Farm Happenings for July 28, 2021

New this Week: Cucumbers, Sweet Onions, Thai Basil, and Heirloom Tomatoes!!

New from Our Farm Partners: Tait Farm Strawberry Dark Chocolate Sauce, Primrose Farm Nectarine Jam, and Steel Cup Extra Dark Roast French Blend Coffee!

We hope everyone is enjoying their veggies and other delicious goodies from Cherry Valley Organics! We are so happy to have you as farm share members this season. We know you have a lot of choices about where to purchase food, and it means everything to us and our small business partners that you have chosen to support our farms. Thank you!

Updates from the Farm

We had a few days of beautiful weather this week as slightly lower humidity and temps helped our small team quite a bit. We are just about finished harvesting garlic, and we're starting bulk harvests of onions and some of the herb crops that our farm is known for, such as catnip. The onion crop is going to be fabulous this year with all the June and July rains we've had, and we're excited to be including sweet onions in the share this week!

And, also exciting, the start of tomato and cucumber season. We typically have cucumbers a bit earlier, but unfortunately, ours got off to a rough start this season. Delays in planting and weed pressure have thrown them a few curve balls, but plants are resilient and now they are thriving!

We'll continue to take a break from salad mix and head lettuce here for a couple of weeks while we get the farm transitioned through the end of July. Clarion River Organics farmers had too much water in the fields last week so we hope to have some melons for you next week.

As for our team, we have hired a few new team members who will be starting in the next week and we'll be focused on training and getting them up to speed as quickly as possible, in addition to harvesting and delivering your shares of course!

Have a great week everyone, and thank you again for being a farm share member this season!!

Jodi, Emily, Vanessa, Clarissa, Jared, Mark, and Selena

The CVO Farm Share Team

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to vanessa@cherryvalleyorganics.com or to support@harvie.farm at any time.

Cherry Valley Organics began in 2001 as a USDA certified organic farm, producing a high diversity of agricultural products, including vegetables, herbs, cut flowers, and potted plants. Since those early years, we have grown into an organic lifestyle company, producing a wide diversity of products that support a clean, organic lifestyle, including our herbal teas and herbal body care products, all of which are grown or hand-made at our farm.

At Cherry Valley Organics, we believe in…

*Living the healthiest life possible (full of organics!)
*Fair, livable wages for our team members
*USDA certified organic growing and production practices
*Minimizing our carbon footprint and ecological impact
*Supporting our local community

Cherry Valley Organics is a collaboration. Unlike traditional family farms, we come from diverse geographical, family, and professional backgrounds. We are growers, scientists, food & health enthusiasts, teachers, caretakers, chefs, and nutritionists. We are all farmers. And, all of us here at Cherry Valley Organics are committed to growing and producing high quality certified organic products for our community. We would never compromise on organics. Ever.

Cherry Valley Organics, founded by Jodi Danyo, began as a one-third-acre “urban farm” in the Pittsburgh suburb of Crafton, Cherry Valley Organics now encompasses approximately 36 acres in nearby Cherry Valley, Washington County, PA. Despite this expansion, the footprint of the operation is still quite small with farming operations encompassing less than 8 acres. The farm was built, quite literally, from the ground up!

Our Farm Share Growers, Emily Kramer, Vanessa Davis, Lindsay Henry, Alexis Williams, and Alliy Gundlach, love producing high quality organic products for our local Pittsburgh communities. You can find our products at the Sewickley Farmer’s Market on Saturdays (April through November), and also at local florists and specialty shops. In 2018, we opened a Farm Market & Cafe along the Panhandle Trail in Burgettstown, PA.

What makes our Farm Share unique?

*We wash the produce. Thoroughly. You are unlikely to get any mud in your CVO Farm Share bag. We still recommend that you wash our veggies, but many items will be ready to eat (and may make for excellent snacking in the car on the way home from the pick-up location).

*High diversity of veggie crops. We grow over 150 varieties of vegetables and herbs per season, on average.

*Specialty crops, like microgreens. It's a bit unusual to see this high value crop in farm share programs. They are a bit tricky to grow, but wow do they pack a nutritional punch! Despite their small size, they are the most nutritious veggie in the share!

*We believe in minimizing our environmental impact, and we use biodegradable and compostable packaging wherever possible. And we have a variety of new packaging products in the works for 2021.

*Specialty cut flowers are a niche crop for us. We grow many of the hard-to-grow flower varieties like Ranunculus, Bells of Ireland, Delphinium, and more. Many more. Nearly 300 varieties! Our flowers are not your run of the mill market flowers. Our bouquets are carefully crafted, and absolutely gorgeous!

*We have extensive partnerships with other local businesses and farms, including Primrose Farm (pasture-raised eggs), Paul Family Farms (maple syrup), Tait Farm (jams, butters, shrubs), Weatherbury Farm (flours, milled products), Big Bob's Honey (honey), Clarion River Organics (potatoes, sweet potatoes, melons, winter squash), Woolf Family Farms (blueberries, apples, peaches), Cherish Creamery (cheese), Emerald Valley Artisans (cheese), Steel Cup Coffee Roasters (organic, fair-trade coffee), Conover Family Farm (pickles, hot sauce) and more! A selection of these items is available on a weekly basis and can be added onto your Veggie Farm Share in any quantity you choose. We believe in the value of small business and keeping dollars in our Pittsburgh neighborhoods.

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