Dear CSA and Friends of Shalom Orchard,

We have a new resident here at the farm!  He is “Skippy”, a llama who will guard our sheep from predators.  He is 2 and a half years old and we hope to find him a girlfriend so we can have a baby llama, called a cria.  Some of you met him last pickup day, but be sure to take a look this week.  We have had a llama in the past and miss him, so it is great to have another!

I am sending this on Friday as I am going to RI to fetch the grandkids up for a couple of weeks!  There may be some changes in what is available by Wednesday, so I may send out another email on Tuesday.

So here goes:

• raspberries                                      4/half pint
• new potatoes                   2.50/half #
• lettuce mix (hopefully)              2.00/quarter#
• beet greens                      4.25/#
• scallions                      2.00/bunch
• garlic scapes                 1.50/bunch  (these are the beautiful curled seed pod shoot and is used like garlic – but bit milder)
• sugar snap peas                  5.00/#  (these are edible pod.)
• chicken                              3.75/#  (this week we have fresh and frozen, chicken (we will be making another run to the butcher on Tuesday.  Most weeks we will have frozen chicken.  You can order whole chickens, or quarters.
• smoked chicken                  5.00/#    (we will smoke these for you by order-so amazingly delicious!!)
• eggs                          3.50/doz
• freshly baked breads              5.00/loaf  I am not sure which breads Sarah will make next week.  I will let you know. We will try to offer about 3 choices each week.  We do need you to order breads so we know how many loaves to bake.  We can make 14 loaves/week and they will be available on a first come, ) first serve basis.  Breads count as part of your share.

Harmony Mill Farm Products:

• whole milk                2.50/half gal
• skim milk                2.50/half gal
• bottle deposit            2.75 (bring it back each week and there is no additional bottle deposit charge)
• cream                    1.75/half pint
• ricotta                    3.50/#, 2.00/half #
• cheddar                    6/#  (please indicate sharp or mild)
• ricotta-salada            2.25/half#

We have other processed products and yarn for sale.  Our CSA members, the Muise family, have put some of their own maple syrup in our store for sale.

Any of our farm products can count toward your share.  Harmony Mill Farm products and Muise’s Maple are purchased separately.

Of course, our wines are always available, but can’t count toward your share, as wines cannot be prepaid.  Jim has some new selections available this season!!

Please don’t hesitate to email me with any questions.

We are looking so forward to seeing  you Wed. from 3-5:30PM. Thank you for your patience at pickup if things get a bit hectic!

Thank you,
Charlotte

Hello CSA and Friends of Shalom Orchard,

Spring is upon us and there is a lot going on here on the farm!  We are planting early crops like beets, carrots, chard, lettuce, arugusa, potatoes, peas, cabbage, broccoli, leeks and onions.  Isn’t wonderful to think of those delicious veggies!!

We ordered 50 meatbirds a couple of weeks ago and the hatchery sent us 200!!  Sounds like a windfall until we start feeding them!  We were able to share our bounty with several people which was nice – we are probably raising about 125.  More about those birds later.

We are so very fortunate to have two excellent apprentices:  Sarah Longstreth and her boyfriend, Sammie Warren.  Sarah is from Michigan, but came to us by way of Portland, where she worked for Whole Foods as a baker(!)..Sammie is from Maine and was also working in Portland as a “green” builder.  They are very committed to working and learning and we are very grateful that they came to us!

We have some exciting developments for our CSA and Friends this year.  Sarah will be taking orders for fresh breads for Wed. pickups.  She wants to know what kinds of breads you might be interested in.  Some of you remember several years ago when Maddie baked for the CSA.  So let us know what breads you like so we can stock up on various flours, etc.

We are also very excited to offer some products from other folks.  Harmony Mill Dairy, in Waltham, produces unpasteurized milk  (glass, returnable bottles with the cream on top – some of you may have seen this milk at John Edwards) and cheese from his Jersey cows.  We will take orders from you and he will drop it off here for you to purchase at CSA pickup.  The cheese is like cheddar and varies from mild to sharp, depending on the age.  We so enjoy his milk and cheese (I love to make yogurt from it), so we are very happy to be able to offer this to you, as a convenience.

Also, one of the CSA, Emily Muise and her family, have started a maple syrup business, Muise’s Maple, and they are working toward organic certification.  They have delicious maple syrup and we will have some in the store for sale this season.

We are glad to be able to offer you these diversified products and to help support other local businesses.

WE NEED TO TAKE ORDERS NOW FOR TURKEYS FOR THANKSGIVING AND/OR FOR FREEZING!!  I HAVE TO ORDER THEM THIS WEEK.  PLEASE REPLY ASAP IF YOU WANT US TO GROW SOME FOR YOU AND HOW MANY.

The CSA has grown this year.  It is wonderful to see the interest in local and organic.  We look forward to meeting our new members and seeing so many of you returning again this year.

We hope to start up toward the end of June, depending upon the weather.  Remember we have eggs and chicken and some lamb available now.  Our layers have been so busy that we are canning pickled eggs in tarragon vinegar!

Thank you,
Charlotte

Dear CSA and Friends of Shalom Orchard,
Today the sun actually had warmth!  As soon as the snow melts a bit more I will be planting some greens in the hoophouse!  I am in the process of filling out the volumes of paperwork to renew our MOFGA certification and I am considering growing sprouts for sale.  Before requesting and filling out yet another form, I wonder how many of you would be interested in having several kinds of sprouts available?

I also wanted to let you know that we have hired an apprentice, Sarah Longstreth, for the upcoming season!  She is originally from Michigan, which makes Jim happy, but has been living in Portland working as a baker at Whole Foods.  So you can start thinking about wonderful, fragrant breads available on Weds!  She will join us on March 29 and we look very forward to welcoming her onboard.

We have a lot of eggs available!!!  The girls love these long days.

Thank you all who signed up for shares again this year and welcome to the new members!  We look forward to seeing you this season.

Think Spring!!
Charlotte