Smashed Turnips with Horseradish

2 pounds of Turnips

½ bunch scallions, thinly sliced

2 tbsp freshly grated horseradish

½ c sour cream

2 tsp salt

(1) Trim the ends off the turnips. (2) Peel and (3) cut into quarters. Place them in a pot, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until turnips are fork-tender, about 25 minutes. Strain until completely dry. Place the turnips in a large bowl while they’re still hot, and add the remaining ingredients. Mash with a whisk or a potato masher until well combined but still chunky. Serves 6.

Source: http://nymag.com/restaurants/recipes/inseason/turnips-inseason-2011-3/.html 

2012 CSA Basket Share Values

Running a CSA farm entails a surprising amount of record keeping. Shareholders are our first priority as we make decisions about what to grow and how to sell it. If there is extra produce beyond the CSA baskets, we sell what is left to the co-op stores, local restaurants and Farmer’s Markets.  The price for a Henry Got Crops share has stayed the same for the four years it has been offered ($410 Small, $700 Large). We are grateful to returning shareholders for supporting the farm as the value of the baskets has fluctuated between year to year.

This year was excellent and shareholders were compensated generously for investing in the farm.  The baskets offered 53 produce types with 23 of 24 baskets calculated. The numbers are based on the average of the weekly basket value from each pickup’s 2:00 basket items. Great effort is made to substitute equal priced items as the day continues but this is how we start to value the weekly share.

The share value we calculate is based on averages between the pickup days and can include the average of the U-Pick item choices. We use one average retail price per produce item per season. U-Pick items are valued at wholesale prices.  Averages mean that the basket value may be slightly different from what your share actually was in a particular week but it is a close enough number to be useful  to evaluate our products from week to week and year to year.

We thank you for investing in HGC! and we hope you will return as 2013 shareholders! We had a great year and met our goals to start some longer term projects such as the tractor acquisition, planting of the fruit orchard, the perennial herbs, even new soil and raised beds in the greenhouses. Scott’s compost operation is in full swing and we will applying it to the beds in the next month allowing the manure from the Saul barn to be returned to Saul land as a safe soil amendment. We continue to work to improve the land and the products we grow at Henry Got Crops!
2012

What you paid

Share price/24 weeks in 2012 season

Small: $400/24 = $16.67

Large: $710/24 = $29.58

As of week #23, including the value of U-Pick, Total value you received:
           Small    $546.55

Large    $1,050.55

Week High/Low
            Small    $45.95, $16.80

Large    $89.90, $31.60

As of week #23, U-Pick separated, Total value you received:

Small

Items on table $473.72

U-Pick   $71.80

Large

Items on table $943.11

U-Pick   $107.45

 2011

What you paid

Share price/26 weeks in 2011 season

Small: $400/26 = $15.38

Large: $710/26 = $26.92

As of week #26, U-Pick included, Total value you received

Small     $400.03

Large     $790.32

Week High/Low

Small     $28.17, $7.68

Large     $56.34, $15.37

We do not have corresponding numbers for other years at this time.

Next Year's Shares

It is hard to believe next season will be our 5^th year of operation. How far we have come! The strength and uniqueness of a CSA is the core membership base. We hope you will consider signing up again for the 2013 season. Keep your eyes and ears open for the 2013 sign up form. We hope to have it advertised and circulating by December first. I will email all current and past members, and post the online sign-up form on the Weavers Way website.  

Season Wrap Up

For those of you who have been members for four years and read the newsletters every week, you can probably predict how this “Season Wrap Up” will go: it has been a long season, but  it flew by; it was a hard season, but satisfying. I probably say the same thing every year, but this is the essence of farming- the days are long, but the weeks go by in the blink of an eye.  The work is endless, but so are the rewards.

All in all, the weather was very good to us. The spring was strangely hot, early summer was dry, there were a few brutally hot days in July, and the fall has been absolutely beautiful. In my short history of growing for five years in Philadelphia, this was one of the best growing years yet. There were a few weeks of extreme weather, but it always seemed to balance out before it got unbearable or troublesome.

This year was the largest CSA membership yet. We filled our goal of 80 large share equivalents (counting a small share as half a large), but when the season was so promising, we continued to accept memberships mid season. We finished the year with 140 families (large and small shares total).

This year was also the largest staff yet. Chris, Matt and Nancy were pillars of support, hard work, and fabulous company. There was no task too large and I was always surprised with how hard this team worked! With the three of you, there was more laughter on the farm this year than ever before. The three of you were a huge part of what kept my stress levels down this year and I thank you for bringing a refreshing balance of hard work and silliness to Henry Ave.

It was fantastic to work alongside Clare for the second year in a row, as she took the education programs with Saul students to a new level of integration and interdisciplinary approaches. We had our largest youth summer internship program as well, thanks to Clare.  Clare also wants to thank everyone for a great year and looks forward to seeing you at the farm next year!

This farm wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the support and involvement of teachers and their students at Saul. Thank you to all the teachers and students who work so hard alongside us, and make this farm the unique, trailblazing, educational farm that it is.

A major highlight for me this year was the Harvest on Henry  Festival. The amount of work that the fundraising committee put into the organization of this event made me feel so lucky to have such dedicated CSA members. The inspiration behind having a fundraiser event at the farm was to bring cohesiveness to the different communities that are a part of this farm. On the day of the event I saw Saul families, CSA members, neighbors and teachers enjoying the farm together.  This day was a huge step in the right direction of bringing community together.

Thank you all for your support this year. Not only your financial support in buying a share, which keeps this farm running, but in your emotional support too. Coming down into the field for U-pick, saying hello in the driveway, asking how things are going at the farm when we run into each other in the neighborhood, taking the time to meet Saul students who are an integral part of this farm, telling me the successes you have had getting your kids to eat string beans- these are the ways I feel supported by you and I thank you!

Thank You Chris!

Back in the spring I was getting nervous about filling the CSA shares for the season. Chris Obrien had just started working on the farm and he said he thought his friends would really be interested. The one problem was that he lived in South Philly and his friends were in that area as well. He knew asking them to trek out to Roxborough was unrealistic. Excited about sharing this farm with his friends, and dedicated to sustainability, Chris offered to bike 10 shares to his friends every Tuesday evening, from the farm, to South Philly, with many stops in between. We dusted off a bike cart which the co-op had purchases years ago. Every Tuesday he loaded up two large coolers, strapped them on to the bike cart and pedaled down Henry Ave. Thank you Chris for sharing our harvest with your supportive friends!