Hi members!
As a reminder this program runs for 20 weeks in all. The final week will be the week of October 24th.
On Tuesday, we released information about our 2023 vegetable subscriptions, and we'd really like to repeat the highlights here so that you're aware of all of the important details as well as the 3 perks you can receive for enrolling early. We encourage you to read the full post here, which will explain everything in detail.
2023 Vegetable Subscription Program Overview
Enrollment begins on Sunday, October 16th at 7 a.m. We encourage you to set an alarm.
Extended Season (80 available spots) - 32 weeks, May through December. Large and small share options. No biweekly pickup option. Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday pickup.
Main Season (190 available spots) - 20 weeks, Mid-June through October. Large and small share options. Reduced number of biweekly pickup options. We are sadly discontinuing all deliveries for 2023 (read the full post above to hear why and our suggestions if you've previously been a delivery member). Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday pickup.
Peak Season (30 available spots) - 13 weeks, July through September. Monday pickup option and small share size only.
Earn early bird perks for signing up between Sunday, October 16th and 23rd.
5% off your subscription but you must use the discount code EARLYBIRD at checkout
An invitation to harvest a bonus box at the farm next September
Entry into our "8 Days of Giveaways" kitchen gadget raffle
Although it sounds like we're overexaggerating the hype, we really encourage you to sign up on Enrollment Day. Last year, we sold out Extended Season on day one, and the limited number of biweekly pickups are expected to sell out early. Plus, honestly last year, you all RALLIED. It was really one of the coolest days in Laurel Glen Farm recent history to have the community so strongly behind us. Here we are after just 2 days last year!
This is the 2023 Veggie Subscriptions link on our website, which will also give you way more detail about each program. Check it out! We won't be able to answer questions or troubleshoot the process with you on Enrollment Day, so if you have any questions, please reach out ahead of time.
This week we spent almost all of our free time harvesting and storing winter squash. Do you recognize that squash in the back? We'll give you a hint... it's not butternut...
It's honeynut! Randy and I have been hearing about honeynut for a couple of years now and decided to try growing it this season. We are super happy with our yield, though we're saving them for the Extended Season portion of the program. We'll have some for sale in the store, though. This week, you're all receiving a spaghetti squash.
We'll also say goodbye to the last of the summer squash, as you'll all have a chance to pick out either a yellow squash or a zucchini this week. You'll also receive what's probably the last offering of grape tomatoes. It's hard to believe it's October already! Though we'll have all of these crops in the store until it frosts, they're slowing down production and we won't be able to cover 200+ shares anymore.
We're already thinking about adding in a third planting of tomatoes next year and changing the proportions of peppers and eggplant to get better yields next season. We're super unhappy with how quickly those crops took a nosedive once the cold weather hit. It was truly from one day to the next that the tomatoes tanked. The peppers took a hit in the drought, and every year is different, but we'd love to have a steadier supply of all of these crops, especially tomatoes.
The best part of this program is that you all signed up because you LOVE veggies, no matter the season. This week we're also welcoming back some cooler weather crops that we haven't seen in a while: kohlrabi and Asian greens mix.
Lettuce isn't too far behind (most likely next week!) and Swiss chard will make a comeback later this month.
Aside from harvesting winter squash, we've been working on odd jobs: turning the compost pile, sorting through rotten onions in storage (it happens a lot!), reseeding new grass drive roads that are getting washed away in the downpours we've had, and continuing to nurture our fruit field. Randy let me sample this rogue cluster of table grapes... they're SO different than the table grapes we're used to in the store. They're sweet, but they're also complex, almost citrusy. It sounds so snobby to say, but hopefully we'll all be grape connoisseuers in the seasons to come.
We'll let you in on a secret. One way that we're hoping to expand our offerings in the future is by having a weekly fruit share add-on that accompanies the vegetable shares. To be able to provide grapes, raspberries, blackberries, apples, plums, and peaches to you one day is a dream in the works a few years from now.
In Your Share (Listed approximately from shortest shelf life to longest)
Large:
1/2 pint of grape tomatoes
1/4 lb. of Asian greens mix
1 bunch of cutting celery
1 yellow squash or zucchini
1 bunch of carrots
2 kohlrabi
1 onion
1 large spaghetti squash
Small:
1/2 pint of grape tomatoes
1/4 lb. of Asian greens mix
1 yellow squash or zucchini
2 kohlrabi
1 onion
1 small spaghetti squash
Caring For Your Share (All of this information, plus long-term storage info, can also be found in our Vegetable Library of Resources)
Store Asian greens mix in a plastic bag in the fridge. When ready to use, wash in cold water and spin out in a salad spinner. Use within the week.
Store yellow squash or zucchini in the crisper drawer of the fridge for approximately a week. Wash when ready to use.
Store dry onions in a cool, dark, dry place, such as a pantry, cabinet, or cellar. Ensure that they have plenty of airflow; you can store them in a mesh bag. Keep them away from potatoes.
