CSA, Customers, Updates from the farm, Veggies

Our first CSA Delivery of the season!

Posted on by mhoadmin
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Greetings Everyone,

We hope everyone is doing well!!! You’re receiving this eNewsletter because our records indicate that you have joined our CSA this year and are committing to placing weekly orders using our online store.  We can’t thank you enough for subscribing to Mountain Harvest Organics in eating fresh food all season long.  If you are receiving this newsletter and are not committing to ordering weekly from us, please email us ASAP so that we can find another family on our wait list to buy your share.

We are harvesting crops that were slated to be sold at our tailgate market before it was canceled, so we don’t have as much diversity as we will going forward, yet we hope you will be able to still find some things tasty for your meals this week!  We especially have an abundance of zucchini and cucumbers so those of you who are financially secure may want to consider purchasing extra zucchini and cucumbers to share a neighbor who is food insecure.

Since we are lacking diversity this week, YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO PLACE AN ORDER THIS WEEK, in addition, we are waiving the $50 order amount per delivery site until we have enough diversity in offering you a good selection of food.

Here is a link to peruse the online store to get an idea of the diversity we offer!

Your Farmers (and cleaning staff),
Carl and Julie

NOTE: Your’re receiving this eNewsletter because you’ve either been a subscriber to MHO in the past OR if you’ve registered for our newsletters from our website.  Feel free to unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive this eNewsletter!

How the CSA will work in the age of COVID-19?

Weekly, hopefully on Sunday, you’ll receive a newsletter

Each Sunday we’ll walk through the crops to estimate our harvest, then we’ll update the online store with our availability.  After that we’ll send our weekly newsletter, that will be your reminder to get online and place your weekly order.  All orders are due Tuesday by 8 AM as that is when we’ll be heading to the fields for harvest.  WE PREFER CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS but we will accept checks or exact cash.  Please put cash in an envelope with your name and date.  

USING THE ONLINE STORE:

  • When accessing our storefront from a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, you’ll first see all the categories we have.  If you keep scrolling, you’ll then see a list of the products that are available.  
  • The first list of products will be those that are our “Featured Products” which will be anything popular, newly maturing or what we have that is in abundance. 
  • The next section you’ll see everything that is “In Season”.  This week those are the same products, but once we are in the middle of summer, HOPEFULLY you’ll see only a handful of products that are featured, and a lot more that are “In Season”. 
  • When browsing the product details, you’ll see a list of tags and categories for related products, that is an easy way to navigate other products of interest. 

PICK-UP and DELIVERY:

  • Spring Creek Pick-up at the farm: You’ll need to pick up each Wednesday between 3 and 5 PM.  Due to the COVID-19, we can’t let anyone in the cooler so we’ll need to get your share for you. If you are unable to pick-up at this time, please email us and let us know what day/time you prefer to pick-up. You may offload your share into your bags, but you are also welcome to take the box.  If you take the box, PLEASE don’t remove the label.  For safety purposes, we are dating labels so that we can hold the boxes a week before reusing them to prevent the spread of the virus.  We’re sorry for the inconvenience but it is important that all of us do our part in keeping our community safe and healthy. 
  • Asheville Deliveries:  We’ll be reaching out to each of you individually in providing you an address for your pick-up.
    • Julie’s:  1:45 PM – 2:15 PM
    • Ellen’s:  2:30 PM – 3:00 PM
    • Eva’s:  3:00 PM – 3:15 PM

 
What is new or abundant this week!

Since it is the start of the season, everything is new so we’re highlighting a few of the vegetables that are in abundance!

We have an abundance of early cucumbers!

BEST of the season!  This variety that we’re only able to grow in the Spring is very sweet and thinned skin, so they don’t hold long in the refrigerator since we don’t wax them.  One of our favorite snacks is simply slicing cumbers then making a miso dipping sauce.  Jess and Brian, who lived in Japan for three years, shared this Japanese delicacy with us which has now become a staple when fresh cucumbers are in season.  Are we crazy for eating cucumbers at breakfast, lunch and dinner?   

Sauteed zucchini is excellent! Some people believe that once zucchini gets big, it will be super tough.  While that may be true for zucchini that has been harvested from older plants where it has taken a long time to size up, but when the plants are young and growing fast, even large zucchini’s are seedless and tender. The large ones are perfect for thickly slicing and oven roasting or grilling. We even made zucchini fries this past week that were fabulous but probably not the healthiest food.  Another thing that we make with large zucchini are zoodles. 

Spring beet bunches are like having two meals in one, because this will be the only time until fall, where the beet tops are spectacular! Boil and put into plastic bags for your salads all week long! Both this Mediterranean Beet Salad and the Pureed Beet Salad are excellent if you haven’t tried these yet. Carl makes a plain gazpacho soup but here is a recipe for gazapacho with beets that is BEAUTIFUL and DELICIOUS! Occasionally we cut the tops off the beets if they aren’t pretty, so if you find beets with tops in your share, try these roasted beets with tops, it is simple yet tasty. This beet Tzatziki is great served with chickpeas.

This Weeks Farmer’s Choice!

This week’s Farmer’s Choice Share includes: (share contents are subject to change based on our actual harvest.)

We’re offering both a Farmer’s Choice Veggie and Farmers’ Choice Veggie & Meat Share.  Items common in both shares are listed first, followed by items specific to the veggie share the finally the veggie/meat share. The Farmer’s Choice Veggie & Meat share normally has smaller portions of vegetables. )

The following are included only in the veggie share:

The following are included only in the meat share
What’s happening on the farm!

We’re delivering the plant orders next week!

The temperatures this spring have been like “normal” in that it has been very cool and the crops in the field are growing slowly.  Our field lettuce isn’t quite big enough to harvest but it should be ready next week.  We are holding all plants until next week because our forecast is for a low of 35 over this upcoming weekend and the growth of the summer plants may be stunted or killed by temperatures that low! Above you’ll see Buckeye and Harmon hanging out underneath our desk while we’re stepping up the baby seedlings into larger pots for your summer garden.

Look at this cute beneficial Wood Frog feasting in the zucchini plants!
mhoadmin

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