Greetings Everyone,
You can access our online store using this link, log in by clicking the icon of the person in the top right hand side of the web page. All orders need to be placed by Thursday at 8 AM so that we will know what to harvest for your share!
About a month ago we were extremely nervous about not having many bookings for our accommodations, especially mid week, and were worried about paying our bills. We must say, you CSA Shareholders have provided us a HUGE relief from this worry, because you are giving us a consistent weekly income flow, so just know we are incredibly thankful for you!!!!
Just the past couple of weeks we realize how important it is for us to ease into offering farm stays, and right now we are grateful for no mid week bookings, because it takes a lot longer than we thought to turn our accommodations around. We don’t yet have enough inventory of extra sheets and towels for both the barn apartment and the glamping site if we have guests booked back to back. That means in between bookings, we have to wash all the linens, which we are unable to do in between the 11 AM check-out and 3 PM check-in time frame. As we earn money from these rentals, we will be re-investing into stocking more sheets and towels.
NOTE: You will probably need to white list our email to receive correspondence from us because we have changed our email from farmer@MountainHarvestOrganic.com to Farmer@MountainHarvestOrganics.com (our email is organics plural).
Your Farmers (and maids),
Carl and Julie |
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What is new and abundant this week!
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This is the last harvest of French Filet beans from our first succession. While we have another planting, it is questionable if we will be harvesting off that crop, because the groundhog has discovered them and it LOVES beans. While harvesting these, we had the luxury of snacking on these for breakfast. We were reminded of the difference in tenderness and texture between the first picking and the last. While both harvests are flavorful, the first picking is incredibly tender and the last is a bit tough. We are thankful for all the families and chefs who understand the difference and adapt their menus to accommodate! That said, you will need to cook these beans a little longer than you have for the past couple weeks! You may consider either Green Bean and Garlic Soup these these bean and squash burritos and both recipes are excellen
We’ve harvested the cipollini onions this week and they are incredibly sweet so we enjoyed them in a refreshing cucumber dill salad. We’ve planted fewer of these than in years past, but we should be offering these in the online store for the next couple of weeks. For those not familiar with these onions, they are slightly flattened and thin skinned bulbs. Their name literally means “little onion†in Italian, and indeed they are! Cipollinis are about the size of a golf ball, but when grown under good weather conditions they tend to be a little bigger. Roasted whole in the oven or roasted with a vinegar glaze you are sure to fall in love with these onions. Cooked in a little butter on the stove top, cipollinis become soft and practically melt in your mouth. Their residual sugars caramelize and concentrate, leaving behind none of the astringent raw onion flavor. After all, our region is know for beer, so consider these beer braised cipollini onions.
SPECIAL NOTES: We are cutting the tops off the beets because the bugs have been enjoying them and they aren’t very pretty
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This Weeks Farmer’s Choice Veggie Share
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This week’s Farmer’s Choice Share includes: (share contents are subject to change based on availability.)
We’re offering both a Farmer’s Choice Veggie and Farmers’ Choice Meat and Veggie Share. Items common in both will be identified by FC, Items that are only included in the veggie only share will be preceded by FCV, and items included in the veggie and meat share will be preceded by FCVM. The Farmer’s Choice Veggie and Meat share normally has less vegetables. )
The following are Included in both the veggie and meat share:
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Tomatoes: Cherry and Slicing. The cherry tomatoes are bite sized have a spectacular flavor. The slicing tomatoes are perfect for sandwiches, burgers, or for eating sliced with a little salt!
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Mix of Patty Pan and Zephyr Squash: The Patty Pan s is a summer squash, also known as scalloped, and is a soft skinned very versatile vegetable. The Zephyr is like a straightneck or crookneck and has a nice nutty flavor.
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The following are included only in the veggie share:
The following are included only in the meat share:
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What’s Happening on the Farm
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| In between cleaning our accommodations and providing farm tours, we’ve been able to spend a little time trellising tomatoes, cucumbers, planting another succession of lettuce and squash. However, our favorite farm job this week was harvesting the cipollini and red bulb onions. We noticed a few of our red bulb onions were beginning to die back, which means it is time to harvest them, and given how much precipitation we had last week we didn’t want to wait! Rain can destroy an onion crop rather quickly, so while the onions aren’t huge, they look as though they may cure out and eventually make it into your shares. The reason for our excitement with this crop, is because we consume a lot of onions over the course of a year, and we’re just finising up the last of our storage onions from last season so it is nice to have these on our curing racks. |
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| As Julie was walking the fields earlier in the week this beauty landed on her arm. It is moments like these, that seem to happen weekly, which inspire us to stay the course in offering farm-stays rather than return to the technology field. |
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| Our muddy driveway, that last week was almost like a creek, provides a great habitat for the butterflies. Here are a few Pipeline Swallowtails enjoying the mud puddle. We provide butterfly field guides so guests who are inspired by our biodiversity can challenge themselves to identify the species that inhabit Mountain Harvest Organics! |
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| This snapping turtle decided to come check out our washing/packing shed and here the not so little 7 month year old Argus is afraid of the turtle. Doesn’t it seem that a livestock guardian should not be wary of the turtle? |
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