Hey, everyone!
Well, I was getting ready to send this yesterday morning, until a neighbour sent me a picture of our 1 acre field on the lower bench, near the river. As some of you have seen, it is under water! Very sad to see but I'm hopeful some of the more established crops will make it through. Might not have any storage onions or leeks this year though!
So I am adding the crops that I had to harvest from that plot to the list this week: cabbage and kohlrabi, mostly. We would love it if CSA members were able to help us eat it all! And there may be some hiccups with the other crops we'd planned to have down there, namely summer/winter squash, kale, chard, and the other brassicas (cauliflower, etc). We'll keep you updated but we'll also find a way to fill the gaps!
Now, on to some other CSA details! Because we're carrying on as usual...
CREDITS: just a reminder that there is a tab on your Harvie profile for any credits you might have: if we've missed or replaced an item, you will see the credit for that item there, and it can be used for extras. Let me know if we've missed anything in your share and I will add a credit for you!
NEW crops to choose from this week are:
- carrots! the first beds are ready so we'll have bunched baby and medium carrots for the next few weeks
- Romaine head lettuce
- Summer squash: Romanesco zucchini, Ronde de Nice zucchini (round), and pattypan squash
- green cabbage
- broccoli
- purple & green kohlrabi
BLUEBERRIES: we are taking pre-orders for blueberries now, as they will be ready in about 1 week! They are also certified organic, from Snowy Mountain Organics. They are on the list of add-ons to choose from so that you can order from there and it will be easier to keep track of, and we will most likely get them for the July 17th boxes.
BREAD: We are also super excited for another add-on that we secured last week: we had a special visit with Annette Fischer last week. Some of you may know her and/or her amazing baking. She runs From Scratch Fischer Products with her family, from their home in 150 Mile House. We are SUPER excited and honoured to be able to offer some of her products to Puddle Produce Farm CSA members! So we wanted to let you know what she is able to bake for you all, and how to get it. But first, a little bit about Annette!
Annette and her family moved from Switzerland to Williams Lake in August, 2013, when her husband Kurt secured a job building for Pioneer Log Homes. Before that, Annette actually got her red seal in horticulture before training as a baker! She has a beautiful garden , from which she harvests a lot of ingredients for her breads, desserts, syrups, jams, and dried herbs. It is full of interplanted veggies, fruit trees, perennial herbs and medicinal plants, a small greenhouse for hot crops, and a big, nutritious pile of compost! She is a very talented woman, and she is also just a really lovely person. I think it probably makes her bread taste even better :P She believes strongly in bringing back healthy, homemade products into peoples' lives.
She makes a lot of amazing things, but we are going to offer the staples to start. Here is what you will see as add-ons to your veggie shares:
- House Bread (multigrain)
- Farmer Milk Bread
- Spelt Bread (organic)
- Witch Stick Bread
- Zopf Bread
Descriptions, ingredients, and pricing of each will be listed on the add-ons page.
THE SCHEDULE: Annette has other customers she bakes for on a bi-weekly schedule, so she is able to offer us her products during the alternate weeks. The 1st week for which we can take orders for Annette's baking will be July 13th. You can then order bread from her, with your veggie share, every 2 weeks thereafter. Since I will be sending her orders by the previous Friday, (July 10th) I've added her breads to your list of add-ons in this week's email. She comes to town only on Tuesdays, so if you order bread, it won't be as fresh as the Tuesday deliveries but she says they all freeze well if you want to stock up!
M&L or HOME DELIVERY ONLY: Since you are a farmers' market pick-up, if you order bread, you will have to pick up your share on those weeks at Mint&Lime or have them delivered within City limits. This is because vendors of the farmers' market are not permitted to bring someone else's products to the market. So just something to keep in mind if you order bread: drop me a line the week you're going to order bread and need to change your pick-up location! Sorry, it's a bit of a hassle for the Friday folks, but I wanted to make bread available to you too!
So you will see Annette's baking & the blueberries as add-ons this week. How exciting is that?! Let me know any questions you have in the meantime.
Thanks so much for the support, everyone!
- Brianna and the Puddle P team
