Category: Get Educated

CSA Farm Share CSA/Farm Market Get Educated Local Food Recipes

What’s in the Share – 11/7+8 – Oysters + Clams!!

Post author By Suzi Lilly
Post date 11/05/2017
No Comments on What’s in the Share – 11/7+8 – Oysters + Clams!!

This is a really delicious share for you this week! We have a few turkeys and bison roasts left, and you can order them and pay your $20 deposit via our online ordering. They are open to non-members as stand-alone items.

PRODUCE

Beets – these have a red bulb, and greens. Use your greens early – cut them off and sauté – put the steps in first as they take longer than the leaves. sauteed beet greens with olive oil and garlic. roasted beets with dill, beet salad with dill and lemon
carrots – carrot, apple and spinach salad (kid friendly version too)
turnips – – roasted turnips with ginger
cherry tomatoes – cherry tomato brown bettys
roma tomatoes = slow roasted with sea salt and coriander
french radishes – I love to slice these into salad, but they are lovely in a sandwich, or sauteed in butter for breakfast. Here are some suggestions, I love the one with the ricotta, which you can make in minutes using the milk.
colored cauliflower – roasted – easy but tasty
cilantro – cilantro pesto
celery- celery risotto with asian pear and shisho
napa cabbage – green chile, chicken posole soup
baby romaine – apple lettuce salad
leeks – leek bread pudding
arugula – arugula pear and goat cheese salad with pomegranate vinaigrette
Brussel sprouts – yay! flash fried with lime and salt.
apples – brown butter and cheddar apple pie
white sweet potatoes – chile roasted chicken, sweet potatoes and cilantro rice

MEAT

Oysters + Clams –how to shuck an oyster with Chef Pete at Merroir. How to prepare them raw use your leeks, or green onions! Grill them. Here’s a few other methods of cooking like roasting, and steaming. Here’s how to steam clams. Here’s the Ultlimate Pasta with Clams Make oyster shooters. You can use sake, tequila, vodka etc. Look them up. You’ll be in heaven.

Alternate – ground sausage, cornish game hen, ground beef

BREAD

Prairie Grain

CHEESE

Eberly Cheddar assortment – swiss chard quiche with a rice crust

FRUIT

apples – make a fruit and cheese plate!

pears

CSA Farm Share CSA/Farm Market Get Educated Local Food Recipes

What’s in the Share – Week 2 – Time to reserve your Holiday Polyface Farm Turkey

Post author By Suzi Lilly
Post date 10/07/2017
No Comments on What’s in the Share – Week 2 – Time to reserve your Holiday Polyface Farm Turkey

Welcome to Week 2 of our CSA! This will be the first pickup for our 7th/G Capitol Hill, DC Home Delivery, Farm to Family biweekly, and some of you at Eastern Market. This is week 2 for our Eastern Market and Farm to Family weeklies. Remember you can check your calendar to see when your share is expected by logging into your member dashboard. If you have questions or difficulties on how to do that, let me know.

Polyface turkeys – It’s time to reserve your turkey for the holidays. Turkeys are $5.75/lb and are available in 12-14 lbs, 14-16 lbs, 16-18 lbs and 18-22 lbs. You can order your turkey and pay $20 deposit thru your dashboards. After ordering, email with TURKEY in the subject and let me know what size range you want, and if you want it Thanksgiving week or before the winter holidays, and we will do our best to match you up. Balance will be due upon delivery (we will email you with balance due amount.) I will also have other holiday meats available: pork, lamb, beef and bison roasts/lamb/leg etc. We can also get oysters/clams. Email me with your interest – HOLIDAY MEATS in subject.

