Veggie Shares for the Week of October 13th!

This week's veggie share will include arugula and peppers from Pitchfork Farm, kale or collard greens from Healthy City Farm, celery and apples from Champlain Orchards, carrots, rutabagas and pie pumpkins from Arethusa Collective Farm and an herb of the week from Sugarsnap Farm!

We've included some rutabaga recipes on your weekly newsletter; be sure to check them out! Also, our winter share program is now accepting orders so look over the materials and if interested, let us know soon to ensure availability!

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather!

Veggie Share for week of September 29

Don't forget that this is the last week for the Salad Bowl shareholders! This week veggie shares will find lots of arugula in their bags, from Pitchfork Farm. Look for arugula recipes in the newsletter. Remember that you can use arugula as a lettuce replacement in sandwiches and salads, and it can often replace spinach in recipes. Try spinach/arugula dip. Also in the share is kale, cilantro and carrots from Arethusa Farm. Eric Rozendaal at Rockville Market Farm is providing ailsa craig onions and pie pumpkins! Sugarsnap is delivering an herb and Joe Buley at Screamin' Ridge is providing ground cherries.

Veggie Shares for the Week of September 22!

This week's veggie share includes lettuce and peppers from Pitchfork Farm, beets and carrots from Arethusa Collective Farm, fingerling potatoes from Open Heart Farm, red cabbage and red onions from Rockville Market Farm, garlic from the Farm Between and mushrooms from AH mushrooms in Colchester.

This week we may also be able to share some local ground cherries, also known as cape gooseberries, with both our veggie and fruit shareholders. This unique fruit tastes like a cross between a tomato, a cherry and a pineapple. They are incredibly delicious and go great with both sweet and savory dishes. Here's hoping today's sunshine ripens them up so we can include them in this week's veggie shares.

Also, if you've never tried fingerling potatoes, you are in for a real treat. These little banana-shaped potatoes tast like butter! Seriously! My favorite way to braise them: slice potatoes in half lengthwise and boil them along with water, olive oil, finely chopped garlic and salt and pepper in a large nonstick skillet. Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10-12 minutes. Remove lid and cook, stirring lightly, until most of the water evaporates and the potatoes are glazed, about 1-2 minutes. Top with some chives and tarragon and enjoy!

Veggie Shares for the Week of 15th!

This week's veggie share includes baby spinach from Hazendale Farm, mesclun and tomatoes from Pitchfork Farm, summer squash from Healthy City, corn from Maplewood Organics, eggplant from Arethusa, an herb of the week from Sugarsnap and red onions and butternut squash from Rockville Market Farm.

In addition, the fruit shares this week will include apples and cider along with watermelon, raspberries and ground cherries. Check out the weekly newsletter for a recipe for Ground Cherry Pie!

I also wanted to thank everyone who has alread completed the survey and I encourage others to take a few minutes to let us know how we can improve the program for next year. Thank you!!!

Veggie Shares for the Week of September 8th.

This week you will find arugula and tomatoes from Eric and Molly at Pitchfork, corn from Maplewood, carrots and leeks from Arethusa and peppers from Intervale Community Farm. Also mushrooms are back from AH Mushrooms! Finally, you will find Adirondack blue potatoes from Open Heart Farm.
Fruit shares will discover a bounty of apples and cider from Champlain Orchards to compliment what Adam has to offer: late summer raspberries!

Veggie Shares for the Week of September 1st!

This week's veggie share includes mesclun and tomatoes from Pitchfork Farm, carrots from Arethusa Collective Farm, cabbage from the New Farms for New Americans project, onions, cucumber and spaghetti squash from Rockville Market Farm and herbs from Sugarsnap!

If you have never tasted spaghetti squash, you are in for a real treat! This squash can easily be baked: pierce the shell with a fork several times, place in a baking dish in a preheated oven at 375 degrees and let it bake for about an hour until flesh is tender. Let it cool for 20-30 minutes before slicing open. Cut in half, remove seeds and separate out the long strands of flesh. You can use the strands in several ways; my favorite is to add some fresh pesto, mozzarella and tomatoes!

Enjoy!

Veggie Shares for the Week of August 25th!

This week's share includes salad greens, italian eggplant, peppers and tomatoes from Pitchfork Farm, cucumber from Screamin' Ridge Farm, leeks and tomatoes from Arethusa Collective Farm and celery and sweet corn from Maplewood Organics! In addition, the fruit shares this week are incredible with raspberries, yellow watermelon, asian plums and the first local apples of the season!!

