Beet Box

Farmstand Survey, Take Two!

96 Farmstand Survey, Take Two!
Dear Valley Flora Farmstand Customers,

If you were not able to complete the survey we sent out yesterday because it timed out, here it is again. Thanks for your input, and sorry it misbehaved yesterday.

To recap:
We are trying to figure out how to safely serve you this summer in the context of COVID-19. We would love your input so we can create the best system possible to meet your produce needs. Please answer this short two-question survey to weigh in! It should take less than 30 seconds.

TAKE THE SURVEY

Thanks so much for your help as we work out new systems to help keep everyone safe this summer.

(Note: we will not be able to respond to individual emails/questions related to this survey, but would really value your response. Busy Springtime!)
-->
-->
Copyright © 2020 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Farmstand Survey: Your Input Please!

96 Farmstand Survey: Your Input Please!

Dear Valley Flora Farmstand Customers,

We are trying to figure out how to safely serve you this summer in the context of COVID-19. We would love your input so we can create the best system possible to meet your produce needs. Please answer this short two-question survey to weigh in! It should take less than 30 seconds.

TAKE THE SURVEY

Thanks so much for your help as we navigate through this challenging time.

(Note: we will not be able to respond to individual emails/questions related to this survey, but would really value your response. Busy Springtime!)
-->
-->
Copyright © 2020 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Corona Update from the Farm

Corona Update from the Farm Farmstand and CSA Update
View this email in your browser

These are wild times. Here at the farm we want to continue to feed our community and do our part to help keep you healthy every way we can. We're taking extra precautions with additional bin and barn sterilization, hand washing, and harvest/post-harvest sanitation above and beyond our normal protocol. Roberto and I are the only two people harvesting, washing, packing and delivering the produce at this time of year. We are all healthy on the farm thus far, and we're all observing the CDC recommendations about social distancing.

As of now, we intend to continue with our every-other-week winter/spring harvest schedule. We will be packing CSA shares as usual. We encourage CSA members to observe these guidelines:

  • If there are other people at your pickup location or in the barn we encourage you to give each other ample space.
  • As always, please wash your produce when you get it home.
  • If you are ill, please stay home. Send a friend to pick up your produce instead.

For farmstand customers, please note we are temporarily altering our farmstand system to reduce potential exposure for our customers.

Effective April 1st for our next farmstand:

  • The farmstand will switch to a pre-order, “to-go” system.
  • Rather than having customers pick out their produce in person, we will email you a list of availability the weekend before through our online ordering platform, Cropolis. **If you want to receive our produce availability list, please EMAIL US so we have your contact info!** We will only be emailing the list to people who give us their email address for this express purpose.
  • You will need to place your order via Cropolis by Sunday night. It’s simple and user friendly.
  • We will then pack orders into grocery bags labeled with your name and leave the bags in our walk-in cooler for pickup on Wednesday.
  • An invoice will be attached and you will leave payment in the Honor Box as usual.
  • Like shopping the farmstand, produce will be packed based on the order the emails are received, so you may not get all the items you ordered if we run out of a given thing. We’ll do our best!

Thanks for your support of the farm through this challenging time. We're here to support your good health in every way we can!

Zoë

Copyright © 2020 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Week 28, the LAST One!

Week 28, the LAST One! Large Round Things!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
-->


What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • Your Final CSA Share for 2019!
  • Tamales this Week!
  • The 2020 Season
  • Final Farmstand is Dec 11th!
 
 
-->
What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Beets
  • Cabbage
  • Carrots
  • Celeriac
  • Chioggia Radicchio
  • Red Potatoes
  • Winter Spinach
  • Leeks
  • Tetsukabuto Squash
On Rotation:
  • Radishes
  • Turnips
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your next share June 2020!
  • Pac Choi
  • Kale
  • Pea Shoots
  • Radishes
  • Lettuce
  • Arugula
  • Cherry Tomato Plant
  • And more!
Your Final CSA Share for 2019
This is it, peeps! Your final tote of veg from VF for 2019! There are a lot of large, dense, round things in it: cabbage, radicchio, celeriac, beets, potatoes, and a very special kabocha squash called Tetsukabuto (aka "Tetsu"). Pretty much everything in this tote - with the exception of the spinach - will store for weeks and weeks and even months and months, the idea being that you might still be enjoying some farm produce from us in the heart of winter, long after this final week of the season.

Now, those of you signed up for the winter CSA need not ration so carefully for there is plenty of abundance coming your way starting January 8th. But if this is the last you'll see of us until next June, it's quite tenable that you could save your Tetsu squash until June 3rd, 2020, and then cook it up with the fresh pac choi and spring onions from your first CSA tote of next season. The literal translation of this Japanese winter squash is "steel helmet" and it lives up to its name: one of our CSA members let a whole year go by before she cut into hers and it was still delicious inside. Now THAT'S what I call a fine storage crop!

Similarly, your beets, potatoes, cabbage and celeriac should have an ample storage life if you keep them tucked into your fridge in plastic bags.

The savoyed spinach in your tote is a little treat, sweetened by last week's sub-30 temperatures at the farm. It's been rinsed, but we suggest giving it a more thorough wash and spin before you make salad.

We pack our hearts and souls into your totes each week, and we hope you know just how grateful we are for your support of the farm. Your participation as a CSA member makes the farm thrive. We realize you might be making a certain sacrifice when you commit to the CSA season with us - especially if you don't love eggplant, or beets, or it's a struggle to get to your pickup site on time each week. We know that and we say THANK YOU for making the commitment to the farm! Community Supported Agriculture is a very different paradigm than buying your groceries at a big box store, and in many cases it's the difference between there being small, sustainable family farms on the landscape or not. As a CSA member, you're helping make it possible for our farm to exist on Floras Creek and enabling us to be the best stewards of our land that we can. I say it every year, and I mean it every time: We wouldn't be here without you!

If you have any end-of-year feedback you'd like to share with us, we'd love to hear from you via email! We don't put out a formal survey anymore, but are always appreciative of any input you can share that might improve the experience of our CSA members.

Thanks for a great season, and we hope we have the pleasure of feeding you in 2020!
-->
Tamales this Week!
The final distribution of tamales is going out this week. Look for a marked cooler at your pickup site and be sure to double check labels so you don't take someone else's dinner home! A big thank you to Juana for providing us with tamales muy ricos all season!
-->
The 2020 Season
For those of you interested in participating in our CSA next year, we'll begin signing folks up in mid to late January. All existing members will get priority sign-up and will be guaranteed a Harvest Basket so long as you sign up during our priority sign-up period.

After the priority sign-up period ends, we'll open it up to folks on our waiting list until the CSA is full.

We anticipate kicking off the 2020 season the first week of June, weather dependent. I hope you'll join us!
-->
December Farmstand Hours
 
Wednesday 12/4 and Wednesday 12/11
Rain or Shine
Located at the Barn
(a half mile beyond the usual location)
10 am to 1 pm


Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Week 27 of 28 from Valley Flora

Week 27 of 28 from Valley Flora Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
-->
What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • All CSA Pick-Ups on WEDNESDAY this week!
  • Turkeys Gone Wild
  • Parsnips
  • Farmstand is at the Barn for the rest of the Year!
One of the turkey Toms strutting his stuff on the farm, having very successfully passed on his genes this season up Floras Creek...
 
-->
What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Shallots
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Carrots
  • Celery
  • Rosemary
  • Parsnips
  • Yellow Potatoes
  • Kale
  • Butternut Squash
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Radishes
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your FINAL share
  • Yellow Onions
  • Carrots
  • Beets
  • Red Cabbage
  • Celeriac
  • Radicchio
  • Winter Spinach
  • Potatoes
  • Kabocha Squash

  •  
ALL CSA Pick-Ups on WEDNESDAY this Week!
It's Thanksgiving week! (The reason we know that, irrefutably, is because tomorrow - our biggest harvest day of the year - we're supposed to get torrential rains and high winds, a longstanding Thanksgiving harvest tradition at Valley Flora! There's many a tale of digging last-minute parsnips by headlamp in sideways rain and oozy mud, and pickup trucks getting abandoned in the field (oozy mud), and boots getting sucked off our feet (yes, oozy mud) - all on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Wish us luck. :)

This week we are delivering every single CSA tote on Wednesday, November 27th, including Bandon and Port Orford. As a result, there is no CSA delivery on Saturday, November 30th. If you are a Bandon or Port Orford member, please mark your calendars and set a reminder to pick up your food on Wednesday next week, not Saturday!

