News from the Farm - February

February 17th, 2010

Dear Farm Supporters,
We hope your year is off to a great start!  2010 has already proven to be a busy year for us as we have been diligently making improvements on the farm and upgrading our packing facilities in anticipation of spring.  We’ve got an exciting line-up of produce planned for the Spring/Summer season, and we can hardly wait for the first signs of warmer weather.

As a part of our winter efforts, we have been adding new drop sites throughout our distribution area.  We are pleased to announce the addition of the following public sites:  Woodley’s Garden Center in Irmo and Columbia, The Plant Depot in Orangeburg, and Whole Foods Market and I’On Health in Mt. Pleasant.  Several of our drop sites are close to filling up, so if you have not yet made your reservation for spring, now is the time to do so!

In signing up, you will notice that we have made a few changes to our website.  Many of our members had issues with the Paypal payment system, so we are now accepting credit cards directly on our site.  We hope this will improve your online ordering experience!  There will be many more changes to come including a Recipes section and an enhanced Community area in which we hope to bring you all together with the latest news, photos, and events on the farm.

We are also happy to announce that Pinckney’s Produce is now on Facebook.  Be sure to “Become a Fan” of our farm, so you can receive regular updates as they occur.  We hope you will use this outlet to talk to one another, share recipes, and offer feedback about your experience.

Speaking of feedback, we will be sending out our very first farm survey in the next few days. If you were a subscriber to either of our 2009 harvest seasons, we invite you to participate!  As a special treat, we will draw the names of two lucky participants who complete the survey, and they will win a FREE small share for the Spring/Summer 2010 season.  This drawing is retroactive, so if the winners have already signed up for our next season, we will send them a $170 credit.

In closing, I’d like to mention that we will be participating in the Southeastern Wildlife Expo next weekend in Charleston as a part of the SC Department of Agriculture exhibit.  If you are in the area, please come say hello!  We’d love to meet you.

Once again, thanks for being a supporter of Pinckney’s Produce.  We’ll be in touch again soon with the latest from the farm.

Regards,

Jody

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

News from the Farm - December

February 17th, 2010

Greetings Farm Friends!

We hope you all had a happy and delicious Thanksgiving.  Pinckney and I took a much-needed day off from the farm to relax with our families and enjoy a day long feast of traditional Turkey Day fare.

It’s hard to believe that our last delivery was a little over a week ago.  Since that time, we have already jumped into planning for our Spring/Summer 2010 season: plotting out the new field layouts, estimating crop percentages, and recruiting new drop sites. We have even begun planting some of our earlier Spring crops such as sweet onions. The work never ends, but that’s what we love about our CSA!

As mentioned, our website is now ready to accept new Spring/Summer subscriptions for 2010.  Click here to be directed to the new sign up page! While it may seem early, we need all the head-start we can get in planning, especially when it comes time to order seeds!

We have made a few changes to the program for 2010 that I’d like to share with you.  First, we have renamed our shares to more accurately portray the volumes of the boxes and the number of people for which they are best suited. In signing up, please note that the Family, Small, and Single shares of last year have been renamed (respectively) Extra Large, Large, and Medium shares for 2010. In addition, we have added a new, premium share for individual subscribers. We feel like this will be a welcome and popular addition to our offering. Please contact our office at 803-492-3521 or email info@pinckneysproduce.com if you have need any help with your order.

In addition to the changes in shares, we found it necessary to institute a delivery surcharge for certain drop sites, so that we can improve and maintain our convenient delivery services.  This fee will amount to a $12 delivery charge per season to areas more than 35 miles from our farm and a $24 charge per season to areas more than 70 miles from the farm. These fees break down to between 1 and 2 dollars per delivery week and will go towards the cost of fuel, drivers, insurance, and perhaps even an additional delivery truck.

In the next few weeks, we will be sending out a 2009 member feedback survey to all of you.  We hope that you’ll take the time to give us your thoughts on a variety of topics from the quality of our produce to your favorite and least favorite vegetables. Your feedback is invaluable to us, and we will use it to continue to improve our programs and your overall member experience as a part of our farm family.

Thanks again for being a part of our farm family.  Our first year as a CSA was a great challenge, and we learned much from it. We truly appreciate your support, and we look forward to delivering high quality, fresh, local produce to you next Spring!

