Greetings from Pinckney, Jody, and the rest of the farm family!

It has been an exciting year in the Thompson family, and we have a lot to be thankful for. We have been blessed with new additions to our family, and also with the overwhelming support we have received from you, our amazing community that has brought our CSA program so much.

We are looking forward to the New Year, and to new opportunities with the farm. After much consideration, we have decided to take a new direction with our CSA program. We are very pleased to announce that Urbie West and his son, Ashby, the owners of Rest Park Farm in Beaufort, SC, will now operate Pinckney’s Produce.

Urbie is a 5th generation farmer with over 100 years of knowledge and love for growing fresh, quality produce in his blood. Rest Park Farm has operated their own successful CSA program in the Beaufort area, and there is no doubt in our minds that Urbie, Ashby, and the Rest Park Farm Family will continue to provide the quality produce that you have received from the Pinckney’s Produce program.

Pinckney and Jody will continue to work closely with Urbie and Ashby to ensure a smooth transition of the program from Holly Hill to Beaufort. We are also pleased to share that our newest family member Katie Thompson will be serving as the Marketing and Membership Coordinator this season.

So you are probably thinking, “How are these changes going to affect me? Will my drop sites change? What about pricing?” And we are happy to share that very little will change for you, the members.

Drop Sites: Almost all of our previous drop sites will remain active with the program, and we look forward to partnerships with some new locations. There may still be some slight changes and consolidation of some sites in certain areas that has yet to occur. However we remain confident that the convenience you have experienced with our drop site locations will continue. We look forward to continuing to serve the greater Columbia area and the midlands, as well as Charleston and the Lowcountry. We are also pleased to be returning to the Beaufort and Bluffton areas.

Pricing and share sizes: Pinckney’s Produce will continue to offer four different share sizes: small, medium, large, and extra large. There will be a slight change in share pricing from last season due to the anticipated season length − they will cost less! Share sizes and pricing are as follows:

-Small sized shares will be $216
-Medium Sized shares will be $276
-Large sized shares will be $396
-Extra large sized shares will be $516

Delivery Charges: There will be a change in delivery charges to compensate for the change in location of the program. Free farm pick up will still be offered, and there will be no delivery charge for drop sites located in the Beaufort and Bluffton areas. There will be a standard one time $24 delivery charge for all other locations to offset gas and travel costs for the weekly deliveries.

Season start dates: With the produce now being grown in the warmer climate of Beaufort, we are aiming for a Spring start date of April 9th, with a 12 week season ending the week of June 25th. This may be subject to change depending on the length of the winter season, but rest assured you will be notified in ample time.

Another benefit from the change in location will be a stronger potential for an abundant fall season. Again, the climate in Beaufort is more conducive to producing those delicious fall vegetables we all love.

We acknowledge that there may still be some questions you have that we have yet to answer, but rest assured we are working diligently to make this transition a smooth and successful one with very little effect upon our members. We are so very thankful for your support, and realize that none of this would be possible without you all.

We are planning to open signups at the start of the New Year, and are looking forward to serving you all again this season. We will be sending out another email notifying you when we have officially opened sign ups. We are also in the process of updating our website for the upcoming spring season.

Have a happy and safe holiday season from our family to yours, and let’s toast to another year of seasonal eating!

Week 13 of Spring/ Summer CSA 2011   

This week’s delivery is the final for the 2011 CSA season. I would like to thank each of you for the support given to our program this year. Many of you have been repeat members since our first season in 2009, others have joined the farm since that time, and some this represents the first participation. To each of you, Pinckney and I offer our most sincere appreciation and gratitude.

The CSA program indeed is a commitment between all parties. Each season brings a variety of challenges and many rewards. We can always be certain that Mother Nature will always keep things interesting. Overall, we feel the produce for this season has been some of the best since our beginning. The goal of raising the variety of many products to be available from a target date in April to end in July is really a challenge. Any of you that supplement our offering by gardening certainly appreciate this task. I need to give Pinckney high marks for accomplishing this feat this season. We never had concerns about enough seasonal items to include in the shares. We do understand the need for continuing to mix up the choices as we all like change is our menu. We look very hard at the number of items that can be successfully produced in SC and then the normal growing season for these as we plan for planting and harvest dates to match the length of our delivery period.

Our special feature for this final delivery will be Heirloom Stone Ground Grits from Keisler Mills. For any of you that have never experience the taste difference, you are in for a real treat. Instructions for cooking will be sent with the grits.  Also, we will be including fresh SC Peaches from a sister farm at ST. Julien Plantation . We will not be able to send a large quantity in each share so savor each bite.  The remainder of the shares will be completed with cherry and slicer tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, sweet corn, kale or Swiss chard, and cantaloupe.    Most of you realize I always make note of the weather in these messages. We did receive so much needed rain this week. Some crops are desperate and others suffer with too much. Example would be less Sweet Beauty melons in our final shipment as the rains totaling 3.5 inches last Wednesday caused some of the melons to over ripen.

