The News from Windflower Farm
Happy New Year from all of us at Windflower Farm!
Your third share of the winter season will arrive tomorrow, Saturday, January 8th. Your fourth and final share will be delivered on February 5th.
What’s in the share?
- An Allium bag (yellow onions and red shallots)
- A roots bag (carrots, beets, potatoes and a piece of ginger)
- A greens bag (spinach and kale)
- A fruit bag (Bosc pears and Empire apples)
- Sweet potatoes and winter squash loose in the box
- And a jug of the Borden’s apple cider
As we often do during the winter, we supplemented what we have in our root cellar with produce from neighboring organic growers. Our friends Brian and Justine at Denison Farm provided much of the winter squash – you’ll get either a kabocha or a butternut. Andrew Knafle at Clearbrook helped with beets. And the Bordens, again, provided the tree fruit. Everything else came from Windflower. Next month, among other things, you’ll get celeriac from the Denisons, more beets from Andrew and a mix of potatoes from us, Andrew and pals Paul and Sandy Arnold at Pleasant Valley farm.
Winter greens production is always risky. We grow your greens in unheated greenhouses. For 15 years we have relied on the selection of cold hardy varieties and the judicious use of row covers, and we have met with reasonable success. Our spinach harvest was good this week, and the February harvest should be fine, too, but the other greens (kales, primarily) have suffered. A warm fall and early winter enabled aphid populations to rise to the point where much of the kale was not usable. As it is, you should thoroughly rinse what we send. On the bright side, our chickens couldn’t be happier.
Your root bag contains the last of Nate’s ginger. These are the “mother” roots, and sending them serves as a reminder that it’s time to call Biker Dude, the Hawaiian Nate sources his ginger starts from, to place an order for this year. During the last two weeks of December, I placed orders for nearly everything else we’ll need to get the farm started come March: seeds and seed potatoes, soil amendments, row covers, irrigation supplies and other odds and ends. It feels as though we’re a bit more organized than usual. Soon it’s off to the shop for annual tractor maintenance and equipment repairs.
It’s been snowing all day and several inches are expected here before it’s over. Nate is out cross-country skiing. Jan is making squash soup and Spanakopita for tomorrow’s delivery. And I’ve been staring out the picture window. The snow has made for lovely scenery, but it might present difficulties for tomorrow’s distribution. We’ll leave early and bring shovels and an extra person to maintain our delivery schedule. I ask that you take the steps necessary to get to your pickup location in a timely manner. Please don’t expect volunteer distribution coordinators to wait around in the cold!
Pick up times and locations are noted below. Please mark your calendars for the final distribution on February 5th.
Best wishes, Ted
Here is your pick up time and location:
Central Brooklyn (1251 Dean St., 4:30 to 6:00)
Please note:
1. A friend, family member or neighbor can pick up your share for you if you are not able to make it to distribution. Please ask this person to sign-in under your name.
2. Site hosts are not obliged to save shares for members who miss the distribution window. Any shares leftover after distribution will be donated to community fridges or food pantries and will help other community members in need.
3. The farm is not able to send you a make-up share if you miss a distribution. The farm will send your shares on the distribution dates only.
4. The farm will send you a newsletter a day or two before distribution. Please save these two emails to your preferred contacts list: windflowercsa@gmail.com and tedblomgren@gmail.com and check your SPAM folder if our newsletter does not make it into your inbox.
5. Watch for updates from site hosts on social media. Many sites post updates about the share on Instagram and Facebook.
Central Brooklyn CSA 