All the best,

Jody

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

July Farm News

August 5th, 2009

July Newsletter

Dear Subscriber,

The Spring 2009 season has come to an end, and what an exciting and bustling season it has been! We hit the ground running last winter with great hopes, but uncertain of what to expect, only to watch our membership boom over the last few months, find ourselves benefiting from wonderful press, and become caught up in more excitement surrounding local foods than we could have anticipated. Thank you for being a part of our program—we have so much to look forward to and are glad to have your support!

We believe that our first season with the CSA program met with resounding success, largely from the encouragement of our friends and members. It has certainly been a learning experience, and we thank you for keeping us on our toes! We have strived for the best product and delivery service that we could offer, and we thank you for your patience as we worked to solve issues related to our online ordering system and drop-offs, and for informing us with any problems with your deliveries. Every comment and suggestion—positive feedback and constructive criticism—has been read and taken into consideration, and hopefully everyone has heard back from us at some point via email or phone call. Please continue to stay in touch—this is your CSA program!

The past twelve weeks have flown by, but after the intense period of harvesting and deliveries, plus all the pre-season work and preparation, we are ready for a much-needed recess. The next few weeks offer a bit of a breather for us, as we will not be preparing deliveries, but we will be very busy planting, preparing soil, irrigation, and the like, and brainstorming for the fall. Many fall crops are already growing; we planted corn and pumpkins a few weeks ago, and it is amazing to see how much they have grown already. We just planted several varieties of winter squash—acorn, butternut, and spaghetti—that we are very excited about. We will be sure to tell you more about them and how to enjoy them, come fall. As a reminder, the fall season will start on the week of August 24th and runs through November 13th. We have a few items to share about the fall season, as follows.

Many people are writing to request information about the fall produce offerings. We have addressed this for many, but not all, of you in previous communications, but will include a brief summary here. Our website includes information on this as well, on the FAQ, Farm News, and Seasonal Calendar pages. Produce listed below will arrive in deliveries as it is becomes in season and we harvest it. We will again be providing a weekly box contents list to give you our best approximation of what will be in each box.

Expected Fall 2009 Crops

Earlier (late summer-early fall): beets; cucumbers; field peas, Lima beans, string beans, Roma/snap beans; cantaloupe and watermelon; eggplant; green onions; tomatoes; summer squash and zucchini

Later (fall): broccoli; cabbage; greens—chard, collards, lettuces, kale, spinachs; root vegetables and tubers – carrots, potatoes, radishes, rutabagas, sweet potatoes; turnips; pumpkins, winter squash

We welcome the newest additions to our delivery pickup locations: Casual Gourmet Market in West Ashley, Grove Park Pharmacy in Orangeburg, and the Cross School in Bluffton. These sites have generously opened their doors to the CSA program and you may choose to pickup from these sites for the Fall 2009 season. Thank you to our Spring 2009 pickup locations, all of which have joined us again for the fall season.

Please spread the word about our CSA program and encourage your family and friends to consider joining us for the best in local, South Carolina produce. We belong to a small group of Lowcountry programs that have started up over the past two years, and are currently one of only two CSA programs serving the Columbia area. The market is growing, but we—and other local farms—are still in need of support to sustain our efforts for coming seasons. We’d like to see you purchase local produce wherever available, but remind you—as you may share with others—that a CSA program offers a reliable, weekly delivery of a variety of produce to a convenient location near you. If you are interested in establishing a new pickup site closer to your neighborhood, please contact us and we will definitely take your idea into consideration. All of our current pickup sites are listed on our online order form and FAQ page at www.pinckneysproduce.com/faq/entry/14/

In the interim between seasons on our farm, we hope that you will enjoy what is available at your local farmers markets and roadside stands—peaches and watermelon are still a-plenty! Please contact us if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions; we look forward to hearing from you!

All the best,

Jody, Pinckney, and Trevor

Pinckney’s Produce CSA Program

Posted in General Farm News | No Comments »

A Testimonial: “That box is like a treasure hunt–I am so excited to look through it and see what is in it.”

