CSA Newsletter for December 2023

  CSA Newsletter for December 2023

Hi everyone!  I hope you are all having a lovely holiday season!  Things have slowed down for us significantly at the farm, to the point where I'm barely out there at all, and Fred is generally out there for about six hours most days of the week.  It's a big change from the height of CSA season, and it's definitely a welcome rest.  We're still harvesting a few things for the GreenTree Co-op in Mt. Pleasant and the Argus Farm Stop stores in Ann Arbor, as well as the occasional restaurant order, but harvesting and delivering veggies is a lot fewer and farther between than during the main farm season.  Most of the veggies we have available now are storage crops (potatoes, carrots, and onions), but we do still have some leafy things growing under protective covering in the fields and coldframes.  The arugula in the picture to the left is outside in the field, but it is protected under a plastic low tunnel, which is essentially a small unheated greenhouse placed directly over the rows of veggies in the field.  It's constructed using bendable metal rods to form hoops that stick out of the ground, and then we cover it with plastic similar to what we use on our greenhouses, except that it's not as wide.  It protects the plants underneath from the wind and the harshest of the low temperatures, and then we just move it to the side when we need to harvest the veggies underneath.  We might be able to harvest in this manner for a short time longer, but then the plants' growth will slow down significantly, and we won't be able to harvest any more from the fields until the spring.  

Throughout the winter, we'll have some coldhardy plants like lettuce, spinach, green garlic, green onions, and mache overwintering in the coldframes.  Basically, we plant these hardy greens in the fall, but we don't expect them to actually grow much for several months.  They'll grow a little bit, but once the weather gets too cold and the day length too short, they'll just bide their time under layers of protective plastic.  They won't really grow, but they won't die either.  It's almost like a kind of hibernation, but for plants.  Then sometime around mid-February, they will start getting enough sunlight, and they'll start growing again, sluggishly at first, and then more quickly as the temperatures start to inch up.  Usually we can start harvesting these greens for deliveries to our restaurants and stores around the middle of March, and those first harvests always feel so celebratory.  I never appreciate spinach or arugula more than when I haven't had it for months, and when the only greens I've had for a while have been the sad ones from the grocery store.  The first salad to come out of the coldframes in the spring is always a very big deal.  Fortunately, we'll have our own greens for a few more weeks, and then we'll have to say goodbye to them for a few months while the farm goes into hibernation.

Although there won't be many vegetables growing over the next few months, you can still sign up for next year's CSA during this time!  If you already know you want to sign up for next year, you can just fill out this form, and I'll put you on next year's membership list and email you an invoice.  For anyone who signs up and puts down at least a partial payment before December 31, you lock in this year's price of $340 for a half share or $630 for a full share at one of our regular drop-offs, and after the new year, the price will go up to $345 for a half share or $640 for a full share.  (Just add $95 to that if you're signing up for home or workplace delivery.)  So if you want to get the early bird price, be sure to sign up soon so I can get you invoiced with plenty of time before the end of the year!  If it makes more sense for you to split your payment into parts instead of paying the whole amount at once, that is totally fine.  You can split it up however you want, and the final payment will just be due by July 1, 2024.  (And pssst!  CSA shares make great gifts for your loved ones!  Just saying.)

So that's it! I hope you all have a wonderful, festive, fun, and joyful holiday!  Just let me know if you have any questions, and I'll catch you again in January with another newsletter! :-)

Recipes

Doesn't December just feel like a dessert-y time of year?  Maybe it's all the parties, cookie exchanges, and the like, but I am way more apt to eat sugary stuff this month than any other month.  So if you're planning to lean in to all the December treats, here's a way you can do it in a slightly healthier way!  We all know that you can make some really yummy pies, breads, and pancakes out of pumpkin, but did you know that Butternut squash also makes some really excellent desserts?  If you have any Butternuts still kicking around, use one of them to make any one of these 12 Butternut Squash Desserts for your next holiday gathering!