From CSA Pasture…
Dear Members, CSA order reminder for April 12th,
We are writing this reminder for our delivery coming up on Saturday, April 12th. The order deadline is on Monday, April 7th at midnight. We thank you for indulging us these days for preparation of the orders as the number of farms we coordinate with has increased and the number of orders has increased. Thank you for your support, we love our farm life, as busy as it can be at times!
News from the farms…March
In like a lion….. snow, rain, snow, rain… The greenhouse filled up with water for hopefully the last time this year. All the humidity seemed to help the leek seeds sprout in their pots. The cabbages and spinach are slowly pushing up from the chill of the soil. The lettuces and tomatoes are still too cold to show their leaves. Each day we keep thinking that the temperature will be above freezing – and then it creeps to 36! Hopefully this is a sign that this year will be a great maple syrup season. We are beginning to be glad to see the snow receding into the woods and the shady nooks. It still coats the upper pastures on the north side of the hills. The great ruts of mud in the dirt road and dirt drives between the barns are drying out and flattening the more we drive on them. You can begin to see the reddening of the trees as the buds begin to swell, whereas all of you in NYC must already be seeing willow leaves and forsythia blooms. Here the ground is still frozen so trying to make the changes to the pig fence around the shed are still tough. It is so much easier to pound in new fence posts when the ground is soft. BUT… we are going away for a few days and getting to see some scenery, friends and family in Maine, Massachusetts and winding up our trip at the JustFood Conference and CSA Fair on Saturday, March 29. If any of you are attending, please be sure to find us and say hello. We always have a great time at this event and love to see the great exchange among the Farmers, CSAs, and other interested foodies!
The new Barn room for packing all your orders is being painted with antique white wall and trim and either a medium blue or soft green for the old doors we hung on the entrance, closets and the newly built doors to the freezer area and the upstairs storage area.
The cows, horses and pigs are starting to wander and look for opportunities to graze; soon we’ll be walking all the fence lines to check for downed trees and branches on the wires. We also spend some time walking and cranking, walking and cranking, walking cranking the winder/spinner of the hand seeder splaying clover seed in swaths back and forth across the pastures. When the ground is still heaving each day with frost at night and warmth in the day, the seeds are more easily and
We can finally see to the back of the barn and sheds for the last of the hay bales ready to feed. We always have ads in the papers these days offering to buy hay in case we run out before the grass gets growing well. That gives us a few folks to call just in case.
The garden will be warming up (hopefully) while we are away and perhaps the perennial onions will be ready to eat when we get back. A few stray spinach, arugula and kale plants have bravely lived through the winter under the row cover. These will be our early greens if they are happy enough to keep growing.
While we are away, Chris will be here to answer any questions, emails, and help with any websites problems or forgotten passwords. It has been invaluable to have her here helping this past year. I have been able to accomplish so much more with her help for the myriad of computer tasks we have: keeping our inventory, updating order forms, entering orders, entering weights after packing, coordinating with the farms, setting up the reminder emails and a host of other details. She has made the volume of delivery tasks a much easier routine by getting much of it done sooner than in the past in an organized and logical manner.
When we all do what we do best, the job gets done. Once in a while, we make a mistake, forget something or get it wrong but we really do try to get every order correct. Between all the items offered by all the farms and bakers, we pack between 700 and 1000 pieces per delivery these days. Please do not hesitate to let us know when something is amiss, and we’ll do our best to make it right, offer a credit or a replacement. We hope to please and hope you are happy with our products.
New this month!
West River Creamery – Cheese, Cow’s Milk and Goat’s Milk is offering two new cheeses that are exceptional. Glebe Mountain Swiss, a Natural rind, baby Swiss, 4 - 5 months aged. It’s texture is smooth, flavor is buttery and explodes with a nutty tang. Smoked English Cheddar which is a Farmhouse cheddar gently smoked with Applewood and hickory
Our other farms are still offering their products:
Delicious Bread baked at Rock Hill Bakehouse shown under Bread, European style. The New flavor this month is Sundried Tomato.
Hand made artisan cheeses from 3 Corner Field Farm - Cheese, Sheep’s Milk and Yogurt and from Consider Bardwell Farm – Cheese, Goat and Cow’s Milk and West River Creamery – Cheese, Cow’s Milk and Goat’s Milk. Gillis Acres Farm raises Alpine goats and offers their farm made dairy items under the Cheese, Goat’s Milk category. They make chevre in 4 flavors, tomme, feta, blue cheese, aged cheese, cottage cheese, kefir, yogurt in 3 flavors and bottle pasteurized goat milk.
All Natural Chicken, Duck and Turkey - whole or parts of chicken, whole duck, and small whole or ground turkey from KNK Poultry under the categories, Chicken All Natural KNK, Duck All Natural, Turkey All Natural KNK. This farm and processor is NY State certified.
Large whole turkeys are also offered by Stonewood Farm, certified by the State of Vermont and are found under the Turkey All Natural Stonewood category.
We are now offering many more Stonewood Farm turkey products!! Both Dark meat Ground Turkey and ½ White meat/ ½ Dark meat ground turkey, Boneless Turkey breast in 2 sizes with only 1.7 grams of fat per 4 oz serving and Smoked Turkey Breast with no preservatives or nitrates/nitrites. Also, a marvelous variety of turkey sausages – Cajun, Hot Italian, Mild Breakfast and Sweet Italian. All with only 3.5 grams of fat per 4 oz serving. Stonewood Farm can be found under the Turkey All Natural Stonewood category.
Our natural Eggs collected by Cornell Farms. The chickens and their feed are raised at the farm are shown under the Eggs, fresh and free-range category.
All Natural Goat and Kid is offered by 2 farms Manx Station Farm and Consider Bardwell Farm. These items are offered under the category for Kid, Goat and Goat, Kid respectively.
USDA processed Lamb is offered by two farms. 3 Corner Field Farm lamb eats a small amount of grain as a supplement to the grasses and hay and can be found under the Lamb, Grass-Fed category. Argyllshire Farm lamb eats only grasses and hay and is found under the Lamb, Grass fed & finished category. We are sorry the selection of lamb is dwindling this time of year, but it seems that everyone is beginning to “buy local”.
Our home made Jams and Sauces are home grown or hand picked by Rudi’s Lakeside Garden and can be found under the Jams ands Sauces category.
USDA processed Beef and Pork are raised by Lewis Waite Farm. The beef is 100% grass and hay fed with trace minerals from kelp and salt. The pigs have a pasture too but are fed with corn, soybeans, hay and kelp (especially in winter). These items can be found under the Beef, Grass Fed Grass Finished and the Pork, All Natural, Pastured.
We are proud of the 12 farm network we have created to provide you some of our regions fresh and family grown products. We hope you enjoy then all and we also hope to expand our offering as time goes by and we get better at our coordination with everyone.
Don’t forget, the next order deadline is next Monday, April 7th at midnight, and delivery is on Saturday, April 12th.
Please remember to place your orders on time as late orders can be a disruption to all of the farms involved
We wish you well, and a Happy Spring, Nancy and Alan
Alan & Nancy Brown
135 Lewis Hill Lane
Town of Jackson
Greenwich, NY 12834
Lewis Waite Farm
Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Beef
Natural Pork
www.csapasturedmeatandpoultry.com
www.lewiswaitefarm.com
518-692-3120 or 518-692-9208