Author: memo

Veggies & Fruit for Sept 21

Post author By memo
Post date September 21, 2017
No Comments on Veggies & Fruit for Sept 21

Welcome to another week! Here is what’s in the box! Be sure to check out some great recipes below!

Nicola or Purple Potatoes – The varieties will rotate depending on what you received last week. Both varieties are waxy and great roasted or for potato salads.
Storage: In a cool, DARK place. Uses: Cooked. When to use: Within a week.

Butternut Squash – These butternuts are wonderful in soup or roasted in chunks. Try one of this week’s recipes.
Storage: On the counter. Uses: Cooked. When to use: Within a week

Scallions – For salads, soups or grilled. Just great flavor and crunch!
Storage: In an airtight (plastic) bag in the refrigerator. Uses: Raw/Cooked. When to use: Within a week.

Garlic – This hardneck variety is extremely special. It’s the closest veg we have to “gold” on the farm because the seed is so expensive and we only grow a little bit. Enjoy! You can’t find this type in stores.
Storage: On the counter. Uses: Raw/Cooked. When to use: Within a month

Red Kale – The very best kale variety for salads because the leaves are so tender. Also wonderful gently steamed and dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, fresh raw garlic and salt to taste.
Storage: In an airtight (plastic) bag in the refrigerator. Uses: Raw/Cooked. When to use: Within 5 days

Parsley – Brighten up any soup or salad! Freezes very well just as-is in a ziplock. I pull out a bunch and roughly chop it before adding to soups all winter long.
Storage: In an airtight (plastic) bag in the refrigerator. Uses: Raw/Cooked. When to use: Within 5 days.

Red Tomatoes – This may be the last week for our red tomatoes so savor them!
Storage: On the counter. Uses: Raw/Cooked. When to use: Now!

Acorn Squash – These winter squash are for eating! You can keep them on your counter for about a week as decoration — no longer than that! They are not the storage variety, so they will deteriorate in quality after a little while. Don’t be afraid– they’re pretty easy to cut in half with a large, sharp knife once you remove the stem. They are delicious roasted. Try it!
Storage: On the counter. Uses: Cooked. When to use: Within a week

FRUIT SHARE

Please be sure to remove the fruit from the bag immediately when you get them home. They should ripen sitting out on a platter or on a dry dish cloth.
Please remember just one bag per fruit share member.
1 mixed bag of Cortland Apples, Bartlett & Seckel Pears
(for fruit share members ONLY)

Recipes

Roasted Butternut Squash
Vegan Curried Butternut Squash Soup
19 Scallion Recipes from Saveur
Kale Salad with Apples & Cheddar
Sauteed Kale with Garlic & Lemon

Winter Share Signups Are HERE!

Post author By memo
Post date October 28, 2016
No Comments on Winter Share Signups Are HERE!

The Winter Share signups are here, but listen up- they’re very different than last year, so please read carefully!

We’re excited to announce several winter shares for this season, to keep you eating well during the cold months. Even better, our different partners have joined forces to deliver their food on the same pickup dates with Lewis Waite a la carte orders, making your winter eating as convenient and simple as possible. You can sign up before November 15th via this link, which also has all the details. But briefly, here’s what we’ve got:

Golden Earthworm Root Vegetable Share– this is our core share, but please note- due to member feedback, this year’s share is about half the size and better spread out throughout the winter. If you want as many veggies as last year, order 2 shares!

Frozen Vegetable Share– this is the same much-loved frozen share from Winter Sun Farms (now called Bridge Shares) who freeze local produce in the summer for you to eat in the winter. Great taste, and a great way to eat local off-season.

Beer Share– Are you as excited by this as I am? Queens’ very own Bridge & Tunnel brewery will be offering growlers to keep your spirits up all winter! 2 different beers each delivery, selected form their rotating stock of brews. A beer connoisseur’s dream!

Fish Share– Our friends at Lewis Waite are working with various local fish purveyors to bring you local great frozen fish for those cold winter months! Check out the signup form for a list of fish!

Soap Share– Last, but certainly not least, is the continuation of our soap share, made right here in Sunnyside! These are truly great smelling soaps that also happen to make great Holiday gifts!

SIGN UP FOR A SHARE TODAY!

Sunnyside CSA 2014 Sign Ups

Post author By memo
Post date February 4, 2014
No Comments on Sunnyside CSA 2014 Sign Ups

We know the big question on everyone’s mind is- when can I sign up for a CSA share? The answer is: You can sign up NOW!

