2021 CSA Season Week Eleven

August 17, 2021

Welcome to Week Eleven, fellow Oregonians! August is rolling right along, but while the calendar declares fall is coming, the weather didn’t get the memo. It has been hot, hot, hot!

Special Announcements:

Covid-19 cases are surging in Oregon, and the mask mandate is back in place. While the mandate is for indoor mask use, we are urging everyone to be cautious and wear masks if other people are picking up their shares at the same time. Hand sanitizer and clean pens will be provided, and social distancing is highly encouraged. Let’s all do our part to keep each other safe.

Balance statements will be going out this week for anyone on the half-payment schedule. No rush, no pressure, just a friendly reminder in case you misplaced your balance statement (like we’re all prone to do from time to time). If you’d like to make a payment, you can send a personal check to the farm, send a check straight from the bank, or get ahold of us here at the farm to pay your balance by credit card, though it will incur a 3% transaction fee.

We are low on CSA boxes!

While we know it can be inconvenient to unload your box at the site instead of taking it with you, especially with Covid precautions in place, that is exactly what we’re needing you to do. We haven’t been receiving enough returned boxes to send out the next packing day without scrounging around for a few in the hidden recesses of the farm. (Trust me, no one wants that!) If you have your box at home and can return it, or can move your vegetables into your own bag or container, it would be a huge help for our farmers in the morning as packing those beautiful boxes is a big job!

It’s such a big job that it’s starting to take us longer and longer to get them all packed and on the truck. So far this season, we’ve been lucky enough to be done in the mornings fairly early, which allows us to get to the sites on time or put shares in the cooler here at the farm before afternoon. As the season goes on, that won’t be the case. Because today was a prime example of the process taking longer, I’d like to ask that we all adhere to the pickup schedule on your paperwork as much as possible. If you get there too early, they may not be there yet and then you’ve wasted a trip. If you pick up at the farm, they may not even be packed yet, so they won’t be in the cooler for you to pick up. And, because we’ve got packing these boxes down to a science, we won’t be able to just pack one real quick for you and make up for it later.

If you’ve misplaced your paperwork or need a reminder on pickup times, please let me know. I would be happy to email you another one, or you can find the times on our website with the delivery site information.

When picking up your box, please don’t forget to check your name off the list so we know you got your share. If you pick up at a residential site and you know you’re going to be late, give your site host a call to see if you can make arrangements. If you miss your pickup, please remember your share becomes forfeit after the 7:00pm deadline. If you pick up at a market, give the farm a call the next business day to make arrangements to reroute your box. We do only hold returned boxes until the next packing day (Tuesday or Friday), so if you wait too long, we may have already donated the share to Food for Lane County.

Our website has a vacation request form! If you know you won’t be able to pick up your share, let us know! You can choose to give your box as a tax-deductible donation or receive credit for next season’s share. Or, if you still want to get your share but you’d like to pick up on a different day or at a different location, you can include that in the notes. The site locations can be found on our website, as can the vacation request form. We are asking for at least seven days notice to avoid any last-minute confusion. Enjoy your trip!

August is a month with an interesting history. For instance, did you know the original name of the month was Sextilis? It was actually named “August” in honor of the Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar in 8 BC. In fact, it wasn’t even originally the eighth month. Before January and February were added, August was the sixth month of the year. It was moved to the eighth month in 700 BC, but didn’t have the full 31 days we know it to have now until 46 BC.

But that’s not the only interesting thing in August’s history. It is also the anniversary of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. If you don’t know the story, Mount Vesuvius is a volcano in southern Italy that erupted nearly 2,000 years ago on August 24, destroying the city of Pompeii and killing thousands of people with no means of escape. To this day, the destruction of Pompeii has proved to be one of the deadliest eruptions in European history.

What’s in your box this week:

  • Beets
  • Carrots
  • Red onion
  • Lettuce
  • Tomatoes
  • Cucumber
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Mixed new potatoes

Some sites only:

  • Zucchini
  • Flying Saucer Squash (Pattypan squash)

(We were not able to get eggplant this week like we’d planned because they were still too small. We’re hoping they’ll be ready to go in next week’s box.)

We aren’t always able to harvest our veggies in equal share, but don’t worry, we’re keeping meticulous notes. If you don’t get something in your share this time, we’ll be sure to get you next time.

What We’re Making:

  • Beets are one of those vegetables that don’t taste good unless you make them right. This Roasted Beets with Citrus may help with that.
  • The lettuce this season has been beautiful, and boy is there a lot of it! If you’d rather have something other than salad, try this Stir-Fried Garlic Lettuce recipe.

One of our members made this beautiful heirloom tomato sauce and it looks downright tasty! What are you making? Send us a picture at [email protected] or tag us on social media. You can find us on Instagram (@wintergreenfarm) or on Facebook (Winter Green Farm). We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

We hope you’re all enjoying the dog-days of summer and making delicious meals with all the vegetables from the farm. We’re so pleased to be with you on this food journey. Take care in this heat, stay cool, and eat well!

Many blessings,

Chelsea, Linda, and your Winter Green Farmers