CSA Week 3 Happy lettuce and wild chamomile are growing in Main FieldWHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE FARM Happy Summer Solstice Eve! The longest day of the year will be tomorrow, with our sun being positioned at the furthest point away from Earth. We hope wherever you are tomorrow, you will have a moment to bask in the sun for a bit, and maybe sit outside a bit longer in the evening with friends and/or family. Growing weather has been upon us! Cycles of cooling rain and sunny heat have created ideal growing conditions! The vegetable gardens are bursting with life, the cow pastures are regrowing beautifully, and our streams have been replenished. We hope for continued lovely farming weather all summer long- we’ll see what Mother Nature has in store for us! I wanted to touch on a few things so that I can hopefully answer a common question some of you have been asking about: What is the site fee, and why did I get charged for it automatically? All of our sites require a one-time fee to facilitate our CSA pick-ups. Many of our shareholders did not see that the site fee was an “item” that needed to be added at checkout when purchasing your CSA share, which is why it was billed at a later time. We apologize that this caused some confusion and will put some thought into how we structure this next year so that it is more streamlined! Another question I have seen commonly is, what can I do if I cannot make a pick-up? Can I pick it two shares the following week? Unfortunately, we cannot offer double shares to make up for missed weeks, however, we strongly encourage all of you, if you have not yet done so, to take advantage of the “Vacation” option through GrownBy- if claimed at least 4 days before the pick-up date you’ll be missing, you will get a credit on your account! Lastly, I want to re-emphasize a portion from last week’s newsletter regarding fruit shares- this week we will not have a fruit share. This was a short strawberry season for wholesale berry farms due to the late frost, but we are looking forward to cherry and blueberry season! For those who have fruit shares, please know that this does happen from time to time, and we will send a make-up fruit share later in the season! We appreciate everyone’s understanding! Wishing everyone a beautiful week and a happy Summer Solstice! Betsy and the Farm Team  Scapes, summer squash and kale look just as good together in the field as they will on your dinner plate!A NOTE ON FRUIT SHARESMany 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 HillsWe 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:BUY ADD-ON ITEMS! 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 Arugula Garlic Scapes Kale Lettuce Radishes Spinach Zucchini/Summer Squash FULL Arugula Chard Garlic Scapes Salad Mix Kale Lettuce- 2 varieties Radishes Peashoots Spinach Zucchini/Summer Squash FRUIT SHARES No Share this week ADD ONS Baker’s Choice- Seven Grain Cheese Maker’s Choice- Garlic and Chive Fern Hill Sauerkraut- Carraway This Week’s Recipes! Everyone’s getting lots of salad greens- need some dressing inspo? Garlic Scape Goddess: in a food processor or blender, blend chopped up scapes with a few handfuls of spinach and some fresh dill and mint, Hawthorne Valley Plain yogurt, salt, pepper and lemon juice! Drizzle in olive oil as it’s blending! You can use roasted scapes to take the intensity down and add a roasty flavor! Try adding a splash of Sauerkraut juice to your usual vinegarette for a probiotic boost and a kick of flavor Miso adds depth of flavor and an emulsified texture to dressing- pair it with a dash of honey or maple syrup, it’s great over a spinach/arugula salad! Roasted Garlic Scapes- toss garlic scapes with salt and olive oil, put into an oven at 400 degrees, roast until blistered and shrunken! Add to a salad or to a dressing, toss with roasted kale, or serve on its own! Garlic Scape and Arugula Pesto! It’s spicy, it’s peppery, it’s fresh! Make it vegan by subbing cheese with a bit of nutritional yeast, or make it nut-free by subbing sunflower seeds! You can also always add in pea shoots to bring down the intensity but keep the green flavor! 1 cup Garlic Scapes- washed, rough chopped ½ cup walnuts or sunflower seeds ½ cup Hawthorne Valley Alpine cheese, parmesan works great too 1.5-2 cups Arugula (pea shoots can come in at this step!) 2/3 cup olive or sunflower seed oil Juice of 1 lemon Add ingredients 1 by 1 to a food processor, giving each 10-15 seconds before adding the next. Scrape down sides with spatula before adding next ingredient |
CSA Week 3
Forest Hills CSA 