2017 CSA ~ Week 24 Final Week of CSA Delivery!
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Final week of CSA Delivery! Please bring any stray CSA bins back to your delivery location either this week, or during the week, as we will be visiting all of the sites next Tuesday to retrieve the empty bins for the final time this season. Thanks for your help with this!
FILL YOUR PANTRY THIS SUNDAY!
Even though the deadline has passed for pre-ordering, all of the farms will have produce and wares for purchase at the event, so go on down to the Lane Events Center on Sunday to fill your pantry for the winter ahead!
WHAT’S IN YOUR SHARE THIS WEEK:
- Kale ~ Red Russian
- Potatoes
- Leeks
- Onion
- Parsley
- Carrots
- Beets
- Swiss Chard
- Winter Squash ~ Delicata
- Apples
- Strawberry Spread
RECIPES:
Winter Squash Pie w/Candied Pecans (gluten free)
Beet Ravioli w/Poppy Seed Butter
Carrot, Apple & Ginger Smoothies
What a wild week it’s been! We started out the week with lovely blue skies and mild temps….then things changed radically! The winds began to blow , and the rains have continued to fall pretty much steadily all week. It rained so hard here yesterday, all of the gutters were overflowing, as they just couldn’t keep up with the onslaught. Well, it is November, after all, and an El Nino year, once again….guess we can all expect more of the same for the months ahead. This mornings sunshine and blue sky is a welcome treat to finish out the week, and the season!
The crew is slogging through the fields, and working even harder than normal, due to the fact that some of the fields are so wet we can’t get the trucks into them. That means that there are a lot of heavy bins to haul an even longer distance. Since rain gear is pretty worn out by this time in the season, there are layers of clothing set out drying in any warm, dry spot to be found, especially in the crew kitchen, next to the little heater there.
The cows made their transition into the winter barn this week, just in time to get them in out of the very soggy pastures, and the irrigation pumps have been taken out. Sure signs of the season ending, and winter’s fast approach.
This last delivery is always bitter sweet for us. While we are very ready for some downtime, time to rejuvenate our tired bodies and to clean up after a busy season, we’re also sad to end the CSA and the Farmers Markets for the season. We’ll miss weekly communications with members and long time market visitors, miss sharing news of farm life with you all, and hearing about the happenings in your lives. We hope that you have enjoyed the season with us, and have been satisfied and gratified by your weekly shares, hope that’s the food has nourished not only your bodies, but has enriched your lives by knowing you are supporting a farm, and farmers, who grow for you while sustaining the earth as best we can. Your support and participation enables us to continue on with this good work….we hope that you will plan on sharing the harvest once again with us in the new year! Feel free to call/email to reserve your share for 2018!
Even though we won’t be driving the weekly delivery routes, we’ll be keeping busy on the farm with a myriad of projects (rebuilding pallets, cleaning barns and trucks, doing truck maintenance, filling wholesale orders and orders for our Burdock root. We’ll continue on at the Portland PSU and Hollywood Markets for a couple more weeks (PSU until Dec.16th and at Hollywood every other week until the 16th as well).
It’s also a time when we say farewell to a majority of our crew. Erik has taken on work with a local contractor, Andrea has begun a housecleaning biz called Clean Sweep Housekeeping (her number is 541-952-1071 if you need some help!), Kiegan is hoping to work with a local arborist. Shenoa will be working at a nursery that offers native plants. Jesse will be leaving for California next week, to visit family and go surfing. Emma will be milking cows and making cheese for a local Dairy. Most will be coming back to farm next season, for which we are all extremely grateful!
Steve will continue on, managing the Portland Markets, and the wholesale orders, as well as managing his own Fog Hollow Farm in Walton. Jeremy will help with the wholesale orders and also begin on projects, and Burdock orders as they come in. Chad is our project guy, and Jimi will be making sure the cows are bedded down each week, and fed the nutrient rich balage we created in the Spring. I will begin closing out the 2017 accounts, take a short holiday break, and then begin updating all of the CSA info for the new year! Farm owners Chris and Shannon will be closing out the season as well for the wholesale and markets, as well as bustling here and there doing whatever task needs doing.
We hope that your winter will be amazing, and that your holidays full of love, laughter, good friends and family. We love knowing that our food will be part of those celebrations. Be well, be happy…..hope to see you next year!
Much love,
Linda and all of your Winter Green Farmers