When people talk of eating seasonally, they usually mean tomatoes in the heat of summer, asparagus in the spring, winter squash in the fall and stored for the winter — eating foods when they ripen here in Vermont instead of shipping them in from California or South America.
With community supported agriculture, or a Farm Share, in our case, it also means sharing in the boom and bust cycles that happen every year and naturally shift with the
weather and seasons, but also those that just happen based on the fluctuations of livestock, orders and everyone’s eating patterns.
For our members who were with us last summer, you know we were on the bust cycle for eggs, our hens were nearly on strike and eggs were scarce. Now, our BlackAustralops and Aracannas are super productive, certainly a boom cycle with eggs around here, a great time for baking, quiches, frittatas and hard boiled eggs! We’ve been slipping some egg dishes into the freezer for quick meals in the upcoming busy weeks.
You waited patiently for the natural boom in spinach, enjoy a limited but lovely bit of fresh spinach through the winter, waiting for those longer days to create a spinach bonanza in late March and April.
As farmers who share lunch together most days, our menu certainly follows the boom and bust cycle as we enjoy that which is plentiful to fuel our days. Lunches of late have
featured lots of onions, carrots, spinach and frozen tomatoes. And now, milk! We are enjoying adding some milk to either the meal or maple milk for dessert.
Our appreciation to all of you for also participating both the predictable and unpredictable boom and bust cycles on this farm. The good news is that something is always booming, sometimes you just never know what it will be.
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Wondering what is uber-plentiful in the farmstand right now?
The five things we probably have most of are:
- Frozen tomatoes
- Eggs
- Chicken
- Onions
- Canned Tomatillos
Hmmm what could we make with all them together?