Summer Share 2010 – Week 15

Here are the Week 15 CSA contents.  This week’s bag has a slight “picnic theme” twist and is designed for quick, easy packing to get you guys in and out for the holiday weekend!

 

In the TRADITIONAL SMALL BAG:

-1 lb 100% grassfed, organic ground beef (extra will be available for sale at the trucks)

-6 ears miniature “mira” sweet corn

-2 slicing cucumbers

-1 pint mixed cherry and grape tomatoes,including ground cherries, black cherries, and white cherries (newsletter will
help you identify them)

-3 lb Yukon gold and/or red norland potatoes

-1 candy onion

-1 red slicing tomato

-1 bunch cilantro

-1 medium red seedless watermelon

-Eggs (west route and mentor) or Havarti cheese(east route and Tremont)

 

At the Tremont stop, we are changing things up this week.  Last week I was shorted the colored beans and fingerlings and most Tremont customers got onions and peaches.  This week we’ll substitute the beans and potatoes for the slicing tomato, onion, and cilantro at that stop so you can get these treats.

 

Vegetarian and Vegan Substitutes:

-1 lb Luna Burgers (vegetarians and vegans), will
be two 2-ct packages

-2 lbs peaches (vegan)

-1 head broccoli (vegan)

 

In the TRADITIONAL LARGE BAG:

-Small bag plus the contents below

-One 4-5 lb Muscovy pasture raised duck***

 

OK…so the large add-on seems too simple this week, but I’m very excited about these ducks (and I’m completely ignoring my budget to get them to you!).  I’ve been working with producers all year to raise a heritage breed, pasture raised duck.  Just as we were getting them on the ground in May, the National Fish and Wildlife Service outlawed the sale of all Muscovy ducks outside of Texas because they were considered competition to native, local breeds.  The Muscovy has often been introduced to hunting preserves outside of Texas, where they then compete with local birds.  So just as we were getting started we couldn’t get the birds.   I ended up talking to a few reps at NFWS and found out that they could be purchased for “meat birds.”  We then worked with a local hatchery and got the chicks started.

 

***The ducks I’ve seen so far are looking really good.  The only challenge in terms of telling you that they are coming is that they have not been harvested yet.  The biggest challenge in me getting you these birds (besides price per lb on duck meat and processing costs) is the processing.  The processor can harvest about 15 chickens in the time it takes to pluck one duck. Their feathers repel water so they cannot be scalded to remove the feathers.  The birds are dipped in wax
repeatedly until all the feathers are gone, and the birds must be harvested during a very specific period to prevent “pinfeathers” from sticking in the skin.  The “pinfeathers” are essentially an undercoat of feathers that grow on ducks.

 

So for the larges, in the scenario that the ducks don’t clean up the way we need them too, I’ll be putting together an alternative add-on for you that will contain some protein item.

Thanks,
Trevor Clatterbuck