Kitchen Garden Journal

Big changes are happening at our farm this year, and that means we’re switching up what we’re doing in the way of CSA shares. We won’t be offering the boxed shares anymore. Instead, we’re teaming up with our new business partner Jarrett Man of Stone Soup Farm to create a CSA program that has some exciting new and improved options:

On-farm pickup at our beautiful new Hadley location featuring more choice and pick-your-own!

A new Market Share program that provides members discounts at our 4 farmers’ market stands across the Valley!

Kitchen Garden CSA shares are now available in the Boston area!

We are excited about the new CSA program and think that it will create a richer, more convenient and flexible experience for our members, and we hope that it works better for you! We are also pleased to announce that we’re adding egg shares, fruit shares, winter and spring shares. The vegetables on offer will be the same great Kitchen Garden produce you’re used to, but with lots of new things to try, too.  

Here’s some more information about the options for 2012:

On-Farm Pickup will take place at Jarrett’s barn at 81 Rocky Hill Rd in Hadley on Saturdays from 9am-1pm. Share contents will be mix-and-match so that you can take more of the vegetables you like best. There will also be a pick-your-own-patch with flowers, herbs, beans, peas, cherry tomatoes, and other goodies. The Hadley farm is centrally located, 5 minutes from Amherst or 10 minutes from Northampton. Choose a Full Share for $550 or a Small Share for $325. The main share season runs from June-October. The Fruit Share will only be available for on-farm pickup in Hadley and to our Boston area shareholders.

The Market Share is a new program that we are launching this year. Members can choose to join at the Small Share or Full Share levels. $325 gets you a gift card for $350 worth of veggies from our farmers market stand. $550 gets you a gift card for $600. Market Share is the most user-friendly, flexible way to join a CSA in the Pioneer Valley. Come to any of our 4 weekly farmers’ market locations (Springfield Tuesday, Amherst Wednesday, or Northampton and Greenfield Saturday) and pick out whatever you want. If you miss a week or go away on vacation, you miss nothing. You can spend $5 one week and $40 the next if you like, it’s up to you. 

Valley people, tell your Boston area friends that we are coming to their town! The Kitchen Garden is continuing Stone Soup Farm’s Boston area Wednesday CSA distribution sites at the Democracy Center in Cambridge and the Non-Profit Center in Boston. We are also looking to secure a third location so stay tuned for news on that front. Like on-farm pickup, these sites will have a farmers’ market-like display where members can choose what they like best. We are very excited to be in Boston! 

Options and add-ons for shareholders include the Fruit Share, Egg Share (1/2 dozen eggs per week from our own hens!), Spring Treat Share (March-May), and Winter Share (November-February). For the full rundown and all the details including the enrollment form, please visit the CSA page of our website.

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This week will be the last share of the season. We are ending distribution a week early because there is simply not enough left in the fields to put together a share.

You have read all about what a difficult fall this has been for us: relentless rains, pathetic yields, crop failures. Despite these difficulties, we have done our best to provide the same quantity and variety of produce you would receive in a normal year. We hope that when you opened your box each week it didn’t look or feel like a bad year. 

We have done this by giving you a greater portion of our harvest than we anticipated and by sending less produce to our farmers market and wholesale customers. Thankfully, since we have many outlets for our produce, there is a certain amount of flexibility built in. We have used this flexibility to keep the share boxes as ample as possible because we truly value the support that you have shown us. 

We hope you understand and support our decision to end early. And we sincerely hope that you will join our CSA program again next season. It has been a real joy to be able to provide you with such a wonderful array of vegetables and herbs over the course of the year. Thanks for sharing this adventure with us.

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1 Savoy Cabbage

2 lbs Fingerling Potatoes

1 bunch Rosemary

1 bunch Leeks

1 bunch Japanese Turnips

1 bunch baby carrots

1.5 lb Gold Ball Turnips

1 bunch assorted cooking greens

Deluxe Items: 

2 lbs Bartlett Pears (Clarkdale Fruit Farms. Deerfield)

2 lbs Mixed Heirloom Apples (Clarkdale Fruit Farms, Deerfield)

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1/2 lb Mixed Greens

1 head Treviso Radicchio

1 bulb Fennel

1 bunch Mustard Greens

1 lb Red Meat Radishes

1 lb Cipollini Onions

2 lbs Sweet Potatoes (Next Barn Over, Hadley)

1 bunch Thyme

Deluxe Items: 

2 lbs Macoun Apples (Apex Orchards, Shelburne)

1/2 Gallon Apple Cider (Pine Hill Orchards, Colrain)

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1 Butterhead Lettuce

1 Red Butterhead Lettuce

1 Daikon Radish

1 head Broccoli

1 lb Sweet Peppers

1/2 lb Baby Bok Choy

1 bunch Baby Carrots

1 bunch Scallions

1 bunch Cilantro

Deluxe Items:

1/2 lb Fresh Young Ginger (Old Friends Farm, Amherst)

2 lbs Peaches (Apex Orchards, Shelburne)

This is the Asian share. Some recipe ideas include Asian Chicken Soup with Greens, Quick Vietnamese-style Carrot-Daikon Pickles, Glazed Baby Bok Choy. 

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1 head Cauliflower

1 bunch Red Radishes

2 heads assorted Lettuce

1 head Radicchio

1 bunch Leeks

1 orange Kabocha Squash (Enterprise Farm)

1 lb Beets (Enterprise Farm)

1 bunch Tarragon

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2 heads assorted lettuce

1 head frisee

1 lb broccoli

1 bunch Japanese turnips

1 bunch broccoli rabe

2 heads garlic

a handful of hot chilies

2 lbs golden potatoes

1 butternut squash (Riverland Farm, Sunderland)

1 bunch sage

Deluxe Item: 1 lb Grapes (Clarkdale Fruit Farms, Deerfield)

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1 Romaine Lettuce

1 Red Romaine Lettuce

1 bunch French Breakfast Radishes

2 lb Red Thumb Fingerling Potatoes

1 bunch Leeks

1 bunch Thyme & Rosemary

2 lb Multicolor Sweet Peppers

1 lb Summer Squash

1 head Savoy Cabbage

Deluxe item:

3 lbs Honey Crisp Apples (Clarkdale Fruit Farms)

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2 heads Assorted Lettuce 

2 of the last Heirloom Tomoatoes

1 pint Cherry Tomatoes

1 lb Broccoli

2 lb Mixed Sweet Peppers

1 lb Cipollini Onions 

1.5 lbs Orange & Purple Carrots (Riverland Farm, Sunderland)

1 bunch Parsley

Deluxe Items:

½ dozen Sweet Corn (Warner Farm, Sunderland)

2 lbs Red Clapp’s Favorite Pears (Clarkdale Fruit Farms, Deerfield)

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2 lb Tomatoes

2 lb Summer Squashes

2 lb Mixed Sweet Peppers

A few Hot Peppers

2 heads Garlic 

3 lbs Red Potatoes (Smiarowski Farm, Sunderland)

1 Tendersweet Cabbage

1 head Lettuce

1 bunch Rosemary

Deluxe Item:

2 lb Peaches (Apex Orchards, Shelburne)

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