Pick-up times will be as follows:
  • Coos Bay: unchanged, Wednesday 12 pm to 7 pm
  • Farm: unchanged, Wednesday 9 am to 4 pm
  • Bandon: Wednesday, 11 am to 5 pm
  • Port Orford: 9 am to 5 pm
We will resume our normal delivery pattern the week of December 2nd (Wednesday 12/4 and Saturday 12/7). That will be our 28th and final CSA distribution for the season.

A well of gratitude to everyone for your support of the farm this season. Happy Thanksgiving!
-->
Turkeys Gone Wild
If anyone has yet to procure a turkey for their Thursday table, might we suggest a free-range, organic wild turkey from Valley Flora? We've had a few turkeys lurking about for years, but the population exploded this season: We currently have at least three distinct roving bands at the farm, totaling around 70 birds. They've eaten their weight in cover crop seed this fall, have developed a worrisome taste for low-hanging apples and strawberries, and have made the artichoke patch their favorite dust bath hang-out. Worst of all, I fear the neighbors think I've lost my marbles because on a daily basis I'm reduced to the lunatic behavior of chasing after them, screeching, screaming, flapping my arms, zig-zagging around the farm: yes, officially, that crazy lady up the creek.

I'm sure it's some karmic retribution for every turkey I've joyfully partaken of at the end of November, but I'll admit: this many cocksure wild turkeys are a little hard to swallow. If you're interested in helping bring the population into slightly better "balance," let us know: turkey season is open through the end of December, limit two birds per person says ODF&W... :)
-->
Parsnips
For better or for worse, it was a laughable year for parsnips. We grew more than ever and harvested fewer than ever, thanks in part to some voracious rodents who tunneled their way down the rows and ate them from the bottom up. The joke was on us when we starting digging them last week and discovered nothing but air beneath the tops (yes, they left the tops, just to rub it in a little more). What that means for you is fewer parsnips this week than expected (still enough to make a side dish, at least).

It seems like parsnips fall into that same vegetable category as beets and fennel: people either love them or they hate them. For me it's both: I really enjoy eating them, seasonally, but I don't love growing or harvesting them (our veteran CSA members have heard all about my thwarted attempts to divorce parsnips for good, but here I am, still embroiled in a semi-disfunctional relationship with a root crop). I don't seek them out if they aren't at my fingertips, and once we run out on the farm, that's it until next fall for me. But while they're here, I do love eating them. In addition to the recipe I posted last week (Roasted Winter Squash and Parsnips with Maple Syrup Glaze and Marcona Almonds), there is a wonderful parsnip soup recipe from Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables by Joshua McFadden: Parsnip Soup with Pine Nut, Currant, and Celery Leaf Relish. If you don't own the cookbook, you can follow this adapted version online.  It's sweet and creamy and tangy and nutty and excellent, which unfortunately proves the parsnip worthy of all the headache. Enjoy.
-->
November/December Farmstand Hours
 
Every Wednesday, Rain or Shine
Located at the Barn
(a half mile beyond the usual location)
10 am to 1 pm


Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Week 26 of 28!

Week 26 of 28! Cauliflower! Pea Shoots! Rosalba Radicchio!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
-->


What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • Thanksgiving Veggies & Delivery Schedule
  • Rosalba and Pea Shoots
  • Recipes for Next Week!
Crates of Rosalba Radicchio coming out of the field.
 
-->
What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Leeks
  • Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Chioggia Beets
  • Pea Shoots
  • Cauliflower
  • Rosalba Radicchio
  • Delicata Squash
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Radishes
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Shallots - 1.5 lb
  • Carrots - 2 lb
  • Brussels Sprouts - 1 stalk
  • Celery - 1 bu
  • Rosemary - 2-3 sprigs
  • Parsnips - 2 lb
  • Yellow Potatoes - 5 lb
  • Butternut squash - 2 ct
  • Kale?

  •  
Thanksgiving Veggies & Delivery Schedule
Next week is Thanksgiving! I posted what to expect in your share next week under the VF Crystal Ball, including estimated quantities in case you want to do any menu planning around your CSA share. I've also posted a few Thanksgiving recipes at the bottom of the newsletter to stoke your creative Thanksgiving juices.

As for Thanksgiving delivery logistics, please read on!

In order to get all of our CSA members their food in time for the holiday, we'll deliver every single CSA tote on Wednesday, November 27th, including Bandon and Port Orford. As a result, there is no CSA delivery on Saturday, November 30th. If you are a Bandon or Port Orford member, please mark your calendars and set a reminder to pick up your food on Wednesday next week, not Saturday!

Pick-up times will be as follows:
  • Coos Bay: unchanged, Wednesday 12 pm to 7 pm
  • Farm: unchanged, Wednesday 9 am to 4 pm
  • Bandon: Wednesday, 11 am to 5 pm
  • Port Orford: 9 am to 5 pm
If you will be out of town for Thanksgiving and unable to pick up your share, we're happy to hold your tote in our cooler at the farm for pick up when you return. To make arrangements, please email us your:
  • Name
  • Normal pick-up location
  • Phone number
  • Date you plan to pick up your tote from our cooler at the farm
The week of December 2nd we will resume our normal delivery pattern (Wednesday 12/4 and Saturday 12/7). That will be our 28th and final CSA distribution for the season.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
-->
Rosalba and Pea Shoots
The shares struck me as particularly pretty as we packed out yesterday: snow white cauliflower, fuschia-pink chioggia beets, a bag of pea shoots that look like a Christmas present, and bridesmaid pink Rosalba radicchio. They were tender, girly, springtime colors - a sudden departure from the husky earth tones of late fall - and I was smitten.

Every now and then I develop a crush on a new vegetable, and right now it's Rosalba. Funny, because I'm not real big on the whole pink froufrou bridesmaid thing (I skipped that part of the wedding script) and Rosalba has some serious pink froufrou going on. I think the thing about her that intrigues me is that she's startling. We're accustomed to muddy roots and hardy squash and leathery bunch greens at this time of year. At a glance in the field, Rosalba looks like a tall, light green, loose-leaf mess of something crowded onto the bedtop. But when you bend over and begin to harvest, peeling back her outer leaves, you encounter a radiant heart that glows along a spectrum ranging from creamy yellow to shocking pink. She's unlike everything else at this time of year. But it's not just eye candy. I ribboned a head of Rosalba this weekend and soaked it in cold water for awhile to leach out any bitterness, then tossed it with some lettuce and a creamy goat cheese dressing (I added lemon zest to the dressing recipe). Sublime. (Is it weird to want to eat radicchio and goat cheese dressing for breakfast?).

I also wanted to share this recipe that a CSA member sent me two weeks ago. She was a self-proclaimed radicchio skeptic converted to fandom thanks to this: Bittersweet Roasted Radicchio with Ricotta and Dates. She admitted to uttering a groan when she saw radicchio in her tote for a second time, but then made this recipe and was so excited she emailed me.

All's to say, I hope you don't let Rosalba rot in your fridge. I know radicchio is not a gateway vegetable, but Rosalba in all her beauty seems like a gateway radicchio. Too ravishing not to eat.

And real quick: the pea shoots! Wonderful raw atop salad! I have a nephew who eschews most things green, but he eats these by the fistful!
-->
Recipes Worthy of a Feast...
This is my time in the kitchen: late fall, when darkness drives me indoors with abundant evening hours to do something with all the food that's still coming out of the field (thank goodness summer dishes up lots of things that can be eaten raw, because it also robs us of any time to cook!). I've been trying some new Brussels sprouts recipes, which might come in handy next week. And I've also pasted in some links for a few Thanksgiving favorites I think everyone should try. Of course if your inbox is anything like mine right now, there's an avalanche of Thanksgiving recipes arriving every day to tempt and inspire, so you might well already have your meal mapped out. Regardless, I hope you have fun cooking up a seasonal feast. I love to think that the farm will be part of so many Thanksgiving celebrations!

