Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Buying Club Open


Greetings from a chilly Dancing Hen Farm!

Buying club ordering is now open.  Ordering closes tomorrow, Thursday, at 5 am, with deliveries this weekend.  Deliveries will be Friday night to Bloomsburg and Saturday to Dallas (10 to 10:30), Forty Fort (11 to 11:30) and Mountain Top (12 to 12:30).  On farm pick-ups will be available anytime after 2 pm on Friday.

Buying club availability includes a good supply of 2018 Dancing Hen Farm Apple Orchard Pork, including bacon and pork chops.  We also have Dancing Hen Farm pastured chicken (halves and wholes) and eggs available.  Our chicken remains very popular and we do not anticipate our supply to last through the winter, so you may want to consider ordering some now, if you have freezer space.  We also have limited amounts of fresh cooking and salad greens and storage crops available.

I just realized this is our last Buying Club delivery before Thanksgiving, so you may want to stock up on some items for the holiday feast!  This year Farmer Don raised a few turkeys on farm.  A first for Farmer Don and a first for our farm.  The turkeys have been fun to watch.  They think Farmer Don is the "leader of the band" and follow him around.  The turkeys have a strange awkward, but almost graceful way of moving.  I like to say they look like dinosaur ballerinas. 

Time to move on to the next task.  Maybe next week's newsletter will be a bit longer?  Until then:  Be safe, be well and don't forget to count your blessings.

 

Monday, November 5, 2018

CSA Week 20 Newsletter


Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

This is Week 20, the final week of our 2018 CSA.  Week 20 boxes will be delivered tomorrow, November 6th.  Week 20 is not an egg week.  After this week's delivery, we will be transitioning to our winter buying club. 

It seems only fitting that we started and now end our 2018 season with a very wet harvest and pack.  And what better way to end our season but with a word of thanks.

First "Thank You" to all our farm helpers.  These individuals show up no matter the weather or the task and give us their all to keep our farm going and our CSA boxes filled.  So Thank You, Phil, Annie, Stacy, Lori, Ken, Nancy and Joyce.
 
Here is to each of these workers:

As you know from last week's newsletter, Phil works Mondays in our pack house and also helps at market and helps with deliveries.  Annie is a long time friend of both Farmer Don's and mine.  Annie has been our "jack of all trades" this season.  Each week she and her Golden Retriever companion, Bella, spend a night or two sleeping on our floor and working on farm.  Annie faithfully works, harvesting, packing and diligently completing any task Farmer Don finds for her to do, even when he hides the tools.  Stacy is one of our work share workers and is our ace chicken catcher.  When not catching chickens, Stacy can be found harvesting and tending our field crops.  Lori works "second shift" here on farm.  She arrives late in the afternoon on Monday and works into the night packing CSA boxes for Tuesday's deliveries.  Ken is another work share and worked early season.  When not weed wacking, Ken can be found preparing and planting fields.  Nancy is our delivery driver.  She arrives early Tuesday morning and she and Phil spend  the day distributing boxes to our CSA members.  Nancy also does flower bouquets for sale at our farm markets.  Joyce is a true friend of the farm, volunteering most every Monday to help with harvest.  She works through the bugs and the heat, without complaint, even when Farmer Don assigns her scallions to harvest each week.

I also want to thank our site hosts.  These individuals voluntarily offer us space in their businesses or homes for our use.  These drops sites are integral in getting CSA boxes to our customers.  So, thank you to Chris and Meredith, Stephanie, Bloom Naturally, Guy, The Whole Life Center for Health, Gwen, Crestwood Pharmacy,  and Balance Yoga.
   
If you see any of these individuals, please thank them for all of their hard work.

I also want to, again, thank each of you.  Thank you for your support of our small family farm.  Thank you for your support of the local economy and local sustainable agriculture.  Without you, our members and friends of the farm, we would not be able to what we do. 

Now some logistics for this final week and our upcoming buying club deliveries.

Boxes.  Please return your boxes to your pick up site.  Farmer Don will be out and about to pick the final boxes up once the season is over.
 
Buying Club:  We will be delivering buying club orders this weekend.  Buying club ordering opens Tuesday morning and ends Thursday morning.  We will have 2018 Apple Orchard Pork and pastured chicken available.  We will also have a limited supply of eggs, greens and storage crops available.  To participate in this buying club you will need to "purchase" a free buying club membership.  Please note there will be a delay in purchasing a membership and when you can place orders, as your account will need to be activated.  Watch for a separate email to buying club members detailing this week's ordering.  If you have questions concerning the buying club, please do not hesitate to contact us at the farm.

As summer fades into fall and fall fades into winter, so does our 2018 season fade away.  Time for rest, reflection and rejuvenation.

"and we bid you, goodnight, goodnight, goodnight.