Seasonal Produce
Each season we offer a variety of vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Although we have many favorite annual varieties of these products, we also love to experiment with interesting and rare heirloom varieties to surprise ourselves and our CSA members!
In addition, we also have many perennials on our property. We've established a 17-tree orchard, a berry patch, a small vineyard, a plot each of strawberries and asparagus, and lots of rhubarb (a lucky find during our first spring on the farm!).
Fresh Goods
Cut Flowers
While fresh flowers may seem superfluous, we love how they brighten and add a fresh fragrance to any space. In addition, many of these serve multiple purposes, whether as chemical-free pest control, attractants for pollinators, or edible flowers. We currently focus on flowers that serve such purposes, such as calendula, nasturtium, borage, sweet alyssum, and asclepias (milkweed).
Animal Goods
We are relatively new to raising livestock, but we feel that it's important to offer these types of products to our members and our own family.
We're currently building a flock of Australorp hens, a heritage breed of chicken, for eggs. Right now we only have enough girls for our household, but we have goals to expand each year. We're also hoping to eventually incorporate dairy goats onto our farm.
Value-Added
Canned Goods
While some of our products are best enjoyed fresh, many of them gain a lot of value when they are canned (either via water bath or pressure canner). By offering preserved products, like jams, jellies, juices, and sauces, we are able to enjoy seasonal produce during the off-season as well as extend the CSA season.
During the spring, as our weather can be somewhat unpredictable in this region, it's reassuring to be able to offer our members high-quality products even when the field isn't as productive as in typical years.
Dry Goods
As consumers and avid bakers, we often found ourselves wishing for local sources of grains, nuts, and seeds. Whole grains, when grown without the use of harmful chemicals, can be an extremely nutritious keystone to one's diet. Nuts and seeds are a wonderful source of many nutrients, including the "good" fats that we now recognize as a key component to a healthy lifestyle. We grow these on a very small scale, but a little goes a long way when these are in season.
Our farm grows a few varieties of dry soup beans. We also dehydrate herbal teas and, when we have excess, fruits and vegetables.
Fermented Foods
Fermented foods are a bit of a "buzz word" in the culinary world, and with good reason! Many traditional food advocates feel that our society has over-sterilized everything, including the things we feed our bodies. The bacteria from lactofermented foods are the kinds of bacteria that keep our gut healthy and in optimal working order.
We offer lactofermented foods (sauerkraut, kimchi), acetofermented foods (vinegar), and even sourdough, which combines yeast and lactofermentation processes. (We also make wine, a yeast fermented food, but this is just for our family and friends.)