Please take time to offer a sincere and much deserved thank you to all our delivery site sponsors. Without there unselfish support, this program, as we know it would not exist. I cannot tell you how all of the key people at your site help us in making each weeks delivery possible. Thank you.

I ask each of you to please return all share boxes to your pick up site before your regular pick up day after this final delivery. Our delivery team will return on week 14 as a regular week to retrieve these boxes and delivery shelves from each of our sites. I hope these share boxes are helpful to you. They have eliminated an abundance of trash from our landfills and represent an important part of our program.

Best regards and see you next Spring.  _______    Jody

Week 12 Summer CSA 2011               

I want to wish all of you a happy and safe 4^th of July.  We can all take a moment to thank all Americans for the liberties we are privileged to enjoy in our country. Every nation has

issues and we certainly are not immune. We are indeed members of one of the greatest countries on this planet and should always give thanks to our founding fathers and current leaders, and ask our Father in Heaven to bless our nation and guide us for the betterment of all.

We are entering our next to the last week of vegetables for the spring/summer 2011 season. I realize many of you may be taking vacation this week. I do hope you will be able to enjoy this week’s harvest. If not, please send a neighbor or friend to use your share. I wish we could put on hold the crops or double up a week, or even skip a week, but remember our products are living and maturing each day. When time is ripe for harvest, it must be picked and then the shelf life begins a decline. We are truly experiencing a full season of local SC vegetables.  If you designate a person to pick up, I remind you to have them look for the box with your name and not to remove another members share.

I have received some nice notes this week with suggestions to improve and consider for other seasons. I appreciate your feed back, as it truly is a relationship between us the farmer and you the consumer or member. We try to address as much flexibility as practical, as we all want the CSA program to represent a structure of many desirable values that sustain a bond between our families. 

This week should bring the following choices for the share boxes. Remember the share

size and sometimes day of delivery could change presence of the products listed.

Cantaloupe (Atlantis).  Watermelon (Sweet Beauty), Cherry tomatoes, Slicing          tomatoes, Peppers (Green, Red, & Banana), Cucumbers, Squash, Eggplant, and Sweet Corn

Enjoy this week’s harvest. A suggestion would be to pick up from your delivery site as soon as possible as the intense heat will accelerate change in quality. Also, according to policy, all shares are removed from the locations as a sanitation consideration after pick up time elapses. We do not want you to miss your share, but pick up needs to occur within the times allocated to avoid other problems.

Happy Independence Day,

Jody 

Week 11 Spring/Summer CSA

Hello CSA members,

In some ways it is hard to believe we are already at week 11 of the 13-week season of spring/summer. This season has been blessed with many vegetables over the 13-week harvest season. In December, when planning for the different crops and varieties to plant in a season, it is never known how the weather conditions will impact the volume or quality of items to be harvested. Many of you are from farms or have gardened on your own and others have relied on other farmers to provide the variety that we incorporate in our daily menus. Regardless of which, we have all developed the ability to recognize good products. It is our intention and goal to bring each of you both quality products but also the fresh taste of what SC local grown can offer.

These final weeks will be somewhat interesting as the vegetables of late are heavy and somewhat bulky. The choices are many for your shares. We realize the choices we make to fill your share would possibly differ if packed by you. Experience has taught us that after several continuous weeks of any vegetable, members desire change. The difficulty in knowing what is the favorite and what is not. We will do our best as we continue to mix things up.

Choices for the week:  Green, Red, and Banana Peppers

                                      Yellow, Scalloped, and Zucchini Squash

                                      Cucumbers, Eggplant, Sweet Corn

                                      Tomatoes, Watermelon, Cantaloupe

                                       Kale, Swiss chard, and Beets

The choices today are many for your box but this can dramatically change with the intense heat and sun. We hope all of you enjoy this week’s harvest. By the way next week’s deliveries will be as normal as the July 4^th holiday will not impact our deliveries.

Enjoy,

Jody

Week 10 CSA

Hello CSA Members,

I hope all of you are enjoying the early transition into summer vegetables. The tomatoes have surprised us a little this past week and along with the sweet corn should be readily available for packing in week 10. Squash, zucchini, peppers, and cucumbers will continue. Our new offering this week will be personalized watermelon and cantaloupe.