Store spaghetti squash in a cool, dark place such as a pantry, cabinet, or cellar where it will get air flow.
Remove the greens from the kohlrabi bulbs and carrots and store in separate plastic bags in the fridge. Use the greens within a week; the roots can last a couple of weeks if stored properly.
Store grape or cherry tomatoes in a bowl with lots of airflow on your counter. If stems are still attached, don't pull them off until you're ready to eat the tomatoes. Wash before using and enjoy within a few days.
Trim the bottoms of the cutting celery and place in a jar of water in the fridge, like a bouquet. Put a plastic bag over the leaves to protect them.
The LGF Cooking Club
Summer Squash Casserole (You'll only need one with the sizes we are providing this week)
30 Minutes or Less:
Large Share Additional Ingredients:
Biweekly Catch-Up (A copy of last week's updates)
Hi members!
Some quick housekeeping:
There are 20 weeks in the Main Season program, so the week of October 24th will be our final week. There are still 4 weeks to go after this one!
Delivery members, please be sure to return your bags. Sorting through which bags came back and labeling replacement brown bags slows down our operations here. Thanks so much for your help with this!
Aside from a couple of imperfect pepper orders, our bulk box order fulfillment is now complete! Plum tomatoes are very slowly trickling in and we may be able to fill last minute requests for plum tomatoes, especially if plum tomato "seconds" would interest you. Those would be $25 for 25 lbs. Send us an email and we'll see if we can fill it.
It's officially fall! To celebrate, we've got two fun things happening this week. First of all, we're including acorn squash in your share! In previous years, we've held on to winter squash and used it during our final Extended Season portion of the program, but now that we've shifted the Main Season back two weeks, we felt comfortable including it.
We grow four main kinds of winter squash: butternut, acorn, delicata, and spaghetti. We also dabbled in growing some honeynut this year and we grow a small amount of blue hubbard squash. Since our pumpkin crop failed this year, having blue hubbard will be a real treat - it's actually my personal favorite to make a pie with! More on those later, but for now, you can expect to see a squash in your share - maybe not all of the weeks we have left, but for a few, at least.
If you're not quite ready to give up summer, we've also got eggplant and beans in your share this week. We'll see summer favorites for a little while longer, hopefully until we get a frost. They slow down in the cooler temperatures, but we certainly want to embrace them in your boxes while we can. The winter squash will literally store for months if you'd rather save it for a later date.
The second fun thing we're doing this week is giving away Soup Socks! One lucky winner on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday will find a package of Soup Socks in their share. You use these to make soup stock with your food scraps. As you acquire odds and ends, like maybe some sprigs of an herb that will be in your share this week, or potato peels, or the ends of snipped beans, throw them into a Ziploc bag in your freezer. Once you fill a whole bag, it's time to make soup. With Soup Socks, you put the scraps into the mesh "sock" and then boil them into a veggie stock when making soup. If you aren't the winner, you can boil them right in the pot and strain them out later - these just save that step. Good luck!
On Tuesday, our general email list will receive 2023 Vegetable Subscription details! Be sure to check your mail to read all about next year's program. There will be some changes, but most of the details are staying the same. Enrollment Day begins on Sunday, October 16th at 7 a.m. - our All-Star members are already talking about setting an alarm!
Now that our field planting was completed this week, we're working on a lot of maintenance tasks: sorting through rotten onions, weeding, and beginning to harvest all of that winter squash to be stored in bins. Since we're back to harvesting greens more frequently, our wash station is back to buzzing with action. We're also trying to finish cleaning up the remainder of our garlic to be sold in the coming months. And, of course, staying on top of the harvesting: squash, zucchini, and cucumbers are still harvested every other day, and crops like eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes at least twice a week. Everything else in your share is harvested the day before. Phew!
Here are some beautiful golden hour shots that Carly took this week.
This past week we had a lot of fun featuring potatoes. I got a little silly while packing your shares and started to come across some funky-shaped potatoes, turning it into a game called "Ink Blot Potatoes." What do you see?
Not to mention we had so many awesome submissions for our 2022 LGF Spud Specialist competition! Here are some of those submissions:
From homemade potato chips, to soup, camp packets, shepherd's pie, potato pancakes, and even chocolate mashed potato truffles, we were so impressed by the variety and creativity demonstrated by our community! We set out to show that potatoes aren't just for mashed potatoes and fries, and you all certainly proved that.
Our 2022 LGF Spud Specialist title was awarded to Brian, who made savory garlic cheddar potato donuts with chive and sour cream whipped potato topping. He shared that this submission was adapted from a 1930s recipe featuring Maine potatoes. How fun is that? We loved that Brian sought out a totally unheard of recipe to show all that potatoes can be!
As is always the case with our cooking competitions, Brian won a commemorative prize... a customized potato masher to help him to always remember his win! Thanks for playing, everyone.
Just arrived in the store... Hindinger Farm apples, grown in Hamden!
And coming soon...
Lettuce!
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