Greetings Farm Share Members: Week 11

Greetings Farm Share Members,

Welcome to week 11. Hopefully, by now most of you have been able to truly appreciate and enjoy the benefits of being a CSA member. We consider ourselves one of the more fortunate farms in the area.  The erratic weather of this year’s growing season has created severe damage to various crops around the region. There are some CSA programs that are unable to supply their members with even the bare minimums. We have received many pleading calls from other farms asking us if we can supplement their shares.

The unpredictable and extreme weather patterns we have been experiencing have had their specific impact on particular crops. It rained 11 days this past May which mades it difficult for bees to pollinate berry crops. Hence, this year’s blueberry crop wasn’t as plentiful as expected. The same was true for local raspberries. Our CSA members were the only one’s who received locally grown raspberries. We were not able to offer them to the general public at all. The rain in June seriously impaired our ability to harvest strawberries plentifully this year. The excessively high temperatures a few weeks ago seriously impacted the production of local peaches.

Where fruit is concerned this has been a challenging year.

We keep careful track of the amounts of fruit that we are giving to you. It is our intention to make each of you feel by the end of the season that the fruit add on was worth your investment. Please realize that with all farm share programs the members bear the risk along with the farmer. When there is plenty it is shared with you, when there is lack your confidence in nature’s ability to restore its bounty is required.

As a matter of unfortunate fact, as my little fingers are pecking away at these keys we have flocks of blackbirds and starlings pecking away at our corn!!!! We hate to disappoint our loyal customers. When they come for corn and they see the "No Corn" sign their disappointment is palatable! Such are the challenges of farm life!!

But worry not friends!! You will have plenty to delight over this week. It just bared repeating that while we bow to Mother Nature, she doesn’t always curtsy back exactly how or when we expect. 

Everyone will be enjoying tomatoes this week in one form or another! Word is the canning class was a great success so get those tomatoes tucked away in Mason Jars so in the thick of winter you are still getting a taste of summer.

Potatoes are plentiful and it looks like everyone will be getting them. Swiss chard, kale and savoy cabbage are being picked today too.

We’re sorry about flowers last week….they were out there but we weren’t! Sometimes packing those shares swallows up the hours. This week we promise to deliver!!

 This week’s catch of the day is FRESH FLOUNDER!!!

Remember the CSA cooking class is this Saturday at 10am....." How to Cook Everything Under the Sun in Less Than an Hour :))"  OK, so maybe not everything under the sun but it will be a class jam packed with useful information intended to help you better utilize and enjoy your membership.

So....see you on the farm!!!
The RTF Family