Produce

potatoes
green onions
purple radishes – purple radish salad with cool cilantro honey dressing
spicy mix
green peppers
poblano peppers – grilled stuffed poblanos with bell pepper salsa – try the bacon sausage for this
kale – garlicky grilled kale salad with grilled bread
napa cabbage – roasted napa cabbage with garlic, napa cabbage salad/Food + Wine ,
swiss chard – sauteed swiss chard with onions, don’t forget to eat your stems!add them to your recipe, or pickle them!
chioga beets – These are so pretty! chioggia beets with raspberry mint vinaigrette
spinach – caesar spinach pizza in an hour! Batsaria – Phylo-less Spanakopita
bibb lettuce – spinach and bibb lettuce salad with apples
sweet potatoes – sweet potato curry with spinach and chick peas
fuji apples – napa cabbage and apple slaw, fuji apple spice cake
raspberries – if available
yellow/zucchini squash – skillet bacon zucchini cornbread with buttermilk

Fruit

raspberries – if available
apples
pears

Bread – Prairie Grain

Cheese – Mix from the same dairy as milk and butter

Meat

Ground Bison – how to cook grass fed bison, Here’s a few recipes to try! Don’t use too many condiments, you want to be able to taste the bison.
Bacon Sausage – so baconey! – this is great just cooked or grilled with a few great sides. Use like you would sausage, or bacon!
Cubed stew beef – pressure cooker/Instant Pot Vietnamese Bo Kho/beef stew (Nom Nom Paleo)

Yogurt – How to make Greek style, if you prefer a thicker style. Otherwise, its wonderful just as is. You can add fruit, honey, maple syrup or jam to sweeten. Here’s a video on how easy it is. I usually line a strainer with a clean tea towel, put it in a saucepan and put the lid on it. You can strain it for a long time, and make yogurt cheese, which you can use in place of cream cheese. Use your left over whey in smoothies, or to ferment veggies with. Pets love it. It is also great to cook with yogurt – I use it to replace sour cream and ricotta cheese in my recipes.

Tags apples, Capitol Hill, community food systems, CSA, DC, Eastern Market, Farm Shares, Farm to Family, grass-fed dairy, grass-fed meats, local food, Polyface Farms, vegetables

CSA Farm Share CSA/Farm Market Get Educated Local Food Recipes

Welcome Fall! What’s in the Share: Week 1

Post author By Suzi Lilly
Post date 09/29/2017
No Comments on Welcome Fall! What’s in the Share: Week 1

Hi members, We are so excited to start our Fall CSA next week. Below is a preview for what’s in the share this week. Remember this is what we think you will get, it may switch around, and I will post any changes on our Facebook page.

Polyface turkeys – Its time to reserve your turkey for the holidays. Turkeys are $5.75/lb and are available in 12-14 lbs, 14-16 lbs, 16-18 lbs and 18-22 lbs. You can order your turkey and pay $20 deposit thru your dashboards. After ordering,email what size range you want, and if you want it Thanksgiving week or before the winter holidays, and we will do our best to match you up. Balance will be due upon delivery (we will email you with balance due amount.) I will also have other holiday meats available: pork, lamb, beef and bison roasts/lamb/leg etc. We can also get oysters/clams. Email me with your interest.

Let me know if you have questions or concerns.

Happy Cooking!

Produce

watermelon radish – These are so pretty! watermelon radishes are an heirloom variety of the daikon radish. Packing vitamin C, fiber and potassium, watermelon radishes infuse any boring green salad with their hot pink hue. Here are some recipes.
swiss chard – make sure to use the stems. Make a frittata. Make lasagna. Make vegan lemony swiss chard with quinoa, fried capers and olives. Make veggie cakes with saffron and ricotta,
bibb lettuce – great for salad, and perfect for wraps.
English cucumbers
red beets – balsamic barbecue beets
green bell peppers – vegan quinoa stuffed peppers
red russian kale – sauteed kale with smoked paprika
potatoes – warm potato salad with goat cheese
zucchini – baked parmesan zucchini
yellow squash – make spicy bread and butter pickles – a small batch makes some for you, and some for a friend.
cherry tomatoes – put them into your salad, or eat them as a snack
green beans – cranberry hazelnut green bean salad
piney river gold apples – yum!
Magness pears – pear and apple galette.
Raspberries
Fruit
honey crisp apples
Crispin pears
Raspberries

Meats
2 bison steaks – Here’s a primer on how to cook grass-fed primer – read this before you cook it, especially if you haven’t cooked grass-fed bison before. Make balsamic and herb bison steak salad.

