Michael and Emily and kids

Little Peace Farm

ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS: IF YOU DON'T GET A COINFIRMATIONE-MAIL, YOU DID NOT PLACE AN ORDER!

*on our website, click on "Pre/Post Season Ordering" under the CSA tab.

*for user name enter your e-mail address (the one you use to get messages from our website) and the password "abundance".  This is a universal password that you can change in the future.

*once you login, you will see all of the produce we have available including price and description.  Make your selections and proceed to checkout by clicking on VIEW CART. 

*Click SAVE AND CHECKOUT.  You must choose Little Peace Farm for pick up! 

*Then click CHOOSE AND CONTINUE.  You will see your complete order including total.  GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE AND CLICK COMPLETE CHECKOUT. 

*You will receive a confirmation e-mail within moments of completing your order.  If you do not receive a confirmation e-mail, you did not order correctly!  Winter produce is limited so order early!

*then all you have to do is show up on Saturday, May 19th between 1 and 3 p.m.

The Fields

I tend to over-do it sometimes and I think this time it was potatoes.  I have about  half acre planted in several varieties so if all goes well, get ready for some taters!  The oniony thing not planted yet is leeks and they're due to go in as soon as we dry out a bit.  Otherwise, all onions are planted.  Strawberries are a complete bust again this year.  This time it was due to the deep freezes we had a few weeks ago.  Everyone in the region lost their berries so watch for high prices and lots of imports!  The first beans are in and include green and yellow plus the flat Italian beans most of you saw last year.  I'm also planting canellini and some dry beans for winter use and storage.  I just planted the most sweet corn I've ever put in at once so if the crows, bugs, deer, racoons, and lunatic chef's don't get to it, we hope to have an abundance in mid-July!  Peas; giant snow, small snow, snap and shell peas are all trellised and starting to flower.  In between a couple of rows of peas we've got cabbages and collards planted.  Garlic is just about to push scapes so look for those the first weeks of CSA/Markets.  The high tunnel is now planted with several varieties of heirloom tomatoes and a bed of tomatoes I grafted.  This experiment has already yielded some great results but they'll be even better when we can eat the results! 

New CSA Member Farm Walk and Sale this Weekend

We wanted to offer an opportunity for new CSA members to come to the farm and see where/how/and by whom their food is grown.  The date will be Saturday, May 19th.  We will gather at 2:00 and tour the farm on foot including: nursery, hoophouse, high tunnel, fields in cover crop, fields in vegetables, the barn and animals, our wash/pack house etc...  This would be a great opportunity for new members to meet some other folks participating in our CSA and a way to preview what we will be offering during the season.  This will coincide with a vegetable sale day for "veteran" members and customers so we will have extra greens, eggs, and cheeses available to purchase as well. We'll have bibb and speckled lettuce heads as well as lettuce salad mix, spicy mix, Asian greens , cress, kale, rainbow chard, and more.  We'll be sending out an e-mail tomorrow night with instructions how to order online. 

If you are a new member of Little Peace Farm or considering joining the CSA and are interested in participating, please RSVP by e-mail no later than May 16th.  After the farm walk we will gather for some light snacks and refreshments.  Feel free to bring a snack to share and let us know in your RSVP what you plan on bringing (no pressure, any light snack would do!).  Also, please dress for the outdoors as this will be a rain or shine event. Hope to see some new faces on the 19th.

Broiler Chickens and Laying Hens

Our first batch of broiler chickens are out on pasture!  They outgrew their brooder and the weather was perfect so they are now gobbling up the fresh grass and bugs that the field.  STAY TUNED FOR PRE-ORDERING YOUR CHICKEN!  The laying hens are finally starting to lay fairly consistent sized brown eggs.  We are selling them here at the farm on an honor system; come any daylight hours Monday through Saturday and help yourself!  Someone here will be glad to show you where to find them if you don't already know! 

Gratefully!

Michael and Emily and kids

LPF

NO VEGGIE SALE

We have cleared out our high tunnel of winter veggies and have it prepared for planting of heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers.  I hesitated planting last week because of the forecasted freezing; I'm glad I didn't plant because temps. even in the high tunnels fell to freezing!  In the fields our spring greens are beginning to take off but aren't YET big enough to harvest.  So we will not be having a sale this weekend.  Our next sale will be the weekend of May 12th.

TWO NEW CSA DROP OFF SITES: CHESTER COUNTY AND HAZELTON AREA

We are excited to announce two new drop off sites for our CSA!  The Montesano Brother's Italian Market in Eagle PA will host us in Chester County.  We will drop off on Thursdays and members will have until Saturdays to pick up their shares.  We are also going to drop off in the Greater Hazelton Area at Life Expression Wellness Center in the Sugarloaf Valley.  Drs. Joanne and Rowena have been caring for our family's chiropractic and cranialsacral care for years now and are going to host our drop off.  Drop off day is still TBD but stay tuned! 

