Welcome Back to White Barn Farm CSA!
Ha! We’re Back! (that’s a little Car Talk reference)
We want to welcome you back to White Barn Farm CSA for another rousing round of “How to Use those Veggies”!!!!
I thank all of you for so graciously letting us fall off the face of the earth for two months without one blog entry about our travels. More importantly, thank you for so patiently waiting for an email confirming that back at the farm, Grammie has been checking the mail, filing commitment forms, and depositing your checks.
Just for a little chit-chat, our winter roadtrip was excellent. The goal of our trip was to see all the friends and family that we never get to see (even when they come visit us and we’re too busy farming to stop and play!). Without getting too long-winded too fast, we basically made a loop of the country, visiting every state in the perimeter of the contiguous US except Maine, North Dakota, Washington, and Oregon. We got to reunite with old friends, spend good leisure time with family, see how beautiful our whole country is, including places we had kind of negative preconceived notions about. We are so impressed with how nice everyone is everywhere and how much we like our country, despite it all. Our zeal for food and drink and the lack of an exercise bike built into the passenger seat of our Subaru have rendered both Chris and me a little bit larger than when we left. I have reached a new height of “muffin top” and boy, am I ready to get working again! I am thrilled to be able to get back into a healthy routine and have a kitchen to make good food in!! We got back late Thursday night and flopped into our bed. Friday morning we checked out the farm. A few flapping tarps were out of place. The frozen, never harvested red cabbages looked like little goblins, with their dead leaves fallen to the ground around their heads like a cape. The big greenhouse is hot when it is sunny and the little greenhouse is still growing spinach, which my family assures me tastes delicious, despite its sad appearance, in my opinion. The root cellar had a few survivors – enormous Gilfeather Turnips were miraculously still hard as a rock and some potatoes are left too. Our garlic is in decent shape, shallots held up like champions, and there’s a decent array of yellow and some red onions. Saturday morning we visited the Winter Farmers Market in Pawtucket and found some similar suspects, but it was the end of the market and I think most of the greenery flew off the stands before we arrived. We found some good yogurt and feta from Narragansett Creamery, a whole chicken, a dozen eggs, some pea tendrils and several old friends. Then it was off to Whole Foods to round out the grocery trip. Hurray for beets, celery root, sweet potatoes, parsley, scallions, cilantro, celery, and carrots! We are rejuvenated, even invigorated and our potting soil gets here Wednesday and seeding begins in the greenhouse next week!
I want to reiterate a few changes to the CSA this year. All shares will be boxed this year, so you just pick up your box at the farmstand between the hours of 3pm and 7pm on your pick-up day. We will have our farmstand open to the public during those hours, both Tuesday and Friday. We will still do our Saturday morning market at the same location, Saturdays 10-2. We are not offering flower shares this year, but there should be cut flowers available at the stand during all of the markets. I want to do a good job of making a “display share” each week at the pick-up site so you can see what is in the share without rooting through the box – that way you can ask questions or use the take-it-or-leave-it box, which I also aspire to instituting for real this year! Please hold me to these aspirations, everyone! I think they are good ideas that will help you more fully enjoy your shares.
Next, I will email you all individually, confirming your pick-up day and the balance due for the share. We thank you so much for putting your faith in us again!
It’s good to be home and I look forward to seeing you all again!!!
Christy and Chris at White Barn Farm