Bread – Prairie Grain (assorted) – grilled tomato, basil and goat cheese sandwiches

Cheese – hard aged Goat – double goat cheese salad with tomatoes and cukes- you’ll need soft goat cheese also (or just omit), so if in DC, visit Mr Peachy, our Amish farmer friend down the Farmer line at Eastern Market.

Yogurt – How to make Greek style. Here’s a video on how easy it is. I usually line a strainer with a clean tea towel, put it in a saucepan and put the lid on it. You can strain it for a long time, and make yogurt cheese, which you can use in place of cream cheese. Use your left over whey in smoothies, or to ferment veggies with. Pets love it. It is also great to cook with yogurt – I use it to replace sour cream and ricotta cheese in my recipes.

Tags apples, Capitol Hill, community food systems, CSA, DC, Eastern Market, Farm Shares, Farm to Family, grass-fed dairy, grass-fed meats, local food, Polyface Farms, produce, Recipe, recipes, Richmond, RVA, Washington DC

CSA Farm Share CSA/Farm Market Get Educated Local Food Recipes

Bye Bye Summer – Last CSA delivery. Never Fear – Fall Begins Next Week!

Post author By Suzi Lilly
Post date 09/16/2017
No Comments on Bye Bye Summer – Last CSA delivery. Never Fear – Fall Begins Next Week!

This coming week’s share is our final share of the season. Don’t forget to sign up for Fall as we start our Fall CSA next week and everyone will be on the same rotation. Let me know if you have questions.

If you are Home Delivery, please remember to put your bins/coolers out for pickup. Thanks!

BiWeekly Home Delivery is a go in Richmond! BiWeekly 7th/G is a go! Eastern Market is a go! Farm to Family is a go! But there is still room for more people. Hooray and thank you to everyone who signed up.

We are still waiting on enough people for Home Delivery on Capitol Hill for weekly/biweekly, and for biweekly at 23rd Place. Sign Up Now and share with your friends so you get your food where you want it. Home Delivery is $8/time by Schlep eco-trike. Just a reminder these drops will move over to Eastern Market if we do not get enough people.

We hope you have all enjoyed everything this season.

Happy Cooking!

Here’s what we think is in the shares this week, subject to change.

Produce

honey crisp apples
bibb lettuce
daikon radish – my fave is pickled. Here are recipes for pickles, braised, Banh Mi, and even cake.
spicy salad mix
okra – try spicy oven roasted!
salad turnips – these little babies are sweet and delightful. Here’s a recipe for farro salad with turnips and greens.
Tuscan kale
onions
zucchini
yellow squash
acorn squash – had this last night and it was so good. We just halved, scooped out the seeds with a serrated grapefruit spoon, filled the hole with butter, salt and pepper, and baked. Here’s more ideas.
butternut squash – Here’s some ideas for butternut salad (as it is still salad weather). Here’s how to roast it. You can sub your butternut for pumpkin in recipes. In a hurry? InstantPot steam it. Then you have the puree to do whatever with.
pie pumpkin – its time for pumpkin everything! How to roast one. how to make a pumpkin latte. how to make a vegan/paleo latte.Here’s some pale pumpkin recipes. Pumpkin ricotta gnocchi with rosemary brown butter.
rosemary – grill your pumpkin (or squash) with rosemary and sea salt.
Make a fancy rosemary cake! Make a gimlet! make infused oil and drizzle it on everything! Preserve it and use later.
bok choy – zucchini noodle ramen with temeph and bok chou

Fruit – Fruit share is done for the season. We hope you enjoyed it immensely! Fruit will be back next week until winter holiday break. Yum!

Meat

If you are a weekly member:

Polyface chicken breast – 10 not boring chicken breast recipes. Use your rosemary!
pork chops – rosemary pork chops
Polyface breakfast links – sausage and kale soup dairy/gluten free Kale and sausage soup – I make this recipe at least once a month, more frequently in winter. I make a huge batch and eat it for breakfast too.

If you are a biweekly member:

Sky View Acres chuck roast – Instant Pot braised beef chuck roast with wine and rosemary. I also like to add in chunks of potatoes or squash (summer or winter) and a few slices of bacon.
Sky View Acres Ground Beef – Instant Pot Picadillo (Cuban Hash) I make this often – its super fast, easy and tasty.
Southernmost Maple maple sausage – Make a savory bread pudding for brunch. Make it the night before, then stick it in the oven. Make this with your kale, or serve it with a kale salad.

