Farm Happenings for June 2, 2021

Welcome to the Cherry Valley Organics Farm Community!

We are so happy that you have decided to join us for Farm Share this season! Welcome all biweekly and every four week members who are just joining us for their first week! If you have not seen the Farm Happening from last week, you'll want to check that out on our profile page here so you can stay up to date on what's happening at the farm.

New this Week: Broccoli Raab, Kohlrabi, Arugula, Lacinato Kale, and... <drum roll, please> Sugar Snap Peas!

Unlike many of the new food delivery and distribution services that are popping up in the wake of Covid, we are an actual farm with a very diversified focus - vegetables, cut flowers, herbs, and a wide range of herbal value-added products. All of our products marked by the Cherry Valley Organics logo are grown or handmade by us. This diversity of focus allows us to provide fair wages and real professional and sustainable jobs in agriculture. And, as a result, we have an awesome team of highly educated Growers here at CVO, living the best organic farming life.

If you haven't already checked out our website for more information on who we are, please check us out:

www.cherryvalleyorganics.com

Updates from the Farm

This week at the farm, we planted a few more tomatoes, peppers, herbs, head lettuce (as usual), squash, and pac choi. We also broke some Farm Share records this week with our ordering packing times. Overall deliveries went off without a hitch. We are so happy that we are getting some much needed rain over the holiday weekend!

As promised, introductions are in order! We are going to take a minute in this Farm Happening to introduce our growing team here at CVO. We have 4 Veggie Growers (Emily Kramer, Vanessa Davis, Lindsay Henry, and Alexis Williams) and 1 Cut Flower Grower (Alliy Gundlach). You can learn more about each of them by clicking on their photo below:

Heightened Sanitation Protocols

On a more serious note, we take food safety very seriously at our farm. Emily Kramer, one of our Veggie Growers, is our Food Safety Champion, and she is our go-to expert for all things food safety. Given the Covid-19 crisis, we want to reassure all of our customers that we are taking every precaution to ensure that you have a safe and healthy experience with us this season.

Some of the protocols that we have implemented, or enhanced at the farm this past season include:

- Regularly wearing face coverings while harvesting and processing food products (we'll be watching the CDC guidelines closely for when this requirement may be relaxed or altered)

- Strict and regular hand washing protocols

- Social distancing for our team both at work, and outside of work

- Thorough cleaning and sanitizing of all food contact surfaces and high touch surfaces, including harvest containers

- We use only recyclable or compostable single-use packaging in our shares

We want you to know that your health and safety, and the health and safety of our team, is very important to us!

Pick-up Location Protocols

If you have selected to pick-up at one of our hosted pick-up locations, we ask that you observe the following protocols when picking up your shares from our self-serve coolers:

- Wear a facial covering if not fully vaccinated, and practice social distancing with other customers (as long as this remains CDC guidance)

- Review the "share maps" on top of each cooler to find your last name and then open only that cooler

- Carefully find your share inside the cooler based on the "share map," and collect your share from the cooler without touching, or handling other shares

*If you have Add-on Shares such as cut flowers or PA pantry items, they will be located adjacent, but outside, of the coolers. Please remember to collect these items.

Home Delivery

If you are a home delivery customer, then one of our team members will be delivering your shares directly to your door via contactless delivery. We will leave your share near your front door. If you will not be home to bring your share inside right away, then we suggest leaving a cooler on your porch for us to put your share inside. If you have selected cut flowers as an Add-on share, then we suggest leaving a clean bucket with water so that your flowers stay fresh until you arrive home.

If you have any questions, please reach out to vanessa@cherryvalleyorganics.com or to support@harvie.farm at any time. We're looking forward to a great season! And, thank you againn for being a farm share member this year!

Jodi, Emily, Vanessa, Lindsay, Lex, Alliy, Bridget, and Clarissa

The CVO Farm Share 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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