Hello CSA and friends of Shalom Orchard,

Well, we’re moving into the real harvest season! Along with the beautiful raspberries, we have started raking blueberries and we will have quarts for you on Wed.! It is still early in the season and slow winnowing, but there’s a celebratory feeling to starting blueberries every summer. We will also have new potatoes and peas (almost the end of peas, sadly). The summer squash is starting, and along with broccoli, onions and basil will make a perfect stir-fry. Yummy!!

I did a thorough inventory of the lamb freezer and found only one leg of lamb, but lots of chops, both loin and rib, rolled shoulders, shanks, and steaks (like chops). I have received some great feedback on the lamb.

Again, we have chicken and eggs.

Some of you have shared recipes you have tried (Joan, your mint sauce sounded great!) and the suggestion has been made that we share recipes. I will start this Wed. with the BEST zuke relish (from a Franklin elder) and a delicious lamb recipe. Who knows, maybe in a couple of years we will have a Shalom Orchard CSA cookbook!

Looking forward to seeing you all on Wed., 4:00 – 6:00 PM.

Thank you,

Charlotte and Jim

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