Happy Solstice - and Week 3 of the CSA
Read on for:
- Farm Happenings
- Box Return information
- Add some delicious Winter Hill Feta to your box this week! (at permitted sites)
- What'll be in your share - don't forget to customize!
- Recipes and tips~
Down on the Farm
Solstice is a special and especially crazy time on the farm. Besides being the calendar year's first day of summer, the days are officially now getting shorter. This means that the biology of the farm shifts as plants have less time each day to photosynthesize. Our planting schedules change to account for this for quick growing crops like radishes and baby greens. Some crops, like onions and garlic, start to switch where the focus their energy from leaves to bulbs for the winter.
And on the farm, while we're still just starting our harvesting summer, we're planning like crazy for our winter too! This week, we planted acres of cabbage, brussels sprouts and winter squash. We're starting to prep ground for carrots and beets for storage, and the late season brocolli, cauliflower and other heading crops are getting planted.
The warmer weather and rain also will lead to a bursts of weed, which if not managed well will put a damper on yields.
With all this overlap of harvest, planting, and weeding makes this time of year especially crazy for us and our employees. The list of things to do is exceptionally longer than the hands we have can complete. Our crew is now working 6:00AM to 3:30 or 4:00 5 days a week, and Eric and I, quite a bit longer. But we're really feeling the groove this year. Our crew is excellent, professional, and skilled, and their keeping us on our toes, always making sure theu have enough to do - hopefully you'll meet some of these hardworking people at some of our on farm events!
Save a tree, and your farmers some $$$ - HOW TO RETURN YOUR BOX
Yes, please return your boxes! We aim (and budget) for at least 70% return rate. Boxes are expensive and reusing them helps us save dollars and creates way less waste. We also repurpose those large box liners, you can send them back with your boxes if you like.
Here's how you do it:
If you are in an office - break down your box and remove the sticker with your name. Store the boxes somewhere near the pick-up location that works for your drop site. Eric will pick-up the boxes on his next delivery. We'll grab them every week so if you forget one week, you can just bring it the next.
Public pick-up sites - each one is different, we'll contact you by site to let you know how to return your box!
Get that Cheese!
Sarah of Winter Hill Farm and Creamery is an exceptional and award winning cheese maker - and we've got some extra feta that you can add to your share this week!
This feta is crumbly but creamy, rich in flavor. Not overly salty as many fetas are.
Excellent cheese for salads, sandwiches and pizza.
Add 8 oz as an extra for $8.50.
(at permitted sites)
