Tuesday CSA for Chatham County and Raleigh NC
Mid-Chatham Farmers Alliance is a collaboration among Harland's Creek Farm [Judy Lessler], Wiseacre Farm [Laurie Heise], Clayton Orchard [Andy Clayton], Ayrshire Farm [Bill Dow], Pine Knot Farm [Stanley Hughes], Cohen Farm [ Esta Cohen], Celebrity Dairy, and other local growers. Shares can be picked up at one of four locations:
- Harland’s Creek Farm in Chatham County
- Chatham Marketplace in Pittsboro, NC
- Bickett Market in Raleigh NC
Stanley Hughes will provide strawberries - Chatham County Offices
Our offerings vary by location as shown below:
- Produce and Herbs: 30 weeks. Available at all locations
- Meat and chicken: 30 weeks. Harland’s Creek Farm only
- Eggs and Cheese: 30 weeks. Available at Harland’s Creek Farm and Bickett Market in Raleigh
- Fruit: 18 weeks. Available at all locations
All members will receive:
- A recipe booklet with recipes and with preparation and storage instructions. The booklet includes recipes that feature vegetables, herbs, fruits, meat, chicken, eggs, and cheese.
- Weekly meal plans with suggested recipes and shopping lists for non-share ingredients
- Visits to participating farms by prearrangement to help, learn, or enjoy
Our recipes, meal plans, and shopping lists simplify your efforts to provide healthy food for yourself and your family. CSA customers are first in line for products from the farms. If you use the meal plans, the shopping list provides you with an easy way to determine what other items you need to purchase to provide meals for your family. Note that growing conditions may prohibit provision of planned products or planned volume.[1]
Produce and Herbs will be provided for 30 weeks and will consist of a combination of certified organic offerings from Harland's Creek Farm and Pine Knot Farm and sustainably grown offerings from the other farms.[2] Each week subscribers will receive a box which contains from 5 to 10 vegetables and herbs. You return your prior week’s box when you pick up the current box. This program will run from April 27, 2010 through November 16, 2010.
Meat or Chicken will be provided on alternate weeks for 30 weeks. We will include fresh and frozen chicken, ground beef, pork sausages, and larger cuts of beef, such as, roasts and steaks. These will be provided weekly on a rotating basis. The chicken will come from Harland's Creek Farm and is pasture raised and antibiotic and hormone free. The beef comes from Cohen farms, is raised on pasture, and is then grain finished using a combination of certified organic grain from the Cohen Farm and additional commercial grain.
Eggs or Cheese will be provided on alternate weeks for 30 weeks. One week you will receive a dozen eggs from Cohen Farm’s free range chickens ; the next week a piece of goat cheese from Chatham County’s renowned Celebrity Dairy.
Fruit will be provided for 18 weeks. We will begin the season with seven weeks of organic strawberries from Pine Knot farms. Then in late June, Clayton Orchard will provide peaches, grapes, plums, and melons for eleven weeks.[3]. Two sizes are offered:[4]
- Large: Two quarts of strawberries in the spring and for the summer fruits either a) large bag of peaches [18 to 20 peaches] or b) a medium bag of peaches plus either a watermelon, a cantaloupe, pint of plums, or quart of Muscadine grapes.
- Small: One quart of strawberries in spring, and for summer, (a) medium bag of peaches or (b) a small bag of peaches plus either a watermelon, a cantaloupe, pint of plums, or quart of Muscadine grapes.
Bill Dow, Esta Cohen, Laurie Heise, and Judy Lessler with packd boxes.
Farm dogs jumped in picture to be petted.
Payment is due at enrollment. You can pay with a single check or with two checks with one of them post-dated a month later than the first. There is a $10 discount for enrolling in both Produce and Herbs and another program. We will have pick-ups at Harland's Creek Farm, Chatham Marketplace and any other place nearby were at least 7 people enroll. There is a $50 discount for picking up at Harland's Creek Farm.
The online registration is now open; if you wish, you can download and print the 2010 Chatham CSAs enrollment form.
[1] There are no refunds due to unavoidable weather, pests, or disease problems. Such a risk is slight. In eight years of CSA operation, HCF has never failed to provide full value.
[2] Wiseacre Farm, Ayrshire Farm, and the other local growers use sustainable organic methods but are not certified.
[3] The late Dr. Carlyle Clayton and his wife, Adelaide started this orchard. Dr. Clayton was a nationally renowned plant pathologist at N.C. State University, who specialized in fruit diseases. His family continues to maintain the orchard, which is located in the sand hills region. His son Andy Clayton and Judy Lessler worked together as statisticians at RTI for many years.
[4] Contents will vary with availability and growing conditions