Blog

December 21

Published on
December 22, 2020

Box Contents:

2 lbs Satsuma Mandarins

1 bu Carrots

1 Butternut Squash

1.5 lbs Nicola Potatoes

1 lb Mei Qing Choi

1 lb Little Gem Lettuce

1 hd Savoy Cabbage

Box Notes: CCOF-certified organic mandarins from Terra Firma Farm are in the box this week! We’ll feature navel oranges from Blue Heron Farm and pink lady apples from Smit Farm in the veggie boxes in January.

For 2021, we have space for new CSA members to join. Please encourage neighbors, friends and colleagues to sign-up for the Riverdog Farm CSA. We offer Gift Certificates or you can sign up your friends and family members with a check or credit card too. Print the Welcome email as the gift.

We are planning future crop planting with the CSA members in mind and will strive to have spinach and other greens for 3 out of the 4 seasons (summer excluded) and carrots for most of the 2021 year.

Field Notes: Hooray for rain! We received about a ½ inch on Saturday night and Sunday during the day. Puddles dot the low spots of the farm. The rain will nudge the grain seeds to sprout and the recently seeded garlic to grow. The dust has settled and winter finally feels real. The colorful changing leaf colors of the deciduous trees throughout the valley have been spectacular this year. The cottonwoods along the waterways are still a shimmering golden yellow and the fallen, orange-hued leaves of the nut trees cover the almond orchard floors. There’s an abundance of acorns on the ground in the hills where oaks survived the wildfires. Hoping that next year brings renewal and revival in the burned areas and brings back our ability to gather with friends and family.

Webstore Features: Pastured Whole Chickens, Pastured Smoked and Cured Hams, almonds, walnuts and vegetable items are available by the case. Visit: https://csa.farmigo.com/store/riverdogfarmcsa to place your orders. Please place your orders by noon, 2 days before your delivery day to ensure same week delivery.

Holiday Schedule: The farm will be closed from December 23, 2020 to January 3, 2021. We will be at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market on Tuesday, December 22, 2020. Please email the farm if you’d like to pick up a CSA box at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market on 63rd and Adeline from 2 pm to 7pm.  CSA boxes will be delivered to the market that day. Even if your normal delivery day is not on Tuesday or not at the market, you can email the CSA Manager at csa@riverdogfarm.com to order a CSA box for delivery and pick up at the Berkeley Farmers Market on Adeline and 63rd. We need to hear from you via email by 12/19/20 if you’d like to pick up a CSA box at the market on Tuesday December 22, 2020. (You won’t be able to add this delivery yourself on Farmigo so please email the farm 2 days in advance if you’d like a CSA box delivery to the market).

We will be at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market on Saturday, January 2, 2021 with eggs, pastured meat and a reduced produce load, but there will be no CSA deliveries at the market that day. CSA deliveries will resume as normal the week of January 4th, 2021.

The weekly veggie box contents are subject to change. We include a list of box contents in the newsletter to give you an idea of what to expect but it may differ from what is packed. Crop quality, daily yields and weather conditions will determine final box contents each week.

Please pick up your veggie box on your delivery day. With warm fall temperatures continuing through the winter, please pick up your CSA order on your delivery day so that it stays fresh and we can ensure quality. CSA site hosts may donate any unclaimed boxes of vegetables no sooner than 24 hours after the original pick up day and time of 3pm. After 24 hours (3pm the following day) unclaimed orders may no longer be available and the subscriber absorbs the subscription cost for that week’s order.

New CSA Announcements:

  1. Chicken subscriptions are available. The whole chickens (with head and feet) are $6 per lb. The average weight is 3.5 to 7 lbs. All meat raised on the farm is pasture fed. The animals are CCOF certified organic but cannot be labeled as organic due to being processed in a facility that is not certified organic. Your account is updated weekly with the actual weight packed for you. To begin a chicken subscription, add a chicken to your account 48 hours before your delivery day. Your account is deducted with the actual price of the chicken at midnight the day of delivery.

