Week 28: December 9th

In This Week’s Beet Box:

The Last Week – Brrrrr!
A Mighty THANK YOU!
Please Share your Feedback with Us!
2014 CSA Sign-ups
The Year in Review

In your share this week:

Leeks
Kale
Shallots
Parsnips
Potatoes – Red, Yellow Finn and/or Fingerling
Carrots
Sunshine squash

On Rotation:

Brussels sprouts
Romanesco cauliflower

The Last Week - Brrrrr!

This is it: your last installment from Valley Flora for the season. This week’s basket is a true testament to the possibility for local, wintertime eating. We’re halfway through December in the midst of a deep cold snap, but there’s no lack of food in your totes. We filled them with almost twenty pounds of veggies – most of it fresh-harvested from the field (all but the squash, shallots and potatoes, which have been in storage).

That said, the field is looking pretty bare. We’ve picked and dug and pulled and cut just about every stick of food out there (save for a good stash of parsnips). A week of hard cold has also brought an end to certain crops that might have persisted longer were it not for the 18 degree nights.

The cold has presented a few problems to this last harvest that you may notice. Each day we’ve had to wait for the field (and the veggies) to thaw before we can harvest. On Monday, that didn’t happen until late afternoon so the thaw window was very short. As it turns out, some of the Brussels sprouts – which were thawed when we picked them – re-froze in the harvest bins in transit to the cooler (which feels balmy at 38 degrees compared to the outside world). During packout yesterday, we discovered that some of the sprouts at the bottom of the bins (cold air sinks) were more like sweet Brussels sprouts popsicles. Hopefully they will hold up, but I encourage you to eat them immediately before they turn to mush.

Also, the kale was hard to rehydrate (it wilts in extreme cold), so some of it is not as perky as you are used to (but again, very sweet).

And finally, our last bed of romanesco, which some of you will receive this week, seems to have survived the cold but may have some frost damage. Hopefully the flavor will make up for any other quality shortcomings!

A Mighty Thank You!

Were it not for all of you making the choice to eat locally, our little farm could not exist. As many times as we have been on the receiving end of the gratitude, I want to return the sentiment a hundred-fold. Because of you and your commitment to Valley Flora, we are able to do what we love on the land that we treasure. There are three generations on the farm now, from Bets down to Cleo and Pippin, plus the invaluable help of Roberto, Roxy, Aro, Jake, Tom, and John. It’s a small and humble operation, but it fills our lives with purpose, meaning, and deep satisfaction. We love growing this food, and even more knowing that it’s directly feeding the local community. We wouldn’t be able to do it without you.

From all of us at the farm, a heartfelt THANK YOU for being part of it!

Please Share your Feedback with Us!

We're not putting out a formal survey to our members this year, but we would still love to hear from you if you have feedback of any kind about your CSA experience - positive or negative. Just send us an email with your thoughts. We are in the midst of planning for next season so this is the perfect window to share your input with us!

2014 CSA Sign-ups

This season is not even over yet and we are already knee-deep in planning for 2014: making next year’s field maps, teasing out the crop plan, and ordering seeds. (Believe it or not, we’ll be sowing next year’s onions, leeks and shallots in the greenhouse in less than 6 weeks)

Many of you have been asking about signing up for next season. We plan to do priority sign-ups in January. Anyone who was a member of the CSA this season – that being anyone who got a Harvest Basket, eggs, bread, salad share, and/or tamales this year - will be included in the priority sign-up process in January. If you are included in the priority sign-up process, you will be guaranteed a Harvest Basket if you want one. (Our Harvest Baskets are limited and always sell out so we give priority to returning members each year. There is usually no limit on eggs, bread, salad, or tamales).

We will send out a direct email to our entire 2013 membership in early January with specific sign-up instructions for 2014. Please be sure that we have your correct email address so you don’t miss out on your sign-up invitation.

Then, starting in March, we’ll move on to our waiting list and sign up wait-listed individuals until the Harvest Baskets are sold out.

The Year in Review

The chart below is a crop-by-crop recap of the season summarizing what we projected we would put in your Harvest Basket and what we actually put in it.

