June 1, 2004

Welcome You-Pick Harvest CSAnything (Add-Ons) Farm Updates Recipes

Welcome CSA Members!

Happy June! Welcome to a brand new season and the second year of Arcana’s CSA project. We are delighted to be providing new and returning members with another year of fresh, organic produce each week. If you have any requests, suggestions, or feedback of any kind, please don’t be shy! We love to hear from our members, and we take your input very seriously.

We’d like to remind everyone that pick-up is from 3:00 to 6:30 every Tuesday. Please try to be here by 6:30, because at the end of the day we’re tired, hungry and ready to go home. For the month of June we will “pre-bag” your shares. This is for our own convenience, as we are still actively selling seedlings from our retail greenhouse and customer traffic is still quite high. If you do not pick up your bagged share (June) on Tuesday we will hold it until the following day, but it will obviously not be as fresh . After Wednesday any unclaimed bags will be donated to the food shelf. We are really looking forward to July, when we will be laying the produce out on tables for you to select and weigh for yourselves. The harvest tables should be a veritable cornucopia! From July through the end of our CSA season (mid-October), Tuesday is the one-and-only pick-up day; no shares will be held or set aside for “no-shows.” If you can’t make it, CALL AND INFORM US. You are welcome to send a friend or neighbor in your place to pick up your share as long as you tell us ahead of time.

U-Pick

We will inform you as soon as the U-Pick area is ready for U to Pick. At the request of last years’ CSA members, the crops in the U-pick area will be well labeled for your convenience. There will always be someone available to help you when you come to harvest your own goodies out of this area. U-pick times will be Tuesdays 3:00 to 6:30 and Saturdays from 12:00 to 6:00.

Crops in the U-pick: Strawberries, beans (several varieties), peas (shelling, snap, snow), cherry tomatoes, pineapple tomatillos, tomatillos, some chili peppers, sunflowers, zinnias, black-eyed Susans, herbs (in boxes): cilantro, dill, basil, rosemary, thyme, mint, chives, savory, oregano, marjoram, bay, and sage.

This Week’s Harvest:
Head lettuce, some mixed greens, edible flowers, cucumbers, basil

back to top

CSAnything!

We are very excited to have you all “aboard” our CSA this season. We have expanded significantly in membership size as well as in the number of add-on items we are offering to you. There are some items that will surely be available and others that will only be available if there is enough demand. The majority of the additional items we are offering will be available on a subscription basis. In other words, you prepay and then receive your allotted amount(s) in a time-dispersed manner (e.g. every week, every other week). Items will be priced on a pro-rated basis depending on the number of weeks of delivery, so the prices indicated below may vary due to the date you sign up. The LAST date to place orders will be June 22nd. I will give you pricing and availability updates each week for items that don’t yet have a price and/or are dependent on sufficient demand. In accordance with the spirit of CSA, orders placed cannot be refunded. Purchasing local products in this way provides much-needed support to local producers. We hope you agree with this philosophy and choose to take advantage of the many delicious products available to you through our CSA.

We can assure the availability of the following items:

Organic Bread (Red Hen Bakery) – 2.5 lbs. loaf every week at $5/wk. These special CSA loaves are not available in stores and alternate every week between a “standard” loaf, and surprise loaves. Last year this system was a big hit and we received many raving reviews. The standard loaf is a light, whole wheat bread made from grain that is grown and milled in VT! In the past surprise loaves have included maple walnut, rye pumpkin seed, and apple.

Organic Goat Cheese (Doe’s Leap) – Approximately 8 oz per week. They give members a rotation of their delicious cheeses. You can purchase full or half shares. A full share means you’d receive cheese every week with pick-up. A half share means that you’d receive cheese every other week. A full share is $90 for the full season (20 weeks of cheese) and a half share is $50 for cheese every other week (10 weeks of cheese).
Top Quality Eggs (Vermont Compost Co.) – These awesome eggs will be available for the price of $3.25 per dozen. These will be available starting next week.