CSA BALANCES AND SHARES

We still have shares available for the 2012 season so keep spreading the word!  Also, if you still have a balance please send us payment as soon as possible.  E-mail if you aren't sure of your balance

HONEST EGGS AND MORE

We have our own free range brown eggs and locally produced raw cheeses available in our walk-in cooler any daylight hours Monday through Saturday.  This is an honor system so add up what you've got and make change from the money tin by the cooler. 

BROILER CHICKEN

Our first batch of chicks is looking good and we'll get them out on pasture as soon as they have grown our of chick stage.  If you've never tried an organically raised pastured chicken try some this season.  They are delicious and raised in a natural and healthy way.  We raise them and butcher them here on the farm so there is no mystery to where your food is coming from or how it is raised.  Stay tuned for pre-order sign up lists.

Stay tuned for more farm news!  Peace!

Michael and Emily and kids

Little Peace Farm

CSA

We've had a lot of inquiries about our farm and CSA recently and I believe it is due to the obvious change in season.  We have plenty of shares still available for the 2012 season and are looking forward to adding our new Chester Co. drop off (TBA) soon.  All details are on the website but call or e-mail if anyone has further questions. 

CHICKENS

Lots of you have been asking about chickens and yes, we will be selling our own pasture raised broiler chickens the last week in June, July, August, and September.  These will be pre-order so keep an eye out for an order sheet at our markets and CSA pick-up sites and here on the website. 

EGGS

Yup.  We've got plenty of eggs and you probably got our e-mail about them earlier this week.  Stop by the farm any day except Sundays during daylight hours to buy eggs and help yourself.  This is an honor system so make change and leave your money in the tin by the walk-in cooler.  We will also include raw cheese from Hilltop Meadow farm in the cooler as well.

THE FIELDS

We have been busy taking advantage of the beautiful weather but have been cautious to put tender plants out too soon!  We just planted zucchini in the hoophouse and are preparing to plant cucumbers and tomatoes in the high tunnel next week.  We're just about done planting our potatoes of which we have 6 varieties.  Our first beds of beets and carrots are up as well as our first bed of mixed spring greens and salad mixes.  Cilantro will be a couple of weeks away and peas are a couple of inches tall and beginning to stretch upward.  We are planting our seed grown onion plants and just completed our first bed of cippolini onions.  Broccoli, kales, chard, napa cabbages, bibb lettuce and other head lettuces were planted two weeks ago and are beginning to take off.  

PLANT SALES

We've also had a lot of inquiries about our plant sales.  We will have an assortment of heirloom tomatoes, flowers, mixed herbs available in 6-packs or individual 2" pots.  We will not be offering them through online ordering but will have them displayed when we have veggie sales at the farm.  We will be announcing these sales through our blog and e-mails so stay tuned. 

Thank you all for supporting local family farms!  Peas!

Michael and Emily and kids

Little Peace Farm

We are in full swing and planting as much in this dry weather as possible.  We are also transitioning from our winter grown goodies to field grown veggies so this will be one of the last weeks of spinach for a while.  Ordering will begin tomorrow morning (4/18) at 8 a.m. and end Friday (4/20) at 8 a.m. and pick up will be at the farm between 1 and 3 on Saturday (4/21).  This week we will have the following available:

-spinach

-rainbow chard

-bunched scallions

-cilantro

-the first of our 6-packs of herbs

-the first of our heirloom tomato 6-packs

-Emily's fresh baked breads

-locally produced raw cheeses from a pastured dairy herd

-EGGS!!!!  Our flock is really starting to produce and we have plenty of our own brown eggs from our own free range birds.

In the coming weeks we will be offering lots of different plants including heirloom tomatoes, mixed flowers, herbs including basil, dill, fennel, and more.  So stay tuned!  Please see directions below on how to order if you haven't ordered from us before.  Thank you all and hope to see you this weekend!  Peace.

Michael and Emily and kids

Ordering instructions are below and remember IF YOU DO NOT GET A CONFIRMATION E-MAIL, YOU DID NOT PLACE AN ORDER!

ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS:

*on our website, click on "Pre/Post Season Ordering" under the CSA tab.

*for user name enter your e-mail address (the one you use to get messages from our website) and the password "abundance".  This is a universal password that you can change in the future.

*once you login, you will see all of the produce we have available including price and description.  Make your selections and proceed to checkout by clicking on VIEW CART. 

*Click SAVE AND CHECKOUT.  You must choose Little Peace Farm for pick up! 

*Then click CHOOSE AND CONTINUE.  You will see your complete order including total.  GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE AND CLICK COMPLETE CHECKOUT. 

