Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm. Welcome to Week 22 of our CSA. This is the last week of the CSA.
First Farmer Don and I both want to thank each and every
member for their support! It is you, our
community, our members and friends of the farm, who enable us to do what we
do. Thank you for allowing us to
"share the harvest" with you!
Thank you also to all of our site hosts, our volunteers and
our employees. Without this support
system we would not be able to do what we do.
The amount of work which goes on behind the scenes by these individuals
is huge. Their hard work makes it
possible for us to get our vegetables, eggs, and chicken to all of you.
Our work and our sharing of the harvest is not over for
2015. As with last year, we will again
be offering a pay as you go winter buying club for as long as the weather
allows us to harvest. This buying club
operates a bit differently than the buying club associated with our CSA. First, we do not drop boxes at central pick
up sites or at individual homes.
Instead, we meet customers at designated time, at a designated
spot. The window for ordering is a bit
different as well. Ordering opens on
Tuesdays at 5 am and closes on Thursdays at 6 am. Deliveries are made on Friday night to
Bloomsburg and Saturday mornings to Dallas, Forty Fort and Mountain Top. You can pick up on farm as well, any time
after 4 on Friday or anytime on Saturday or Sunday. To participate in the buying club, you will
need to purchase a free buying club membership.
Also we need to activate your account before you can order. I try to check the website regularly to
activate individuals, but there will be a delay between registering for this
option and being able to order. As
always, if you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Yesterday was our annual running of the pigs here on
farm. Our pigs spend their summer high
on the hill above our farm. Each fall we
are faced with the challenge of moving these now large hogs off the hill and
into our barn. Some years the run goes
smoothly, other years not so. This was
one of the not so smoothly years. These
pigs have been unusually ornery all season and they really decided to express
their independence yesterday. Eventually
they ended up in the barn, but I am not sure wrestling pigs was an activity our
volunteers expected. Thank you to Mike,
Joyce, Phil, Matt and Kirk for your help.
Without you, I am sure the pigs would still be in the orchard!
Planning for the 2016 CSA is underway and registration
should open in the next week or so.
Please watch your email. As I
have indicated, we are making some changes to for next year. First and foremost we will be limiting our
CSA membership this year to 75 members. Memberships
are reserved once payment is received.
We are changing on farm pick up day from Thursday to Tuesday. Our base CSA price, for pick up on farm, and
our price for shares delivered to a central pick up site will remain the
same. We will however be increasing the
price for home delivery and for egg shares.
We will also be consolidating some of our delivery sites. New this year will be a chicken share. Chickens will be delivered once a month for
the CSA season, with a total of 6 deliveries.
Each delivery, you will receive 2 chickens, one whole and 2 halves. In addition, twice during the season (most
likely in June and November) you will receive a stew hen. Details, including pricing and delivery
location changes, will be announced in an upcoming newsletter and will be
posted to our website. As with past
years, we will be offering an early bird discount and a returning member
discount for 2016.
Pork. Our own Apple Orchard Pork should be available on our
buying club around December 1, if not earlier.
This year all ham and bacon will be cured using a nitrate free
cure. We still have a very limited
amount of bulk/freezer pork available.
If you are interested in bulk pork, please contacted us. Bulk Pork should also be available around
December 1, if not before.
I’m not sure if anyone watches WNEP’s Home and Backyard, but
last week our friends at The Blind Pig Kitchen in Bloomsburg were featured. The Blind Pig is a relatively new farm to
table restaurant in Bloomsburg. Owners
Sarah and Toby are committed to sourcing their ingredients from local farms and
producers. This includes purchasing CSA shares
from us here at Dancing Hen Farm. Here
is a link to the Home and Backyard segment. http://wnep.com/2015/11/07/the-blind-pig-recipe-stuffed-chicken-breast-with-chanterelles-and-leeks/
Boxes! We will make
one last trip to our central pick up sites to collect boxes. Please try and return any boxes to your pick
up site. We will also accept boxes at
our buying club pick ups or on the farm.
So, I sign off for the CSA season, but I will continue to
send out weekly emails as long as our buying club is operating and periodic
emails after that. If you want to keep
up with farm news, we post regularly on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dancing-Hen-Farm/111155465564952)
and to our blog (http://www.dancinghenfarmcsa.blogspot.com/).
Be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies.
No comments:
Post a Comment