Winter Share

As our last distribution of the 2009 harvest gets closer and closer, it is time to start thinking about the dark days of Winter and what we are gonna eat now that the fields at MimoMex are tapped out.  Well, have no fear my little locavores, thanks to the wonderful people at Winter Sun Farms, we are happy to announce a Southside CSA winter share.  We are really excited about this new partnership and are super-stoked at the opportunity to extend our support of Hudson Valley farms into the “off-season”.

Winter Sun Farms

Winter Sun Farms is a not a farm but rather the brain child of Jim Hyland—essentially a line of frozen vegetables under the label of Winter Sun Farms. In essence, Jim buys produce from about 10-15 farmers in the Hudson Valley and freezes it so that we can eat local vegetables in the middle of Winter. (Genius! Crazy! Crazy Genius!) It is a project that blows my mind on so many levels and i encourage you to read more about it in this very informative article from the Poughkeepsie Journal, “From Farm to Freezer”.

So, Winter Sun Farms was started with the simple notion of creating a way for consumers to eat more of the wonderful Hudson Valley bounty all year long. In looking at our food system Hyland decided he could deliver great food in the Winter by following the CSA model,  striving to make delicious products with the highest quality produce, but in doing so, vowing not to forget the farmer who grows our food, the person that eats our food, and the land that nurtures us all.

• Winter Sun Farms is  Regional. They buy from Hudson Valley farms, they process in the Hudson Valley and they sell in the region.

• Winter Sun Farms is Fair. They price their food to make a profit, but also to be fair to the farms and to our members.

• Winter Sun Farms is  Sustainable. Sustainable can mean many things, but to WSF it means taking into consideration all the elements they touch. From recycling containers, to composting waste, and especially to how their food is grown.

Winter Sun Farms works with 10-15 farms in the Hudson Valley. For them, the most important thing is that you know who is growing your food. (You can read about the produce and the farmers here) They do that by putting the name of the growing farm right on the package. It  is equally important that you know how your food is grown, ie is the produce organic. Most of the participating farms are certified organic, like Stoneledge Farm, Hepworth Farm, Taliaferro Farm, Markristo Farms, & Little Seed Garden. However, like MimoMex farm,  some of the smaller ones are not certified organic; they are small un-certified organic CSA’s or Certified Naturally Grown. If Winter Sun Farms required USDA Certified Organic they couldn’t work with these smaller farms which would be super-lame and against the whole CSA creed. This year WSF got beautiful blueberries from Greig Farm in Red Hook. Norm Greig runs a wonderful u-pick farm and his blueberries are completely no spray. The only item that was sprayed at all is blackberries from Quimby Farm in Milton. Diane uses no pesticides or herbicides, only a low dose fungicide when the rain is bad. WSF labels the blackberries local low spray and  only a small amount of her blackberries. Most of the berries came from Stoneledge Farm and Meadow View Farm.

The Share

The share includes frozen, fresh, and stored produce. The quality is great because they only use the best local, organic, and sustainable stuff around. There are 4 distributions of 7 items each; Winter Sun Farms has posted a list here to give you a pretty good idea of what the shares will look like.

The Frozen produce includes:  tomatoes, blueberries, peppers, summer squash, raspberries, broccoli, green beans, butternut squash, edamame, fall greens, &  blackberries.

The Stored Root Crops include potatoes and carrots.

There are Fresh pea shoots to help you get your winter green on!

The cool thing about this winter share is that since it is frozen, the exact share items are known in advance.

Here is a sample of what the Dec share will look like:

Frozen:

• 1- diced red tomatoes 24oz
• 1- red & green pepper 13.5 oz
• 1-blueberries 8oz
• 1-green beans 12 oz
• 1-butternut squash 16oz
• 1-summer squash 16oz

Fresh: 1- 5lb bag potatoes

Distribution

The winter share is 4 deliveries. We are switching things up a bit with our distribution date for the Winter. WSF comes into the city on Tuesdays, so the distribution will be from 630pm-830pm on the following Tuesdays:

• Dec 15th
• Jan 12th
• Feb 9th
• March 16th

The distribution spot will be at a fabulous loftspace, 140 Metropolitan,  near the intersection of Metropolitan & Berry. [Not as fancy as Bridgit, but guaranteed to be fun & we will have some wine flowing so……]

Cost

The cost of the Winter Share is $135. [$128 goes to WSF; $7 goes to CSA admin costs, etc.]

Sign-Up

We will be signing people up this Monday at our final distribution. Please bring a check (made out to Southside CSA) or cash.

FYI, there are a limited number of available shares so be there or be square!

Questions & Whatnot

So, hopefully i have covered everything in total. If not, please feel free to shoot us an email at southsidecsa@gmail.com

Again, I’d like to thank Jim and everyone at Winter Sun Farms for helping us set up this Winter Share. I am so excited at the thought of local tomatoes this Winter!