Farm Happenings for September 23, 2020

New this Week: Beets, Spaghetti Squash, Acorn Squash, Shishito Peppers, and Cilantro Microgreens! Red butter head lettuce and Barese Chard are back!

This Week at the Farm:

Nothing surprises us this year, including the frost on the ground this morning in Cherry Valley. Fortunately, our farm is at the top of a hill and well protected, which means that early frosts do not usually impact us. We think our summer crops will survive this early cold snap. The coming days will tell. I cannot remember the last time we had such an early frost here. In one of our first years farming in the early 2000's, we had a killing frost on October 5th. That was early!

We still have plenty of cherry tomatoes, eggplants, and so many green peppers to harvest in the coming weeks so we're hoping for the best.

This week at the farm, we spent some more time planting head lettuce and weeding all of our fall crops, like radishes and turnips, spinach and kales. Unfortunately, a bold white-tailed deer (a buck with a very large rack) has decided that our electrical fence is not all that scary and that he's going to share in the harvest this fall. We had to spend some time this week outsmarting him. Luckily, deer cannot chew through nylon shade cloth and insect netting. One up for us farmers!

This coming week, we will start fall clean-up in earnest, sowing cover crop seed and putting some areas of our fields to bed for the winter.

Thanks to everyone who has completed a survey this past week! We'll be closing up the survey on Monday, and tallying the results. If you completed a survey, look for a $1 credit on your account in the coming week to be used for CVO Extras or products from our farm partners.

Speaking of Extras...over the coming weeks, we will be adding a wide selection of our bath & body product line, and our dried culinary herbs and herb-infused vinegars for purchase. Veggie season might be winding down, but there are exciting things afoot here at Cherry Valley Organics, and we'll be telling you about them all in the coming weeks!

If you have any questions, please reach out to jodi@cherryvalleyorganics.com or to support@harvie.farm at any time. Thank you for being a farm share member this season!

Jodi, Emily, Annie, Allie, Meghan, Nicole, Hannah, and Vanessa

The CVO Team

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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