The thing I love about this chart is that every discrepancy in the projected versus actual quantities tells a story. For instance: we had a beautiful, warm spring this year, which made for a great crop of onions. It also meant that perennial crops like artichokes came on early – so early that they were almost over by the time the CSA started in June (hence the smaller share of artichokes). Major shortfalls in strawberries, celery and basil this year were due to disease pressure that wiped out all or portions of those crops. It was a warmer, more humid summer than we normally get, which created ideal conditions for diseases like Septoria and downy mildew. All told, the total value of food we put in your Harvest Basket this season was equal to $776.44, based on our farmstand pricing. You paid $765 for that food.

Whether it’s pests or weather or any number of other factors, your CSA share is largely defined by the forces of Mother Nature – and our varying ability to work with and around her. It's a constant dance.

CROP	PROJECTED	ACTUAL	DIFF.	NOTES
Scallions	1 bu	1 bu
Leeks	8 ct	11 ct	+3 ct
Purplette Onions	4.5 lbs	7 lbs	+2.5 lbs	Great onion year
Red Onions	6 ct	10 ct	+4 ct	“ “
Walla Wallas	4 ct	6 ct	+6 ct	“ “
Yellow Onion	8 ct	9 ct	+1 ct	“ “
Shallots	3.5 lb	3.5 lb
Artichokes	2 lb	1 lb	-1 lb	Early spring; artichokes were ending before CSA season began
Asparagus	1 lb	1 lb
Beans	0.5 lb	0.5 lb
Beets	12 lb	10.5 lb	-1.5 lb	Mice ate last bed of beets
Broccoli	16.5 lb	20 lb	+3.5 lb	Good spring crop
Brussels sprouts	3 stalks	2 to 3 stalks
Cabbage	6 heads	6 heads
Carrots	20 lbs	21 lbs	+1 lb
Cauliflower	2 heads	1 head	-1 head	Lost a planting due to cabbage maggot
Romanesco	1 head	1-2 heads
Celeriac	3 ct	3 ct
Celery	14 stalks	0	-14 stalks	Total crop failure due to Septoria disease pressure
Corn	18 ears	20 ears	+2 ears
Cucumbers	No projection	3 ct
Escarole/Radicchio	2 heads	2 heads
Fennel	6 bulbs	8 bulbs
Arugula	1 lb	1.5 lb	+0.5 lb	Sunny fall weather = late bonus greens
Braising Mix	0.5 lb	1 lb		“ “
Chard	5 bu	5 bu
Kale	7 bu	9 bu	+2 bu
Mizuna	None	0.5 lb	+0.5 lb	“ ”
Pac Choi	7 heads	6 heads	-1 head
Spinach	2 lbs	2 lbs
Collards	None	2 bu	+2 bu
Perennial Herbs	6 bu	7 bu	+1 bu
Cilantro	3 bu	3 bu
Dill	3 bu	3 bu
Basil	5 oz	1 oz	-4 oz	Crop failure in greenhouse
Parsely	4 bu	3 bu	-1 bu
Kohlrabi	5 ct	4 ct	-1 ct
Lettuce	33 heads	26 heads	-7 hds	Crop losses due to downy mildew pressure all summer (weather-related)
Parsnips	6 lbs	6 lbs
Peas	3 lbs	2.5 lbs	-0.5 lbs
Hot Peppers	10 ct	9 ct	-1 ct
Sweet Peppers	20 ct	23 ct	+3 ct
Potatoes	28 lb	38 lbs	+10 lbs	Bumper crop
Radishes	5 bu	6 bu	+1 bu
Rhubarb	½ lb	1 lb	+0.5 lb
Strawberries	24 pt	15 pt	-9 pt	Crop failure in July
Summer Squash	16 ct	24 ct	+8 ct
Apples	No projection	2 lbs	+2 lbs	Great orchard fruit year!
Plums	No projection	2.5 lbs	+2.5 lb	“ “
Turnips	6 bu	6 bu
Tomato plant	1	2
Cherry tomatoes	5 pts	2 pt	-3 pt	Late blight wiped out crop after Labor Day rain
Heirloom tomatoes	3 lbs	3 lbs
Red tomatoes	13 lbs	13.5 lbs	+0.5 lb
Acorn squash	2	3	+1
Butternut squash	2	2
Delicata squash	8	12	+4
Sunshine squash	2	2
Spaghetti squash	1	1
Winter sweet	1	1
Pie pumpkin	1	1