| Harvest Manager Tessa is excited to send Zucchini and Summer Squash out this week! |
WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE FARM Hello Friends, welcome to week 2! We hope everyone was thrilled to receive some farm-fresh produce last week and that some of you were able to try the Scallion-Chard pancake recipe! I wanted to take a brief moment to introduce myself- I’m Betsy, I’ve been with Hawthorne Valley in several capacities for the majority of my life. Currently, when I’m not writing these newsletters or generally assisting Todd with some logistics, I might be over in the dairy barn milking cows or taking care of our pigs in their paddock! I am excited to have this opportunity to interface more with our incredible CSA community- I look forward to ways in which we can meet one another: in person, over email, on the phone, etc! On the farm, we are relieved to be out of the smokey haze that was blanketing the region last week. We have never seen anything quite like that, and though it’s now passed and we have been fortunate to get some much-needed rain in the meantime, it’s certainly not a week we will quickly forget. We are hoping that communities in Quebec and Ontario more directly impacted by the fires are safe and will soon have respite. In a couple of weeks, the farm will be teeming with summer camp staff and campers, some of whom will have a direct hand in a lot of the farm work that brings us all these amazing CSA shares. If you or someone you know is still looking for a summer camp experience for youngsters ages 8-16, scroll down to learn more about Summer Camps at Hawthorne Valley Farm! We hope that wherever you all are on this Week 2, you are breathing easy and enjoying what summer is offering you! SO MUCH is growing on the farm right now, we are so glad to be harvesting and planning ways to get all this delicious produce to our community. Thanks again for supporting our CSA 🙂 Have a beautiful week, Betsy and the Farm Team |
 Our friends at Row By Row Farms in Hurley, NY grow some pretty sweet and lovely berries! Here they are getting picked up before being lovingly secured for the ride back to our farm! |
| A NOTE ON FRUIT SHARES Many of you may have heard of or personally experienced the devastating cold snap on May 18th that destroyed several vegetable and fruit crops at orchards and farms across the valley. The warm early spring, when flowers bloom early, coupled with a late cold snap is the worst scenario for fruit growers. As such, sourcing local strawberries this season so far has been a little more challenging than usual, though we were beyond thrilled to connect with Row By Row last week and buy in large orders of their amazing strawberries. That being said, we are one of many CSAs looking for local, organic or no-spray fruit this year, and so when we are unable to find fruit, we will be sure to make up with a double share later in the season. We appreciate your understanding of these circumstances, but please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. |
PICKING UP YOUR SHARE The site host is Marina Kubicek and she can be contacted at info@foresthillscsa.com CSA shares are pre-boxed. A volunteer will check your name off of the list, ensuring that you receive your share and any add-on items, fruit and/or eggs. If there are ever any mistakes, this person will make note to share with the farmers, so that can correct any issues the following week. FARM CONTACT If you ever need to get in touch with the farm directly, please email us! |
CARDBOARD BOXES Please remember to bring your own bags to get your vegetables! Follow directions from your site host regarding return of CSA boxes. We collect these back each week to reuse for the next pack-out. Our CSA driver appreciates your help loading them back onto the truck. Thank you, volunteers, for helping! No returns of egg cartons or fruit containers, please. We cannot reuse these on our farm. We can accept returns of the folded cardboard boxes that hold the fruit containers. These we are able to reuse! |
TIME Pick up is every Thursday from 4:00 – 8:00 PM. |
LOCATION We are excited to be providing fresh veggies for the Forest Hills CSA this season! Church-in-the-Gardens 50 Ascan Avenue in Forest Hills |
| We would like to encourage members to form groups and to carpool. If you would like to find members in your local area to carpool with please email Monica for help connecting! |
GROWN BY ONLINE STORE DIRECTIONS Through our online Grown By store, you can place special weekly orders for eggs, bakery items, and dairy products. To purchase these items, log on during the purchasing window from Friday early morning through Sunday at midnight. Our system does not allow you to proceed through your purchase if you’re trying to add these items outside of this timeframe. So, just remember to snag these items over the weekend before your desired delivery week. Click the bottom below to be directed to the Grown By store: |
VEGETABLE SHARES These lists are always subject to change d/t weather and crop availability. Amounts of a listed item may vary between partial and full shares. PARTIAL Chard Lettuce Kale, grown Organically by Row By Row Arugula Radishes Pea Shoots Salad Mix FULL Chard Radicchio Lettuce Kale, grown Organically by Row By Row Arugula Pea Shoots Salad Mix Zucchini/Summer Squash Spinach FRUIT SHARES 2 pint STRAWBERRIES |
| This Week’s Recipes! We hope you have fun cooking up and using your first share! What is better than a cooling salad with a few quick pickles? Radicchio, Arugula, Spinach and Lettuce give you endless creative options for salad flavor and texture this week! Toast some bread and bring a spreadable cheese and you have a simple, quick and delicious summer dinner. Make your quick pickles in the morning to enjoy by dinner, or make a large batch and keep in your fridge for pickles all week long! Quick Pickles Have radishes leftover from last week, or getting some this week? They are PERFECT for this quick pickle recipe, but you can also use any cucumbers you may have! 1:1 Water:Vinegar Use any non-aged vinegar that you enjoy (balsamic and malt vinegars, for example, won’t work well for this). We find apple cider vinegar imparts wonderful flavor and color, but get creative! Aromatics such as bay leaf, 2-3 peppercorns, a dash of salt, a pinch of sugar, small knob of ginger, crushed garlic cloves Veggie of your choice, cut into coins ÂĽ inch thick Pickle Combo suggestions: Radishes, bay leaf, garlic, ginger Cucumbers, dill, mustard seeds, garlic Turnips, ginger, peppercorns Warm your brine so that it’s just steaming, but not boiling. If adding any salt or sugar, stir it in now so it can dissolve! Add all other aromatics and let steep until you can stick your finger in the brine and not get burned! Also, taste test and adjust seasonings to your taste. Using a heat-safe glass container (mason jar is ideal!), fill to top with veggies of your choice. Press down to make sure it’s well packed. Pour cooled brine into jar, leaving head room. Add aromatics from brine into jar using a utensil. Top with jar lid, give it a gentle shake, and place in fridge. Make sure to label and date! |
 Hawthorne Valley Farm offers a unique summer camp experience for children ages 8-16. Our camp is woven into our 900 acre Biodynamic farm. Campers experience land stewardship through gardening, animal feeding, farm-to-table cooking classes, barn cleaning and more. Visit our website by clicking the button below for more details. |
Forest Hills CSA 