Enjoy!

Veggie Share for the Week of August 18th!

This week's share includes mesclun greens and tomatoes from Pitchfork Farm, yellow squash and cherry tomatoes from Screamin' Ridge Farm, carrots from Arethusa Farm, onions and potatoes from Rockville Market Farm, sweet corn from Maplewood Organics and an herb bunch from Sugarsnap Farm. This is the first large harvest of sweet corn so expect more in the coming weeks! And if the sun stays out, then we should also see a lot more tomatoes and peppers coming your way!

Don't forget that this Wednesday, August 20th is the last day to pre-order local beef through the Food Basket and Maplewood Organics. To place an order, contact Mandy Davis at mandy@intervale.org.

As always, I hope you enjoy this week's share and please offer any feedback you may have. It will help we look for ways to improve this program for next year!

Enjoy!

Veggies Shares for the Week of August 11th!

Despite the rainy weather, this weeks share provides a wide variety of local produce including mesclun greens and peppers from Pitchfork Farm, cucumber and cherry tomatoes from Screamin' Ridge Farm, beets, carrots, italian parsley and tomates from Arethusa Farm and potatoes from Rockville Market Farm.

The fruit share this week will include watermelon (yeah!) from Intervale Community Farm and black currant jam from the Farm Between.

Enjoy!

Farmer Appreciation Night

Last night was a rainy, mosquitoey fun time at the Calkins Barn! Thanks for everyone who came out to honor farmers.


Here are Travis, Director of Agricultural Development Services, and Glenn, the Intervale Center's new Executive Director, waiting to speak


Katie Fiore of Sugarsnap provided delicious pickle samples to go with her pickling demonstration.

Vermont Soy was a big hit with young and old alike.

Here Mandy displays the "Farmer Appreciation" supplies. Mark thought of this great idea. You can read the love and thank you notes we collected from partiers, who were eager to express their admiration for Vermont's family farmers, here!

LOVE LETTERS, PRAISE AND THANKS
TO VERMONT FARMERS - AUGUST 7, 2008

[Thank you, farmers, for] teaching me to reflect, life and death, and how it feeds me.

Thanks for all you do to provide us with wonderful food. Keep playing in the dirt!

Dear Farmers, You are wonderful. Thank you for feeding me and feeding the earth. All my love, Kristin

I love Eric Seitz’s veggies and him.

Thanks for making the stuff of life so tasty.

Thank you for your hard work that’s needed to grow fresh, local food.

My wife and I volunteer at Arethusa Farm and I just love getting in touch with the process of growing our food and the devotion of the people who grow it. So many of us take so much for granted – like abundant food.

Bless the farmers! Davis Bernstein

Is organic always a good choice?

How can I see the benefits of buying local? We LOVE you!

Dear Rob Rock, Thanks for growing veg’s. Tucker

Steady, safe, and fresh food source. True American Values

Dear Adam and his berries – I have so much gratitude for the pies, crumbles and cobblers that grew in your fields!

There is nothing like knowing where your food comes from and by whom it is grown.

I believe the Intervale and all the people who work for the foundation and farm the fields are a great an attribute as the lake in defining the greatness of Burlington. Thanks so much! K. Rossman

I appreciate the lights I see on once again in all the old barns that have stood empty for so long. I appreciate the now thousands that are rekindling our lands. And bringing sanity to our community once again. I appreciate all the folks who are not afraid of toiling with physical labors, I am proud to live in Vermont where so many folks understand the values it will take to survive. Greg G.

Thanks for feeding my family!!

I have great respect for farmers. I used to romanticize it but I now have a clearer picture of the incredible hard work involved in farming. It is such a privilege to live in a place where we can have a direct connection to our food – a place where my son can grow up knowing where peas-beets-herbs come from and where I can feel both proud of and confident about the food we eat. Thank you so much, farmers!

Susan, Jorg and Lukas

My first “involved” experience of a farm was as a WWOOFer in New Zealand. Sarah kept her farm garden viable while also engaged in two other lines of work. She was/is a study/”can do” woman and graced us with wondrous produce-based meals! Patti

Fresh veggies and fruit

Healthy options

I worked at a zoo for the past year and we were so reliant on our farmers (especially local farmers) to provide for the animals. Two brothers in the 60’s supplied all the hay (timothy and alfalfa) for the zoo – and considering our elephants alone ate 300 lbs a day – we needed them to fill us up often. Last fall one of the brothers passed away and the whole zoo was in mourning. This spring when a baby rhino was born we planned on calling it Howard after him if it was a boy – since it was a girl, we named her Clover, but her middle name is Hasley which was Howard’s last name. We love our farmers at the Buffalo Zoo.

