Happy Holiday Season Shareholders. As we all get ready for holiday meals with family it's a great time to take full advantage of the large selection of add-on items we offer along with your shares at Daybreak. A holiday favorite that you definitely want to get your hands on is Milkhouse Creamery's Eggnog. This is only available for a limited time so get it while you can!
With another Holiday week ahead of us we will be delivering shares early next week.
ALL SHARES NEXT WEEK WILL BE DELIVERED MONDAY DECEMBER 22nd
If you have a scheduling conflict and can't make this work please let us know so we can cancel your share for the week. Email us at farmers@daybreakgrowers.com Because we are moving the delivery we will also be moving the share customization period to be from this Tuesday afternoon to Thursday 3pm this week. Be sure to get your holiday add-on orders in!
As we turn towards the solstice and start heading towards a little more light each day, it always amazes me how many greens our farmers are still harvesting out of their unheated high-tunnels despite the cold. Next weeks shares we'll have frost sweetened Collards from Dickey Hill farm and our first Winter Bounty Shares in January will have some super sweet winter hardy spinach! These are a great compliment to the winter root veggies we all love. If you are loving the mix of produce you're getting right now be sure to sign up for our Winter Bounty Shares which start January 7th!
WINTER BOUNTY SHARES: $18/week in local produce. A mixture of winter hardy greens and storage vegetables, on average 7-8 per delivery. Each share also includes a unique pantry item from one of our farms to compliment your veggies, like local dried beans for hearty soups and stews, canned tomatoes and salsa or local cornmeal to make a quick bread and warm up your winter kitchen. Designed for two adults or a small family. $18 per week, delivered two weeks at a time January through May.
AUTO RENEW: If you haven't turned off auto-renew in your member profile you will be automatically renewed for our Winter Bounty Shares if you have a Local 25 share or Family Bounty. Your account will be charged $36 bi-weekly ($18/week). If you have questions or need help turning off auto-renew please let us know.
Do you currently have a Family Bounty Share and want to make sure you get enough veggies through the winter? Sign up for a Winter Bounty and then select additional produce from our weekly selection of Extra's or sign up to receive two Winter Bounty Shares.
Have questions about our Winter Shares? Please Contact us at farmers@daybreakgrowersalliance.com or check out our website www.daybreakgrowersalliance.com for more info.
Update from Villageside Farm
The farm is quiet during this dark time of the year. The chickens and cows are close in for the winter months. That keeps chores simple, animals cozy and hungry foxes at bay. In the summer, both species are far out to pasture most of the time, so it is sweet to have all of them in the barnyard. More contact is good.
The acres of oat-pea cover crops are frosted almost beyond recognition while the winter rye is a deep green when the snow melts off. We continue to sell cabbage, carrots and beets to our local schools and other wholesale accounts, like Daybreak. We have harvested just a bit of spinach from an unheated hoophouse and we look forward to hundreds of pounds of those good green leaves come March. I made a batch of spinach balls, an old standby when our children were little, last night. I just winged it without a recipe but this one looks about right. I added nutmeg and some melted butter to make them a bit rich.
Planning for next year is on the brain but not the desk, as yet. It is tempting to put it off until January but we know how good it feels in January to have some decisions made already. Much of our farm crew will return in 2020, so that is a huge relief and something important that we look forward to. Our on-farm seedling sales (mark your calendars--every Saturday morning in May!) will continue to be major events for us. We won't have any Baby Yoda-themed plants (yes, we have been watching The Mandolorian...) but so many good food and flowers for every gardener.
We wish you all a wonderful winter ahead. May your skates, skis and grippers serve you well!
All the best from here,
Polly and Prentice
