Welcome CSA members

Dear Friend,

Welcome to the 2014 Regular Season Farmshare with Sustainable Harvest Farm.  Thank you for becoming a member of our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.

We take great pride in our farm and our products.  Our goal is to provide you with fresh, delicious, beautiful, high quality foods. We hope you enjoy eating in-season crops fresh from the farm this year and have fun trying new things.

Seasonal eating is an adventure. In each weekly, you will find familiar favorites along with new colors and flavors from foods you may never have prepared before. We’ll be with you all the way sending emails and blog updates with information and recipes, but in the meantime, we’d like to offer a few tips to help you through the adjustment period.  See below:

1.      ·Take a moment to assess your basket Compare the produce list for each week with the contents of your basket. When you get home, decide what needs to be eaten fairly soon and what can wait until later in the week. To the extent possible, plan a menu for the entire week.  A few minutes now will save you time later and will prevent the loss of any delicate, perishable items.   You can also count on us to give you updates on what keeps well and what doesn’t but don’t hesitate to send questions.

2.      ·Remember to wash your vegetables. We do not offer the produce ready to eat. Some items are rinsed and cooled before you get them, but this aids in removing dirt and reducing the field temperature – things we do to ensure better post-harvest quality.  Most produce lasts best when the rigorous washing happens just before it is eaten.

3.      Try to refrigerate as soon as possible. This is the number one way to keep everything fresh with a few exceptions like tomatoes, onions, potatoes and winter squashes that do just fine when stored in a cool, dark, dry location.

4.      Find recipes that fit your lifestyle. From traditional foods of Appalachia to a variety of light, fresh dishes, our newsletters will offer recipe ideas for selected produce each week. We also have a host of resources in our home-cooking arsenal if you need them.  …also, please consider sharing any of your favorite recipes so that we may spread the word among the CSA community and brag on your cooking skills!!

The 16-week CSA season revolves around the months of the year that vegetables flourish in southeastern Kentucky. The first shares of the season include winter storage crops from the previous season like sweet potatoes and dried beans along with fresh spring greens, tender onions, and tomatoes from the greenhouse.  When temperatures rise in the summer, you’ll begin to enjoy field tomatoes, corn, beans, melons & summer squashes.  You can expect the season to wind down with fall greens, root crops and winter squashes. This is the typical production cycle.  We all know, however, that Mother Nature & her team of critters may intervene at any time and cause one crop to flourish while another disappears.  (We have groundhogs and rabbits that LOVE our organic lettuces.)  Thank you for partnering with us in the adventures, risks, and rewards of local, sustainable agriculture and allowing us to serve you by doing what we really love.