Welcome to your first CSA share!
Thank you for joining us, we are truly, deeply, grateful.
This season we have nearly 180 shares, we had only 80 last year. The vegetables are incredibly beautiful and abundant this week, and we hope that makes up for any hick-ups in the administration of this rather thrillingly enormous program.
I’m afraid this is an administration heavy newsletter; we’ll get to the fun stuff next week!
Let’s first review pick up locations:
On Farm - 84400 Currie Line, Belgrave Ontario - Thursday 3:00 p.m. through Sunday 8:00 p.m.
Pick up from the walk-in cooler in the small barn at the end of the driveway, shares are labeled and placed on the shelf just inside the door of the cooler.
Bayfield – Bayfield Farmers Market, in the parking area on the north side of Clan Gregor Square – Friday 3:00 p.m. -5:00 p.m.
The market has asked that, if possible, those of you with last names beginning A-M come from 3:00-4:00, and N-Z come 4:00-5:00.
If you are interested in making purchases from other vendors at the market, you will need to do so ahead of time online at: https://openfoodnetwork.ca/bayfield-farmers-market/shop
Blyth – Wonky Frog, On Queen Street at corner of, 197 Westmoreland St – Thursday 4:00 p.m. -6:00 p.m.
Clinton – Clinton Veterinary Services parking lot, 257 Huron Street, Clinton – Thursday 5:00- 5:30 p.m.
Goderich –
Akromold – 501 Mooney Street – Thursday 3:00- 3:30 Due to the very short pick up window and the lack of shade available in the parking lot, this location is recommended for employees only.
Goderich Downtown - 44 Waterloo St. South, porch pick up – Thursday 4:00 – 6:00
Goderich Farmers Market – The Livery Parking Lot, 35 South Street, Goderich – Saturday this week only 9:00 a.m. -11:00 a.m., the following week, and the remainder of the season 8:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.
Managing your Share
After receiving this email, you will have until Monday evening at 10:00p.m. to customize your share, or add on extras. After that your share is set as we need time to plan the harvest, then harvest, wash, and pack your share.
If you need to change your delivery location please follow these instructions, I am not able to change locations, place holds, or make other changes to your share for you: https://harvie.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001542514-How-to-reschedule-change-a-delivery-location-and-hold-a-share-
Here is the link to HARVIE university, it is full of excellent help files about setting preferences, making swaps, buying extras, placing holds and much more. If you have a question, you can likely find the answers here: https://harvie.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/115000048773-Harvie-University-Members
If you need something that cannot be found in Harvie university you can reach out to Tamara at 519 441 1556 or firmlyrootedfarm@gmail.com. Please note that due to COVID I am getting an incredible volume of calls and emails and may not be able to respond right away.
And here are my Top Ten Tips to Celebrate your CSA Share:
1. Meal Plan: when you get your share customization email take a few minutes to meal plan, decide if you’ll need any extras to fill in the gaps.
2. Try New Things: Sure, you can just stick with old favorites, but you can also take this opportunity to expand your culinary horizons.
3. Prep and Store: When you get home take some time to process your bounty. All vegetables store best in some sort of container (otherwise your fridge will dehydrate them). Cut the greens off your root vegetables and store them separately. Grab your favorite knife or mandolin and crop or julienne so you’ll have grab and go ingredients for meals.
4. Be Creative: Lettuce is not just for cold salad, it’s excellent on the grill or as a lettuce wrap, some folks even add it to soup. Sure, you can eat beets boiled but you can also steam them, roast them, grate them raw, bake them into chips, or toss them into smoothies. Play around a little bit!
5. Store it: If you don’t think you’ll get through something (greens, beans, zucchini, tomatoes, herbs etc.) then toss it in the freezer or run it through a dehydrator. If you are storing it for winter you may want to blanch it first but if you plan to eat it in 6 weeks then you can usually just pop it in.
6. Get Friendly with Soup: Keep a bag in the freezer for veggie bits and stems or tops you don’t plan to eat, when the bag is full make vegetable stock.
7. Pickle it: You can quick-pickle or ferment most veggies and enjoy them for a long time as a side dish, topping, or snack.
8. Double Up: Make double portions for quick next day lunches or for the freezer.
9. Eat veggies with every meal: Sautéed greens are a delight with breakfast; green onion, broccoli, dill, zucchini, peppers and so many other things are incredible in frittata’s, omelettes or egg scrambles.
10. Inventory the fridge the day before pick up and make a soup, casserole, frittata or stir fry that uses up the odds and ends so you can start fresh with a new box!
One last one: Embrace the bounty. CSA’s help us to connect with the seasons, and sure, at some point you may think: whoa, enough with the zucchini already but do what you can to keep positive and be creative. After all, zucchini season comes to an end and it’s a long dreary winter without it.
That’s all for this week. Thank you for joining us!
Tamara, Brian & Jack