Fair Trade Organic Coffee (Vermont Coffee Company) – These luscious coffees are available in 1 lb. bags only. They are available in Dark Roast, Mild Roast, and Decaf. Dark and Mild are $8.00/lb. Decaf is $10.00/lb.

Organic Free-Range Chickens and Turkeys (Erik’s Pastured Poultry) – These yummy birds will be available some time in September, but need to be pre-ordered. We are also still figuring out logistics and pricing. So please let us know if you are interested and we’ll keep you posted about the pricing. Erik may also have beef and pork available towards the end of the season, but is not certain of this due to the fact that he and his wife are expecting a baby and they also just moved!

Here are the items that will be available if there is enough demand:
Organic Sheep Cheese, Sheep Yogurt, Lamb, and Beef (Willow Hill) – If we can get 10 people to buy Willow’s award winning sheep cheeses then we can make them available to you. Also if we can get 12 people interested in buying her award winning sheep yogurt then we can make that available, too. If we cannot get enough people together, offering these items will not be possible. The lamb and beef might not have minimum quantity limits, but we do not know as of now. Of all her products the only one we have a definite price on is the yogurt which is $4/pint.

We will also be selling local raw honey from Hinesburg as well as many of our own value-added products during CSA pick-up if you are interested (herbal tea, herb blends, jelly and jam, salsa). Those would be available for on-site purchase.

back to top

Farm Updates:

• Cool and wet weather has been good for the greens, but other crops are coming on slower. Some decent sunshine will give them all a boost!
• Two weeks for brassicas
• Radishes next week
• Seeding and planting of U-Pick area will be finished soon.
  

CSA Bulletin Board:

Are you looking for a good chiropractor? Or maybe a morning school for you preschool age child?Look no further than among your new CSA community! Arcana has a CSA bulleting board so CSA members may advertise their skills, services and wares to each other. Please feel free to post business cards, etc. on the board. Through your support of Arcana, you can support each other! Arcana will also post any CSA related information on the board for your convenience.

RECIPES:

Milo's Carrot Cake
1½ C canola oil
4 eggs
1 C maple syrup
1½ C buttermilk
3 C grated carrots
1 C chopped nuts
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1½ C flour
1 T ground cinnamon
1 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t allspice

Preheat oven to 300 F

Butter a 8 by 16 pan, at least 2 1/2 inches deep.

Blend wet ingredients, carrots & nuts in a large bowl. Sift the powder, soda and spices with the flour and gently stir it all into the mix a cup at a time until smooth.

Pour into prepared pan and bake one hour. Cool thoroughly before frosting. Garnish with orange zest.


Cream Cheese Frosting
6 oz cream cheese
4 T butter
2 C powdered sugar
2 t natural lime or orange extract
finely grated lime or orange zest.

Let the dairy ingredients warm to room temperature. Cream everything together until smooth (use a food processor if possible). Sprinkle with zest.

Cucumber Raita
6 large thin-skinned cucumbers *
1 pint yoghurt
1 head garlic, peeled and chopped
1 bunch cilantro, parsley or chives
1 T ground cumin
2 t salt

Cut the cukes lengthwise and remove the seed with a spoon, then slice them very thin (good job for a food process1or). Purée the garlic and herb and mix into the cukes along with the remaining ingredients. Allow to sit for at least an hour before and mix into the cukes along with the remaining ingredients. Allow to sit for at least an hour before serving.

* Regular cucumbers can be substituted if peeled.

Serves about 15


Spring Herb Creamy Salad Dressing
3/4 C salad oil
1/4 C vinegar
2 T water
1 t minced crushed garlic
1/3 C minced fresh herb
1/2 C sour cream
salt to taste

Pick an assortment of herbs and remove any tough stems Mince the herbs and garlic to avoid any stringiness or lumps, and purée everything together (preferably in a blender or food processor). Allow it to sit for at least 1/2 hour before serving to allow the flavor to develop. Pour into a pint bottle, shake before serving.

Makes about 1 pint

~Murray Self

back to top