Tags Capitol Hill, CSA, DC, Farm to Family, farm to family css, pumpkns, Recipe, Richmond, RVA

CSA Farm Share CSA/Farm Market Get Educated Get Involved Local Food

Fall/Winter CSA – Join Now and Save! DC/Capitol Hill and Richmond, VA

Post author By Suzi Lilly
Post date 09/04/2017
No Comments on Fall/Winter CSA – Join Now and Save! DC/Capitol Hill and Richmond, VA

Details have been finalized on our CSA for the Fall/Winter season, and are online now!

Join Now because…. We are offering a FLASH WAIVE on the member fee if you sign up now thru Wed at midnight. This is for ANY type of share, and includes payment plans. Cannot be combined with Military discount, or the FULL17 discount (see details below).

Our CSA proudly serves Washington, DC and Richmond, VA

You will receive a seasonal mix of the finest local produce, sustainably and humanely raised local grass-fed/pastured meats, fresh grass-fed dairy, pastured eggs, fresh baked bread, and a variety of other items are also available!

Shop a la carte items.
Hold deliveries when you need to – use online calendar to place your box on hold when you want.
Payment plans available.
Membership fee (includes fuel, admin, labor) is $90/$45 for Washington DC, $25/50 Richmond for the season of weekly 20x/bi-weekly 10x. Member fee is charged separately (we will bill, and pro-rate)
Home Delivery in Washington, DC is powered by Schlep It eco-friendly trikes $8 time). RVA home delivery is FREE within 5 miles of Farm to Famiy.
Referral Rewards Program – Earn $25 credit for each new member you refer!

10% discount for Active military/Veteran (not including member fee) – email for info.
We were listed in the Washington Post story on flexible CSAs in the Washington DC area.

Here’s the info on Fall season:

Season is 20 weeks (10 for biweekly, every other week)
If you have credit, it will roll over to use for Fall. If you forego Fall, it will roll until Spring. You can donate your credit, or transfer it to someone else.
Promo code for Full Share (the combo one with produce, meat, dairy, bread) paid in full up front: receives 10% discount with code FULL17. This will be valid until the end of September. Does not combine with any other discount. This is not for any of the other shares paid in full up front.
Military discount 10% for active military/retired veterans. Must be someone in your immediate family. Email me with your service info. Code is same as last time. Email me for the code if you need it. Does not combine with any other discount.
Starts week of 9/26 – no break from Summer so no missing out on any of the bounty! Host drops and biweekly deiveries start week of 10/3. Ends week of 2/27. Based on weather, the Spring CSA will start in March or April, with a little break to let the farmers get back on their feet.
We will have a holiday break from 12/25 resuming 1/9.
Holiday meat will be pre-ordered soon. More details as we go along: Polyface turkeys, lamb, oysters, etc.
Cost: Produce remain the same $45 (yay!); meat and dairy are going up $1 to $35, Full share $2 to $122. Fruit is $10 and goes until the winter holiday. Use the drop down menu to choose frequency. Price will pro-rate for the number of drops left in season.
Payment plans: You have the option of paying in full at subscribing (we appreciate this!), or choosing payment installments. Depending on subscription type, between 2- 4 payments. These happen every 30 days from the time of subscription. It is a hybrid between a more conventional CSA where you have to pay in full up front months in advance, and a service where payments are more spread out as it helps us to have more money at the beginning of season to work with your farmers. If you need a more generous payment plan, email me and I can set that up for you. We want everyone to be able to afford the CSA! Thank you!
DC drops are Eastern Market, 7th/G, 23rd Pl (if we get 10 people!) and Home Delivery ($8/time 20002/20003 Capitol Hill).
RVA – Drops will be: Farm to Family Market, Home Delivery (FREE).
Host Sites/Home Delivery need 10 minimum people before they are a go. If this is you – please share so that it happens!
- 7th/G – biweekly
- 23rd Place – biweekly
- DC Home Delivery – weekly/biweekly
- RVA Home Delivery – weekly/biweekly
- If we do not get enough people at the DC drops they will revert to Eastern Market. If we do not get enough weekly home deliveries, they will revert to biweekly. If we don’t get enough biweekly home deliveries, they will revert to Eastern Market in DC and Farm to Family Market in RVA.
Seasonal member fees are: DC $90/45, RVA $50/25 for weekly and biweekly memberships. Member fees are for the season (not per time) and prorate for late joiners. These fees pay for fuel, labor, software, admin etc – everything to get your food to you. We are unable due to our many flexible options to roll these into the CSAware software without multiply charging the people who have multiple options in their share. Charges thru CSAware are COST OF FOOD ONLY. The member fee will be charged to your card on file shortly after you subscribe for the season, or added on to a check or cash payment.
Home Delivery – Weekly/Bi-Weekly – We need a minimum of 10 members to do weekly home delivery. Share and get your friends on board! Your home delivery fee will be charged separately when you sign up.
Partial season: if you think there is even a remote chance you are moving or need a partial season for any reason, email me and I can set you up. We can extend you based on what happens. It is very hard on us and our vendors when you decide to exit mid-season without notice, or making arrangements for someone to take over your share.
Host a drop! You need 10 confirmed members to host a drop and receive a free share. Contact Mark at 804-397-7337 for more info and see if your location works. Share with your friends/family etc. Worksites are ok!
Fall Fruit share (hooray!) – DC only. 12x weekly/5x biweekly at $10 time This will end in December. This will be apples, pears, possibly raspberries (Agriberry has a variety that fruits in November) or other late fruit season surprises. maybe jams and other fruit added value items. This is great if you have kids, juice, love apples, pack your lunch, make applesauce, pies and other desserts, dehydrate, jam, etc. If you are in Richmond and want extra fruit, please join the Agriberry Fruit CSA – They are our fruit partner. Thank you!

