March 2024: Celebrate the Spring Equinox
Last Call for CSA Subscriptions 🥕 March 30 @ the Market 🌷 Featured Friends 🌶 Latest Blog Posts
CSA Subscription Sign Up Ends March 31
We have 5 spots left, so if you’ve been thinking about it, now is the time!
How It Works:
The subscription runs from June 12-October 23, for a total of 20 weeks. If you have vacation planned during that time frame, pause your subscription with our “vacation mode” feature.
Pick up is on the farm in the town of Cambria - about a 20 minute drive (or less) from anywhere in Niagara County or northern Erie County. Pick up is on Wednesdays, anytime between 4:30pm-7:00pm. You are always welcome to bring your kiddos on the way to/from school, day care, practices, lessons, etc.
Full Shares and Half Shares are available to fit the produce needs of your family. Full Shares receive 7-11 items each week and half shares receive 4-6 items. An item might be a 8oz bunch of kale, 3 cucumbers; pint of tomatoes; 1lb of green beans; a 7oz bag of salad mix, etc. See crop schedule to know what to expect.
Payment plans are available. Space out your payments in 1, 2, or 3 installments, or connect with me directly to work out something more personal.
It’s not just veggies! Would you like grab some homemade bread, cheese, baked goods, or flower bouquets at pick up? Customize your subscription with an Add-on Share.
The Support You’ll Receive:
Sunday mornings you’ll be sent an email with the crops that will be available, suggested recipes, and a suggested shopping list to round out your meals for the week.
Access to our digital library of guides that show you how to prepare, cook, and store every vegetable in your share. So even if you’ve never seen a tomatillo before, you’ll become confident in how to cook with it.
A digital recipe book with over 150 recipes to try with our fresh veggies.
Tips on Tuesday in an email to help you use what’s left of your share and get your fridge ready for Wednesday’s pick up.
Not sure what something is? Send me a text and I’ll respond with the answer!
Afraid you’re wasting peels, stalks, or something that went bad before you could get to it? This year we’re starting a compost club - drop off your veggie scraps and other kitchen scraps at pick up and we’ll make them into compost.
Next Farmers Market: March 30
We’ll be at the Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market on Saturday, March 30 from 9am-1pm at the 1st Presbyterian Church at 505 Cayuga Street.
Pre-Orders:
We will be offering pre-orders on our online store of selected baked goods for your Easter Celebrations for pick up at the market. Visit our online store for full details & ingredient lists. Pre-orders must be made by March 27 for:
Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
Sourdough Cheese Curd Biscuits
Sourdough Everything Loaf
Oat & Jam Cake
Rosemary Rustic Loaf
Available at our Market Table:
Microgreens
Pussywillow bundles
Sorrel (leafy greens with a lemony flavor) (weather dependent)
Pesticide-free English walnuts
Fresh flower bouquets (weather dependent)
Our homemade jams & jellies made with local fruit
Hostess gift sets for the holidays
Rustic Italian Bread
Sourdough Cheese Curd Biscuits (pack of 12)
Signs of the Season: Spring Equinox
Spring brings an unfurling of leaves, lengthening daylight hours, and new life. It’s not difficult to see the change of the season with the warming days or to see signs of life and growth.
With the mild winter, spring has arrived early - crocuses and pussywillows are in bloom about 3-4 weeks earlier than normal. Fruit trees are beginning to bud. It’s easy to think that every farmer is embracing this warming climate, but in truth, we are waiting on bated breath, hoping the buds don’t peek out too much too soon and become damaged by an inevitable frost between March and May.
The vernal or spring equinox arrives on March 19 at 11:05pm EST, creating a day and night length that are quite close to equal. From here, the daylight hours grow longer until their zenith at the summer solstice.
Below are some activities that you can engage in this spring to notice the season. These activities are wonderful if you have little ones too.
Growing Together
With the spring-like temperatures popping up, you may be ready to welcome new life.
My friend Fran, flower farmer and owner of Heirloom Soul Florals is selling Dahlia tubers that she grew on her farm in Burt, NY. Her dahlia tubers are organically-grown with no pesticide/herbicide residues, inspected for quality and disease control, and she sells only her own dahlia tubers stock that has been lovingly grown, harvested, divided and stored on her farm — she does not buy and resell bulk dahlia tubers from elsewhere.
Local pick up of the dahlia tubers is an option on April 27 from Lockport, NY or you can have the tubers shipped to you or anyone you love in the U.S.! If you have a garden-loving, flower-growing friend in your life, these are a special way to celebrate them.
She also has some killer resources if you’ve never grown dahlias before (like me!).
Featured Friends
Hana Mushroom cultivates organic, gourmet mushrooms in North Tonawanda, NY. Sonya offers a variety including, pink oyster, golden oyster, blue oyster, lions mane, shiitake and chestnut mushrooms. And, let me tell you, they are so good and fresh! You can shop their grown-on-site mushrooms at their location on Oliver Street or visit them at the Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market.
Sunfields of Buffalo is a project launched in 2023 by Buffalo ReUse on the East Side. Modeled after similar efforts across the country, the aim is to reclaim and beautify vacant lots in the city. In 2024, they hope to bring more hope and beauty to neighborhoods and are aiming to fundraise $5,000 for more seeds and equipment to expand plantings into more vacant spaces on Jefferson Ave. They are also looking for volunteers to assist with these efforts as the weather warms and conditions make it ready for planting.
On the Blog
Hop over to our website for a quick read.
