January 2024: Relish the Winter
A New Year is ushered in...
News from the Farm
December and the holidays have whooshed by, knocking over the lamp as they darted past with all the enthusiasm of children excited to play in the snow, leaving the New Year to quietly creep in. Though we are still growing out in our field, the farm is noticeably quieter and I am relishing the moments indoors with a hot cup of tea, slowly making my way through the seed order, website updates, and countless other back-end projects that are necessary for my small business to run efficiently during the hustle and bustle of the main spring and summer growing seasons.
You can read more about typical January on the farm in our blog post.
We continue to participate in the first-ever Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market winter season - and I am honestly loving growing vegetables into the colder months! Despite the cold. Despite the wet winter. We’ve sold out of many of our storage crops thanks to our faithful customers - apples, carrots, radishes, garlic, and celery root - but cold hardy greens continue to live in our low tunnels and caterpillar tunnels. I am looking forward to using the knowledge I’ve gained this winter to inform next year’s planting. You can learn more about our winter growing on our Instagram Story series - Winter Growing and in our December 2023 newsletter.
Next Market Date - January 20
Join us at the Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market on Saturday, January 20, 9am-1pm at 505 Cayuga Street, inside First Presbyterian’s Fellowship Hall. The entrance is accessible (no stairs) from the parking lot off of South 5th Street in the village of Lewiston.
This month, our table will be filled with:
arugula
winter salad mix
sunchokes
curly kale; dino kale; and mustard greens
in-shell English walnuts '
microgreens
We’ll also have hand crafted products from our farm:
rustic Italian bread; organic sourdough bread; and sourdough cheese crackers
organic sourdough granola
homemade jams and jellies
An Invitation: Join our 2024 Veggie Subscription!
Do you ever find yourself staring into the void of the refrigerator and wondering what to make? Or maybe grocery shopping feels overwhelming, even though you can add things to your cart from your phone? Bored with rotating through the same meals week after week? Or are you setting a goal for 2024 to be the year where you eat more vegetables?
If anything above, resonates with you, I invite you to become a member of our 2024 veggie subscription, or CSA Membership Share!
End the overwhelm of what’s in the fridge (and the guilt that comes with tossing the rotten food)! End the overwhelm with shopping. Invigorate your meals with farm fresh veggies. Have support in following through with your health goals!
Becoming a member of our veggie subscription/CSA Membership Share will end the struggles you currently have with your food and provide relief.
For 20 weeks (June-October) you’ll receive a share of in-season, freshly harvested, nutrient-dense, produce from our farm, accompanied by:
weekly recipe suggestions and access to an e-book of 150+ recipes (goodbye meal boredom!)
a list of what items you should add to your grocery list to compliment the week’s produce share (goodbye overwhelm!)
guides on how to chop, cook, and store every single vegetable in your share (a coach accessible whenever you need them!)
weekly email with tips and coaching to help you minimize food waste (and food waste guilt!)
opportunities to speak directly with your farmer (me!) and get feedback on what to do with the bunch of kale that’s still sitting in your fridge (we’ve all been there!)
chance to add-on additional shares or select items of agricultural products to maximize your eat local experience - like cheese, bread, and flowers (and spend less time at the grocery store!)
We have half shares (4-6 items/week) and full shares (7-11 items/week) to accommodate the needs of your full life and wallet. Shares are available for pick up each Wednesday evening at the farm in the town of Cambria from June 12 - October 23.
Visit our website to read all the details and send me a text message with any questions you have - 716-431-3726.
**If you aren’t local to WNY but would still like to join a vegetable subscription, check out Local Harvest to find one offered at a farm near you.**
Relish the Season
A theme I am leaning into this new year is “in-season” - whether that pertains to embracing the season (or era, if you’re a Swiftie) I am in, the food and scents I consume, or the activities I participate in.
It’s easy to let winter slip by, unnoticed and un-relished, as we hide away in the short day length, curled upon our couches taking in the blue light of our screens. But there is so much beauty in the winter - it lies in stark contrast with the rest of the year, appearing as a world in decay, but it is a world on the precipice of a new beginning. Life continues in the winter, albeit to a slow flow, like that of the maple syrup that will emerge in the coming weeks.
Below are some activities that you can engage in this winter to appreciate the season, especially if it hasn’t been your favorite like it has been mine. These activities are wonderful if you have little ones too.
Earth Stewardship in the Kitchen
When you are in the kitchen, it’s easy to create a lot of “waste.” Peels, tops, stems from chopping and preparing a meal…it adds up. But, those scraps and waste can also be used, instead of being tossed in the compost or your garbage.
Homemade Vegetable Broth
As you chop and prepare veggies throughout the month, collect peels, tops, stems in a bag/container in the freezer. You can include things like:
🥬 stems from greens (like kale)
⚪ onion skins and ends
🥕 carrot tops (including the greens)
🥔 potato, sweet potato, and squash skins
Toss the odds and ends into a freezer bag and save until its full and you have a few hours when you’ll be home.
Place everything in a big pot, fill with water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 2-4 hours. You can even add in a turkey or chicken carcass.
You can use immediately for your next soup creation or freeze for future use!
🤞🏻Don't forget those mushy veggie scraps can feed life in your compost afterwards.
Curious about what else you can do with your vegetable scraps? Check out our blog post - 3 Ways to Use Veggie Scraps.
On the Blog
Hop over to our website for a quick read.
