Winter Distribution #1, November 18th

The News from Windflower Farm

Thank you for purchasing a Winter CSA Share. Your first box of the “winter” season will arrive this Saturday, November 18^th. Please see below for the distribution timeframe for your pickup site.

What you’ll get this month

• Yellow onions
• Yellow Satina potatoes
• Covington sweet potatoes
• Bolero carrots
• Orion fennel
• Bandit Leeks
• Tendersweet cabbage
• Assorted greens (lettuces, kale and tatsoi) from our “caterpillar” tunnels
• Curly kale from the field
• Butternut squash from the Denison’s organic farm
• Borden Farm apple cider and Ruby Frost apples
  
  All the vegetables in your winter share come from Windflower Farm’s certified organic fields except where otherwise noted. Next month’s share will include beets, shallots, kohlrabi, spinach, red cabbage and honey. It will also include red and yellow onions, purple potatoes, freshly dug carrots, greenhouse kale and the Borden’s apples.  

We are gearing up for the greens harvest. We’ll start in our “caterpillar” tunnels where we’ll harvest Red Russian kale, tatsoi and baby Romaine lettuce. They were planted just over a month ago and have been growing underneath row covers in these otherwise unheated spaces. All three will be packed together in one bag. The curly kale, which we’ll pack in a second bag, will come from the field we call MaryJane #1. Although they have been snowed on and subjected to below-freezing temperatures a few times, they are still tender. Nevertheless, the curly kale will benefit from cooking, while the Red Russian kale (and the tatsoi) can be eaten fresh. The harvest and bagging might take all day, but the forecast is for a high of 60 degrees and sunshine, and it will be good to be working outdoors again after the cold of early November. If you have done this kind of work for very long, you know how to dress for the mud. You have an old pair of ski pants for kneeling and gloves that keep your fingers warm without reducing their dexterity. And, if you are like me, a thermos of hot coffee. It’s going to be a good day. (Images from the harvest can be found on our Instagram page.)

Jan reminds me to recommend that you bring something or someone to help with getting your vegetables home – the box is heavy! And please be on time – the sites are staffed by volunteers who will likely have other things to do after pickup time. Boxes left over after the pickup window will be given to someone in need. Thanks again for being with us this winter – we hope you enjoy your share of the harvest!

Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving, Ted and Jan

PS: We do not wash our winter share greens, so please be sure to give them a rinse before eating them. 

Here are some reminders about your winter share. 

Your pick-up time and location is noted below: 

Central Brooklyn CSA (1251 Dean St., 4:30 to 6:00)

Please mark your calendars for our three distributions on the following Saturdays: November 18^th, December 16^th, and January 6^th.  

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 only send shares to your pick-up site on the scheduled pick-up dates. 

4.     We 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.