Crispy Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Shallots
I haven't tried this NYT recipe yet, but you'll be getting shallots next week and it looks like a winner.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Honey Glaze
I've made this twice in the last week and love it. It seems like the recipe quantities are a little off and you end up with a lot of glaze compared to the volume of Brussels. I compensated by adding in some roasted cauliflower.

Lemony Cauliflower with Garlic and Herbs
A bright, zingy way to not cook this week's cauliflower :)

Roasted Winter Squash and Parsnips with Maple Syrup Glaze and Marcona Almonds
A staple at our Thanksgiving table. Practically dessert.

Cornbread Dressing with Roasted Root Vegetables
An alternative take on stuffing...

 
-->
November Farmstand Hours
 
Every Wednesday, Rain or Shine
10 am to 1 pm
(No more Saturdays until next June)

Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Week 25 of 28 from Valley Flora!

Week 25 of 28 from Valley Flora! Shallots! Celeriac! Giant Kohlrabi!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
-->

What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • The Big, The Bad, and the Ugly
  • Winter Shares are Sold Out
  • Heads up: SPECIAL Thanksgiving Delivery Schedule!
Jules and Uma astride Jack and Lily on a beautiful day for fall fieldwork.
 
-->
What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Shallots
  • Butterhead Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Green Cabbage
  • Celeriac
  • Mustard Greens
  • Kohlrabi
  • Spaghetti Squash
  • Shinko Asian Pears
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Cauliflower
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Leeks
  • Carrots
  • Chioggia Beets
  • Lettuce
  • Pea Shoots
  • Chioggia Radicchio
  • Radishes?
  • Delicata squash
  • Cauliflower

  •  
The Big, the Bad, and the Ugly
I love this time of the year, when the totes start filling up with weird, freakish vegetables. It'd probably be bad for business to start the season off in June with the kind of produce you're getting this week, but I trust that after six months of eating with us you can handle the fright that a four-pound kohlrabi might give you today. It's a milestone tote: proof that you are officially a seasoned, adept locavore. You've got this.

So what's this week's challenge?

KOSSACK KOHLRABI and SHALLOTS (the "Big")!
You got some kohlrabi way back in June, but they paled in comparison to the behemoth this week. This is our storage kohlrabi and it gets huge. It's also the sweetest, most delicious kohlrabi I've tried. You can cook kohlrabi, and there are plenty of recipes to lead you down that road, but I strongly suggest using this in its raw form: peeled first, and then the raw kohlrabi world is your oyster. It makes great crudites if you want to keep it simple, but if you want it at the center of the plate, try this Kohlrabi Caesar Salad or Kohlrabi Pickles with Chile Oil. One sidenote: kohlrabi that's been cut up and then stored in the fridge tends to off-gas and it smells like a strong propane leak. Not very appetizing. If you're not going to use the whole thing at once, I suggest hacking off the amount you need and storing the other piece in the fridge in a plastic bag to reduce the amount of surface area exposed to air. When you go to use the leftover piece, you can simply shave off the cut edge and start fresh.

The shallots in your share are probably bigger than you're used to. For some reason we're able to grow mammoth sized shallots on the farm, by no special workings of our own. This variety stores exceptionally well in cool, dry conditions, up to a year!

SHINKO ASIAN PEARS (the "Bad," as in "Badass!")!
This is our latest and last variety of Asian pear. The first time they bore fruit I was disappointed: the flavor was insipid. We toyed with cutting the trees down and replacing them with something with more zing. We didn't, but the next season I was uninspired to pick them and left the fruit on the tree well into November. Passing through the orchard one day I noticed that none of the pears had dropped so I picked one and tried it. Vavavoom! Turns out they just needed some more ripening time! Now I wait until the birds start pecking at the upper fruit - always a sure sign that the sugars are up - and then we pick them, usually in early November. Crisp, juicy, sweet, refreshing. Glad we didn't take the chainsaw to them after all.

CELERIAC ("the Ugly")!
Celeriac, aka celery root, is one of those vegetables that tests your capacity to not judge a book by its cover. It's the beast of the vegetable world, with a very charming prince hidden inside. It takes either a really good veg peeler or some slick paring knife skills to reveal the creamy white heart within, but it's worth the small effort. It's a great cornerstone in soup, it roasts up fantastically, makes a yummy mash, and is also delicious shaved raw in salads. Little known and under-appreciated here in the States, it's an awesome winter staple because it keeps for a long time in cold storage.

Get inspired with this collection of celeriac recipes, ranging from soups to sides to main dishes.
-->
Winter Shares are Sold Out
It happened fast and we're so sorry if you missed the boat! Our winter production is more constrained than our main season, which makes it hard to accommodate the growing interest in winter shares. We might just have to rethink some of our crop planning in order to expand the winter CSA in the future!

Keep in mind that if you can make the trip to the farm in the winter, we will have a winter farmstand every other Wednesday from 10 am to 4 pm, starting January 8th, the same day as the CSA pickup. You can stock up on veggies of your choice, even if you aren't getting a CSA basket. We will probably also be supplying a few local outlets this winter, pending produce supply, including the Port Orford Community Coop, the Langlois Market, and possibly Mothers Natural Grocery.

Thanks so much for your support!
-->
Heads Up! Special Thanksgiving Delivery Schedule!
Hard to believe given this spate of summery weather, but Thanksgiving is just around the corner. If you are a Bandon or Port Orford member, please pay special attention because we alter our CSA delivery schedule for the week of Thanksgiving. ALL CSA totes get delivered on Wednesday, November 27th and there is no CSA delivery on Saturday, November 30th. Pick-up times will be unchanged for Farm and Coos Bay Members; I will post pick-up times for Port Orford and Bandon members next week in the newsletter.

If you will be out of town for Thanksgiving and unable to pick up your share, we're happy to hold your tote in our cooler at the farm for pick up when you return. To make arrangements, please email us your:
  • Name
  • Normal pick-up location
  • Phone number
  • Date you plan to pick up your tote from our cooler at the farm
We resume our normal delivery pattern (Wednesday and Saturday) the week of December 2nd for the 28th and final CSA distribution.
-->
November Farmstand Hours
 
Every Wednesday, Rain or Shine
10 am to 1 pm
(No more Saturdays until next June)

Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Week 24 of 28 from Valley Flora!

Week 24 of 28 from Valley Flora! Brussels sprouts! Butternuts!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
-->
What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • Fall Faves: Brussels and Butternuts!
  • Tamales this Week
  • Farewell Dear Amelia!
 
Roberto rocks a new hairstyle: the strawberry blonde mullet, all the rage in Langlois...
-->
What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Yellow Onions
  • Redleaf Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Yellow Potatoes
  • Tomatoes
  • Hakurei turnips
  • Butternut Squash
  • Green Pepper
  • Broccoli shoots
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Radishes
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Shallots
  • Carrots
  • Red Cabbage
  • Lettuce
  • Celeriac
  • Tomatoes?
  • Asian Pears
  • Spaghetti squash
  • Parsnips
  • Cauliflower?
  • Mustard Greens?