I realize that much of my correspondence deals with weather conditions. Wednesday night we received a much-needed rain that has given the irrigation a two-day break. We are all hoping for moderate heat for the balance of the growing season. The climate conditions have such a great effect on quantity and quality of our vegetables.

I have posted under farm news and sent by separate email to all of you the decision about fall season. If you did not receive the direct mail please go to farm news on our website http//www.pinckneysproduce.com to learn more about the coming program.

I received several messages in reply to my request about drop site issues. I need to hear your feedback to improve and address conditions that affect the success of the season. There are always issues and circumstances that are not controllable but we need to hear your likes and dislikes.

I ask each of you again to please remove only your designated share. I also ask you  not disturb any items not in your box other than the swap box. It has been reported or suspected that some personal boxes are being used as a swap box. This is hard to understand and must not happen. The swap box is packed at the farm with multiple items to exchange for the less desired not to supplement the total volume of any share. Many of you have reported nothing in the swap box with only a few boxes removed. This should not be the case. Enough about these situations, but I needed to share this as it does present problems for all enjoying the best of the program.

I thank each of you for your support and enjoy week 10.

Jody

Fall Season 2011

After much discussion and thought, Pinckney and I feel it wise not to offer the fall program for 2011. Our farm family has many commitments that will not allow enough time to address the management and growing of the fall crop. In the past this season, though possible, has had many obstacles associated with weather and disease pressure. The extreme heat of late summer puts excessive demands on watering the young plants to have a crop ready for September harvest. The heat is very stressful to all young plants and will make disease more likely. This will require more intervention with insecticides and fungicides. Depending upon this impact, crop quality can be compromised.

Along with these events, the newest member of the Thompson family, William (3 weeks of age), is doing fine but demands much of his mother and father’s time. We are also excited about the wedding of Joseph and Katie this October. Joseph, my youngest son or Pinckney’s brother, is not directly involved with the farm activities. He is a custom furniture artisan and his fiancée Katie is a social media manager. They both enjoy cooking and eating all the vegetables of the harvest.

Our family farm is diversified. In addition to Pinckney’s Produce CSA program, we have  other farming interests in corn, cotton, and peanuts. Each of these crops will be harvested late summer or fall. With the family commitments, the harvest of the other crops, and the difficulties with fall production and quality, we will not offer a fall season membership. We will focus on continuing to offer an exciting spring CSA with as much diversity of crops we can grow in our SC climate.

I thank each and every family that supports our program. Many of you are return members from our earlier seasons. All of you have been patient and understanding of the CSA movement and the seasonal experience that SC can offer. I hope you will understand our reasons and I hope to hear from each of you when we kick off the 2012 Spring/Summer Season.

Best regards,

Jody   

Hi Folks,

The heat is on and we need relief.  An old saying around the farming communities of SC is between March 15 and October 1 we are only 10 days from a drought. Well this still holds true. The irrigations have been in constant use for over 2 weeks. A little break is much needed.

This week the sweet corn should be more plentiful as we enter a new planting of the super sweets. This variety has improved sugar retention and will hold longer that the Silver king. We have planted a greater volume in this planting so the harvest for membership will be greater.

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes when will you ripen?  Cherry tomatoes will be coming and early slicing tomatoes will begin to ripen. Those of you that like green tomatoes might even have your fried green tomatoes menu.  If not your choice just set out on the windowsill and let ripen further.

The squash varieties and along with zucchini will be plentiful this week. Banana peppers, bell peppers, eggplant , and new potatoes continue to mature.

Greens – maybe some kale depending on the heat.  Beets and carrots should still be in many of the shares this week also. 

Alert:  We had some issues this week with missing shares. I know with vacations and with sharing pick up tasks some errors will happen. I ask each of you to relay the importance of accurate share pick-ups. Also, if you see something at the locations that seems out of ordinary please send me an alert. The ability to deliver and pick up at a common convenient site is a must for the program to be sustained. Those that have missed your shares, I thank you for your patience as we work to replace your share.

Enjoy the harvest,

Jody

Week 8  Spring / Summer 2011

Hope the summer has had a good start for your family.  I have heard from many of you that have made adjustments for summer vacations and changes brought about by work and school being dismissed. The farm received some much needed rain Friday evening. Even though we can irrigate the vegetables, the natural rainfall seems to make them look more refreshed and satisfied. Like emerging from a nice shower and feeling all clean and rejuvenated.

The much-anticipated sweet corn will be available and a highlight in this weeks box. The variety that has matured first is Silver King. It has a very sweet taste and good storability. Remember to keep it refrigerated when you pick up and leave it in the shuck until you prepare for a meal. Many methods are used to cook sweet corn from simple boiling for 7-10 min., to roasting or grilling. Just enjoy! The longer the corn is stored, the less sugar content is present, so don’t save too long.

