Old Slate Farm sits on the south side of Mount Vernon as you head towards Johnstown. Brad and Katie Carothers have been friends of mine since we moved here. Katie reached out to me when we were first getting Yellowbird off the ground and worked with me a day a week in exchange for a box of food!
WE ARE REPRESENTING 17 FARMS in our boxes this week!!
A few special shout outs!!
Darista Dips - FINALLY, we get to send each of you the best hummus in the land. I dare you to try and NOT eat this entire container in one sitting.
Three Creeks Produce - We strive to grow tasty food in ways that nurture our land, our environment, and our community. Refraining from the use of synthetic pesticides and herbicides, we keep our focus on feeding our soils through regenerative practices and careful stewardship.
Whew....I'm not sure how to write that sound you make when you take a deep breath and then blow out a relaxed and rejuvenated noise. I turned 40 last weekend and it's been monumental. My friends and family showered me with words, time, surprise after surprise, good food, laughs, and on top of that the weather has been phenom.
This week I have listened to a couple of podcasts about the dire situation many of the people in our country are facing as it relates to both their personal health and the supply chain issues of the conventional food system. Both of these issues we have been able to circumvent as we continue to be supplied with the tastiest and most nutritious food from our very own OHIO growers.
WE take YOUR grocery shopping very seriously. Each week we have a budget for you, that we are able to take DIRECTLY to our growers and producers to get you the cleanest, tastiest, freshest produce and products in our market.
This is when things start to get really fun. All the food is going to change quickly now as we start to see the early spring plantings, ready to harvest.
Over the next few weeks EVERYBODY will be getting LOTS of STRAWBERRIES and LOTS of ASPARAGUS...part of the power of being involved as a member is that you get a box each week so we can space out everything and make sure that everyone gets the goodies, but without having to force the growers to do something that contradicts nature in order to have enough for everyone all at once.
We’ve waited patiently for a year to be able to sing our favorite song….All together now! “This is the dawning of the age of A-SPARA-GUS, the age of A-SPARA-GUUUU-UUUS….ASPAAARAGUUUUUUSS…..ASPARRRRRAGUUUUUUS!”
As always, our sweet mother nature has delivered again. We should have a couple nice weeks now of asparagus, which truly is the dawning of the new year of fresh food. It stores best standing up in a glass of water in your fridge. (as if you had the patience to keep it longer than 1 day before eating)
One of the coolest things that has developed over the last 3 months, is working with vendors and producers to provide something that can be put in EVERY box. This happens because companies want their product in your hands now that they know the YB Fam Runs DEEP! We have done it with kimchi, yogurt, and this week we get to do it with COLD PRESSED JUICE!
Mother Nature did a “Tricked Ya!” on us Ohio-ans this week...freezing nights in May are NOT normal and so some of the products that we were hoping to have by now (asparagus), will take just another week or two.
What we do have though I think is going to make your hearts SING for SPRING!
RHUBARB - There are so many things that this can be used for...try a “quick pickle” on it and then add to a salad
First, thanks for the continued support to me and my family (both home and work family). We carry the weight of the responsibility of getting a lot of people the food they need to be their best selves, and we continue to make mistakes along the way. Your grace and forgiveness to us have meant the world.
It’s that time of week, where we all gather round the dinner table and start to see what Ohio (and sometimes Florida) has to offer us. Sunsprout Farms of Central Ohio is a well established sprout farm that we have wanted to work with for years….nothing like a little pandemic to bring together NEW PARTNERSHIPS! The first signs of asparagus showed up this week and they will be going out in the FULLS. Bases and Mini’s stay tuned though because you will be next up.
There are about 10 items a year that are turning into “cult classic’s”. RAMP’s are quickly becoming a contender for TOP 5.
If we are lucky, they are around each spring for about a month. Also, they are WILD...meaning, if we get them from anyone, they are foraged and not grown. Couple that with having over 1000 members at a time when we normally have about 350, and I was not sure we were going to be able to get EVERYONE ramps this year.
What is this Friday Five, and why do you keep sending it to me?
Great question all you newbs...
Answer: It's a simple way that I can get what's in my head out on something tangible. It started as a goofy way to connect to our Yellowbird customers in a different way than food. It's morphed into something that is good for me, and might even give you a couple Friday 5's.
We had a MAJOR influx of product this week to meet the new demands that our community is ordering. Every single time you place an order it’s like you are showing up at the polls and casting a vote for the way you want this state to handle it’s agricultural, local economies, and health care…(let food be thy medicine...someone smart said that once). We are hitting the time of year where there are a LOT of green things coming your way.
Sorry this is so late to launch this week...literally haven't had time to do anything but pack and deliver food.
Because we are all completely swamped with voices, opinions, advice, and graphs during this season, I am having trouble deciding what is worth our time vs. what is just me voicing my own opinion because my ego wants to be heard.
With that in mind, this week will just be one story.
I have a LOT of ground to cover so instead of waxing poetic about why I love you so, I am just going to bullet point the crap out of this newsletter
Our home deliveries are BLOWING UP! So, when you sign up just know that you will get a delivery on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday for Columbus area folks. We will let you know at the beginning of each week what day your delivery will be on (all accounts will say Wednesday when you log in- ignore that). Mount Vernon area, Findlay, Delphos, Marion Home Deliveries will continue to be on Friday.
Where to start? The only logical place anyone can actually start from is right where they currently are. So how are you? I know this sounds corny, but if you don't have someone that you are connecting with right now and you need a friend, a conversation, or even in some cases some help...please do not hesitate to reach out.
Let me just take a second to give a solid “THANK YOU” from all of our growers and producers. I have talked to MANY of the men and women that are a part of our LOCAL food network, and everyone is anxious (as we all are) about what the future holds. I have no more answers than anyone else, but what I do assure them is that we have a customer base that is BACKING THEM 100% OF THE WAY.
At this point, we all have some anxiety about COVID - some are concerned while others are in a full blown panic. The good news is that a majority of people do recover - I won’t quote statistics because those are changing by the minute. The really good news is that you can take comfort in the fact that you are empowered to change the course of your illnesses. With the right knowledge and some effort, it’s possible to prevent and/or improve symptoms.
Let’s get back to talking about the good in this world shall we? Any of the citrus that you are seeing from us this winter is from our new friends down in Florida at Thorpe’s Family Farm...again, it’s the first time we have gone outside of Ohio for anything but we are sure glad we did. Those vitamins are much needed right now and I know that I have been crushing that OJ that was in the boxes last week.
