For our Collective each growing season begins with a big January meeting where we plan all things summer CSA—from setting dates and pricing, to reading feedback and planning all the crops that we’ll grow at each different farm for the year to come. Okay, maybe it took 3 meetings… but after several hours by the fire and a few cups of maté, we made it through! We’re so excited for all that the coming seasons will bring, and we can’t wait to share it all with you.

With these plans, each farm orders seeds, plans seed starting calendars and crop successions, maps out their fields, and more. And Molly gets to work on updating the website, writing you all some veggie love notes, checking in with our pickup site hosts and partner farms, planning for pickups, etc. Summer will be here before we know it!

We’ll continue to meet at least once a month through the rest of the year, checking in on how things are going and making plans for what’s to come. And, when summer arrives, we’ll be checking in with each other several times a week, sometimes several times a day, as we bring things in from the field, to the barn, to YOU. A community effort from start to finish ♥

Keep your eyes peeled for Summer CSA sign up—coming soon!

this week’s Full Plate veggies

crops are our best estimate & may change a bit after harvest

• salad greens - remembrance

• carrots - remembrance

• parsnips - remembrance

• mixed beets - stick and stone

• red onions - stick and stone

• savoy cabbage - stick and stone

• tatsoi - stick and stone

• butternut squash - stick and stone

• sprouts - dancing turtle

• potatoes - hill side farm

Please remember to return your boxes, thank you!

Fruit Bowl off week

updates from the farm & friends…

ASEMPE KITCHEN BHM AFROBREATS BRUNCH! SUN FEB 2nd

Join us for an unforgettable Afrobeats Brunch experience - Black History Month Edition - which also coincides with Chef Kuukua's birthday! Immerse yourself in the vibrant sounds of Afrobeats while enjoying Chef Kuukua’s authentic Ghanaian flavors.

FRUITION SEEDS’ ‘THE GIFT OF SEED’ EVENT SAT FEB 1st

Join Fruition at Foundation of Light on Saturday, February 1st from 1 to 4:30. From Petra: “This event is an experience, so please plan to join for the duration and we ask you register the gift of your presence here. All flourishing is mutual, as Robin Wall Kimmerer reminds us, and seeds brilliantly embody this generosity, creativity and care. Together, let’s practice receiving hundreds of varieties of regionally adapted seeds as gifts, cultivating gift culture as well as community, nourishing all generations to come! Come ready to reflect, connect and honor your gifts as we seed a more abundant community and future together. Together we’re going to laugh, play, send each other home with many regionally adapted seeds from Fruition Seeds in Naples as we sing and perhaps even shed a tear or two.”

on our plates…

share what you’ve been cooking! We’re always glad to know, and eager to pass along. Just email Molly. Find this week’s ingredients in bold.

Borscht

• 1 pound beets, peeled and cut into matchsticks (~3 med beets) (reserve a small piece to grate into the soup at the end)

• 2 medium onions, sliced into half-moons

• 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks

• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into matchsticks

• 3/4 pound cabbage, cut thinly into shreds

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 5 cups vegetable stock

• Juice of 1/2 a lemon

• Salt to taste

• Coarsely ground black pepper

• Sour cream (optional, omit for vegan soup)

• Finely chopped parsley or chives (optional, for garnish)

Directions

1. Sauté onions, carrots, and beets over medium heat in the olive oil with a pinch of salt in a large soup pot, reserving a small amount of raw beet to grate and add near the end to enliven the color.

2. In the meantime, bring the vegetable stock to a boil. When the vegetables are soft (about 5 minutes), add the shredded cabbage and the hot stock. Bring to a boil and simmer 15-25 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. With a few minutes left, add the reserved grated beet.

3. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then squeeze in the lemon juice, aiming for a pleasing but subtle sour taste. Serve with freshly ground black pepper, a dollop of sour cream, and chopped parsley, if desired.

More in-season inspiration…

• Beets: Red Wine Roasted Beets with Tahini Yogurt

• Parsnips: Here are 20 Parsnip Ideas - stews, salads, tarts, pasta and more!

• Parsnips, squash, onions: Roasted Squash and Parsnip Soup

• Parsnip, carrot, potato, onion, garlic: Root Veggie Pot Pie

• Butternut Squash, carrot, garlic: Butternut Carrot Soup

• Sprouts! A mild, fresh, succulent addition to a sandwich or a salad

• Red onions: Pickled Red Onion

• Beets, potatoes, parsnips, carrots: Roasted Root Veggies

• Tatsoi, carrots: Spicy Stir Fried Tatsoi

• Tatsoi: Tatsoi with sesame ginger dressing