The other products completing the share will be additional string beans, more purple potatoes (Purple Majesty), Kerr’s Pink (Scottish White potato), and Fingerlings potato. All these varieties can be used as you would the new potatoes. Squash (yellow and patty pan), zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, and banana peppers, and some of the root crops will be present.

The slicing tomatoes they are growing nicely but want to remain green a little longer than most of us wish, so probably we will not have them this week.  There maybe a few bell peppers as the week progresses and possibly some cherry tomatoes.

There were fewer problems this past week with missing shares. Thanks to each of you for finding your specific label share box when picking up your share. I realize this task is sometimes shared with family members and friends, so a gentle reminder about this would be appreciated.

Thanks again for sharing your recipes and comments on face book and twitter. It is always helpful to see how the farm family is using what is grown. As we move into more and more warmer crops, remember to save the extra if you have freezer space. There are many sites to help guide you in storage techniques.

Have a nice week and enjoy the harvest.

Jody

Week 7 Spring 2011

Dear CSA Members,

This week marks our halfway seasonal week and with school closing etc., we have made the final delivery drop site changes.  We appreciate all of you who have helped make these changes go smoothly.

Speaking of drop sites, we would like to remind you once again to return your empty share boxes when you pick up your new delivery.  Successful box rotation will ensure that we are able to operate our program with maximum sustainability and minimum loss.  Also, if you are going to be out of town or unable to pick up your box for any reason; please designate a friend, family member or co-worker to pick up your produce.  Make sure they know the boxes are labeled with specific names. Picking up the wrong share results in a fellow member missing their vegetables.  All boxes not picked up after the day of delivery will be donated to a local food bank by the staff at your pick-up station. This is necessary to avoid unsanitary conditions.

Weekend weather has brought much needed rain for all the crops. The warm and humid conditions are ideal for rapid development of your summer vegetables. We are watching them closely as this also is also ideal for summer pests to arrive to continue their lifecycle.

I do have some exciting news to share with you. Pinckney and Mandy are proud to announce the arrival of their third son William Lacey Thompson. He was born Thursday the 26^th and he and mother are fine and scheduled home today (Saturday). Needless to say the Grandmothers and Grandfathers are smiling.

Our harvest this week includes:  New arrivals are sweet corn and string beans. The balance will be from rutabagas, beets, onions, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, zucchini, patty pan and yellow squash. Greens are between kale and collards. Be careful as the box gets heavier and heavier.

We really appreciate all the kind emails, phone calls and Facebook posts.  Also have enjoyed trying out some of the recipes.  If you have created something amazing or just easy and delicious with our produce, please send your recipes so we can share with all our members.  I prepared the skillet cabbage last night and found it delicious. Check the website for farm news and recipes to try.

Thanks for supporting our farm,

Jody

Week 6 Spring 2011               

The warmer weather seems to be arriving.  I hope you enjoyed last week’s newcomers as the potatoes and carrots are great products that enhance many dishes. I suggest a good vegetable brush to aid in proper cleaning. The new potatoes have very sensitive skin that is also very thin. Best cleaned with a vegetable brush instead of peeling. The carrots, turnips, rutabagas, and beets can be handled in a similar manor. Best to store the potatoes in a cool dry location. The sweet onions will now have a more mature outer shell. The too will keep for longer periods. Please see under the recipe section of Our Produce a suggestion to freeze the extra onions for later use in your special dishes.

New this week will be the yellow squash and zucchini.   Sweet corn, tomatoes, banana peppers, bell peppers are getting close and should be early around the first of June. With the warmer days the broccoli, cauliflower, and other greens will disappear.  The share box will be packed with choices from beets, rutabagas, and turnip with tops. (These are of the same family and the variety offered both have purple shoulders with a similar taste fresh from the field ship. This week the turnip will be presented with tops attached as many like to prepare the root with the green tops. )  Lettuce is still plentiful but suffering with the warmer weather and may end after this week. Carrots and potatoes will complete the offering. This list is posted on our home page under box contents of the week.  Produce ID can be viewed under the page Our Produce to further identify any questionable deliver.  Recipes are listed in this page as well.

I thank each of you for diligently returning your share boxes when pick up the new week. These are reusable and when returned, are sanitized and returned to future use. This enables you not to have a special vessel to take your share home or a box to dispose in weekly garbage. Also, as the season progresses, the box weight increases and these are strong but lightweight. 

I remind you to check your share id when removing a box as we experience some missing shares last week. This most commonly is from a box being removed in error. Thanks again for your support. I understand the challenges associated with seasonal eating and wish you and your family success and persistence with the committement.

Enjoy,

Jody