Farmers do all the hard work that makes the veggies. They will grow our fuel in the future. They have cool tan lines.

Farmers grow everything I eat, wear and smoke. And they usually have hot daughters!

Essex Farm, Essex, NY
(Mark and Kristen Kimball)
Thank you for truly sustainable farming, including draft horses, for asparagus to raw milk to yogurt to beef to beets. Kim and Don

Dear Farmers of the Intervale,
Thank you so much for your hard work and low prices! Farming is a future aspiration of mine and maybe one day I’ll be able to work with you more closely. If not, then in solidarity. Love, Steve

Dear Farmers,
I admire you for creating food and a beautiful space for many people to enjoy. I hope to work on a farm for the fall, which will give me the opportunity hopefully to meat some of you. Thank you! Lauren Armstrong

I love all the farmers (especially S’ra) XOXO

Thank you for filling my belly with good food and my heart with song!

I appreciate farmers for helping out our pollinators! And the local food.

Thanks for growing things I can’t seem to successfully grow myself – those tomatoes are so picky! But they sure are tasty…

Farmers, you are amazing. Wendell Berry said that agriculture is the basis of culture, and I truly appreciate the kind of culture that is nourished by good, clean, local, organic food, the kind of food the farmers in the intervale and throughout Vermont bring to market everyday. I hope that this culture can one day also be the kind that fully supports and appreciates the people who feed us. Thank you!

Thank you for coming, and thank you, farmers! Cheers! Sona and Mandy

Tomorrow: Farmer Appreciation Night

Farmers feed us all, and we at Agricultural Development Services are mightily appreciative. Come by the Intervale Center tomorrow for a great Thursdays at the Intervale event that celebrates the hardwork and dedication of the family farmers with whom we have the privilege to work. The evening starts at 5:30 pm and will include free American flatbread, plus beer, sausages and more! Pickling demo at 5:30 by Sugarsnap Farm. Music starts at 6:30 pm.

Thank you, farmers and bringers of food!
Thank you, plants, animals, rocks, rain, wind, sun and soil!

Veggie Shares for the First Week of August!

This week's veggie share includes kale and eggplant from Arethusa Farm, tomatoes and carrots from the Intervale Community Farm, cucumber from Open Heart Farm, bunched beets and potatoes from Bloomfield Farm and herbs from Sugarsnap Farm. Despite all the wet weather, we are beginning to see some diversity in the veggie shares. Hopefully, the next week brings some dry weather and lots of sunshine to help ripen those tomatoes!

Also, the fruit share this week includes black currants from The Farm Between in Cambridge, VT. Black currants are a real treat and are especially great for baking muffins and other pastries and for creating a sauce or coulis to go with either a meat dish or dessert. And for all you winemakers...black currants are incredible for creating a port-style dessert wine. In fact, The Farm Between sell their currants to the Boyden Valley Winery who make an amazing Cassis! http://www.boydenvalley.com/Cassis.html

Finally, I wanted to remind you all of the maple syrup special from Dragonfly Sugarworks. Let us know by August 6th if you are interested in placing an order. Also, we hope to offer more add ons in the coming months so let me know if there is anything in particular that you would like to be offered!

Here's to another week of great local eats!

Share Contents for the Week of July 27

You will notice this week that there is no mesclun in your bag. You may have also noticed all of the rain. The intervale farms flooded last week and due to that greens are in tight demand. Although there will be no salad greens there will be a ton of other great seasonal veggies that we are sure that you will enjoy.

In the veggie share Zucchini, eggplant, onions and basil are from Eric at Pitchfork Farm. The Intervale Community Farm is providing carrots and Arethusa is sending over some green cabbage. You will find cukes and salad turnips from Joe Buley at Screamin' Ridge Farm. The salad turnips are delicious and tender sliced raw (maybe in a cabbage salad).

This week we are starting a Food Basket Special Maple Syrup Add-On. We are offering the chance to order 1/2 liter, 1 liter or 1/2 gallon Dragonfly Sugarworks Maple Syrup in glass bottles. The order period is from July 29-Aug 6 and the delivery is with your share on the week of August 11. Look in your bag for a flier with more info or email Mandy at mandy@intervale.org if you want to order.

More Special Add-Ons to come:
Grassfed Beef for Labor Day
Pork
Honey
Pie

Pitchfork Farm Harvests Loads of Garlic!

