Summer seems to pass more quickly with each year; once again, I find myself surprised that there are only ten weeks left to this CSA season! Our first distributions of September are approaching, and they are filled with squash, fennel, beets, radishes, and other old friends from Autumn. With this season waning, it’s time to look ahead even further, past fall to winter. Will you be enjoying Willowsford veggies and other fresh, healthy, local food when Virginia is blanketed in frost, and the Farm is quiet?
We always say that Winter CSA is one of our favorite times. The harsher weather naturally impacts our production capability, but instead of seeing it as limiting, we see a season where we celebrate our CSA by growing exclusively for our shareholders. We are always your farmers, but what a joy to be ONLY your farmers! In winter we know the name and face of everyone taking home a farm share. This season renews us and renews our commitment to you. We love seeing your faces, cheeks red from the cold, when you arrive to gather up the harvests we nurture through the frost!
Our Winter CSA shares are now available for online sign-ups through your Harvie profile, or by visiting our sign-up page here. Winter Vegetable shares are limited in quantity; our membership during the cold season is capped at less than a third of our summer capacity. We strongly recommend that you enroll early!
Pick-up options are available at both the Farm Stand and the Boat House on Tuesdays from 4 PM to 7 PM. The first distribution for Winter CSA is Tuesday, December 3rd, and the last is Tuesday, February 18th. The farm will close briefly for the holidays, and there will be no CSA distributions during the weeks of December 24th and December 31st. This schedule makes for a Winter season with 10 farm shares spread over a 12 week period.
Just as in your current season, Vegetable shares will be customized according to your preferences, and there will be opportunities for members to make swaps and changes. Please keep in mind, however, that because of the pressures of growing in cold weather, there will be less flexibility than in the height of summer. We plan for variety, but some vegetables thrive more in the cold season than others. You can expect to see options including leafy greens, roots and tubers, winter squashes, members of the brassica family, alliums, and potatoes. In addition to our Veggies, we also offer continued subscriptions for Willowsford Farm Eggs, South Mountain Creamery milks, and pastured meat and poultry from both Willowsford Farm and Whiffletree Farm.
After you choose your veggies, meats, milk, and eggs you’ll decide between payment in full or installments. The same Member Agreement applies to all our CSA seasons, which means that we cannot accommodate refunds or membership cancellations during the Winter. Your sign-up reserves a spot in a limited program that could otherwise have been sold to someone on our waiting list. We like to think of CSA as a reciprocal relationship, where your membership purchase is met by our promise to provide you with the very best the Farm has to offer. One reason we offer the CSA model is because pre-selling Farm products in shares allows us to focus our efforts on growing, which will always be the heart of our business.
If you have any questions about the upcoming season, or need any help with the sign-up process, please reach out to us at farm@willowsfordfarm.com. We’re always happy to help, and we look forward to seeing you for many weeks to come!
Eat well and be well, today and all year long,
Ashley, Collin, John, Lex, Nate, James, Rory, Alexandra, the furry farmers, and all the other critters of Willowsford Farm
