Our first week of the CSA has come and gone and the ship is on the move! We had a nice haul for week #1. Looking at the fields – we should have a good continuous harvest of a variety of crops. If you’re new to the CSA, you’ll soon see that you’ll get a couple week’s of the same items, and then the season shifts as the next harvest comes in. The summer squash and cucumbers are all flowering – which feels a little early for our normal timeline – no complaints from me!
A few house-keeping notes:
Field Notes
So far it feels like we’re doing a pretty good job of keeping up with the crops in the field. We even have the tomatoes tied up before they started to lean over! Miles came to our farm with some previous farming experience and had his own way of doing “The Florida Weave”. We swapped horror stories of pounding in 100s of tomato stakes, and tying up hundreds of feet of tomatoes…. and the Florida Weave is a game changer, no matter which way you do it.
Miles was taught to create parallel lines of twine, stretching between the stakes on each side of the tomatoes, with the stakes spaced 5 tomatoes apart. Pros: tomatoes can be tied up really quickly. Cons: they start to lean over on each other, making it hard to get tomatoes out of the clump of greenery.
I, on the other had, weave the twine between each plant, creating a figure 8, essentially pinching the plant between the twine. Pros: the vines are contained in their own section of the weave, no shifting around. Cons: it’s a little hard on the plants, and can cause breaks and tears on the skin and leaves of the plants.
This year, we bought new landscape fabric for mulching around the base of the tomatoes. We’ve had a pretty abysmal tomato season in the last couple of years, and I’m hoping that using new mulch will prevent any soil-born diseases. Cross your fingers for a good tomato year! We’re due for it!
The Pantry Shelves
We’re excited to offer up some new local goodies. We’ve partnered up with Keystone Cultures (from Centre County) and now have Kombucha for sale at the farm stand! We are also selling organic apple cider vinegar, from After the Fall Cider. Local is the way to go!
Place your order for some farm fresh goodies!
We have lots of lettuce!
Place your order here to get fresh leafy lettuce from the fields!
We also have plenty of Garlic Scapes! Place your order here for Scapes!
Sausages and selling quickly at the farmers markets! Be sure to ask about our 3 for $30 deal on all sausages! We have an up-right freezer in the farm store that is full of a whole lotta varieties of our sausages. Be sure to root around in there and find your dinner plans!
Enter 3for30 at check out to get your discount!
You can also get the 3 for 30 deal at the farmers markets too – just open up that cooler and pick out your 3 more favor flavors!
Please spread the word that we’ve got roaster pigs ready at the butchers. If you’re planning a heck of a cook out for Father’s Day, or the 4th of July…. think about these guys as an option. They’d be great in a smoker, on a spit, in a pit, on on a roaster. Put your deposit down HERE.
We’re looking for Workshare help
If you ever feel like you’ve got extra time on your hands, we’d be happy for a little extra weeding help. It’s great opportunity to get grounded, get a little dirty (soil microbes are good for mental health!), soak up some sun, and hang out with folks how appreciate good food, hard work and being outside. OR, if you want a little alone time – we get that too. We can set you off on your own to zone out to an audio book while you tackle a section of the farm that needs some hard-core weeding attention. Come on Tuesdays at 9 am and stay until 1:30 and have lunch with us! We’ll send you home with a CSA share for the week! Just shoot me an email jen@blackberrymeadows.com if you’re ready to come play on the farm with us!
Art on the Farm
Join us again at the nearby table, picnic blanket, or gardens where our local artist and long time Blackberry Meadows CSA member, Maritza Mosquera, will offer a variety of materials and some fresh ideas to instigate and support us making art together.
Maritza has been an artist and teacher all her life. She will be sharing her love for The Farm, our members, food and, definitely, art.
Wednesdays in June from 4-6 pm during our CSA pick up at the farm.
All materials included. Come and Enjoy!
DONATIONS welcomed, good energy accepted.
Important: Ordering Information
Farm pick up to Wednesdays 11 – 7pm. Our farm store is OPEN! Park on the right at the top of the hill and walk over to our farm stand, under the red awning. We’ll have your order ready – as the purple counter.
IMPORTANT: Please make sure you place a minimum order of $30 for delivery.
At the Farmers Grill Stand at Squirrel Hill Market, Sunday – 9 am – 1 pm
Across from Frick Park Market in Point Breeze, this Sunday at 1:45 – 2:00 pm
At the Farmers Grill Stand at Northside Market, Friday 3 – 7 pm
Ligonier Country Market – at the Farmers Grill stand – Saturdays 8 am – 12 pm
