12 Birches Farm

12 Birches Farm CSA: Sign up for a season of certified organic local vegetables! Each Tuesday evening, come pick up your veggies on the farm; while you're here, swap recipes, learn about how your food grows, and graze in the edible flowers & herb garden. Want to get your hands dirty? How about a spring work party (lots of transplanting and hoeing) and a fall work party to bring in the squash and potatoes? And haven't you ever wanted to eat zucchini in 20 different ways? Join us for the summer potluck and zucchini recipe competition. Prizes do not include more zucchini. As a CSA member, you make a commitment to local eating - each week, you'll get 10-12 different veggies. Most of the crops I grow are old favorites - carrots, lettuce, peas, and tomatoes - but I really love trying out unfamiliar veggies, so we grow oddballs too: Japanese turnips, fennel, and bok choy will make it into your basket at least once a season. We're always trying new things: this year's additions include yacon and mashua, two traditional root vegetables from the Andes. And what about fruit? We're working on it this year we'll have some strawberries; next year there will be even more. In the fall, we'll have apples and pears. In years to come: black currants, red currants, winter-hardy kiwis, cranberries (if they work!), blueberries, and raspberries. And what else? Let me know what I should be planting for you. The details: this year's season starts May 3rd and runs until November 22nd. That's 30 weeks! For those of you who are overwhelmed by greens in the spring, you can choose a late start date: you'll have 25 weeks, beginning June 7th. Each week you'll get about $30 worth of vegetables, but your cost per week is $27. Pay in 10-week increments: $270 when you sign up (this is our seed money - literally, for buying about $1000 worth of seeds, plus soil amendments, including mountains of compost), then $270 on July 5th, and $270 on September 13th. So: 10-12 items - how much food is that? It's about enough to fill a bushel basket - I'd recommend bringing 1-2 reusable shopping bags each week to cart home your veggies. But how many people does that feed? Good question. It's designed for two adults who cook and like vegetables, or a family of four that cooks most nights and likes most things, or one adult who eats a plant-based diet. What I'm saying is your mileage will vary. If you're not up for a full share, you can sign up for an every-other-week share; I'll let you know before the season starts if you'll be picking up on even or odd weeks. Recap: Sign up with the google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ottzQOoxZrzJf-bESwAYfcapBrSfQN3VzSMh9Q4lpe4/viewform Send in your check for $270 to: 12 Birches Farm, 3340 Craw Road, Langley WA, 98260 Pick up your first veggies Tuesday May 3rd, between 5PM and 7PM. Eat well through spring, summer, and fall, right up to the week of Thanksgiving. Can't make it between 5-7 on Tuesday? I'll put your veggies in a cooler in the barn with your name on them; you can pick them up before 9PM on Tuesday, or any time on Wednesday between 8AM-9PM. Interested in a worktrade? Send me an email!