We had some issues with some of our onions recently. Some of the Candy Onions and Red Onions from Detweiler Farm were not cured properly and had started to go bad. They sent them for shares anyway, and we put them into shares hoping you could find something salvageable there. By the time we discovered their condition, it was too late to replace them with onions from another farm, and we didn't have time to sort them since some good onions were mixed with bad ones in the bags. We have addressed the issue with the farm and hope it won't happen again. If you received bad onions and haven't already alerted me, please email me for a credit.
We try to bring you the best produce that we can. Some of our farmers do this better than others, as I'm sure you have figured out. And those farmers who are challenged by this do better with some crops than others. We include farm initials in the product name and list the producer so you can know who grows your food and can choose which farms you support. Some of our farmers continually learn more about growing healthy food (see Derek's recent video on Facebook), while others are more content to grow as they always have. However, we rely on all of our farmers to bring us a huge mix of different products. If we only had one or two farms growing food for you, we wouldn't have much variety, we would have to severely cut the number of shares available, and product quality would likely suffer because the farms would be forced to grow more items rather than specializing in 10-12 veggies that they grow well.
Did you know that we are still accepting new members for this season's CSA? If you have told your friends about your Farm Share and they would love to join, they don't have to wait until next season! They can join for the remainder of this season (still 14 weeks to go!) and pay by the week.
New this week
- Dinner Bell Farm is back with Butter Top Twist Bread, Blueberry Scones, and M&M Cookies
- Humble Bee and Tree Farm has added some new soap scents
- Red Potatoes from Detweiler Farm and Purple Potatoes from Byler Farm
- Leeks (just a few bunches) from Spur Hollow Farm
- Various Beef and Pork cuts have been added from Mickley Farm
- Mushroom Shares are shiitakes this week, and we have a few more for swaps/extras, as well as the usual Lions Mane and Oyster from Full Moon Mushrooms
Farm News
Glacial Till Farm: It’s straight up hustle this time of year as we prepare beds for fall and winter m, harvest summer bounty, and start our fall crops. Sunday and Thursday morning are seed tray starting days. Starting in trays gives me uniform germination in my homemade germination chamber, and allows me to overlap field growing days, as fast as a crop is harvested crops already growing are ready to occupy the bed.
Glacial Till Farm plans to have carrots, beets, radicchio, kale, and more for our shares well into winter this year.
Humble Bee & Tree Farm: We have added more scents to our all-natural line of soaps. Our honey is one of the ingredients!
Spur Hollow Farm: All of our onions are curing in the greenhouse! Soon they will be ready to cut the tops off, and store late into winter. All grown organically, no pesticides, no fertilizers, just compost. We are imitating nature to produce food that is medicinal and nutritional! (Note: Spur Hollow Farm's onions were NOT the onions that we had issues with.)
Grateful Life Farm: The first week of August we marked the midpoint between the Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox, which is the majority of the growing season for our meat chickens and warm weather crops. Each year it feels so urgent and fleeting. Dawn is coming a little later and dusk a little earlier, and the laying hens have noticeably slowed their egg laying. We've dug up and hung garlic to dry in the shed, and we're beginning to have a lot of warm season vegetables, including tomatillos, peppers, basil, onions, and the first ripe tomatoes! I'm seeing a large batch of ratatouille and chicken enchiladas with salsa verde in my very near future! The last few mornings as we arrived for chores, a hawk has been patrolling the pasture, her piercing cries ringing out as she crosses from one edge of the field to the other. It seems like a good place for hunting. Whenever we cut and rake the grass, we notice many mice, voles, and frogs.
While we desperately needed the recent rain, I am looking forward to lower humidity and comfortable sleeping temps. Our peach crop is almost ripe, and every time a storm blew through the last few days has knocked peaches off the trees. We hope we will have enough left to preserve for winter.
On behalf of your NWPA Growers farmers,
Amy Philson
