Abbe Hills Farm CSA

Greetings shareholders,

This week, we’ll have some very nice lettuce.That’s all.It’s not very much, but it’s a little something to get the CSA started.Next week, we’ll have more lettuce, small white onions, radishes, some kinds of greens.The snap peas are blooming like crazy, so late next week or more likely, the week after, we should also have those.Broccoli, kale, and cabbage are right behind.Everything’s a bit delayed, but it’s coming.

In addition to lettuce, I’ve also got extra basil, tomato, chili pepper, and eggplant plants that you can have to take home for your own garden or planter.We can race – who can get a ripe tomato first, you or me?

We’ve got very good looking gardens right now.Of course, you are welcome to visit the gardens any time you want.They are mostly on the big hill, in front of and around the back of my house.If you ever come looking for me during the week, not during regular pickup time, that’s where I’ll probably be.

Pickup times are 4:30 to 7:00, either Monday or Thursday.I sent you a note last week that reminded you which night you chose.We have a one-way driveway here during pickup times, so please enter the farm through the farm driveway (west one), and leave through the house driveway (east one).We’ve got hay down and drying, so it’s possible that some hay-making equipment might need to come on the farm on Monday.To keep the driveway open for big equipment (and also to make it easier for cars to get around), please always park on the RIGHT side of the driveway.I’ll have signs marking the parking areas.Elderly people and those who have trouble walking can park in the two or three spaces near the shed.

Please bring a bag for your lettuce and a dish or flat to carry home a couple of plants if you want them.They might be sloppy.Bring the kids to see the kitties and chicks, but leave your dog at home.My dog, Lucky, is about all we can handle around here with all the confusion on pickup nights.

Thank you for joining Abbe Hills Farm this season.The confidence you place in me to grow food for your families is humbling.Growing for the CSA my primary responsibility, and my workers and I do everything we possibly can to give you a good, bountiful, and fun season.The CSA always gets first harvest of everything we grow, and nearly everything that the gardens produce.To supplement my income, I do plant a little extra of a few things for sale for home preservation, or for farmers markets late in the fall, or for a couple of restaurant accounts.But mostly, if we have it, you’ll see the best of it on pickup nights.Not every CSA has this philosophy, but I feel like it’s at the heart of what Community Supported Agriculture is about.You help me by committing to a share and absorbing the financial risk of farming, and I help you by providing the very best food that I can – food that keeps you healthy, produced in a manner that is environmentally sustainable, by workers who are fairly paid, and at an affordable price to you.That’s about the best any of us can do.Thanks.

See you this week,

Laura