CSA

Seedling CSA Shares, Pre-orders and Bright Summer Memories

/ Carey Baker / Leave a comment

We know.  It’s cold and snowy and spring feels oh so far away.  However, in a few short weeks we will begin seeding in the greenhouse and soon enough we will all be in the throws of the spring planting rush.  If you are anything like us, you spend some of these dark and cold winter days daydreaming and perusing seed catalogs planning your crops for the summer.

IMG_0667

For the 2018 growing season we will again be offering our seedling CSA shares. We also will give a 20% pre-order discount to those of you that know specifically what you want to plant this season.  You send us your order, we give you a total minus your 20% off for pre-ordering and you send payment via check or Paypal.  We are also now accepting credit cards. You can always check our plant offerings page to get some inspiration for your pre-orders.

If your growing style is more like ours, then mayyyybe you’re not sure exactly what you will need for plants this spring.  No problem, we offer gift certificates  at 20% off as well.  You commit to getting your plants from us before the growing season starts and save money by doing so.  In return, we receive much needed cash flow during the beginning of the year when many of our seed, soil and container expenses are incurred.

This past December, we were able to rebuild the end walls of one of our original hoop houses and put a new skin over it just before the snow fell.  Right now the space is filled with (frozen) winter carrots. In March we will seed our early spring greens followed by tomatoes and sweet potatoes for summer.  We also built several new raised beds from reclaimed lumber this past fall and installed small hoops on them.  It will be nice to have a few new options around the farm for season extension.

 

While there seems to never be time to post on the website during the rush of the growing season, we did manage to take some nice photos this past year.  Here are some of those luscious and magical colors of summer in case you need a little reminder in all of this snowy grayness.

 

We hope you are as excited as we are to be embarking on another season of growing food.  Please visit our Seedling CSA  page to sign up for a share or our gift certificates  page to purchase online and save on your seedling costs for the spring.  If any questions come up for you please do not hesitate to email us at: windyridgeorganics@gmail.com.  As always, our little organic family farm appreciates so much your early season support.  Let’s get growing!

 

CSA Share Contents Week 1

/ Carey Baker / Leave a comment

This week’s pickup is our first of the season.  It includes the following items:

Siberian Kale- This amazing heirloom can replace spinach in many recipes.  it is the most tender of the kales and has a sweet aftertaste.

Swiss Chard

Salad Mix- A mild mix of red, green and Romaine Lettuce.    

Garlic Scapes- Cut the tender bottoms of the shoot and saute to replace garlic in any recipe.

Collard Greens- Sauted in a butter and lemon sauce anyone?  So tender this time of year.

Rosemary Plant- Keep on a porch or windowsill for a bit of fresh Rosemary all season.

Chioggia Beets and greens- SO SWEET. These are the Red and White patterned beets with amazing flavor.  Slice them and Roast with olive oil, Apple Cider Vinegar and Salt and Pepper.  Lightly Steam the green tops and toss together with the roasted beets.

Red Salad turnips-  Slice thinly to top on Salad or Roast whole in the oven.

Farm activities: This past week we completed our planting of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants at our field behind the Charlemont    Academy.  We have some really great Heirloom tomato varieties this year which include Green Zebra, Moskvich, Indigo Rose and Black Krim.  My mouth is watering just thinking about tomatoes, tomato sauce and salsa….:)  Tomatoes are high in anthocyanins, an amazing antioxidant.  The Black Krim and Indigo Rose in particular, so feel good about eating them this year!  To learn more about the benefits of this flavonoid go to this page.  http://chiro.org/nutrition/FULL/Anthocyanins.shtml

The broccoli is heading up so dust off your favorite cream of broccoli recipe for next week!

Enjoy feeling great about what you are eating this week.  By cooking with a share from our farm you know that you are getting produce that is grown using only sustainable chemical free methods of production and pest control.  We don’t want to feed our family or your family anything that has been sprayed or fertilized with something we can’t pronounce.  We are looking forward to seeing some of our members tomorrow!

CSA Season is beginning!

/ Carey Baker / 1 Comment

This Saturday June 16th will be our first CSA distribution.  This year we are pre-boxing shares for easy pickup.  Our Berkshire County members can trade items out for others at the market when shares are picked up.  Worthington members will also be able to make special share content requests as long as we hear about it by Thursday evening each week.  Basil

Part Time Share Members:  Your 10 share pickups can occur on any Saturday you would like during the season.  Please email or call us by Thursday for the Saturdays you would like a pickup.

This year we will be posting share contents for each week as well as recipes on Fridays on our site.  Please follow our website blog so you can stay in the loop about the best ways to go through all of the delicious fresh produce you are about to receive!