Visions of flowers… but no sugarplums

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Did you know that this week was CSA Week?

(if you’re not familiar, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Originally, community members – customers – would pre-pay in the winter for a share of a farmer’s harvest that spring/summer/winter. This would make it possible for the farmer to buy seeds and supplies without getting a loan from the bank. We no longer use that pre-pay method, but many farms still do)

A few years ago a lot of CSA farmers said that they sold the most CSA shares in the last week of February, and thus CSA Week was born.

I think they must have only interviewed California farmers or something, cause the end of February does not bring visions of summer food to my mind.

It’s just too dark and cold at the end of February to be thinking of anything except getting through February. (normally. This February’s warmth was unusual. We even had all the tunnel doors open this week so the plants didn’t get too hot!)

And then today hit and all the doors are closed and the heaters are running again.

Unfortunately, the warmth did its damage, and some plants are breaking dormancy too early.

Exhibit A: one of the plum trees actually started blooming – a month early! This weekend’s cold will kill any open blossoms though, meaning no plums from them.

And since the plum crops have been dismal the last few years, a few frozen blossoms matter.

But even though I think the end of February is one of the most idiotic times to try to convince people that they should eat local vegetables and fruits this summer, I’m still going to use CSA Week to my advantage, and give you the deets on this year’s Flower CSA.

Yes, I finally have information on the Flower Shares.

You can thank the tulips that are starting to hint at color for pressuring me (and the doomed plums).

No, you can’t sign up yet. This is just information.

Sign-ups will go live Saturday, March 11th at 9 am. You will be able to sign up online, in-store, or over the phone.

We have more shares available this year, so we shouldn’t sell out in minutes again. But I don’t recommend dawdling on your sign-up (why I’m giving you the information now so you have time to think about it).

If I get my rear in gear, you’ll be able to see the description and more information on the CSA page by early next week. By next week’s email at the latest. But the short rundown is:

• The Flower share will run from May 1st through October 14th.
• You’ll see tulips, peonies, lilacs, calendula, sunflowers, lisianthus, gladiolus, dahlias, rudbeckia, and more throughout the season.
• Pick up at the farm or any of the CSA delivery locations weekly or every other week.

Some salad turnips wanted to get on the flower bandwagon too.

Some seasonal inspiration:

​Skillet Breakfast Potatoes​

​Broccoli Salad​

​Sauteed Radishes with Vinegar and Herbs​

​Braised Red Cabbage and Apples​

​Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Apple Bites

Open Tue-Fri 9-6, Sat 9-5. 

Closed Sunday & Monday.

This is one of the weekly newsletters that is emailed out every Saturday night (no more, no less). If you liked the information make sure you sign up so you can get Elizabeth’s (sometimes snarky) writings delivered right to your inbox. You can read it on the website – obviously – but a copy of the newsletter isn’t posted to the website until several weeks later.