  •  
Fall Faves: Brussels and Butternuts!
When the Brussels sprouts hit the CSA share, it always feels like Dr. Seuss had a hand in the harvest. We give them out on the stalk, not a presentation that's all that common outside of farmers markets. This is our first dip into the Brussels sprouts patch and I confess I haven't even eaten any myself yet, but I'm banking on the fact that we've had some cold nights that hopefully sweetened them up enough to make you realize that Brussels sprouts actually ARE your favorite vegetable! For the sake of storage space in your fridge, I'd recommend snapping the sprouts off the stalk and keeping them in a plastic bag. They are truly like mini cabbages in that they'll store well for a long time. This recipe just came through my inbox this morning and it looks good enough that I might just have to march out into the field and log myself a stalk of B. sprouts for dinner tonight!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Warm Honey Glaze


Snugged into the bottom of your tote this week are a couple Butternut squash as well: smooth, tan, sweet, and begging to become soup. I can't think of a single thing I don't love about butternuts: they are easy to peel, they have a tiny seed cavity (= solid meat inside), they taste great, and even if they do conjure up visions of soup, soup, soup, you can use them any old way you want: roasted, steamed, mashed, pie, you name it.
-->
Tamales this Week!
Remember to grab your tamale share from the marked blue cooler at your pickup site this week. Be sure to double check the tag so you don't take someone else's dinner home! Your final delivery of tamales for the season will go out the week of December 2nd, our last CSA week for 2019.
-->
Farewell Dear Amelia!
Last week we bid Amelia a teary goodbye as she took leave of the farm after three wonderful seasons together. She shared her bright, positive energy wholeheartedly with us and we're deeply grateful for her commitment to Valley Flora, for all her hard work on the farm, and for the beautiful flowers she coaxed from the field the past two seasons. She grew and learned an enormous amount in her three seasons here and we are excited to see where her farming adventure leads next up in the Portland area.
-->
November Farmstand Hours
 
Every Wednesday, Rain or Shine
10 am to 1 pm
(No more Saturdays until next June)

Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Week 23 of 28 from Valley Flora!

Week 23 of 28 from Valley Flora! Apple Medley! Treviso Radicchio! Delicata!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
-->

What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • Treviso, Apple Medley, Delicatas
  • Winter CSA Sign-Ups!
  • November Farmstand Hours
-->
What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Leeks
  • Redleaf Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Beets
  • Treviso Radicchio
  • Romanesco
  • Kale
  • Delicata Squash
  • Apples
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Radishes
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Onions
  • Carrots
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Lettuce
  • Potatoes
  • Tomatoes?
  • Asian Pears
  • Turnips?
  • Butternut Squash

  •  
Treviso, Apples, Delicatas!
In the spirit of practice-makes-perfect, you're getting another chicory this week so you can continue honing your radicchio skills. This time it's a Treviso-type: upright, dense, and the color of a nice red wine. I'm inspired to use it in this recipe I stumbled upon last week, using the end of a loaf of sourdough from Farmstead Bread in Myrtle Point. For any of you who have not yet gotten your hands on a loaf from Farmstead Bread, you must! They sell through Coos Head Food Co-op, the Port Orford Co-Op, at various farmers markets, and a handful of other places. I'm not a big sliced bread eater - it doesn't make me feel so great - but the slow-rise wild sourdough that Farmstead handcrafts is a completely different beast. My belly loves it, my tastebuds love it, and we are incredibly lucky to have an artisan bakery of such caliber in our rural community.

Apples are finally showing up in your share this week. It wasn't a gangbuster apple year for us and because we haven't had a huge harvest of any one variety it means you're getting a medley of some of our favorites this week: Liberty (smooth, matte-red with green skin), Sweet Sixteen (large, shiny red and green skin), and Topaz (waxier skin with red streaking over yellow). Our acre-and-a-half of orchard contains 285 trees and almost a 100 different varieties, not quite half of which are apples. Most of them are varieties you'll never find in a grocery store, and all of them are apples that we chose because we love their more complex flavor (i.e. there are no Red Delicious in our orchard :)....).

And finally in your tote, the belle of the winter squash ball, Delicata! It's the favorite for good reason: this is our sweetest squash and probably the easiest and most versatile to prepare. It'll be perfect in the treviso salad recipe above, but it also stands on its own halved into boats, baked and eaten with a little pool of melting butter inside.
-->

Winter CSA Sign-Ups!!!

Remember, it's time to reserve your spot for our upcoming 2020 Winter CSA season! We have a limited number of spaces available - we offer just 40 winter shares compared to 100 main season shares - so we encourage you to sign up in a timely fashion to guarantee your spot. We'll give current CSA members a two-week priority sign-up period, through November 6th, after which we'll open it up the general public.

 
Our winter CSA has a slightly different rhythm than our main season: starting the week of January 6th we pack shares on an every-other-week schedule (weather permitting), through the week of May 11th. We have a pickup location at the farm and another in Bandon (we do not offer delivery to Port Orford or Coos Bay in the winter). You'll get ten shares total over a 20 week period, replete with a remarkable abundance of diverse seasonal produce. Over the past few years I've been amazed at the rainbow-array of food the farm can put out during the darkest, coldest time of the year. Some of our members have even confessed that they like the winter CSA better than summer... :)

To learn more and get signed up, follow this link to our website!

Thanks for eating with us year-round!
-->
November Farmstand Hours
 
Every Wednesday, Rain or Shine
10 am to 1 pm
(No more Saturdays until next June)

Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Week 22 from Valley Flora!

Week 22 from Valley Flora! Radicchio! Pumpkins! Acorn Squash!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
-->

What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • Radicchio Season!
  • Winter CSA Sign-Ups!
  • Pie Pumpkins and Acorn Squash
-->
What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Red Onions
  • Little Gem Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Tomatoes
  • Radicchio
  • Fennel
  • Hakurei Turnips
  • Pie Pumpkin
  • Acorn Squash
  • Celery
  • Chojuro Asian Pears
  • Broccoli
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Cauliflower
  • Radishes
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Leeks
  • Carrots
  • Beets
  • Lettuce
  • Romanesco
  • Tomatoes?
  • Collards
  • Apples
  • Delicata Squash

  •  
Radicchio Season!
Ever since spending a couple days with a fellow Washington farmer who is deeply passionate about chicories (the family of plants encompassing radicchio, endive, escarole and frisee), I've fallen under their spell, awed by their remarkable contribution of color, flavor and texture to our fall produce lineup. Radicchio and its chicory cousins are a wondrous thing in the shortening days of fall and the dark days of winter. They are incredibly hardy, achieving full, glorious maturity when most things on the farm are on the slimy slope of senescence. They come in a fantastic range of shapes, colors and forms: tight, freckled, cabbage-like balls; tall, smooth, wine-dark mini-obelisks; loose-leafed sprays; whorls of serration; blanched cones. Best of all, though, is the surprise that many of them hold inside, like the variety you are getting this week: a pale green exterior gives way to a core ablaze in color and designs not normally found in the vegetable world: bridesmaid pink; creamy yellow; polka dots! They are a headstrong contrast to the muted tones of fall, and I love it.

Radicchio is mildly bitter, which scares some people off, but if you play with it in the right way its bitterness can be a fantastic culinary element in a dish. When I bring radicchio home to my kitchen, I assume I'm going to do one of three things:
  1. Cook with it (yes, radicchio holds up to heat really well and cooking tempers the bitterness. People add them to risotto, soup, pasta, or seared to accompany a slab of protein).
  2. Eat it raw as a salad, paired with something sweet, something rich and something assertive (I'll candy some nuts, slice some pear, add some cheese, make a creamy vinaigrette.)
  3. Eat it raw as salad, but slice and soak it in cold water first. This step leaches out the bitterness and allows you to use your radicchio like regular lettuce.
There is a treasure trove of mouth-watering radicchio recipes on Epicurious.com, all of which make me want to hole up in my kitchen for a week and eat nothing but chicories. I hope you'll give it a chance and join the fan club of folks like me who've realized that radicchio deserves a center-stage spot on the dinner plate come fall. 
 
-->

Winter CSA Sign-Ups!!!

It's time to reserve your spot for our upcoming 2020 Winter CSA season! We have a limited number of spaces available - we offer just 40 winter shares compared to 100 main season shares - so we encourage you to sign up in a timely fashion to guarantee your spot. We'll give current CSA members a two-week priority sign-up period, through November 6th, after which we'll open it up the general public.

 
Our winter CSA has a slightly different rhythm than our main season: starting the week of January 6th we pack shares on an every-other-week schedule (weather permitting), through the week of May 11th. We have a pickup location at the farm and another in Bandon (we do not offer delivery to Port Orford or Coos Bay in the winter). You'll get ten shares total over a 20 week period, replete with a remarkable abundance of diverse seasonal produce. Over the past few years I've been amazed at the rainbow-array of food the farm can put out during the darkest, coldest time of the year. Some of our members have even confessed that they like the winter CSA better than summer... :)

To learn more and get signed up, follow this link to our website!

