Welcome to the 17th season of Verde Valley CSA! We are so excited to serve you and are so grateful for your support of our local growers. We have two main farms supplying your produce: Willowbrook Farm in Camp Verde, and Whipstone Farm in Paulden. Each week’s basket will feature the freshest organically grown produce from these two farms, along with a variety of fruits and veggies (and occasionally nuts and honey) from other Verde Valley farms as they are available.
This week we will be getting some fabulous spring produce, including green garlic, cilantro, and spinach. These cool-weather crops will only be around briefly, so be sure to enjoy them! The early weeks of the season will be heavy on greens, so get ready for some big salads and green smoothies. As the season moves along the types of produce will shift, first to more root vegetables, then to tomatoes, cucumbers, and summer squash, and finally to winter squash, eggplant, and peppers. Throughout the season there will be leafy greens, lettuce, onions, garlic, and more to round things out. So if you are itching for a certain vegetable, know that it will be coming and enjoy the current bounty while it’s here.
The cool, wet weather that lasted well into spring is translating to a slower start to the season than in the past few years, but that weather also ensured that we will have excellent fruit crops this year! The last few years we have had late frosts that have all but decimated the crops from local orchards, so we are incredibly excited to enjoy peaches, apricots, plums, and apples again this season. The long winter/spring also translated to a late citrus crop down in the Phoenix area, so we are happy to have freshly-picked pink grapefruit in this week’s share. We also want to thank shareholder Alice Sordahl for contributing this week’s crop of hand-shelled pecans!
Sedona shareholders can find us under the small ramada between the baseball fields at Posse Grounds Park. Parallel park across from The Hub and skate park or by the basketball court and go through the gates. Once you come around the concession stand/restrooms you will see us. Cornville distribution will continue at Windmill Park, and Camp Verde shareholders will pick up produce at Willowbrook Farm. Addresses and pickup times are listed at the very bottom of this email.
Please bring your reusable bags to take home your share of produce. If you are unsure of where exactly to pick up your share, contact me ahead of time at verdevalleycsa@yahoo.com or at (928) 300-8623 on Wednesday. You can also review the email I sent last week with detailed instructions about our pickup locations if you need a refresher. For those of you with flower shares, this week is the beginning of the season for produce only. Flower shares begin on June 14th. If you have not yet signed up for a flower share but would like to, please contact us.
Thank you all for being members of Verde Valley CSA! We look forward to another great year providing the freshest local produce and flowers.
Have a fabulous week!
Meghan
What’s in your basket – May 17th
Grapefruit – Fasteen Farm
Green garlic – Whipstone Farm
Pecans – Alice Sordahl
Spinach – Whipstone Farm
Swiss chard – Willowbrook Farm
Planting tomato seedlings in one of the greenhouses at Whipstone Farm.
Pepper plants ready to move into the field at Willowbrook Farm.
Cory trellising pea plants at Whipstone Farm.
Cucumbers just got transplanted into the field at Willowbrook Farm.
Apple tree in full bloom!