In the last winter CSA share:
- Strawberries!
- Bunch Carrots
- Early Onions
- Artichokes
- Red Beets
- Purple Potatoe (don't confuse them with the beets!)
- Tetsu Squash
- Tokyo Bekana Mustard Greens
- Micro Mix
- Salanova Head Lettuce
We're celebrating the final week of our winter season with something quintessentially summer: STRAWBERRIES! It feels like something close to a miracle, since it was less than two months ago that the entire strawberry patch was under water during the big flood and I feared we might lose this year's planting altogether. All of the beds took a beating in the torrent and the aftermath wasn't pretty: plastic mulch flapping, drip tape tangled across the whole field, strawberry crowns buried in mud. We spent a couple days putting the pieces back together as best we could and then had to move on to all the other flood recovery tasks, fingers crossed for the berries. Over the course of the next six weeks, with a lot of help from an unusually sunny April, the plants exploded in growth. It was like nothing I've ever seen - strawberries on steroids! And now, here we are only halfway through May and the berries are coming on strong and sweeter than ever for early season. They're a little dirtier than usual due to a combination of the recent rains and all that flood sediment. Even after sweeping it, blowing it and cursing at it, there’s still some tenacious silt clinging to the bed tops. Add a little rain and you get mud. Fortunately it does wash off easily. We’re hopeful that as summer sunshine becomes the norm our berries will come out of the field cleaner and cleaner.
Ironically, we're not quite ready for full throttle strawberries, since we haven't shifted into our twice/week harvest and delivery schedule yet. That's good news if you're craving strawberries because we'll be opening up the strawberry patch to U-PICK starting THIS SATURDAY, MAY 24th - in time for Memorial Day Weekend (earliest u-pick kickoff ever)! Gates open at 11:30, bring your own containers to haul your berries home in (we provide picking buckets). More details at: https://www.valleyflorafarm.com/content/u-pick-farmstand
Right now as we're transitioning into our full summer schedule, the farmstand will be open on Wednesdays ONLY from 11:30-2:30 (starting May 28th) and U-pick will be open on Saturdays ONLY beginning at 11:30 am (starting May 24th). This is because we have lots of berry orders to fill on Wednesdays so our crew has to pick the patch clean on Tuesdays. But once we have ample berries AND ample veggies, we'll be open for both u-pick and farmstand EVERY Wednesday AND Saturday. We'll keep you all posted as we shift into the full farmstand/upick schedule. Things are ramping up quickly in the field, so it might be sooner than later.
Thanks to all our loyal Winter CSA members who supported us through this wild winter! There was a period of time after the flood when I thought we might have to cancel the rest of the Winter CSA season altogether. But somehow, some way, we came through it abundantly. In fact the total value of all the produce we put into the Winter CSA share came to $640, which was $100 over target. We just can't help ourselves: we love showing our CSA members the love (if love = lots of veg, and in our world it does). :-)
If you're sticking with us for the Summer CSA, your first delivery will be the week of June 2nd, just two weeks away! In the meantime, visit us up the creek for next week's farmstand on Wednesday, May 28th, or in the strawberry patch this Saturday!
All our thanks!