Thanks for eating with us year-round!
 
-->
Pie Pumpkins and Acorn Squash
Even though Halloween is around the corner, the little pumpkin in your tote this week is not really intended to become a jack-o-lantern. It's a variety that lends itself to homemade pumpkin pie. That's not to say you can't decorate the house with it for a couple weeks until the trick-or-treating is over, and THEN bake it and turn it into a scrumptious, creamy pie. You can also bake it, scoop out the flesh, and freeze it so you're one step readier for the Thanksgiving pie-baking bonanza.

You also have a couple acorn squash in the mix, ideal for cutting in half and baking, maybe heaped with a stuffing of some sort or filled up as soup tureens. Acorns have an especially tough skin, so take care when cutting them in half.
-->
October Farmstand Hours
 
Every Wednesday & Saturday (rain or shine)
10 am to 1 pm

Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Apologies for the Misfire!

96 Apologies for the Misfire!
View this email in your browser

Whoops!

We accidentally just sent our weekly freshsheet email intended for our wholesale customers (stores, restaurants, caterers) to our CSA list.

Apologies for that. Please disregard, and look for your usual Beet Box newsletter on Wednesday!
-->
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Valley Flora Freshsheet - October 21st

96 Valley Flora Freshsheet - October 21st Radicchio!
View this email in your browser

Fresh Local Produce from the Banks of Floras Creek


Fresh from the Farm This Week:
  • Radicchio
  • Fiesta and Sweet Sixteen Apples
-->
Good morning! A reminder that Abby's Greens and all baby bulk greens will only be available for Wednesday delivery for the remainder of the season (no Saturday delivery of these items).

The freshsheet is updated for the week of October 21st:

http://www.valleyflorafarm.com/content/valley-flora-freshsheet

The password is fresh


Notes on this week's harvest:
  • Head Lettuce is becoming more limited. Please check the list this week before ordering. This will be the final week for greenleaf, available only in limited quantity (no case quanitities). Redleaf should be available for another couple weeks, weather depending.
To place your order:
ORDERING DEADLINES:
  • 2 pm on MONDAY for Wednesday deliveries to Langlois, Bandon and Coos Bay (and Port Orford pickup from our cooler).
  • 2 pm on THURSDAY for Saturday deliveries to Langlois, Bandon and Port Orford.
Thanks for your business, and for choosing local produce from our family farm!

The Florettes
Bets, Abby & Zoë
-->
DELIVERY SCHEDULE

Wednesdays
  • Langlois by 10 am
  • Bandon by 12 pm
  • Coos Bay by 2 pm

Saturdays
  • Port Orford by 9 am
  • Langlois by 10 am
  • Bandon by 12 pm
Chicory season is upon us!
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Week 21 from Valley Flora!

Week 21 from Valley Flora! Savoy Cabbage! Spaghetti Squash!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
-->

What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • Don't be Scared...it's just a SPAGHETTI SQUASH!
  • A Word about Winter Squash
-->
What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Yellow Onions
  • Head Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Tomatoes
  • Savoy Cabbage
  • Red Potatoes
  • Cilantro
  • Spaghetti squash
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
  • Radishes
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Onions
  • Carrots
  • Radicchio
  • Lettuce
  • Collards
  • Tomatoes?
  • Celery?
  • Hakurei Turnips
  • Acorn Squash
  • Pie Pumpkin
  • Fennel

  •  
Don't be Scared...
This week everyone is getting a spaghetti squash, some of which might fill half your tote and weigh more than your cat, but don't be afraid! Spaghetti squash is maybe the easiest of all the winter squashes to handle, in part because the main way you handle it is pretty hands off: just bake it whole. Aside from piercing it with a knife a few times so it doesn't explode in your oven or pressure cooker, you don't have to risk life and limb try to peel, hack, slice and dice and get it recipe-ready. And if you're afraid to even stab the thing once or twice, pop it into your microwave for 5 minutes to soften it and then pierce it with a sharp-tipped knife. That is, if you can fit it in your microwave...

But speaking of recipes, there are lots of exciting ideas for how to eat a spaghetti squash, more everyday in this new gluten-free era.

If you belong to the Instant Pot or pressure cooker club, this is a pretty clever way to make "spaghetti" and sauce all in the same pot, in under an hour:
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/one-pot-turkey-bolognese-with-spaghetti

If you are a sucker for fritters (my hand is in the air right now), then try these:
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/spaghetti-squash-fritters

And if you love salami and cheese like a good Italian should, this might be right up your alley:
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/cheesy-baked-spaghetti-squash-boats-with-salami-sundried-tomatoes-and-spinach

It seem like most recipes calling for spaghetti squash use it as a vehicle for cheese, tomato sauce, and other delights. But you know, they also taste pretty good on their own if you want to just cook it naked and keep it simple.
-->
A Word (or two) About Winter Squash
I haven't given squash season it's proper introduction like I usually do. I assume a lot of you are familiar with winter squash and adept at handling them, but on the off chance that they're an entirely new kitchen adventure for you, here are a few tips:
  • Store your squash on the counter, or somewhere cool and dark with good airflow. Not in the fridge, unless you cut one in half and save some of it to cook with later. Most varieties of squash will store for weeks, if not months. The last variety you'll receive in December - Tetsu - could keep for over a year. I just had a CSA member from last year send me a picture of her 2018 Tetsu, cut in half and still perfect inside.
  • Squash skin is edible, but not necessarily palatable. The exception is Delicata, which has a thin enough skin it doesn't interfere with your eating enjoyment too much. That said, I tend to peel even my Delicatas in order to enjoy the smooth texture to its fullest. Acorns are tough to peel due to their hard ribs, so I mostly cook them in their shell.
  • When cutting into uncooked squash, be careful! If you have a microwave you can precook them for 5 minutes to soften them up and then go at it with the knife. I'm confident with a knife and we don't have a microwave, so my approach is usually:
    1. Peel with a peeler, if it's a peeling type (butternut, delicata, sunshine)
    2. Using my big kitchen knife with the sharpest, pointiest tip, I insert the tip of the knife into the belly of the squash and then carefully work the blade of the knife around the middle of the squash to cleave it in half.
    3. Once I've halved the squash, I scoop out the seeds and put the cut side down on the cutting board so it's stable. Then I slice and dice into whatever shape/size I'm after.
  • If it's a spaghetti, acorn, pie pumpkin or Tetsu, I skip the peeling step but do everything else the same.
And finally, if you want a quick read about winter squash in general - and a guide to all the different kinds - check out this link:
https://www.epicurious.com/ingredients/a-visual-guide-to-winter-squash-varieties-article

You won't see all of those varieties from us this fall, but we have grown all of them over the course of the past decade. We've narrowed our squash lineup down to the varieties that taste the best, store the best and yield the best on our farm. I hope you like them!

 
-->
October Farmstand Hours
 
Every Wednesday & Saturday (rain or shine)
10 am to 1 pm

Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Week 20 from Valley Flora!

Week 20 from Valley Flora! Romanesco! Nijiseiki! Sunshine Squash!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
-->




What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • Fall Faves: Romanesco, Nijiseiki Asian Pears & Sunshine Squash
  • Last Week of Salad Shares
  • Tamales this Week!
-->
What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Red Onions
  • Head Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Tomatoes
  • Romanesco
  • Nijiseiki Asian Pears
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Beets
  • Hakurei Turnips
  • Sunshine Squash
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Onions
  • Carrots
  • Savoy Cabbage
  • Lettuce
  • Apples
  • Tomatoes
  • Peppers?
  • Hot Peppers
  • Spaghetti Squash
  • Potatoes
  • Fennel?
  • Radishes?

  •  
Fall Faves
No, you are not hallucinating. It's just romanesco cauliflower, in all it's awesome fractal amazing-ness! It also happens to be my favorite fall Brassica: better than broccoli, better than cauliflower, better than Brussels sprouts. We've had CSA members in year's past who couldn't bear to eat it because it was too cool to look at, so here's the solution: get out your phone, take a bunch of pics - maybe some selfies with you and the romanesco together - and then cut into that puppy! I like to try to preserve those minaret-styled florets in their entirety when I disassemble the head - purely for aesthetic reasons - but no matter how you slice it, it's still going to taste fantastic tossed with some olive oil and salt and roasted until crispy-tender in the oven.

