2016 CSA Welcome



Ford showing guests the strawberry patch during a farm event while
Farmer Finley picks berries to share

 

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Hello fellow CSA members! I hope you are as excited as I am about getting some of those delicious strawberries next week. Whether you are a first-time or returning member, you are in for a treat this summer!

For those who have been with Sustainable Harvest before, the blog will continue to work as it always has. On Monday evening, before the first shares go out, there’ll be a post about what is contained in that week’s share, storage tips and information. We have several seasons worth of recipes accumulated and will be sure to include links. You’ll also receive at least one email each week from Ford and Amanda, as well as information about upcoming farm events. You can like the Sustainable Harvest Farm Facebook page for various farm updates and super cute pictures of the Waterstrat boys.

There will also be some new additions to the blog this year. First of all, me. My name is Amy.

While this is my first season contributing to the farm blog, it is my third as a CSA member. After a few moves between Kansas and Kentucky, my husband, Johnie, and I were thrilled to settle in London in 2014. Last year we welcomed a sweeter surprise than we could have imagined with the birth of our son, Matthias, in November. I am still adjusting to the many blessings and burdens of motherhood. A self-proclaimed foodie, I grew up in Beattyville, KY in a family that loved and celebrated food and grew a small garden each summer with enough bounty to fill our table and share with neighbors.

I love all food – cooking and eating (not so much cleaning up afterward). But I have a special appreciation for fresh, local produce because of the work and the care that goes into growing it, the reassurance of knowing where it came from and the beauty of safer, gentler farming. And it just tastes better.

I chose to become a member of the Sustainable Harvest Farm CSA because I knew Ford and Amanda since before they were farmers. Amanda since we were children, and Ford… Well, I don’t remember the first time I met him but I heard about him when Amanda’s aunt told me she had started dating a cyclist she met at college. And then shrugged her shoulders. Though schedules and miles have separated us during certain seasons of our lives, I have been blessed to watch their sweet family and farm grow over the years. A CSA share is a great way to get to know your farmers and I know none finer than Ford and Amanda. Except for maybe their oldest son, five year old Finley and his twin brothers – Silas and Josiah.

I may have first become a member because I was excited to share this endeavor with my friends, but I am STILL a member with multiple shares throughout the year because the food is absolutely delicious. It’ll be easy to spot my favorites as the season progresses.

And though I appreciate fresh, local, organic produce I don’t always know what to do with it. More kale leaves than I care to mention have withered away in my crisper along with my best intentions to try some new salad or smoothie or juice. After a colossal fennel failure in 2011, I’ve been afraid to try my hand at any other fennel recipe since. And I married a very picky eater who doesn’t share my same adventurous palate and gusto for trying new dishes, flops or not.

I had to also sneak in a picture of
my boy. This is at an SHF event.
Matthias plays in the dirt for the first
of what I'm sure will be countless times.

Maybe you’re like me and have obstacles to overcome in time and knowledge and other hungry mouths to feed. If so, you may like another change we’re hoping to make with the blog. We hope to add a second post most weeks (look for it around Friday) in which I personally try to tackle new ways to use our shares in my own kitchen with respect to busy schedules, unfamiliarity with some of the items and those who would – let’s be honest -- prefer to be eating chicken nuggets. I’m sure there will be some disappointing experiments, but I am looking forward to some successes, added confidence in the kitchen and discovering some new favorite ways with vegetables.

And, I’m here for you. If you have questions or concerns, I’d be happy to help you in whatever way I can to make the most of your share! If there’s something you’d like to see on the blog this season, let me know.

Some of you may already be well-versed in all things organic and exotic (to us here in Appalachia). If so, help a girl out, please! I sincerely welcome all tips, tricks and recipes. You can email me any time at amyrosekarr@gmail.com.

A CSA share is an adventure. And we’re all in this together.

Here’s to a great 2016 season!