SIGN UP for Special Product Shares – Summer 2014 SEASON (Deadline: April 25th)

Vegetable shares for the Summer 2014 SEASON are SOLD OUT. To be added to our wait list, please sign-up via webform here.

Looking for a share partner?

If so, post a message on our facebook page (or respond to posts already on there). If you don’t have facebook, Contact Us and we’ll post it for you!

What Can I sign up for?

As of right now, you can sign up for any of our several share plans except the vegetable share, which has sold out. Some, like the kombucha, egg, and ferments shares, have limited numbers and are first-come, first-serve, so if you’re interested in one, don’t delay. You can view the share plans here.

What if I can’t afford this?

If you want to eat better but are having some financial trouble, don’t worry- we can help. Read more about our Subsidized Share Program.

How do I sign up for my volunteer shift?

We will send an email to current members when the Summer/Autumn 2014 Season volunteer shift calendar is activated. Then, all members will be required to sign up for their volunteer shifts by September 15th, 2014. If you are wondering what your volunteer shift will be like, take a look at our Volunteer Info Page.

Tags Golden Earthworm Organic Farm, sign-up

2013 Survey Results

Thanks to everyone who participated in our 2013 Survey- it was extremely helpful. We had an all-time high for survey responses this year. 67% of survey respondents had a vegetable share last year, 33% did not.

People mostly joined the CSA for high quality foods, locally sourced foods and to support local farmers (in that order). Less important were organic produce, supporting an alternative food economy and economic value.

The Veggie Share
People rated last season’s vegetables highly in taste and freshness, slightly lower in appearance and weekly quantity, and lower in both weekly and season long variety.

Members were slightly less satisfied with the winter vegetables overall, mostly because of variety (but that’s the nature of a root veggie share!)

Several members found the variety in the fruit share to be lacking, with too many peaches and apples.

Of the people who had vegetable shares last year, 9% did not plan to sign up this year. For almost all of them, it was just too much food.

Subsidy Program
Almost all members (94%) thought it was important or very important that the CSA be accessible to all income levels and 93% knew we offered subsidized shares. 65% thought subsidized shares should be expanded to include dairy, fruit or eggs while 34% had no opinion.

The subsidized share members who responded the survey wanted an increase in their subsidized share options.

Expanding the Food We Offer
On the question of adding additional products to the weekly vegetable share, interest was high. 33% have never participated in special products but would be interested depending on details, 34% have participated and would like more and 18% want to do all their food shopping at the CSA.

Every single proposed special product got at least 20 votes. The top vote getters were:
egg share – 71%
weekly a la carte vegetables – 62%
winter citrus – 62%

Respondents were more cautious on the question of adding more delivery dates in the winter. 54% were interested in more delivery dates but not necessarily weekly. 25% might be interested but were satisfied with our current delivery schedule. 14% wanted year round weekly pick-ups.

If we go ahead with the year round model, 57% did not want an increase in fees, 24% were either mildly or strongly against fee or volunteer hour increases, 22% did not want an increase in volunteer hours and 18% would be willing to increase both fees and volunteer hours.

Dairy Share
The biggest reason people didn’t get a MNJ dairy share was that they didn’t consume enough dairy on a weekly basis (54%). 17% thought it cost too much and 16% preferred to buy their dairy elsewhere.

The dairy rated high for freshness and taste but lower for value and delivery reliability.

Fish Share
People rated the fish share high in freshness, taste and appearance, less high for variety, ease of ordering and customer support and a lot lower in value.

The biggest reasons for not getting the fish share were not eating enough fish to justify it (56%) and the expense (35%).

Lewis Waite
35% of respondents have purchased from Lewis Waite within the past year, 65% have not. People who did not order from Lewis Waite said that they intended to order but didn’t get around to it (44%), found the ordering system intimidating or confusing (23%) or didn’t know about Lewis Waite (16%). People who ordered from Lewis Waite were happy with the product and the customer support but less satisfied with the ease of ordering and value.

Events
On the question of events, 63% of respondents did not attend any CSA event last year, 26% attended the town hall and 12% attended the summer bbq. People who didn’t attend any events said it was because the timing was bad (35%) and they weren’t members last year (35%). Some 15% just weren’t interested in the events.

For future events, people were most interested in:
Farm tours – 56%
U-pick outings – 53%
Brewing or canning lessons – 48%
Food/cooking demos – 42%
Picnic/BBQ – 38%
Potluck – 34%

Social Media
Facebook and the website continue to be the primary way people get their information. People don’t know about the twitter feed and if they do know, haven’t checked it out. People who check weekly use facebook and the website about equally but more casual users go to the website.

Tags survey