Cousin to last week's Chojuro, you're getting Nijiseiki Asian Pears this week. They are light and bright and juicy and refreshing. Not quite as intensely flavored as the Chojuro, but a lot of people prefer them for their tender texture and juiciness. They're easy eating.

Some of you veteran CSA members might recognize the scarlet-orange squash in your share this week called Sunshine. We grew Sunshine in the early years and it was one of our favorites - definitely one of the top three most popular (Delicata, Butternut and Sunshine). We relied on it as our Thanksgiving squash because it stored well, the already-delicious flavor got even more delicious in storage, and you could stuff it like a turkey! But then one year we went to pack the Thanksgiving shares and most of the Sunshine squash had rot spots. We were crestfallen! We grew it another year but had the same problem. We finally gave up on it and have been trialing replacements ever since. The problem is, there just isn't a scarlet kabocha that tastes quite as good or is as pretty to look at. So, this year I decided we'd bring it back and simply give it out sooner, before it gave up the ghost in storage. Nobody at OSU can tell us why it's succumbing to storage rot so much more easily now, but it seems to be a problem ubiquitous to most farms in our network throughout the state.

One of the best things about Sunshine is it's versatility. It has an almost tropical flavor and nice dry firmness when cooked, which makes it a fantastic centerpiece in curry. For soup, I often reach for Sunshine before Butternut. In my pressure cooker, I'll saute up some leeks, drop in a cubed, peeled Sunshine squash, add a couple cans of coconut milk and some water, add a little salt, lock the lid in place, and we have soup for dinner 6 minutes later. You can also make pie with them, or just bake them and eat them as-is (butter always welcome).
-->
Last Week of Salad Shares
This is the 20th and final week of Abby's Greens Salad Shares. Salad will continue to be available in the coming weeks at the farmstand and various outlets (Port Orford Community Co-op, Langlois Market, Mother's Natural Grocery, Coos Head Food Co-op). Many thanks to Abby for her tireless dedication to producing the most beautiful salad greens in the world!
Tamales this Week!
Tamales are going out in marked coolers this week. Please double check the tags on the bags and make sure you are taking home the dozen labeled for you. Enjoy!
-->
October Farmstand Hours
 
Every Wednesday & Saturday (rain or shine)
10 am to 1 pm

Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags and u-pick containers!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Week 19 from Valley Flora

Week 19 from Valley Flora Asian Pears & Winter Squash!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
-->

What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • Winter Squash, with a Caveat...
  • Asian Pears!
  • New Farmstand Hours Start this Week!
-->
What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Yellow Onions
  • Head Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Kale
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Cilantro
  • Asian Pears
  • Winter Squash
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Nothing this week...
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Onions
  • Carrots
  • Romanesco
  • Lettuce
  • Apples?
  • Tomatoes
  • Peppers?
  • Hot Peppers
  • Winter Squash
  • Beets
  • Potatoes
  • Radishes?
Winter Squash, with a Caveat...
We’re putting the first winter squash of the season in your totes this week, but there's a caveat. We trialed two new varieties of Delicata and one new variety of Butternut this year, all of which came out of the field two weeks ago. All three varieties were highly acclaimed and we’ve been excited to try them. But we’ve been dismayed to discover that while they’ve been curing in our greenhouse the past two weeks they’ve developed skin defects that are going to significantly shorten their storage life. Butternut and Delicata make up about half of our squash crop - because everyone loves them so much - so losing these varieties in storage would be a big hit. 
 
I took a gamble today and decided to send out our “ugly squash” this week, in hopes that you will use them ASAP and forgive us their leper looks! It chafed against every cell in my body to put ugly squash in your totes - especially for our kickoff winter squash week - but I think the eating quality is still good and I’d rather you have ugly, tasty squash than no squash at all. 
 
I’ve cut into dozens of them to see how deep the damage is and feel pretty confident that everything that is going out this week is afflicted only skin-deep. The butternuts will make great soup, and the delicatas should roast up nicely - all with the help of a peeler or a good sharp knife to take the skin off. After this round, you should see nothing but good-looking squash in your share!
 
And in case you’re worried, we’ve been handling the squash for two weeks and the leprosy doesn’t seem to be contagious. :)

(And I suppose if it is, well then we can all have a raucous party in our leper colony together, feasting on ugly butternuts till the cows come home…)
 
Thanks for your understanding. I hope you can see past their flawed exterior to the true beauty within.
-->
Asian Pears
A little gift from the orchard this week: everyone is getting my all-time favorite Asian Pear variety, Chojuro. It has a copper glow to the skin and tastes about as close to butterscotch candy as anything I've encountered in nature, only better. I like to keep my asian pears in the fridge so they retain their crisp texture and juiciness. I have a certain addiction to slicing them up and dredging them through hazlenut butter. Something about that combo sends me.
-->
New Farmstand Hours Starting October 2nd!
 
Every Wednesday & Saturday (rain or shine)
10 am to 1 pm

Fresh Produce
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags and u-pick containers!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Week 18 from Valley Flora

Week 18 from Valley Flora Happy Fall!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
-->



What's Cookin' at the Farm...
 
  • Pivot to Fall
  • Dry Farm Potatoes
  • Eggplant Chips
  • Farmstand Hours Change Next Wednesday
-->
What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Leeks
  • Head Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Potatoes
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Broccoli
  • Celery
  • Onions
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Nothing this week...
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Onions
  • Carrots
  • Kale
  • Lettuce
  • Eggplant
  • Tomatoes
  • Peppers
  • Hot Peppers?
  • Winter Squash
  • Broccoli?
  • Cauliflower?
Pivot to Fall
Nothing to prove the autumnal equinox like a Harvest Basket peppered with leeks, potatoes and celery! Happy Fall, it's soup time!

I'd say that fall has arrived gloriously, and to the sound of lawnmowers! The grass is growing again - luxuriantly - which makes all of our rancher friends and neighbors very happy. All the rain might have juicied-up this week's celery stalks as well. Celery loves water, and actually gets twice as much of it as any other crop on our farm through weekly irrigation. Even so, we've never managed to grow heads of celery that are quite as big and juicy as the ones you'll find in the produce aisle at the store. Maybe it takes four times as much water to grow something like that...No matter, what might be lacking in fat ribs is definitely made up for in flavor with our celery. In the past we've opted to harvest stalks and bunch them for you, leaving the plant to continue growing in the field. We scrapped that idea this year because it meant you never got the best part of the celery - the heart! This year we're logging whole heads instead, so get out your soup recipes, buy some cream cheese or nut butter (ants on a log anyone?), or make some homemade dip and get crunching!

You do have the key ingredients for potato leek soup this week, as well as some of the ingredients for one of my favorite, easy, amazing meals of all time, Sicilian Fish Stew.
-->
Dry Farm Potatoes
We've continued our dry farming trials with OSU this year after fairly good results from our tomato and squash experiments last year. In analyzing the 2018 data, OSU discovered that we had the highest yields of any trial site in their dry farming cohort, most likely due to the fact that it's cooler here in the summer than their other sites in the Willamette Valley. In the absence of irrigation, our plants probably experience less heat stress overall. We replicated the squash and tomato experiments again this year, and also participated in a potato trial. Most of the potatoes going out this week are from the dry farm plot, where we've had upwards of ten varieties growing since June. On the whole, the potatoes are smaller than those in our irrigated patch and some varieties have some ugly skin defects, which meant a lot of potatoes went to the food bank this week! Let us know how they taste!
-->
Eggplant Chips
I've been impressed by our CSA members this past month. Every week I've encountered someone who has shared some new, creative eggplant-coping strategy. One family pre-bakes rounds of eggplant and then uses them as mini pizza crusts (their kids love it!). Some of you have made epic quantities of eggplant parm and frozen it (and sent me tantalizing photos of it, when can I come over for dinner?!). Eggplant brownies, baba ganoush, and some of you are simply keeping up with the weekly share and are excited for more. This weekend I met a CSA member who might just take the eggplant cake. I was riding horseback out near Floras Lake and encountered a couple of hikers who immediately swooned over the horses. As we got to talking she told us she was an ex-endurance rider turned avid backpacker, and lo and behold she is a first-time CSA member this year! She told me how much she loves the CSA but immediately commented on how she had first struggled with the eggplant until a friend, fellow backpacker and veteran CSA member turned her on to eggplant chips. She dries rounds of eggplant in her food dehydrator with a little balsamic vinegar and salt until they're crispy. She says they're delicious, great dipped in hummus, and an awesome trail food. Eggplant production is slowing down but I'm going to have to try making a batch before it's too late!
-->
New Farmstand Hours Starting October 2nd!
 
