October 7, 2020

I can’t believe that this is our penultimate week of the CSA season! It really has flown by this year. Even though it might seem early to us shareholders, the timing of the end of the season is always right on target with our local farms. Whipstone Farm got a few night of light frost this past week and the Verde Valley won’t be far behind.  It’s hard to believe it with the hot days that we have been having, but the seasons change in mysterious ways around here. Crops are slowing down as the days get shorter and we are enjoying the last of the summer harvest.

This week we have all the ingredients for delicious fresh salsa, which I have included a recipe for below. Recipes like this are truly summer in food form and I can’t wait to make this recipe and enjoy all the fresh goodness while we still have it delivered weekly. But once the CSA ends there are still plenty of ways to get local produce, as I’ve mentioned before. Sedona Community Farmers’ Market operates year-round and they have a wide variety of growers from the Verde Valley and Paulden, where Whipstone Farm is located. Interdependence Natural Foods in Sedona carries Whipstone Farm’s produce year-round and has their flowers available when in season as well. If you love eating with the seasons you won’t be disappointed with all that these options have to offer.

If you haven’t yet done so, you can reserve your share for the 2021 season now. 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. 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 share as soon as possible. I will contact our waitlist in mid-November, so if you would like to support our local farms again next year please reserve your share now.

Have a fabulous week!
Meghan

What’s in your basket – October 7th
Arugula – Whipstone Farm
Cilantro – Whipstone Farm
Eggplant – Willowbrook Farm

Hot peppers – Whipstone Farm
Kabocha squash – Willowbrook Farm
Multi-colored beans – Willowbrook Farm
Shallots – Bob Haskell

Tomatoes – Whipstone Farm

Getting ready to cover the rows of peppers at Whipstone to prolong their season and protect them from frost.

Kabocha squash from Willowbrook coming this week!

Bob’s shallots are such a treat!

Post-bean harvesting at Willowbrook Farm. Beans have very sticky leaves!

Last week’s bare fields at Whipstone Farm are now full of seedlings!

All of fall’s colors in these beautiful bouquets. I saw some of these beauties at Interdependence Natural Foods in Sedona last week. New Whipstone bouquets get delivered there each Tuesday afternoon.