columnist had to say, and if you'd like to stop by a local cafe to sample The Dahlia Farm eggs, be sure to visit the Rockin' K Cafe right over in Bridgewater. You can also pick up a dozen or two this coming sunday when we return to the SOWA open market in Boston's South-end.

Until then, we'll keep rain-dancing and in the meantime, there's all this transplanting to do!