June 26th, 2009

Jody,

Thanks for the fresh veggies. I have not had freshly dug potatoes since I had to stop gardening. I cooked them with the english peas and some haricot verts [skinny green beans]. They were soooo good. That box is like a treasure hunt— I am so excited to look through it and see what is in it. I prepare all my fresh veggies for the refrigerator as soon as I get home. Some I cook then and some I will cook later. Today I will get some rutabagas to cook with the greens in Chicken or Beef broth to enhance the flavors and add nutrition. The ladies from The State Newspaper were there when I picked up my box. They were making pictures and interviewing the customers.I told them that I live on a farm in Eastover but we grow hay not row crops. They didn’t know anything about farming. I am 75 years old and can not garden anymore. Your program is perfect for me. My son John looked up your website so he may be ordering later on. I look forward to fresh tomatoes and corn. Southern fried corn and fresh
tomatoes are a favorite meal for us.

Thanks again,

Ann Gwinn

Posted in Testimonials | No Comments »

A Testimonial: “I’ve enjoyed my surprise boxes of produce each week…”

June 26th, 2009

Thanks for the new email blast. I’ve enjoyed my surprise boxes of produce each week, but to tell you the truth there have been several green leafy vegetables that I didn’t know. But I was not raised with good produce and not taught how to cook collards, mustards, turnips, etc. Luckily my mother in law took those.The small dark “potatoes” were thought to be radishes or beets! I’ve become a pro at hot and cold soups with the broccoli, beets, cucumbers, cabbage, potatoes and even an unidentified leafy vegetable.The strawberries were great. Looking forward to the weeks to come. Thanks, H

Posted in Testimonials | No Comments »

A Testimonial: “Oh, my goodness! The corn this week was out of this world!”

June 26th, 2009

Oh, my goodness! The corn this week was out of this world! We had a vegetable plate last night. . .no need for meat when we have so many great veggies!!! Thanks again for a great box!
Leigh Boland

Posted in Testimonials | No Comments »

A Testimonial: “We have had such a good time trying things we have never eaten before…”

June 26th, 2009
Hello,
Just wanted to say thank you for the fantastic produce we have been enjoying! I am sharing with my daughter Stefanie Christensen and we have had such a good time trying things we have never eaten before (greens and turnips) and things we haven’t had since my mama gardened years ago like banana peppers. I inherited Mama’s recipes and we are about to try her freezer pickles and chocolate zucchini bread, as well as her freezer slaw and maybe see if yellow squash makes as tasty a bread as the zucchini does. We have enjoyed the variety and surely have improved our menus - can’t wait to see what the next season will bring. Again, thank you for making all this healthy eating possible.
Sincerely,
Terry Pirch

Tags:
Posted in Testimonials | No Comments »

Recipe - Pickled Beets

June 26th, 2009

Thanks again to Tipsy Holleman!

1 bunch (4-5) beets

¼ cup cider vinegar

1 Tbsp olive oil

½ tsp. dry mustard

Salt and pepper

Remove greens from beets. Boil for 30 minutes or until done. Drain, rinse in cold water. Remove the peels. Slice the beets. Combine Cider vinegar, sugar, olive oil, and dry mustard. Wish ingredients together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Combine beet and vinaigrette in a bowl and marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Recipes | No Comments »

Recipe - Summer Squash Soup

June 26th, 2009

A cool, refreshing summer soup, again from Tipsy Holleman!

1 medium onion, chopped

¼ cup butter, melted

2 cups dices yellow squash

½ tsp white pepper

1 tsp. celery salt

½ tsp. dried whole tarragon or a sprig of fresh tarragon

2 cup milk

Sauté onion in butter until tender. Add next 5 ingredients, cook over low heat 10 minutes or until squash is tender. Remove from heat, and stir in milk. If you use fresh tarragon remove sprig. Place squash mixture in blender, process til smooth. Serve cold.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Recipes | No Comments »

Recipe - Squash Puppies

June 26th, 2009

These sound wonderful–thank you to Tipsy Holleman of Orangeburg

5 medium size yellow squash

½ cup buttermilk

1 medium, onion diced

¾ cup self-rising cornmeal

¼ cup all purpose flour

Vegetable oil

Trim ends of squash; slice and cook with water over medium heat 20 minutes or until tender.

Drain squash well; mash and drain again. Combine squash and next 5 ingredients. Drop a tablespoon of mixture into hot oil (350°). Fry until golden brown.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Recipes | No Comments »

« Older Entries