Hello CSA and Friends of Shalom Orchard,
Welcome to our new members and hello to our returning friends! We have been amazed at the interest in CSA this season and even had to turn some folks away, which is very hard for us – we want to believe there is always room for one more family – but our space is limited. It is wonderful that people want to buy locally and support their local farms!! We thank you all.
We are in full swing here! We had a beautiful bloom in the apples and cherries and good set on on the fruit. We have been planting for the last month – all of the early crops – cabbage, broccoli, onions, leeks, potatoes, lettuces, beets, carrots; and now we are into the warm weather crops. It’s a very busy time and I’m at the stage of saying ” There’s not enough room, HELP!” Because it has been so cool, growth is a little slow, but will catch up fast (as will the weeds).
We are very fortunate to have two wonderful apprentices this year, Shoshanna Rome and Chris Mahairas, both are students and will be with us until early September. Khimba Lee is still here this season, her fifth with us! They are a hardworking crew and we are very grateful for all they do here!!
We anticipate our first CSA pickup to be on Wed., July 2, between 3-5:30.
We will be taking meatbirds to the butcher on Monday, June 23. If you want us to reserve you some fresh (unfrozen) chicken, please let us know and you can come out and pick it up. You don’t have to wait for the first pickup to come out and get chicken or eggs @ 3.50/doz.
I will send out another email before the first pickup with prices on chicken and the early veggies. I’m sure all of you are aware of what has happened with grain prices. A bag of organic chicken feed has gone up 35% at our local Feed and Seed, but we are determined to keep our prices as low as we can. By buying from your local farm you know that you are getting the freshest veggies possible and saving on gas as well. We pick your vegetables on Tues. afternoon and Wed. morning before your pickup on Wed. afternoon – you can’t get much fresher than that!!
We hope you will contribute some of your favorite recipes for the seasonal fruits and veggies – we like to post them on our website and share them with all of you!
We are looking forward to meeting our new members and seeing everyone from past years. Please come visit anytime – this is your farm!
Thank you,
Charlotte and Jim