*You will receive a confirmation e-mail within moments of completing your order.  If you do not receive a confirmation e-mail, you did not order correctly!  Winter produce is limited so order early!

*then all you have to do is show up on Saturday, April 21st between 1 and 3 p.m.

We wanted to let you all know that we now have plenty of our own brown eggs to sell.  We've increased our flock and are collecting 5-6 dozen/day.  These birds have free access to our barnyard and to fresh grass and we supplement with transitional organic/non GMO feed from a farm in Berks Co. 

HONOR SYSTEM:

We are going to sell our eggs using an honor system meaning you can come to the farm any day (NO SUNDAY SALES) during daylight hours and help yourself.  They will be in the walk-in cooler and we will have a money box for you to make change for yourself.  We charge $3.50/dozen for regular sized eggs and $2.75 for small pullett eggs which will be marked with the letter "P".

We currently have about 30-40 dozen ready for sale and will begin selling this way beginning tomorrow, April 16th. 

Thank you all for your support and stay tuned for more news on our CSA, markets, and additions to the farm.

Peace!

Michael and Emily and kids

By signing this contract I understand that payment for a full or half share to Little Peace Farm entitles me to 20 weeks of vegetables beginning the first week in June, 2012.  This is a commitment between Little Peace Farm and myself, and I recognize that I will share in the risks of the growing season, including natural disaster/crop failure/pestilence, along with other members and the grower.  Little Peace Farm will not supplement lost produce by purchasing from other farms and only sells what is grown on the farm.  It is my responsibility to pick up my share at the appropriate site on time. If I do not pick up my share or have someone pick it up for me, my produce will be forfeited that week.   I also understand that my full payment is nonrefundable.

Share Size (check one): Half (6 items per week; $328)___

                                   Full (10 items per week; $578)___

Additional Shares:         Good Steward Share (half) ___

                                   Good Steward Bank (any amount)___

                                   Flower & Herb Share (bouquet fresh-cut flowers, two bunches herbs; $90)___

Deposit:                         ____________________

Total Enclosed:                ____________________

*please make checks payable to Little Peace Farm

Pick Up Location (check one): Pottsville Farmer’s Market____

                                           Plaza Grower's Market, Allentown____

                                           Little Peace Farm___

                                           Glenmoore___

 
Member Name (print):________________________________

Member Signature:______________________________

Mail to:

Little Peace Farm

257 Moon Hill Road

Schuylkill Haven, PA 17972

570-739-1808

www.littlepeacefarm.com

I wanted to remind you about this free screening of an important film about the decline of our best pollinators, honey bees.

Wayne Herring Jr. is sponsoring the event and his church is hosting.   Please let Wayne know if you would like to attend and we'll see you there:

Where: St. Paul's UC Church social hall (Google: 1235 Summer Hill Rd. Auburn, PA)

When: Friday, March 30

Who to contact: Wayne Herring Jr. 570-573-9255

Pot-luck dinner at 5:30, film begins at 6:45

There will be a movie room for kids.  Dave Moyer, a local beekeeper, and Porcupine Pat McKinney will be speaking on the state of bees inn our area and other local pollinators. 

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and was born in Europe and Japan when consumers became concerned about food quality and safety.  Since its introduction to the US in the late 1970's, it has grown significantly.  According to Local Havest (localharvest.org), there were 50 CSA farms in 1990 compared to over 2200 today nationwide. 

Members of a CSA commit to a farmer by purchasing shares or subscriptions early in the season in exchange for a season of fresh, locally grown produce and farm products.  Members share the risk of farming including crop damage or loss due to wildlife, pests, or weather events.  CSA members often know their farmer and make a connection with them by volunteering their time or by participating in farm events or pot luck dinners.

CSA PRICES 

HALF SHARE: $328 and includes 6 items per week for 20 weeks (first week in June through mid-October)

FULL SHARE: $578 and includes 10 items per week for 20 weeks (first week in June through mid-October)

FLOWER AND HERB SHARE: $90 and includes one bouquet of our own fresh cut flowers and two bunches of fresh herbsfor the same 20 weeks as the half or full shares.  You can purchase an individual flower and herb share and NOT a vegetable share or just add it to either a half or full share.

DELIVERY FEE: A fee of $30 to cover fuel costs will be added to all CSA shares at our drop off locations (Glenmoore).This ONLY applies to CSA shares that are delivered and are not at one our markets.

What is an item?

We define an item as a unit depending on the product.  Examples of items are: head of lettuce, bag of spinach, bunch of carrots, 3-4 zucchini, quart of tomatoes, half pint of garlic, …

Harvest Calendar

The following is an approximate list of availability of our produce and does not include all we grow: