Shalom Orchard Organic Farm and Winery

Hello CSA and Friends of Shalom Orchard,

Yeah for the sun!!!  We are raking like mad this week with a full crew on hand.  Our new apprentice, Dave Frey, is arriving tonight, and will be with us until December, and our son, Jacob, the fastest raker of all time, is coming in tomorrow.  It will be wonderful to have so many young folks around for the week.  Shoshanna will be leaving on Sunday and Chris will leave the following Friday.  They have been such excellent apprentices and have brought a lot of fun to the farm.  It will be hard to see them go.

Chickens have gone to the butcher today, so it is a good time to stock up on chicken!  We will have whole and cut into quarters, as usual.  It is $3.75/#.

Our peaches are almost ready to harvest, so look for those next week, as well as cukes and summer squash.

So here is the list for this week:

sungold cherry tomatoes    (not sure how many we have this week)        $3.50/pt
leeks            $3.50/bu
green beans        $4/#
blueberries        $6/qt
broccoli            $3/# (there is limited broccoli as it is starting to put out side shoots)
peas            $3/# (this will probably be the last week for peas)
red lettuce         $3/head
parsley            $1.5/bu
cilantro            $2//b
dill                $2/bu
basil            $2/bu
fennel            $2/bulb
chard            $3/bag
bunching onions    $2/bu
green cabbage    $2/#
Blueberry syrup    $8/10oz bottle (our fruit and all organic ingredients)
Raspberry jam    $7/10oz jar       (same)
Cider syrup        $10/10oz bottle (ask to taste this – unbelievable!)
frozen pesto        $1.50/oz
eggs            $3.50/doz
chicken            $3.75/#

We look forward to your reply and to seeing you on Wed., between 3-5:30 PM.

Thank you,
Charlotte

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Hello CSA and Friends of Shalom Orchard,

We need more sundances!!  This rainy weather is not good for the veggies, the tomatoes are slow to ripen and the dampness encourages all kinds of molds and mildews, so let’s all dance!!  We are seeing some sungold cherry tomatoes out there and will harvest what we have for you.  We also have leeks this week.

The additional light has helped the layers, so we have eggs back on the list – still limited in numbers, but increasing, thank goodness!  And chickens go to the butcher next Monday,  8/18, so it will be a good week to stock up on chicken.  Let us know if you want any before it its frozen and we will hold it back for you.

Some of you have ordered blueberries for the freezer, but not everybody.  BE SURE TO PLACE YOUR BLUEBERRY ORDER!!!  They are $3.25/# and are packed in 5# bags.  Even if you have given me your order, please confirm it again with me.

So, here is the list for this week:

sungold cherry tomatoes    (not sure how many we have this week)        $3.50/pt
leeks            $3.50/bu
green beans        $4/#
blueberries        $6/qt
broccoli            $3/# (there is limited broccoli as it is starting to put out side shoots)
peas            $3/#
Boston lettuce    $3/bag
parsley            $1.5/bu
cilantro            $2//b
dill                $2/bu
basil            $$2./bu
chard            $3/bag
bunching onions    $2/bu
green cabbage    $2/#
Blueberry syrup    $8/10oz bottle (our fruit and all organic ingredients)
Raspberry jam    $7/10oz jar       (same)
Cider syrup        $10/10oz bottle (ask to taste this – unbelievable!)
frozen pesto        $1.50/oz
eggs            $3.50/doz

We look forward to your reply and to seeing you on Wed., between 3-5:30 PM.

Thank you,
Charlotte

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Hello CSA and Friends of Shalom Orchard and Winery,

Blueberries are here!  We started raking last week and we need some dry weather now, as we can’t rake wet berries.  Please do a sun dance as all of this moisture is starting to be problematic.  It has already caused severe scab in the apples and can affect the vegetables and other fruits by causing molds and other unpleasant problems. However, we are very thankful that we did not have the high winds and hail that some parts of Hancock County got yesterday!

We are also experiencing a strike by our hens.  Their egg production has dropped off suddenly and severely.  We believe they started to molt, an annual, normal loss and replacement of their feathers along with a drop in egg production.  This usually occurs later in the fall, but may have been triggered by the shortening of the # of daylight hours plus the lack of sunny days. We are giving them a couple of weeks with additional light to bring them out of it.  It will mean we won’t have eggs this week, to accumulate some.

We also, for the first time ever since starting Shalom Orchard, have run out of chicken!!  We have birds going to the butcher on 8/18 and 8/25, but we will be out until the 8/19 pickup.

I am sorry for these outages, but we have a lot of wonderful veggies this week:

green beans        $4/#
blueberries        $6/qt
broccoli            $3/# (there is limited broccoli as it is starting to put out side shoots)
peas            $3/#
pie cherries        $5/qt
Boston lettuce    $3/bag
parsley            $1.5/bu
cilantro            $2//b
dill                $2/bu
basil            $$2./bu
chard            $3/bag
Napa cabbage    $2.50/head
scallions        $2/bu
green cabbage    $2/#
Blueberry syrup    $8/10oz bottle (our fruit and all organic ingredients)
Raspberry jam    $7/10oz jar       (same)
Cider syrup        $10/10oz bottle (ask to taste this – unbelievable!)
frozen pesto        $1.50/oz

BE SURE WE HAVE YOUR FROZEN BLUEBERRY ORDER!  Frozen berries are packaged in 5# bags, at $3.25/ #.

So let us know what you want included in your order and we look forward to seeing you Wed., between 3:00 – 5:30 PM.

Thank you,
Charlotte

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