Every Wednesday & Saturday (rain or shine)
10 am to 1 pm

Fresh Produce
U-Pick Strawberries & Flowers
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags and u-pick containers!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Week 17 from Valley Flora!

Week 17 from Valley Flora!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
-->



What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • Cover Crop Season
  • Valley Flora Back on the Road!
  • Special Order Sweet Peppers
-->
What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Red Onions
  • Head Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Sweet Corn
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Fennel
  • Rainbow Chard
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Nothing this week...
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Leeks
  • Carrots
  • Potatoes
  • Cauliflower?
  • Parsley
  • Lettuce
  • Eggplant
  • Tomatoes
  • Peppers
  • Hot Peppers
Cover Crop Season: Second Spring
September and October are our biggest, most important months for cover cropping. We grow cover crops in the summer as well - heat-loving species like buckwheat and sudan grass and phacelia that get tilled into our soil as green manure throughout the summer. But right now is the moment that matters the most, when we seed most of the farm into overwintering cover crops that will protect our soil through the winter and give it a boost of organic matter and nutrients in the spring. It's a bit of a dance because a lot of the farm is still covered in cash crops that have to be removed before the cover crops can be seeded in their stead. It means that we are using every sunny, dry moment between these early September storms to harvest winter squash, dry beans, popcorn, and potatoes and get them into storage. Once the cash crop is cleared, the drip lines rolled up and the crop residue disked in with the horses, we broadcast various cover crop mixes of our own making and then roll them in with our horsedrawn cultipacker (a big heavy set of metal rollers that packs the seed into the soil and gives good soil-to-seed contact for higher germination). Most of our cover crop mixes include three to four different species, including a grain or grass for high biomass production (rye, oats, triticale) and legumes for nitrogen fixation (clover, peas, vetch). What gets planted where depends on where various cash crops are going next season in our extensive crop rotation on the farm. It's a really fun puzzle to solve each year.

Over the past few years I've also been doing more and more inter-seeding of cover crops among cash crops. Our field of fall and winter Brassicas is notoriously hard to get into cover crop before it's too late (mid to late October is the deadline for successful germination on most species). We'll be harvesting from that field from now until next May, leaving no window to broadcast seed. The solution has been inter-seeding, where I drill in a few lines of cover crop between the cash crop rows before the cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage plants fill in completely (see pictures above and below). They grow up together and then once the cash crop has been harvested the cover crop continues to grow and fill in, providing important cover through the winter.

I love this work, knowing that it's the most important thing I can do for the soil health of our farm, and because it's all about harnessing up the team and falling into rhythm with my horses. And then, like magic - and with a little help from some well-timed rain - the whole farm turns from brown to various shades of green again as it grows its coat for winter in a beautiful second spring.
-->
Valley Flora Back on the Road!
You may or may not remember that the timing chain broke on our delivery van way back in early June. What you probably didn't know is that we've had to rent U-hauls every week all summer to get the food delivered. But hallelujah, we finally got our van back last night, a big relief after too many stressful and expensive weeks in mechanical limbo. It seems like there's always something each season - be it irrigation pumps, walk-in coolers, or vehicles - but after this ordeal we're hoping we've paid our break-down dues forward a few years :). We're happy to be back on the road again.
-->
Special Order Sweet Peppers!
Pepper fans! It's
your moment! Sweet peppers are available right now and they won't be around forever, so get yourself some peppers to freeze, roast, pickle, and eat like popsicles! They are super easy to put up for winter: just chop and freeze, no extra steps. You can email Bets, the Grand Poobah of Pepper Production, and give her your NAME, PICKUP SITE, PHONE NUMBER and the QUANTITY and TYPE of PEPPER you want! They are $22 for 5 pounds, and you can choose from Stocky Red Roasters (that's the red Italian type pepper in your share this week) or a mix of her various roasters: Stocky, Gypsy, and Glow (the orange pepper in your share).
 
-->
The Farmstand is Open for Summer Hours!
 
Every Wednesday & Saturday (rain or shine)
9 am to 2 pm

Fresh Produce
U-Pick Strawberries & Flowers
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags and u-pick containers!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Week 16 from Valley Flora!

Week 16 from Valley Flora! Napa Cabbage & Cipollinis!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
-->



What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • Mid-September Bounty!
  • Ratatouille Time
  • Sweet Peps - Get 'em Before They're Gone!
-->
What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Cipollini Onions
  • Head Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Dill
  • Sweet Corn
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Melons
  • Napa Cabbage
  • Beets
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Zucchini
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Onions
  • Carrots
  • Chard
  • Corn?
  • Parsley?
  • Lettuce
  • Potatoes
  • Celery?
  • Fennel?
  • Zucchini
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Peppers
Mid-September Bounty
This is always one of my favorite totes of the season: when the napa cabbage shows up alongside the sweet peppers and the cipollini onions. If you haven't had cipollinis before you're in for a treat. They are by far the most pungent onion we grow, so be prepared for a cry-fest when you cut into them. And though the tears will be flowing mightily, don't be deterred: get them cut up and into a frying pan with some olive oil. Cook them down until they're soft and carmelized and then behold the wonder! How can something that was making you cry 10 minutes ago turn into something so richly sweet!? (I thought only young love was like that.) So be warned, chances are you'll find yourself leaned over the pan spooning them into your mouth with abandon, screw the rest of the recipe you were following that began with "sautee the onions..." 
Semi-flattened gold cipollinis, mil grazie Italia!
-->
Ratatouille
Speaking of recipes you should or shouldn't be following, there is one thing that you really should be making right now, and that's ratatouille. I'm a half-beat behind in suggesting this because the zucchini is pretty much over as of this week, but it doesn't really matter because you can make ratatouille with any combination of late summer veggies, like for instance eggplant :), and also tomatoes, peppers, onions, even corn.

Ratatouille was a late summer staple in our house when I was growing up. My mom would make a big pot of it from the garden harvest and then freeze the leftover for winter meals. We usually ate it atop polenta, but you can team it up with pasta, any kind of grain or rice, alongside chicken or fish, with eggs, or eat it straight. If it's your first time making it, you might want to follow a recipe but you can also free-form ratatouille pretty easily. Also keep in mind that you if you're shy on zukes but rich in eggplant this week, just substitute. You might need more tomatoes than you have in this week's tote (the tomato yields have been disappointing for us this year), but those are pretty easy to come by in early September. Maybe your SunOrange cherry tomato plant is pumping out little candy bomb fruits by now? Yes? Toss them in!
-->
Special Order Sweet Peppers!
Pepper fans! It's
your moment! Sweet peppers are available right now and they won't be around forever, so get yourself some peppers to freeze, roast, pickle, and eat like popsicles! They are super easy to put up for winter: just chop and freeze, no extra steps. You can email Bets, the Grand Poobah of Pepper Production, and give her your NAME, PICKUP SITE, PHONE NUMBER and the QUANTITY and TYPE of PEPPER you want! They are $22 for 5 pounds, and you can choose from Stocky Red Roasters (that's the red Italian type pepper in your share this week) or a mix of her various roasters: Stocky, Gypsy, and Glow (the orange pepper in your share).
 
-->
The Farmstand is Open for Summer Hours!
 
Every Wednesday & Saturday (rain or shine)
9 am to 2 pm

Fresh Produce
U-Pick Strawberries & Flowers
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags and u-pick containers!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Week 15 from Valley Flora!

