It's WEEK ONE of CSA!
Spring is here, and we're so excited that you've joined us for this season! This is your first farm happenings email. In the weekly farm happenings, you can expect a brief update from the farm, a picture or two, usually a recipe or cooking tip, and (this is probably the best part) your share contents! When you get your email, that marks the start of the customization period, so at that time you can swap items in and out of your box. You'll have until Sunday at 11:59 pm to customize your box by swapping items and add-on extras (like meat / eggs / other goodies). After the customization period is over, you'll receive a "your box is on the way" email, letting you know what we've packed in your share and any details pertaining to your delivery.
A few housekeeping items...
- remember you can always put your share on hold and reschedule to a different week. Check out this link on how to do it. You can also change your pick up location from week to week if you'd like.
- if you haven't set your preferences, now's the time to do it! Here's more info on how preferences work.
- unless you're picking up on the farm, your share will come in a box each week. Please return your box to your pick up location so that we can reuse them!
- if you have an egg share, or order eggs / meat a la carte, they'll be in the fridge (on farm), or in a cooler (everywhere else) labeled with your name.
So what have we been up to at the farm? Well, it's been a planting frenzy, seeding in the greenhouse and transplanting crops of all sorts. This week on the docket has been transplanting onions. We started over 30,000 of them from seed in late February, several different varieties of onions including red, cippolini, sweet, and yellow. If you can imagine what it would be like to plant singular blades of grass as deep as possible, that's pretty close to what it's like to plant onions. Needless to say...it's tedious. Though time-consuming to plant, they're my favorite crop to grow, so I tend to put a bit of extra effort in when it comes to the onion crop!
It's been a bit of a tricky spring, with some serious temperature extremes. All of the plants that we currently have in the field are cold-hardy, so they can tolerate a light frost or two. Many of them are covered with row cover as well, which gives them an extra layer of protection from frosty nights. The wind has also been a challenge. It can sometimes be worse than cold temperatures on small, fragile vegetable seedlings.
As it's the beginning of the season, you can expect lots of leafy greens in your share this week. Some greens, like lettuce mix and greens mix, are great in salads, while curly kale is excellent for cooking/smoothies. There's also some beautiful, mild radishes coming out of the field, both red Cherriette and French Breakfast. Even if you don't usually go for radishes, I'd recommend giving these a try. Early spring radishes don't have quite as big a bite as the ones later in the season.
We are so thankful to get the chance to grow your food this season! Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions, just send us an email at madradishcsa@gmail.com.
