Happy New Year!

Greetings and Happy New Year from Dancing Hen Farm!

Hopefully everyone enjoyed the mild November and December.  Last night brought a bit of winter with some snow and sleet and temperatures are to be in the 30’s over the New Year holiday.  But, the long range forecast is for warmer than usual temperatures next week.  We are not complaining, at least not yet, here on farm.  Our greens are still surviving under cover and like everyone we are thankful for lower utility bills.  I have to admit, the mud is starting to wear on me a bit and being a bit of a worrier, I am worried about the effect this mild weather will have on our farm ecosystem. 

This time of year, when we open up our CSA for sign up, is always rewarding for Farmer Don and I.  It is so nice to see so many new and returning members signing up for next season’s CSA.  Thank you to everyone who has signed up and remitted payment for a CSA share.  If you have not yet signed up, there is still time to take advantage of our early bird discount of $30.   The early bird discount expires January 31.  We also offer a returning member discount of $20.  The returning member discount does not expire.  We utilize these early memberships to help us raise funds for farm supplies.  Our supplier offers a fairly large discount for orders placed during the winter months and without this early support we would be unable to take advantage of this offer. 

We are excited to be offering a new addition to our CSA.  This year we will be offering a chicken share.  This is an add-on share to our main vegetable shares.  Members purchasing chicken shares will receive chicken 6 times during the main csa season.  Each delivery will include one full chicken and two halves.  In addition, you will receive a stew hen with the last chicken delivery. 

Please watch your email for the continuation of our winter buying club.  If the weather holds, we should still have greens to harvest.  Our chickens are still laying, so we should also have eggs, in addition to chicken and pork to offer.  This winter buying club is separate from the buying club associated with our CSA.  To participate in the winter buying club, you will need to sign into our website and purchase a free winter buying club share.  As always, if you have questions, please contact us. 

In our kitchen, Farmer Don has been the chef recently.  We received some new cookbooks for Christmas and he has already been making recipes from them.  Last night he made some delicious parmesan encrusted pork chops, roasted potatoes and spicy sweet and sour sautéed cabbage.  We generally have a roast chicken once a week.  The chicken bones are then utilized to make a broth base for some soup or stew.  We are, of course, planning a traditional pork with sauerkraut for New Year’s Day.  Pork and sauerkraut is one of my favorite meals!!!

With so many new faces signing up on our website, I thought I would again remind everyone of our internet presence.  I am sure most everyone has found our website at www.dancinghenfarm.com.  In addition we also have a farm facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/Dancing-Hen-Farm-111155465564952/ ),  a blog (http://dancinghenfarmcsa.blogspot.com/ ) and a pinterest site (https://www.pinterest.com/dancinghencsa/ ).    I try to update facebook and the blog regularly.  Pinterest is a bit of a work in progress and is one of my projects for this winter.

Time to give this newsletter to Farmer Don for a proof read.  Welcome new members and thank you to everyone for your support.