Week 15 from Valley Flora! Melon this Week!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
-->

What's Cookin' at the Farm...
  • Sweet September: Melons!
  • Eggplant Inspiration
  • Tamales this Week
  • Special Order Sweet Peppers
-->
What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Red Onions
  • Cucumbers
  • Head Lettuce
  • Carrots
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Zucchini
  • Sweet Corn
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Hot Peppers
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Cilantro
  • Basil
  • Dill
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Onions
  • Carrots
  • Cucumbers?
  • Corn?
  • Dill or Cilantro
  • Lettuce
  • Napa Cabbage?
  • Zucchini
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Peppers
Sweet September: Melons!
You might notice the absence of strawberries in your tote this week - the first time since June 10th. The picking gets slow this time of year - too slow for it to pencil out for us - so we are giving the berry patch over to the u-pickers and celebrating the arrival of a whole new ball of sugar: melon time! Abby's favorite cantaloupe, "Sarah's Choice," ripened up for us this week to soften the strawberry blow. And what a consolation prize it is! Fragrant, juicy, delicious, and quasi-miraculous given how close we are to the coast. This variety has risen to the top after years of Abby trialing and taste-testing dozens of different melons on the farm.
Sarah's Choice making us all grin at lunchtime...
The melons are a godsend because September is always bittersweet. Bitter as our kids return to school, like the songbirds flying south, and the farm becomes empty of their joyful soundtrack. Bitter as certain beloved summer crops, like cucumbers and strawberries, are on the wane and signs of senescence are all around: powdery mildew in the squash, potato vines dying back, a chill in the creek. And then, thank goodness, the sweet: melons, the promise of a good harvest of Delicata squash in a couple weeks, the orchard heavy with apples and Asian pears in the slanted evening light. It's always heart-breakingly beautiful at this time of year, moreso than other months - I suppose because we know subconsciously that the summer days are numbered.

But not to worry, Fall will rescue us from our end-of-summer melancholy, always in the nick of time, and I will remember how much I relish lighting the woodstove and making soup again.
-->
Eggplant Inspiration
I recognize that it's that time of year when some of you are struggling with eggplant. I personally made 4 large eggplants disappear on Monday night while making dinner for my family, so I'll admit I have to dig deep to walk a mile in an eggplant-haters shoes. That said, even though I can't really understand what it's like to be you, I CAN offer some extra support to help get you through this trying time. Here are a few ideas to survive the seasonal onslaught (BTW, we really did plant 33% fewer eggplant this year, but alas....):
  1. Recipes. It's not just about eggplant parm. Have you tried Baba Ganoush yet? Here's a self-described "epic" recipe for it, and it's totally freezable for later when there is zero eggplant in your life. Or this from a fellow CSA member: Grilled Eggplant with Harissa Vinaigrette. But my all-time favorite creative eggplant disappearing act is eggplant brownies. Really. Just google it. A CSA member turned us on to them last season when everyone was really getting buried in aubergine (you thought 4 eggplant was a lot.....). The creaminess of the eggplant makes for a moist, amazing brownie, and you get to claim a serving of vegetables while eating dessert.
  2. The Barter/Gift Economy. I know for a fact that there are a lot of eggplant fanatics in our CSA ranks, so if brownies can't even convince you to take your eggplant home, offer them up to a fellow member - perhaps in trade for some corn this week? You'll make someone's day.
  3. Remember, like all things Valley Flora, this too shall pass. Seasonality is our middle name. Hang in there. :)
-->
Tamales this Week
Tamales are going out in marked blue coolers this week. Be sure to take the bag that's labeled just for you! I'm thinking tamales with fresh sweet and hot peppers, tomatoes, onion, corn.....Mmmmmm-mmm.
-->
Special Order Sweet Peppers!
Pepper fans! It's time
to order bulk sweet peppers! You can email Bets, the Grand Poobah of Pepper Production, and give her your NAME, PICKUP SITE, PHONE NUMBER and the QUANTITY and TYPE of PEPPER you want! They are $22 for 5 pounds, and you can choose from Stocky Red Roasters (that's the red Italian type pepper in your share this week) or a mix of her various roasters: Stocky, Gypsy, and Glow (the orange pepper in your share).
 
-->
The Farmstand is Open for Summer Hours!
 
Every Wednesday & Saturday (rain or shine)
9 am to 2 pm

Fresh Produce
U-Pick Strawberries & Flowers
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags and u-pick containers!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Week 14 from Valley Flora

Week 14 from Valley Flora Pepperpalooza!
Thanks for eating locally from our family farm!
View this email in your browser
-->



What's Cookin' at the Farm...
 
  • Halfway!
  • Sweet Peppers are On!
  • And the U-Pick Just Keeps Giving...
-->
What's In Your Share This Week:*
  • Walla Walla Sweet Onions
  • Cucumbers
  • Head Lettuce
  • Strawberries
  • Carrots
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Zucchini
  • Collards
  • Sweet Peppers
On Rotation:
(Some locations will receive it this week; others in a future week)
  • Heirloom Tomatoes
  • Green Beans
  • Cilantro
  • Basil
*Harvest Basket contents may vary between pickup sites in a given week depending on what's ripe and ready on the farm. Don't worry - if something is on the list but not in your tote, you'll get it soon!

The VF Crystal Ball - What might be in your share next week...
  • Onions
  • Carrots
  • Cucumbers
  • Corn
  • Basil or Dill
  • Lettuce
  • Strawberries
  • Zucchini
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Peppers
  • Hot Peppers
Halfway!
The totes are a little lighter this week, whew. I'm guessing most of you could use a small reprieve after last week's wheelbarrow full of produce (I hope no one sustained any back injuries lugging their veggies home...).

This week marks the tipping point into the second half of our CSA season: 14 weeks down, 14 more to go. Some of my favorite things begin to show up in the coming month, like sweet peppers! melons! more corn! The confluence of summer and fall makes for the best eating of the whole year, always. And for those of you who think the CSA season couldn't possibly go all the way into December, this is your reminder to mark you calendars: the final week of the CSA will be the week of December 2nd (December 4th for Coos Bay and the Farm, December 7th for Bandon and Port Orford).
-->
Sweet Peppers are On!
Which means two things if you are me:
  1. Eat as many peppers as humanly possible, for as long as possible, everyday while they are in season.
  2. Order yourself a bulk batch of peppers so you can continue to eat as many peppers as humanly possible, including all winter (in frozen, roasted and pickled form). To do so email Bets, the Grand Poobah of Pepper Production, and give her your NAME, PICKUP SITE, PHONE NUMBER and the QUANTITY and TYPE of PEPPER you want! They are $22 for 5 pounds, and you can choose from Stocky Red Roasters (that's the red Italian type pepper in your share this week) or a mix of Stocky, Gypsy (pictured below), and Glow (the orange pepper in your share).
-->
And the U-Pick Just Keeps Giving!
We opened up another couple beds to u-pick today, making for the most u-pick space of the whole season. There is still a lot of fruit coming out of the field, red and ripe and sweet! Take note that the late summer and fall strawberries always have a shorter shelf life, so we recommend either keeping them refrigerated or putting them in your freezer or jam pot right away. With school starting next week, we anticipate less traffic in the u-pick patch, which means the fruit should be ample and the crowds a little thinner.
-->
The Farmstand is Open for Summer Hours!
 
Every Wednesday & Saturday (rain or shine)
9 am to 2 pm

Fresh Produce
U-Pick Strawberries & Flowers
Homemade Jam & Hot Sauce

Please bring your own bags and u-pick containers!

Directions to the Farm
For Recipes & Cooking Inspiration:
 
Valley Flora Recipe Wizard
Our own collection of recipes gathered over the years.
 
Epicurious
A vast collection of recipes, searchable by one or multiple ingredients
 
Full Belly Farm
Recipes from one of my favorite farms in California, pioneers of the organic movement since the 80s.

Farm Fresh to You
A storehouse of recipes, searchable by ingredient.
 
Helsing Junction Farm
A Washington farm that has a good collection of seasonal recipes geared toward CSA members.
Copyright © 2019 Valley Flora, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

Pages