Molly and Eric are busy hanging garlic to cure this week - I can't get over how many heads they've harvested!















Molly Conant & Eric Seitz















Molly & Eric at work















Pitch, the spokesdog, guarding the garlic pile

Look for Molly & Eric at the Burlington Saturday Farmers' Market, and we hope you continue to enjoy the fresh greens and other produce they've been supplying the Food Basket.

Veggie Share for the week of July 21!

This week's veggie share includes mesclun and zucchini from Pitchfork Farm, fennel and green beans from Healthy City Farm, cucumber and gold bar squash from Screamin' Ridge Farm, loose beets from Digger's Mirth, loose carrots from Arethusa and an herb bunch from Sugarsnap!

Don't forget to check out our online Food Basket cookbook. It keeps growing! This week's newsletter also features a recipe for fennel. Other ideas for fennel are thinly sliced in salads, lightly sauteed with olive oil, salt and pepper and my favorite, bruschetta!

Fennel and Tomato Bruschetta

1/2 # roma or plum tomatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped fennel
1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 shallot
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
Your favorite bread!
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Grill or toast bread and then lightly brush with oil. Top each bread slice with the fennel/tomato mixture. Enjoy!

Also, if you have a great recipe that you would like to share, email it over to Jennica at jennica@intervale.org and she will post it on our online cookbook!

Veggie Shares for the week of July 14!

This week's veggie share includes mesclun and arugula from Pitchfork Farm, red cabbage and zucchini from Healthy City Farm, bunched carrots, cucumber and kale from Arethusa Collective Farm, peas from Open Heart Farm and parsley from the Digger's Mirth Collective Farm. The large share also includes broccoli shoots from Open Heart and cilantro from the Diggers!

Here's wishing you all good eats this week! Also, don't forget to check out many of these farmers at the Burlington Farmer's Market every Saturday from 8:30am to 2:30pm!

Share Contents for week of July 7th

This week's share will include mesclun and swiss chard from Pitchfork farm, broccoli from Healthy City Farm, snow peas from Open Heart Farm, cucumbers and herb from Screamin' Ridge, carrots and fresh garlic from Arethusa Farm, and snap peas from Arcadia Brook Farm.

The fresh garlic should be refrigerated and/or used as soon as possible for tastiest results. Garlic can be cooked and used in many ways. When cooking garlic cloves they should take about 5 to 10 minutes to begin to brown. They are ready when they can easily be pierced with a fork.

You can search for recipes including garlic and the other veggies in this week's share by going to the food basket's cookbook on the food basket website or by just clicking here. The cookbook is updated weekly with new recipes so keep checking back.

Enjoy this week's share and keep checking the blog as we will continue to post the weekly share contents!

Share Contents for the week of June 30th

This week's veggie share includes head lettuce and swiss chard from Pitchfork Farm, dandelion greens and cilantro from Digger's Mirth Collective Farm, broccoli crowns from Open Heart Farm, zucchini from Arethusa Collective, and cucumber and yellow squash from Healthy City Farm. The large share also includes the first pick of bunched carrots from Arethusa!

The dandelion greens can be cooked the same way that you cook kale or collard greens. An easy and flavorful recipe is to chop them, steam them and then toss with garlic, ginger, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Then add salt and pepper to taste and you're in for a treat!

Enjoy this week's share and keep checking the blog as we will continue to post the weekly share contents!

Food Basket Deliveries Begin!

We are pleased to report a successful first week of deliveries for the Food Basket program! We've heard rave reviews of the strawberries, mushrooms and cilantro and appreciate everyone's patience and enthusiasm this first week. Check out these photos:

Jennica poses with Rita Bridges at UHC.








Daughter and Mother enjoy strawberries from Adams Berry Farm, which (by the way) is open for strawberry U-Pick Monday through Saturday until early July.










Thanks again, everyone, and we look forward to seeing you all again next week!

The first phase of the Food Hub is underway!

This June, the Intervale Center is launching the Food Basket, a multi-farm workplace delivery program. The Food Basket is an integral part of the Food Hub project, which is committed to building a community food system that connects Vermonters in ways that are convenient, profitable and honorable. Through the Food Basket, we will strive to provide shareholders with convenient access to high-quality local agricultural products, offer fair prices to farmers and increase marketing opportunities for participating farms. In its first year, the Food Basket is bringing together over fifteen farmers, one hundred shareholders and several area businesses including Fletcher Allen Health Care, Vermont Energy Investment Corporation and GE Healthcare!