  2. Webstore Orders: There are chickens available on the web store. Try out a chicken with no subscription commitment. If you like it then add it to your account as a weekly subscription. There are also a limited supply of half, smoked hams available.

  3. Site hosts: Please email the CSA manager by the morning following the delivery day about any unclaimed CSA boxes. This way, we can contact CSA subscribers to remind them to pick up their veggie boxes.

  • Please check your CSA account for the most up-to-date information such as your delivery schedule.

Riverdog Farm has an active Instagram account. Find us via our Instagram handle: riverdogfarm. On our account, we share images of the crops, farming, re-posts of your farm fixings photos and videos and provide market/CSA updates.

Whether you leave the box at the site or take it home to return the following week, please unfold (collapse) your box carefully to keep the end flaps from tearing. Slowly bend the two end panels towards the outer ends first then collapse (flatten) the whole box by gently folding the rest.

Give your account 48 hours to update when making changes. For example, when changing your account status from permanent hold to active by charging your credit card, the status may take up to 48 hours to update. The auto-pay option button is at the bottom of your account page. Please click it for auto-renewal of your CSA subscription and to ensure uninterrupted weekly veggie box deliveries.

Frog Hollow Farm Fruit Box The weekly fruit box is $29.75. To add the Frog Hollow Fruit box to your weekly subscription,

1) go to your CSA account.

2) Log in then look at the right side of your page at the summary box - at the bottom of that box is your subscription with a darker green box that says "change". Click on change.

3) Below the title "CHANGE SUBSCRIPTION" you have 2 tabs - Click on the -options- tab. You will see the Frog Hollow Fruit box available to add.

4) ALL orders must be in by Sunday at NOON so we have the ability to process the order and deliver it.

The Frog Hollow fruit box will be available to add to your CSA account from Thursday to Sunday by NOON. Due to logistics, the Frog Hollow Fruit Boxes will only be available to the Wednesday/Thursday/Friday subscribers. CSA subscribers who pick up on Tuesdays/Thursdays/Saturdays, at the Berkeley farmers markets may purchase directly from Frog Hollow.  12:00 pm Sunday is the deadline to change your account for the fruit box, if you enter a hold any time after that, we can cancel delivery of the box, but your account will still be charged the full amount for the Fruit box. Frog Hollow CSA boxes come with 3-4 varieties of seasonal tree ripened, exceptionally tasty stone fruits. As part of their commitment to sustainability, Frog Hollow works hard to avert food waste. You can expect to see ripe, cosmetically imperfect fruit and small or large pieces of fruit in the fruit boxes. These characteristics should not affect the deliciousness of what you receive. Visit their web site to learn more about their CSA program, farm, ethos, fruits and recommendations: www.froghollow.com

  • Keeping it safe: with the Shelter-in-Place order still in effect in Yolo County, we continue to implement our COVID-19 prevention protocol on the farm per the CDC and Cal-OSHA recommended best practices. Prevention measures include: required face covering and glove wearing, 6-foot distancing in the workplace, hand sanitation and employees are not allowed to work with symptoms of COVID-19.

  • Reminder: So that your subscription continues uninterrupted, please make sure your credit card on file is up to date on your CSA account. For those who need to end the CSA subscription before your balance is at $0, you MUST contact the farm through email to request cancellation. You may put your account on a DELIVERY hold if you will be gone for periods of time.

  • Please pick up your veggie box on your delivery day. It’s important to pick up your veggie box the day of delivery to maintain freshness.

  • For any changes you need to make to your account, the cut off time is 12:00 pm 2 days before your delivery day Remember to make any changes to your account such as payment renewal, webstore orders or delivery holds by 12:00 pm 2 days before your delivery day. Thank you!

“Delivery hold” is used for short periods of time – you use this option 48 hours in advance to schedule the deliveries you are unable to pick up.

“Permanent Hold” is used for long periods of time – you use this option if you are gone for extended periods of time and wish to resume your account when you get back. You must change your status to “active” when you return in order to resume deliveries.

“Cancel” is used to delete membership details, this means you would need to re-enter delivery status, subscriptions, and credit card information when you resume the Riverdog Farm CSA