Hi CSA and friends of Shalom Orchard,

After three plantings due to slugs, the beans have taken hold! Still a ways to go to have beans, but flower buds are forming. The situation with cucumbers, however, is still very questionable. Something, slug or cutworm, gets them each time they try to come up – we’re into the 4th planting! There will surely be some cukes, but not the great abundance we picklers like.

If we get some sun tomorrow, I hope we will be able to pick some cherries for you!!! The crop is light, but there are some cherries. We will also have raspberries, peas, some broccoli, onions, and new potatoes, and more yummy basil. We will see how the salad mix is on Wed., we may have to skip a week while it re-grows. We are in a lull as we wait for the summer veggies – squash, beans, etc. We start raking BLUEBERRIES this coming weekend, so get ready! Toward the end of the season, we will begin raking bulk blueberries for freezing so be thinking about how many pounds you will need to get through the winter.

In addition to the chicken and eggs, we have legs of lamb ($2.00/#) and lamb chops ($3.00/#) available to you.

Be sure to reply so we can get your order ready and we’ll see you between 4-6:00 PM on Wed.

Thank you!!

Charlotte and Jim

Hello CSA members and friends of Shalom Orchard and Winery,

It was wonderful to see so many of you last Wednesday – we were glad some of you could meet each other and hope that can happen more often. We are pleased to welcome new members Margarita and George Marnik, who are just moving to the Mariaville area from Mt. Desert.

When you come to the farm this week, be sure to try Jim’s newly bottled apple wine. It is fruity and dry with wonderful aroma. It would be excellent with the chicken – especially grilled with apple woodchips and, perhaps a reduced apple cider glaze or another fruity barbeque sauce.

Please send me your chicken and egg orders before Wednesday. We will have peas, bunching onions, broccoli, radishes, garlic scapes, mixed lettuce, arugula, and BASIL – yum! The potatoes are starting to bloom, which means new potatoes soon! We will be starting blueberries at the end of July and the cherries should be ready by next week – we have a very light crop due to poor pollination during the May rains. But you folks will get what we have!

Again, pickup time is 4:00 to 6:00 PM. Who’s coming from the Bangor group this week?

Best to all of you,
Charlotte and Jim

Hi CSA and friends of Shalom Orchard and Winery,

After the very wet Spring and a terrible battle with slugs, it looks like we are actually going to be able to harvest some vegetables!! Peas and broccoli are almost ready and we have lettuce, radishes and scallions for you. We took our first batch of chickens to the butcher last Saturday and they are delicious. We used organic grain from Aroostook County, produced by a small, family owned grainary and they grew so well, that they dressed out at 8-9 pounds, on the average. (Don’t worry, Chuck and Janet, there are a few smaller!!) We had the butcher cut most of them into quarters, and we packaged them in breast and leg-thigh sections. We will sell them by the pound and we do have whole chickens, as well. We will start another group of chicks on July 20th and they will be ready in early October, so think about freezing for the winter

We are going away to visit grandkids the weekend of the 16th, so we would like to plan pickup/delivery on Wednesday the 13th. Please come to the farm (unless we have made other arrangements) between 4-6:00 in the afternoon. Please let me know by e-mail how much chicken you want, and if you want dark or white meat or a combo, and how many dozen eggs (chicken is $3.00/# and eggs are $3.00/dozen). We will fill your share with chicken and eggs first, and complete with veggies. Wine purchases can be made anytime separately. We look forward to showing you around when you come for pickup. We now have our sheep and the apples are looking good. After this first pickup, we will plan to do pickups on Saturdays with the exception of Labor Day weekend when we will be delivering our boys to college.!

Hope everyone is well and hungry for delicious organic food! Please remember to reply with your chicken and egg orders and we look forward to seeing you next Wednesday!

Charlotte and Jim