I am not a fan of New Years' resolutions because one cannot upend their entire life in one day. But, when you reflect upon the past year as whole, you can see the change & impact of your habits in your life. Similarly, Harvie cannot upend the entire food system in one day, but looking at 2021 as a whole, we can see the huge impact we've had on the Pittsburgh food system. This year, we've supported 211 local & regional producers, tried 1,392 different products & put more than $1.8 million grocery dollars directly into the hands of small farmers & artisans. This impact does not stem from resolutions, but rather, guiding principles- get local food into as many hands as possible and lower the barrier to entry to eating locally.
Rather than having New Years resolutions, I'm going to set some guiding food principles in my own life. Here are a few I've come up with:
1. Cook on the fly - less recipe based and more Iron Chef style cooking
2. Shop with a plan- think more in terms of meals when shopping. This will reduce food waste & stress in the middle of the week.
3. Put value in the mundane products- sometimes it's hard to justify why I should buy something like local flour when I can buy a $3 bag at the grocery store, but the impact of a local or sustainably grown bag of flour is just as great as the impact of a local bag of apples.
4. Sustainable protein consumption- knowing my protein source is paramount
Have more guiding food principles for the year? Let us know!
Holiday Sale
Forgot to get a gift for someone in your life? While supplies last, our holiday items are on sale for 15% off. Gift sets, turkeys, & more! These holiday specials are timeless and are the perfect birthday gift, New Years gift or employee gift.
New This Week
Cream Cheese, Schneider's Dairy - Cream cheese before bagels? You saw it here first, local bagels are in the works & will hit the shopping list soon
Organic Fruit Jams, Oakview Acres - an excellent basic jam for your PB&J
Baby White Harukei Turnips, Lancaster Farm Fresh - Turnip fries, roasted turnips & vegetable medleys for your menu
Recipes of the week
Meatless Monday - Crispy Tofu with Maple Soy Glaze, a quick recipe, excellent with some fresh tofu, Paul Family Farms Syrup, Keepwell rice vinegar and some Clarion River Organics radishes
Winter Squash & Kale Pasta- This butternut squash pasta from Bon Appetit screams winter time.
Bacon Cheddar Quiche- quiche is one of the easiest recipes to make with a leftover assortment of veggies. This Bacon cheddar quiche is a simple but delicious dinner
Minestrone Soup - Love & Lemons Mintestrone soup recipe is a classic for a cold Pittsburgh day
Pressure Cooked Chipotle-Honey Chile Tacos- this instant pot recipe will make weeknight cooking easy!
A Note on the Solstice & New Year from Simon Huntley, Harvie CEO
I heard a farmer speaking at a conference years ago about the time between the Solstice and New Year. He said he would walk the snowy fields at night to take stock of the year that has passed -- think about what we’ve gained, what we’ve lost and dream about the year to come.
I love that image of strolling the winter fields under the stars and stepping back a bit from the day-to-day and the week-to-week to think about the season past and the season to come.
There’s always more to do, but I hope you get a chance to step back to stroll the field at Harvie and in your own personal life.
Thank you for making Harvie part of your path. It’s the pleasure of my life to be doing this work beside all of you.
Tip of the week
Where can I find product ingredients? Right now, you can find ingredients in the description of a product. You can see the entire description by clicking 'red more'. If the ingredients on a product are missing, feel free to reach out at support@harvie.farm and we will get them for you!
Our development team is working to make ingredients and nutrition facts more visible to you - look for some changes in the near future!
First Week with us?
Welcome, we are so excited to have you! Your first customization week is an exciting time to try new products and start to find your favorite Pittsburgh brands. These FAQ'S will get you started. Feel free to reach out to our support team at any time with questions- support@harvie.farm.
