Left to right, it's Swiss chard, golden oyster mushrooms, leeks, pink oyster mushrooms, and jalapeños: a cornucopia of seasonal vegetables, featured in summertime recipes provided courtesy of New Entry participants. Photos: Whitemarz Farm, Saturn's Garden, and Shutterstock.
Photo collage: Momo Shinzawa
A fresh crop of New Entry farmers share personal stories—and seasonal recipes—from their farms
Jalapeno peppers that electrify a salsa. Leafy Swiss chard, sauteed in earthy cumin. Leeks, verdant and bright. These are the tastes of summer—and just a few of the seasonal items grown by farmers in the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project.
New Entry is an initiative of Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. It supports burgeoning small-scale farmers whose stories are as diverse as their bounty. Here are four of those farmers, complete with their favorite warm-weather recipes.
Whitemarz Farm’s Daniela Márquez
Jorge Marcuza and Daniela Márquez started their 1.5-acre farm in central Massachusetts five years ago, shortly after arriving in the United States from Mexico. The couple farmed in their home country, too, but it was very different.
“Here, you have four—or more—seasons!” Marcuza says, laughing. “In Mexico, you get only one client, and you sell everything to that client. You specialize in one crop.”
Now, the pair sells more than 40 vegetables. Garlicky oyster mushrooms are a favorite. But, more than any food, Marcuza appreciates the bonding.
“What I love about farming is that we get to work together as a family, outside, spending time together,” he says.
10 ounces oyster mushrooms
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, finely chopped or grated
¼ cup fresh Italian parsley leaves
Gently pat the mushrooms with a clean towel to absorb any excess moisture. Trim off the hard stem at the base of each clump of mushrooms. Separate large clusters into more bite-sized pieces, using your hands or a knife.
Place a large (10-12-inch) nonstick sauté pan over medium-high heat. When a drop of water sizzles and evaporates on contact, add the oil to the pan. Arrange the mushrooms in one layer. Cook, without turning, until one side is golden brown and crisp. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and toss. (Note: If the mushrooms don’t fit in one layer in your pan, cook them in two batches, adding a little more oil as needed.)
Transfer the mushrooms to a serving platter. Without returning the pan to the heat, add the butter, garlic, and parsley to the hot pan, swirling until the butter melts and the garlic is fragrant.
Pour the garlic butter over the mushrooms and serve. Makes four servings.
Note: Recipe adapted from familystylefood.com/sauteed-oyster-mushrooms
Luke Hanabergh of Saturn’s Garden
Luke Hanabergh majored in management at Bentley University. In an entrepreneurship class, he was handed an unusual assignment: start a business. He loved farming and gardening at home, so he decided to start the farm based on his hobby. The assignment blossomed into a job he loved—he officially launched Saturn’s Garden in 2019.
“I love working with plants, taking good care of them, taking a hands-on approach. I enjoy the science side of it. I enjoy being outside in the fresh air. And I most enjoy bringing organic produce to the markets. It’s so rewarding,” he says. Come summer, you can find him digging into a zippy bowl of salsa, using ingredients grown on his farm.
3 cups of chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper (for a spicier salsa, substitute for 1 whole chopped jalapeño)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
Mix ingredients together thoroughly in a bowl. Serve fresh with your choice of tortilla chips or crackers. Serves 10.
La Huerta Farm’s Shane Hurley and Yohanna Moreno, with their daughter
When Shane Hurley and Yohanna Moreno met in 2017, they dreamed of starting a farm together. Moreno grew up on a farm in Chile and missed it—“she always talked about it with grandiosity,” Hurley says—but both had other jobs. Moreno was a veterinarian, and Hurley worked at Boston Children’s Hospital on laboratory animal research.
So they tended a small backyard plot, which they called “La Huerta,” which means “little garden” in Spanish. The pandemic changed their career trajectory: At home, they had more time to work their land and focus on their mission of sourcing unique herbs from South America and Mexico, like lemon verbena, papalo (Bolivian cilantro), and huacatay (Peruvian black mint).
The pair joined New Entry in 2021, and it was a growth experience in many ways.
“We found out we were going to join the same week we discovered we were pregnant,” Hurley says. “Now, we have an eight-month-old daughter, and we visit the farm as a family.”
They also specialize in Swiss chard, which they use to cook Moreno’s recipes from home, like the one below.
5 cups of washed and chopped chard without the hard stems (a large bunch)
Chard stems, diced
1 onion, chopped into small cubes
1 lb ground beef
Salt
Vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1 pinch thyme
In a large skillet with a lid, heat 1/2 cup of water. When boiling, add the chard leaves. Cover and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Uncover and remove the chard to a plate. Rinse and dry the skillet. Heat 1 tablespoon oil and add the chard stems and onion. Cook for 7 minutes over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook for 5 minutes. Stir. Add the cooked chard and stir. Cook 2 minutes, stirring. Test and adjust the seasoning. Serve while hot. Makes 4-6 servings.
Margaret Gichuki of Margaret’s Farm
Margaret Gichuki grew up farming in Kenya. She’s spent more than a decade in Lowell, where she happily grows leeks, collard greens, onions, and garlic. She really loves garlic: “It’s good for controlling blood pressure!” she says.
She also appreciates the simple pleasures that farming brings.
“You see things growing. You touch the soil. You’re dealing with Mother Nature, and you’re your own boss,” she says. “My grandchildren are three and four, and they cover themselves in the soil.”
A straightforward recipe: Choose your favorite greens, such as chopped leeks, and set them aside. Fry onions in olive oil until they turn brown. Add mashed garlic to taste. After five minutes, add chopped leeks and chopped fresh tomatoes; cook until softened. Serve over your choice of boiled rice.
© Tufts University 2022
Home-Grown: Recipes for Your Summer Vegetables – Tufts Now
