CSA Pasture Orders Due May 5
From CSA Pasture, our meat and dairy providers. News about new products, rising fuel costs, the farm co-op and more.
The next order deadline is next Monday, May 5th at midnight, and delivery is on Saturday, May 10th. Pick up at ARROW begins in June. May location will be sent with your final order summary a few days before pick up.
May News at the Farm
The days are whipping by faster and faster. With one delivery completed on Tuesday, another is looming large on the calendar. In between we are receiving a new batch of processed pork and beef, completing the move from the old barn and milk house at the Waites farm to the new north barn facility at the Lewis farm, and preparing for an AG Summit Luncheon meeting with a wide variety of farmers, producers, and agricultural-related business folks in Washington to see how the community can work better together, strategize on ideas for new projects or cooperative efforts to improve the viability and sustainability of the farms in our region. This year Alan is the chairman of the Agriculture, Planning, Tourism & Community Development committee of the county government. As the supervisor of our town of Jackson, he also participates in the county affairs as a legislator. Alan wants to make sure that some agricultural promotion or new project or new idea comes to fruition. A number of people will be meeting next Monday to see what we can dream-up. So between trips to move freezers, packing materials, tables and boxes, we are planning the luncheon to stimulate conversation from local foods for about 30 people.
The cows have started to graze and roam the pastures eating the short beginnings of the grass growth. They seem to eat up a whole pasture area in one day. The rain we had Monday and Tuesday has really perked up the growth of the forage. Their winter coats are beginning to be shed and they are starting to look glossier than in the winter cold. The pigs are rooting everywhere and are patiently waiting for us to build the new pig pasture where they will have another 5 acres to explore, eat and lounge. The planning stages are in full swing but the number of hands-on-deck are too few right now to really get started.
I have planted a number of cool weather rows in the garden. We have lettuce, spinach, arugula, turnips, radishes, kale, brussel sprouts, broccoli, peas, cabbage, and mustard greens seeds planted and sprouted under the row cover to keep them warmer. We had a frost the last two nights but everything looks fine. The rhubarb is ready to harvest a few stalks and we have been eating the Egyptian walking onions for about 3 weeks now. The greenhouse still has the tender plants like tomatoes and the small transplants that are not big enough to set outside yet. We finally pruned the raspberry patch two weeks ago and they all look great now leafing out. The blueberry bushes and pear tree are all in bloom – they beat the lilacs that are not open quite yet. Each morning we look out our bedroom window at the asparagus patch to see if we have any new shoots yet.
More big news is the new baby in the farm family. Joe, our new part-time farm helper, and Nicole had a baby boy on Monday night!! Bradley Joseph was born in the evening, 8 lbs and 12 oz and Mom and son and Dad are all doing fine.
This is also the time of year when we consider our price structure and tally the balance of supply and demand in the cash flow department. Between this month and next we will be adjusting our prices. We are experiencing, as you all are too, higher fuel costs. We have higher transportation costs of our product to and from the farm. We also use fuel for compost building and spreading, raking, baling and storing the hay grown here and on nearby farms, fence maintenance, and heating our packing and shipping room. The steel products we use for fencing and equipment repair parts are increasing in cost. Real estate taxes increase every year and when you own 450 acres – it really adds up. This is another reason that Alan wants to be part of the town and county governments, to help remind them all to spend less and keep better track of our tax dollars! Feed costs for the pigs have more than doubled in the last year thanks to the crazy idea we should grow corn to make “bio-fuel”. So we must make some changes to our prices and these changes will be made over the next two months.
The other farms have also had price increases this month. Consider Bardwell Farm, Rudi’s Lakeside Garden, and 3 Corner Field Farm have given us their changes. And we will see what the future brings with the economy and the spiraling costs of food everywhere.
We were reminded at the Just Food mini-conference that as we communicate with the CSAs each month, we could help to spread the advocacy issues for agriculture to a wide ranging audience. I’d like to start small this month. We recognize that this next month the core groups and members will be planning for the beginning of the vegetable season and the delights of the first distributions. We would like to ask if it might be possible to arrange for a parking space for the farmers that would allow easy access to your site, easy unloading capability and a reduced threat of parking tickets! Please help us this year to make the deliveries easy and smooth. We appreciate your support of our farms and hope you find everything delicious.
Our other farms are still offering their products:
Delicious Bread baked at Rock Hill Bakehouse shown under Bread, European style..
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
Please remember to place your orders on time as late orders can be a disruption to all of the farms involved
We wish you a well and 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