Farm Happenings for June 11, 2019

Welcome Everyone to Cherry Valley Organics 2019 Farm Share!

We have a great line-up of produce for you this week, including beautiful head lettuce, bok choy, kale, microgreens, scallions and more! Sugar snap peas, broccoli, beets, carrots, kohlrabi and cabbage are just a few of the crops that will be ready in the coming weeks!

Each week, we will be writing a little bit about what is happening at the farm in this little segment on Farm Happenings.

This week, we did A LOT of weeding! Although some of us like weeding, we also completed some "fun" tasks like planting the rest of the tomatoes, squash, the next round of head lettuce, and we harvested some awesome cut flowers and Calendula (an edible flower and healing herb, which we also use in our salve and lip balm blends).

But, the most exciting thing happening at the farm this week - Chamomile Harvest Party! Just today, our crew and a few volunteers picked all of those tiny chamomile flowers for use in our herbal tea blends. Here we are with our take for the day!

We will be due for our "round 2" harvest in another week or so. Please let us know if you would like to volunteer to help with harvesting. Harvesting chamomile is a pretty mellow experience.

We hope you enjoy being part of our farm share program this year. If you have any questions or concerns at any time, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at support@harvie.farm or jodi@cherryvalleyorganics.com. We are here to help!

Have a great week!

Jodi, Allie, Jessie, Katie, & Kitty

The CVO Growing Team

P.S. As a special thank you this week, we will be providing (at no charge) an extra bonus box of edible flowers for each customer this week. Just a little color to spruce up those salads! Thanks for being a farm share member this year!

Cherry Valley Organics began in 2001 as a USDA certified organic farm, producing a high diversity of agricultural products, including vegetables, herbs, cut flowers, and potted plants. Since those early years, we have grown into an organic lifestyle company, producing a wide diversity of products that support a clean, organic lifestyle, including our herbal teas and herbal body care products, all of which are grown or hand-made at our farm.

At Cherry Valley Organics, we believe in…

*Living the healthiest life possible (full of organics!)
*Fair, livable wages for our team members
*USDA certified organic growing and production practices
*Minimizing our carbon footprint and ecological impact
*Supporting our local community

Cherry Valley Organics is a collaboration. Unlike traditional family farms, we come from diverse geographical, family, and professional backgrounds. We are growers, scientists, food & health enthusiasts, teachers, caretakers, chefs, and nutritionists. We are all farmers. And, all of us here at Cherry Valley Organics are committed to growing and producing high quality certified organic products for our community. We would never compromise on organics. Ever.

Cherry Valley Organics, founded by Jodi Danyo, began as a one-third-acre “urban farm” in the Pittsburgh suburb of Crafton, Cherry Valley Organics now encompasses approximately 36 acres in nearby Cherry Valley, Washington County, PA. Despite this expansion, the footprint of the operation is still quite small with farming operations encompassing less than 8 acres. The farm was built, quite literally, from the ground up!

Our Farm Share Growers, Emily Kramer, Vanessa Davis, Lindsay Henry, Alexis Williams, and Alliy Gundlach, love producing high quality organic products for our local Pittsburgh communities. You can find our products at the Sewickley Farmer’s Market on Saturdays (April through November), and also at local florists and specialty shops. In 2018, we opened a Farm Market & Cafe along the Panhandle Trail in Burgettstown, PA.

What makes our Farm Share unique?

*We wash the produce. Thoroughly. You are unlikely to get any mud in your CVO Farm Share bag. We still recommend that you wash our veggies, but many items will be ready to eat (and may make for excellent snacking in the car on the way home from the pick-up location).

*High diversity of veggie crops. We grow over 150 varieties of vegetables and herbs per season, on average.

*Specialty crops, like microgreens. It's a bit unusual to see this high value crop in farm share programs. They are a bit tricky to grow, but wow do they pack a nutritional punch! Despite their small size, they are the most nutritious veggie in the share!

*We believe in minimizing our environmental impact, and we use biodegradable and compostable packaging wherever possible. And we have a variety of new packaging products in the works for 2021.

*Specialty cut flowers are a niche crop for us. We grow many of the hard-to-grow flower varieties like Ranunculus, Bells of Ireland, Delphinium, and more. Many more. Nearly 300 varieties! Our flowers are not your run of the mill market flowers. Our bouquets are carefully crafted, and absolutely gorgeous!

*We have extensive partnerships with other local businesses and farms, including Primrose Farm (pasture-raised eggs), Paul Family Farms (maple syrup), Tait Farm (jams, butters, shrubs), Weatherbury Farm (flours, milled products), Big Bob's Honey (honey), Clarion River Organics (potatoes, sweet potatoes, melons, winter squash), Woolf Family Farms (blueberries, apples, peaches), Cherish Creamery (cheese), Emerald Valley Artisans (cheese), Steel Cup Coffee Roasters (organic, fair-trade coffee), Conover Family Farm (pickles, hot sauce) and more! A selection of these items is available on a weekly basis and can be added onto your Veggie Farm Share in any quantity you choose. We believe in the value of small business and keeping dollars in our Pittsburgh neighborhoods.

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