Everything we do this time of year is looking toward Thanksgiving and Christmas.

November is upon us and as far as I’m concerned, at least 10 minutes of every day should be dedicated to planning, scheming, prepping, and otherwise finding ways to make about 10 amazing holiday meals between now and New Year’s.

If food is your love language, use these next 8 weeks to tell the world that you LOVE THEM!

Pie Pumpkins…technically, any pumpkin can be turned into a pie…BUT…we go after the pumpkins that are specifically bred for this most wonderful dish. They are small, dense, and rich in color, and they have a sweet, full flavor.

My VERY PERSONAL ABSOLUTE FAVORITE ITEM of the year is here this week…Asian Pears.

The first year we got these in, I had never had one…or even heard of them for that matter.

When I look at what’s in the box this week I think of one thing…hash.

I’ve heard it called all kinds of things…smorgasbord, mix and match, stir fry…but in the end it’s really just an “everything but the kitchen sink.”

Cut into cubes that are roughly the same size (for me, smaller the better) the onion, butternut, potatoes, brussels sprouts, and apples…even do the peppers if you are feeling frisky. Hot pan over med/high heat. Add oil, butter, bacon fat, etc. and stir fry it all together.

This Week We Have a Load of Fennel Coming In From Three Creeks! (Click the pic to see a little throwback video and click the other link to listen to our podcast interview)

I want some Honey, Honey.

We got these cute little glass muth jars for everyone and wanted you to have them in time for hot tea season. If they are starting to crystalize a little, put the entire jar in warm water and it will go back to its original liquid form.

We are still seeing all the stories and feeling the effects of the rising prices of food at the grocery stores and restaurants. I just read another one about how they are not only raising prices, but manufacturers are also make the servings smaller…so that it looks like you are getting the same thing but it’s actually less product.

Let’s not bury the lead…the PLUMS are the item of the week.

There was not a lot of them so we tried and spread them out to make sure that everyone got to taste them.

It reminds me of a story I heard one time about these groups of people that lived out in the desert. They had formed a few little tribes that operated independently in some ways, but were completely dependent on each other for other things…all of them taking a vow of minimalism.

Have you noticed anything different this year about the weekly boxes?

I don’t have a pre-packaged answer up my sleeve that I am going to reveal…we genuinely just want to get a little feedback from our peeps.

At the beginning of this year we started to train one of our awesome team members to take this responsibility over…I have shown you in the past how complicated it can be to work with so many growers and try and get just the righ amount of food and just the right amount of varieties etc.

How is it already the end of summer?!

Every year it just flies by.

And every year I just get more impressed with our growers and how much variety we can get in Ohio.

So many weeks we have great stories to tell about all the wonderful food and the life of our growers and our community. This week however we have a sad story that we must share as our hearts are heavy.

Last week we found out that Devon, of Bradwood Farm, passed away from a heart issue that no one was aware she even had. Devon was the daughter of Katy and Doug who have grown food for us almost since our inception. If you have ever bought a box of YB food, you most likely have eaten food from Bradwood farm that Devon helped to grow, harvest, and deliver.

Anyone else stand in the kitchen these days and just eat corn on the cob over the counter because you can’t be bothered to sit down? It’s just too good…I hold the butter stick by the paper and basically just use some sort of a coloring motion to get a full slathering…an entire salt and pepper shaker later and all I can think about is the next ear.

A couple of really fun things happening this week.

#1 We have a fun postcard in each box that is signed by 2 famous food growers…these are our modern-day rock stars….display them as you will! Collect them all and someday they will be worth tens and tens of cents.

#2 We often say that if you stay with us over the course of a season or two, you will DEFINITELY get your money’s worth. This week there is somewhere like 12-14 items in just the Mini alone!

Perhaps you are getting ready to send kids back to school…YOU may be going back to school. You may be coming back from a trip…or getting ready to go on a trip.

Doesn’t it feel like we are all in a constant state of flux?

One of the hardest things to stay disciplined on during transition is our diets…YET, isn’t it one of the most important things we can do for ourselves?

During this transition season, make reminders for yourself that keep you in front of the food prep curve…here are a couple of mine.

This week we focus on the “WHO” in “Who Grew Your Food?”

For this week’s boxes (mini, base, and full) we purchased food from 16 different growers.

To fill each of the boxes, we purchased 40 INDIVIDUAL VARIETIES of produce.

Today (Tuesday) as I write this, our trucks and vans are out on the roads of Ohio, picking up those 40 varieties from those 16 growers in order to have them back here, unloaded, organized, portioned, and ready to build boxes tomorrow morning so that it can start it’s journey towards your home or community pickup spot.

One of our most common questions is “How do you pick what goes in the box each week?”

Answer: (What’s in season) X (How much it costs) / (Total # of items) +(Consideration of what was in the boxes during previous weeks and what is coming up in the next couple of weeks) = What goes into this week’s box

Seems like the newsletter each week starts with a line similar to this…”My Goodness this looks like the best week of the year!!”

Just walked through the assembly line as our team are packing your orders and I saw blueberries, blackberries, cherries, sweet corn, tomatoes, kales, asian greens and summer squash…all in perfect condition…and I went ahead and taste tested everything and it’s exquisite.

Blueb’s, Cuke’s, Zuke’s, and Slicer’s?!?!?

Folks this is summer in Ohio.

Only thing missing is sweet corn and I can promise you that if you are patient, it will arrive in due time.

Recently, a YB member sent me a link to a new movie that was coming out called Planet Local: A Quiet Revolution.

You can view it HERE

There are many success stories in this movie about communities taking control of their food supply and using the concept of “Localization” to shift their trajectories.

What a box this week!

Asparagus, Strawberries, Zucchini (first of the year), Garlic Scapes (super rare), plus enough other stuff to make the best fathers' day spread on the block.

What are garlic scapes? Garlic scapes are the tender stem and flower bud of a hardneck garlic plant. (Hardneck garlic is the kind of garlic that typically grows in Canada and the northeastern U.S.) Scapes first grow straight out of the garlic bulb, then coil. When harvested, they look like long, curly green beans.

Friends, Folks, and Fam,

This is our time.

We are looking at fields full of plants that you and I will be eating over the next 6 months.

Peppers both sweet and hot, Eggplant, Blueberries, Okra, Greens, Onions, B-Sprouts, Taters and Maters, Sweet Corn, Melons and many more.