Week 7

Today, at pickup, everybody will receive snow cones!

No.

Well, this time of year, Andrea and I (Scott) go about blurging out all of our ideas for the future. We don't often find ourselves in the same spot very long for most of the year, and January is a time to consider what we've done well, and what we haven't. We've decided, after a couple of months for Andrea to get used to the idea, to formalize our management organization in a different way. As we started the farm and CSA, we naturally fell into doing the things that we were interested in, and good at. As our business grows, we've tried to separate out those things in a way that makes sense. All this adds up to Andrea quitting the CSA. She's been hanging on to aspects of organization, such as marketing and communication, but it's pulling her away from the direction she wants to go in with the wholesaling. She may occasionally write a blogpost this summer. Overall, though, the emailing and blog posting for the summer CSA and future seasons will be coming from me.

There will also be a bit more 'rules' for missed pickups moving forward, and we are going to change half shares to every week with an actual half share. These steps will make it easier for me to keep up with the numbers for pickups, as they won't be shifting up and down as dramatically as they have in the past. This doesn't mean I can't help out in the case of an emergency, or a pre-planned trip, but if you do forget a pickup, you will have the option of driving to Ontonagon on Thurs, Friday, or Saturday to get your produce, or forfeiting for the week.

Andrea's goals for the upcoming season are to produce as much dehydrated products as possible, so if you enjoy them, we hope you'll support us further by purchasing them from the Keweenaw Co-op and telling all of your friends to do the same. If you don't like them, we certainly appreciate feedback in order to improve our products.

Summer CSA produce will be much the same this year and pickups will remain mostly the same, Amber's Market on Sharon Ave in Houghton on Wed from 10 AM to 1 PM, and in Ontonagon on Wed at the old restaurant/new farm. We are going to eliminate the Ironwood pickup, as the number of members has been dwindling and we need to focus our goals. Also, we are going to have an on-farm self serve market instead of the Ontonagon 'Superior Farmer's Market' on Wednesday, and possibly Saturday.

We hope these changes will allow us to serve our community better, that's why we do what we do.

As always, if you have any questions, shoot us an email at Wintergreenfarm@hotmail.com

The share this week includes:

For half share members, carrots, 2 winter squash, dry beans, kale chips, cabbage, and onions
Full share receive also more carrots, more winter squash, dried cherry tomatoes, rutabaga.

As for recipes this week, I know there isn't any unknown vegetables, but I would recommend considering:

A baked bean recipe with the Marfax beans

Stuffed cabbage with a larger kraut cabbage

Chicken noodle soup with homemade egg noodles (so easy!) and pureed winter squash.