Weekly news from the farm

THIS week (6/12), we’d like to offer both Farmer’s Choice Veggie and Meat Shares to folks living in Spring Creek.  As the summer crops begin maturing and we begin harvesting  more of an abundance, we’d like to transition to the typical custom order share where you choose your weekly groceries with a delivery to Asheville.  We’d like your feedback about how much and how frequently you’d be ordering!!!  Unfortunately, a ground hog ate nearly all our cabbage and a lot of our lettuce, so we are trying to plant additional crops to compensate for that loss. Once additional crops begin maturing, that’s when we will begin delivering to Asheville.

PLEASE PROVIDE US FEEDBACK about the following:

• We’d like to require a minimum order of  $20 each week.  Is this too much produce/meat for you?  If it is, what amount is good for your family?
• We’d like to harvest on Tuesday and have pick-up on Wednesday, Does this pick-up day work with your schedule?  If not, what is the best day for you?  We found that last year, Thursday and Fridays were too hectic with accommodations so we’d like to free those days up.
• Would you consider buying from our CSA on a regular weekly schedule?  We’re not going to require pre-payments like in previous year, but would like a commitment of those who are willing to purchase weekly.
• Our neighbor suggested we put a limit on the time we spend farming each week.  We’re going to implement this Time Management Strategy this year with the hope that we’ll be able to juggle long term projects along with farming. That means that periodically, throughout the season, our offerings may not be as diversified as in years past.  For example, we may not find the time to weed or transplant crops, and the groundhog may eat more than their share.

How the CSA Will Work:

• All memberships are reserved on a first come, first serve basis. Please email us to reserve your share.
• We will be delivering from now into Fall. Occasionally, we may take a week off for projects.
• We’d like a commitment for a minimum order amount of $20. Since we are not accepting pre-payments, we expect each shareholder to place their weekly order through the online store, regardless if one is just ordering the Farmer’s Choice. There may be weeks where we aren’t offering a Farmer’s Choice, especially if we don’t have the diversification available that week.
• For Asheville, we are still working out a delivery location.  Annie’s Bakery may still be an option, but their security is a bit tighter than in previous years, and we’re not sure Wednesday will work for them. 
• Sunday of each week we will send out a eNewsletter that describes produce available that week and the contents of the Farmer’s Choice share. Once you receive the eNewsletter, you will log into the online store and place your order. You may purchase additional produce as the inventory levels will be updated weekly.
• Such produce that you can expect include lettuce, cabbage, beets, tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, sweet peppers, sweet corn, green beans, basil, bulb fennel and Irish potatoes. We’re growing a lot less diversity but are trying to focus on staples that we eat each week such as lettuce, potatoes, onions, corn, summer squash and cucumbers.

• Lettuce:  Salad Mix! We don’t offer this in our CSA Shares too often, mostly because it is a lot of labor to  process, but we absolutely love the convenience if dumping a bag of lettuce into a salad bowl!!! All this lettuce needs is some salad dressing and croutons and we call it a meal.
• Tomatoes: Cherry Tomatoes. We can’t imagine salad mix without a few cherry tomatoes to toss into the greens so you’ll find a mix of red and yellow pear tomatoes.
• Scallions:  These are so simple just to chop for y our salad.  If your’re grilling out, be sure to consider grilling these because they are amazing.
• Cucumbers:   The variety being harvested has  thin skins and extremely sweet.  A market customer claimed he was going to blanch these cucumbers for a thai salad but I insisted that he didn’t need to do that extra step with these cucumbers!!!  Maybe one would do that with summer cucumbers, but not this variety.
• Basil: We’re sharing the harvest with basil!.  Smaller bunches because we don’t have many plants quite yet.

• Kale: Green Curley. Super sweet for a summer kale harvest!!!.  Many of you may recall that us growing Red Russian Kale, but over the years with our weather changing, we’ve discovered that we needed to try different varieties of kale.  This kale was a star performer in winter and summer. While not as sweet as in winter, it is amazing how it is holding the flavor during the summer heat.. 
• Zucchini :   Great sliced and grilled or roasted.  This  is our early greenhouse crop that has been producing since early May. The production is tapering off, but we’re still enjoying these until our field crop begins maturing.
• French Filet Beans :      This  is the last harvest from our early crop so the beans are a little tough and required extra cooking.  THey are Great sliced and grilled or roasted.  

• Bone-In Pork Chops: We prefer almost all our lean cuts cooked in a cast iron skillet.  These chops are from our last batch of pigs and have been in the freezer a couple years.  We haven’t noticed any difference between eating them now and then. So help us clean out our freezer.

In January, we had a few consecutive days with the weather forecast for sun and not much wind before the farming season got underway, so we took that opportunity to staple down tar paper and install the metal roof.  We just barely finished that job before a winter storm rolled in, bringing with it high winds and a dusting of snow, so we’re extremely thankful that the tar paper didn’t blow off and end up across the mountain at the Dalton’s.  While we may not get projects done in a timely manner, at least we eventually get them done.  We’re hopeful that once we have the pizza oven moved underneath the pavilion, we’ll schedule a celebration so y’all can see the pavilion and eat some pizza underneath this beautiful structure that you helped us raise.