Blog

September 7

Published on
September 8, 2020

Box Contents:

1 bskt Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes

1 lb Sweet Gypsy Peppers

.75 lbs Green Beans

1.5 lbs Mixed Tomatoes

1 Charlyn Melon

1 Red Seedless Watermelon OR Yellow Baby Watermelon

Field Notes: We are prepared for the 2-day heat wave and have plans to finish field work by noon on Monday as well as setting up additional work stations in the packing shed for preparing the CSA produce. The irrigation crew has given the crops extra water to stay turgid as temperatures rise. Each week is a highly coordinated effort by many skilled employees to carefully harvest, sort, wash and pack the produce that we feature in the veggie boxes each week. Thanks to the dedication of the whole farm crew and thanks to your direct support of the farm, we are weathering the challenges of restaurant closures, wildfires and heatwaves.

Webstore Features: Canning Tomatoes (Early Girl), Red Sauce Tomatoes (Slicers), Pickling Cucumbers Visit: https://csa.farmigo.com/store/riverdogfarmcsa to place your orders. Place your orders by noon, 2 days before your delivery day.

Pastured Pork-shares now available. There are 4 listed on the webstore, place your order on the webstore 48 hours before your delivery day.

Box Notes: We have been growing Sweet Gypsy Peppers for 30 years after being inspired by the red Gypsy peppers our friends were growing at the Chez Panisse farm in Sonoma County! They are our favorite pepper variety for their sweetness and thick flesh. They are great for roasting, eating raw in salads, and added chopped to any meat dish (ground pork, ground beef, sautéed chicken), rice dish, or fried potatoes.

Each week, the veggie box contents are subject to change. In the newsletter, we include a list of box contents to give you an idea of what to expect but the items packed in the box may change. Crop quality, daily yields and weather conditions will determine final box contents each week.

New CSA Announcements:

  1. We are delighted to announce that a new group of hens have started laying eggs, that means our egg numbers have increased. Egg subscriptions are now available to all subscribers while supplies last. Eggs are $9 per dozen, they are CCOF certified organic. Your account is deducted at midnight the day of delivery.

  1. Chicken subscriptions are now 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 subscription to your account 48 hours before your delivery day. Your account is deducted with the actual chicken price at midnight the day after delivery

3. Frog Hollow Farm Fruit Box subscriptions are available. We received many subscriber requests for this subscription option. The weekly fruit box is $29.75. To add the Frog Hollow Fruit box to your weekly subscription, 1) go to your account in Farmigo. 2) Once logged in, look at the right side of your page at the summary box - you will see at the bottom of that box your subscription and there will be a darker green box that says "change". Click on that button that says change. 3) Below the title "CHANGE SUBSCRIPTION" you have 2 tabs -shares- and -options- Click on the -options- tab. 4) From there you will see the Frog Hollow Fruit box available to add to your subscription. 5) ALL orders must be in by Sunday at NOON so we have the ability to process the order and get it out to you on the proper day and time. The deliveries of the fruit boxes will be weekly.

The Frog Hollow fruit box will be available to add to your CSA account from Thursday to Sunday at NOON. And, 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 will not have the fruit box option but may purchase one 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. Frog Hollow CSA boxes come with 3-4 varieties of seasonal tree ripened, exceptionally tasty stone fruits. Summer CSA boxes contain 7 lbs. of mixed stone fruit, many varieties of peaches, plums, nectarines and pluots. 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 and fruits and recommendations: www.froghollow.com.

4. Recognizing that more people are eating and cooking at home and from our CSA subscriber feedback, we have increased the number of items in the veggie box. The weekly veggie box price is now $30 to correspond with the added value. Instead of 5-6 weekly items, the veggie box will include 7-9 items OR the box may include an increased quantity of some of the items included in the veggie box. For example, with the new plan there will be more variety and more quantity of some items. The farm uses the farmers market pricing to determine the box value. The pricing includes administration, packing and delivery costs in addition to the value of the produce. Summer produce is higher value than the winter produce so the veggie box contents volume may have the appearance of being smaller than winter produce volume.

The new CSA pricing of $30 per veggie box started August 3, 2020. - Please pick up your veggie box on your delivery day. With very warm summer temperatures, please pick up your CSA order on your delivery day so that it stays fresh and we can ensure quality. At Riverdog Farm, 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 are no longer available and the subscriber absorbs the box cost for that week’s order.

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.

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

  • 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 deliveries end, 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. If you wish to cancel your account, you may email the farm and we can cancel it for you.

  • Please pick up your veggie box on your delivery day. As the temperatures heat up, it’s important to pick up your veggie the day of delivery to maintain freshness.

  • For any changes you need to make to your account, the cut off time is 12 noon 2 days before your delivery day Remember to make any changes to your account such as payment renewal or delivery holds by 12 noon 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.