What will be in Produce?

Late Summer/early fall will overlap.
We promise this will never be the kale/potato/turnip CSA.
Virginia and surrounding food shed are 4 season growing states – You will see numerous varieties of heirloom veggies: greens such as kale, creasy, collards, some herbs may grow all winter thru snow and cold, and broccoli, cauliflower, beets, cabbage, parsnips, spinach, lettuce/salad greens, herbs and other veggies thrive in cooler weather.
We also work with a lot of smart growers who are using hoop houses, greenhouses, hydroponics and other methods to stretch the season with lettuce, herbs, sprouts, tomatoes, mushrooms.
You will get items that are also grown, harvested and stored in the fall – apples, pears, squash, pumpkins, turnips, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, potatoes, carrots.
Produce share WILL contain pantry items in addition to veggies/fruit depending on weather, and especially as the season progresses. These are items that are grown and dried/preserved/frozen and support our farmers during the lean seasons and reduce food waste. Some vendors are food artisans using ancient food traditions, women/minority owned, or other small entrepreneurs that work year round and keep the local food economy cooking. You may see: fermented veggies/krauts, apple sauce, vinegars, sauces, pastas, popcorn, grains, cornmeal, flours, baking mixes, barbecue sauce, honey, sorghum molasses, jams, Virginia peanuts, nut butters, frozen corn and more. We encourage you to try these items. These are our personal favorites, we choose them carefully and hope you do too. If there is something on the pantry list you cannot eat, or don’t want to eat, a sub is always available with advance notice.
Please help us get the word out! We rely on word of mouth to sustain our business season to season. We will have paper and electronic flyers (email me) you can share starting next week, and I will do posts with links. Mark needs people to flyer and he will pay (contact him 804-397-7337)If you share paper, do so mindfully (we hate litter and so do your neighbors). Please post us on your neighborhood listserves and facebook groups. Anyone who signs up that uses your name in referral earns you $25 . If you know of a fall fair, or other event we can bring the FarmBus to, let us know!

So Join Today and Eat Well all Winter. We appreciate you and your families and your choice to eat local. Email us with questions.

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Tags apples, Capitol Hill, community food systems, CSA, DC, Eastern Market, Farm Shares, Farm to Family, grass-fed dairy, grass-fed meats, local food, Polyface Farms, Richmond, RVA, sustainable food, vegetables, Washington DC

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