October 14, 2020

I can’t believe it is our last week of the season! This year has really flown by, but what a wonderful season it has been. We have never filled up so quickly and we have certainly never had such an enormous waitlist! Interest in local produce really seems to have exploded this year and we are truly grateful to all of you for supporting the local farms that supply our produce, especially our primary farms, Willowbrook and Whipstone. Without Hope and Hilary at Willowbrook and Shanti and Cory (and their crew) at Whipstone, this CSA would not exist. I am so appreciative of the countless hours of planning, digging, planting, weeding, harvesting, washing, and packaging they spend throughout the year to bring each week’s share to our plates.

Thank you also to our supplemental growers that have brought so much variety throughout the season: Bob Haskell, Sunnyside Farm, Fasteen Farms, Sanders’ Farm, Junipine Orchard, Green Creek Farm, and Mario Velaruz. All of our local farmers are the lifeblood of our communities. They preserve our open spaces, protect our soil and water resources, encourage biodiversity, maintain the rural and agricultural roots of the area, and supply us with delicious, nutritious food. They are our heroes. Josh Rozum at Green Creek Farm delivers his eggs and the produce from Whipstone Farm each week and drives all of our shares to Sedona. We simply could not make our distribution work without his dedication. Thank you Josh! Thanks also to our volunteers in Sedona, Jon Howe and April Payne, for distributing your produce each week. We couldn’t do it without them!

This week we have a beautiful fall basket to finish out the season. Mario Velaruz is bringing up delicious apples from the orchards in Wilcox. Whipstone Farm is serving up the last tomatoes of the season, which are likely to get nipped by frost any night now! Winter squash, shishito peppers, bok choy, and tasty fresh greens round off the basket. We are so lucky to be feasting on such a wonderful assortment of local produce and I hope you all appreciate and love it as much as I do. You can continue to find produce from Willowbrook Farm in the coming months at Sedona Community Farmers’ Market. Hope will be sharing a table with Mario and selling the delicious salad mix we have been enjoying throughout the season. As always, Whipstone Farm’s produce is available at Interdependence Natural Foods in Sedona as well.

If you will be joining us again next season please reserve your share before November 15th. You can either use the online signup form or print out and return an Early Bird Contract. Both are available on our website here. We will also have copies of the Early Bird Contract available at this week’s distribution. I will be at the Sedona distribution to collect contracts and deposits. Remember that we need to receive your $50 non-refundable deposit to reserve your share. We currently have a waitlist of 80 people, so I encourage all of you to reserve your 2021 CSA before I contact them in November. 

Have a lovely week! I hope to see you next season!
Meghan

What’s in your basket – October 14th
Apples – Mario Velaruz
Bok choy – Whipstone Farm
Butternut squash – Willowbrook Farm

Head lettuce – Whipstone Farm
Kale – Willowbrook Farm
Salad mix – Willowbrook Farm
Shishito peppers – Willowbrook Farm

Tomatoes – Whipstone Farm

Whipstone Farm is keeping their field tomatoes covered in the hopes of protecting them from frost.

I wonder who will get that monster butternut squash!

Hope prepping and planting rows to grow through the fall season at Willowbrook Farm.

The spring chickens at Willowbrook are all laying eggs now. We’ll have plenty of eggs next CSA season!

Hilary and Hope thank you for your support this season!