Welcome to Week 1!
After a short break, all of us at Collective Harvest are SO ready to supply you with fresh, local veggies! Are you ready to leap into 2020 with a belly full of goodness?... Perfect -- we have a fantastic list of veggies for you to choose from today. Truly, one of the best things about living in Georgia is year-round access to local produce, and you are so smart to take advantage of it.
Many of you are returning members (thank you!) so you know the drill. If this is your first time with us, welcome! You will be navigating our Harvie website (the web platform we use to help us run our CSA) for the first time, and new things can be confusing. Please know that there is a LOT of support available to you if you need it-- from me, the other staff of Collective Harvest AND from the awesome IT support staff at Harvie. In case you are wondering, most of the folks at Harvie are located in Pennsylvania, but they work with hundreds of farms across the continent. With their tiny crew, they are trying to create the BEST online platform to connect communities of farmers and eaters. We love what they do!
Here are a few ways you can get answers to your questions:
- On your profile page, you can click the yellow "Help" button to ask a question. These inquiries will go to me AND the awesome Harvie IT support crew and whoever gets it first will help you out. If you have a time sensitive issue, I would definitely recommend seeking help this way.
- You can email me directly (lisa@collectiveharvestathens.com) and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Please note that I am often away from my computer hauling veggies or staffing a CSA pickup, but I can almost always reply within a day.
- You can email the Harvie support staff (support@harvie.farm) for any sort of help with your account or the ordering process.
- Check out this Harvie FAQ page for directions on rescheduling a share, making produce swaps, and more!
Produce Highlight - Bok Choy!
See that box of green goodness up top? That's some tasty Collective Harvest bok choy headed off to the best restaurants in the Athens area. Chefs buy it is because it is versatile and makes a tasty addition to SO many recipes. Known for its mild flavor, this staple of Asian cooking is good for stir-fries, braising, and soups. You can also eat it raw. Additionally, the veggie is packed with vitamins A and C-- one cup of cooked bok choy provides more than 100% of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of A, and close to two-thirds the RDA of C. Wow!
If you need a little recipe inspiration, check out this great article from The Spruce.
As always, you can find more info in the Produce Guide on our website... including how to best store your veggies. Proper storage will keep your produce fresh longer!
Independent Baking Co Bread Share - Five Points Levain
We'll start the season off with the crowd favorite. This local Athens sourdough is mild with an open crumb (that means bigger air pockets).
Farm Update - from Jacqui Coburn, Co-founder of Collective Harvest and Co-owner of Front Field Farm
"Welcome to 2020! Collective Harvest is on the rise. We are proud of where our CSA is headed and we wanted to share all the good news with our CSA family.
- The Georgia Organics conference is being held at the Classic Center in Athens this February. Why is that of note? The awesome family farms that make up Collective Harvest will be highlighted throughout, and some of our farms and our headquarters will be featured on the tours. Also, our farms will be providing produce for the lunch that is bringing Alice Waters (from Chez Panisse) to Athens.
- Collective Harvest will be featured in the next Georgia Foodcast.
- Humbly, my husband Alex and I are going to receive a the Barbara Petit Pollinator Award, which honors individuals and organizations for outstanding community leadership in Georgia’s sustainable farming and food movement.
Thank you so much for starting this year out with our delicious, local, amazingly fresh produce."
Jacqui and her crew celebrating a great 2019
Without further ado... Let's eat!
