Hello Daybreak subscribers,
As we settle into our winter schedules and spend more time in the kitchen preparing hearty healthy meals it's easy to menu plan with the available ingredients in your Farm Box. Link to a Butternut Squash and Apple Soup recipe here – it uses bacon, celery (sub celeriac), carrot, onion, potatoes, apples, butternut squash, find most ingredients when you customize your box – be creative! Shop for your weekly groceries: bagels, cheese, butter, ferments, coffee, eggs, tofu, yogurt, grains, maple syrup, meat - we have stew hens, whole chickens, roasts, turkey breast, sausage and seafood. Happy cooking and eating!
Do you have a favorite Maine farm product that would go well in our boxes and you'd like us to carry? Email us at farmers@daybreakgrowersalliance.com with your suggestion and we'll see if it's something we can procure.
Farm & Butcher Season Rundown
Review these notes to ensure you’re ready for 2022 Daybreak deliveries!
Set the PREFERENCES in your account so your box gets built with products you prefer to receive.
• Look for the “Time to customize your share” email on Wednesdays to swap and add products to your box for the following week - complete by 10:30pm on Thursdays. If you don’t receive this email and you think you should have a delivery for the following week check your account DELIVERIES tab and let us know if you suspect a problem.
• Farm Boxes will be delivered in reusable plastic totes labeled with your name, please bring your own bags to carry your groceries home in and leave the totes at the site. Butcher Boxes will be in a cooler near the totes. Please check your label to be sure you retrieve everything that was delivered for you. Frozen meat, 5lb. boxes of blueberries, frozen ginger and frozen raspberries that were added to Farm Boxes will be delivered in a cooler at the site near the green totes - you are responsible for grabbing these items from the cooler when you pick up your box.
• Please set a calendar reminder for the day and time of your Farm Box pick up. Our drop site hosts have generously allowed us to deliver your Farm Boxes to their location for pick up on the DESIGNATED day and time only. We do not have arrangements for drop locations to store boxes that are not picked up on time. If you will be out of town you can SKIP your box in advance or reschedule for another date in your account, email farmers@daybreakgrowersalliance.com if you’d like assistance. If you’re unable to make it during the pick up time and you haven’t skipped your box in advance YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE for making arrangements to retrieve it, if you send a family member or friend be sure to let them know exactly what they are picking up. If you have an emergency, let us know. Boxes not picked up during the designated time are considered forfeited, are removed at the end of the pick up time and donated. Thank you to all of our hosts and members for making this all work!
• When customers sign up for a subscription with Daybreak they are signing up for a Share of the Harvest. Unlike a traditional CSA, the ability that Harvie gives us to customize boxes and have specific crops in a box helps to get our subscribers a variety of produce that they can more specifically choose. That being said we still have to work within the availability of what our farmers have in season, and sometimes substitutions have to be made when farms don’t have as much of a crop as they expected or have crop failures due to weather or pests; when this happens we are unable to check member preferences for the substitution. This is the difference between signing up for a share of local food vs. shopping at the grocery store where items come in from all over the country. Daybreak and all our partnering farms really appreciate the support and dedication that our members are making to our farms.
