June 4th CSA pick up!

Hello fellow CSA-ers…
As usual…pick ups are at the “Coffee, Tea and Me” shop in the Park West mall off the 101 and Northern (just west of the 101 on Northern Ave)
9744 W Northern Ave
Peoria, 85345
The shop is next to the Sees Candy shop on the main spine road of the mall next to the water fountains, fire pits and seating area.
You can pick up any time between NOON and 8pm. The produce will not be ready for pick up until noon. (they drop off around 1130 and we get them all brought in and in the walk in cooler. We can’t get you your box until after we have gotten everything unloaded and ready)

THANK YOU, again, for joining me to support our wonderful farmers Jesus and his wife Tanya. They have been working for Crooked Sky Farms for about 10 years now and are currently harvesting and planting on their own farm this year. They are working at both farms! He plants, harvests and sells the wonderful pesticide free produce from both Crooked Sky Farm and his new farm “Fresh and Local TJ farms”.

We are in the last 4 week stretch of this pre paid cycle and we will be doing another 5 week cycle for all of the Mondays in July after this.
Jesus and Tanya will be taking a (well deserved) vacation in July, so we will be partnering with another great local farm just for the month of July to take over for the time Jesus and Tanya are gone.
We hope that you are all finding the produce to be a wonderful addition to your grocery list each week and that you are pleased with the fresh items and the clean way it is farmed.

I do strive to keep it going as long as you all would like. Some of you have asked about continuing the CSA pick up even when the markets start back up in the fall and I would LOVE to set that up and see it happen. That is a very helpful thing for the farmer! KNOWING he will make a certain sale each week/cycle is a cushion that helps them through the weather changes and sale differences at any of their markets. I would be keeping it on Mondays at the same location and time. The benefits to this is still the convenient weekday pick up with large time opening for pick ups and also the fact that the produce is discounted since it is pre paid. You can pick your own things at the markets, but if you can’t make it to markets on the weekends…this is a great option. Let me know if this is something you would like to do. IT will also be VERY easy for me to get a lot of other products on any given week! I would need a minimum of 25 pple in the CSA on each cycle (and I don’t think that would be any issue), but I wanna put the idea out there for response even though it is not for a few months.

**We would LOVE to start a "Recipe Exchange" at the pick up. Print up a few of your fav recipes with the items in the box for the week and leave a few copies for give and take. (Thank our lovely coffee shop gal "Lora" for this wonderful idea!)

ALSO...we will have fresh eggs again for pick up ($3.50/doz). You can reserve eggs by letting me know and we will set aside for you. Otherwise, it is first come, first serve.

HONEY!!!! I visited one of my other farmers in Tonopah this weekend and grabbed some RAW mixed desert honey. It is truly and positively raw with NO heat to spin it what-so-ever. The bees pollinate a lot of different desert flowers, so it is probly the BEST honey for allergies. IF you take a tbsp a day (not heated up past 105 degrees in teas or oatmeal) it is said to significantly help allergies to AZ plants. This is $9 for the jar and I only have 4. So it will be at the coffee shop for purchase. If you want me to set it aside for you. Let me know. (first come, first serve) J I will try to get more honey at least one more time in June. I will probly have fruit butter at that same time. I will keep you posted.

Here is what you can expect in your box tomorrow! If you didn’t get a chance to play around with the Nopalitosc(cactus)…now is a great chance! And please share your recipes! Lora (our awesome coffee shop gal, put hers in a CSA veggies stew and said it was wonderful. Just an idea for something to use it for.
****Jesus has also offered to sell MORE bags of the roasted chilis for $3/bag if you want more of those. Just let me know ASAP so that I can tell him how much to roast in the morning.****

1-Sweet potatoes
2-Summer Squash mix
3- Bell Peppers
4-Carrots
5-GREEN tomatoes (who's up for some fried green tomatoes??!!) :)
6-Nopaletos (Cactus)
7-ROASTED Green Chilis!! :)
8-Melon (either cantalope or watermelon...not sure on morning harvest yet)
9- SURPRISE ITEM
10- SURPRISE ITEM
(surprise item MAY be corn...eggplant...green beans...not sure yet. It's all about the anticipation!) :)

If you have anything that you are growing in your backyard garden…feel free to bring some to share. I have some rosemary that I can share, but I will put it in a basket and let pple take what they would like J Right now, some people may have mint, basil, jalapenos, onions, anna apples, figs, apricots, peaches…I should have grapes soon :)

Recipe suggestions:
Do any of you have left over summer squash that you are not sure what to do with aside from the regular grilled slices?? I had some fun in the kitchen yesterday with some pinterest recipes I found (see pictures) :). Here are the recipe links J These work with the yellow squash, Mexican grey squash, zucchini and the 8 ball squash we have gotten. I like to use my spiralizer to make raw “noodles” and pour sauce on top for a cold, raw vegan pasta when I want a light meal. You can top it with a homemade tomato sauce or a fresh pesto.
Feel free to print up a few of your fav recipes so that we can do a recipe exchange!!! :)

Carrot Zucchini Walnut Bread! – (add shredded carrots and diced walnuts to this recipe) http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2011/08/the-best-zucchini-bread.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+melskitchencafe%2FNvNP+%28Mel%27s+Kitchen+Cafe%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
Zucchini Cakes/fritters - http://www.lifesambrosia.com/2009/02/zucchini-cakes-recipe.html
Zucchini Fries - http://www.funandfoodcafe.com/2011/01/fried-zucchini.html
Stuffed Zucchini Boats – http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/stuffed-zucchini
(I also did one with fresh chopped basil, tomatoes and feta with the chopped zucchini from the inside…THAT was really good!)
8 ball Zucchini Pizza - http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2010/08/recipe-for-grilled-zucchini-pizza.html 
(I didn’t find this in time to try, but I totally will! We can use the tomatoes and garlic to make our own pizza sauce too! :))
Zucchini Brownies!! - http://fastpaleo.com/zucchini-brownies/  (I haven’t tried this yet, but will be doing this too!)

Don’t forget that when you pick up your produce…all CSA’ers get 10% off their order at “Coffee, Tea and Me”. Grab an ice cold peach tea, an iced coffee or a smoothie (a cupcake J). She does a lot for the CSA and we are proud to support her small business as well!!!

Also...feel free to "follow" my farmer’s market blog: http://www.mommasorganicmarketaz.blogspot.com/  , as I will be posting the emails every week about the CSA boxes.
If you haven't “liked” our Market page on facebook...please do :) www.facebook.com/mommasorganicmarket

We appreciate your support and the desire to buy local and fresh!!! Without people like you...farmers and local businesses wouldn't make it. It is because of community support that we can push this green movement of awesome foods and support our local businesses! Thank you again for your support and I look forward to helping you all get the products you need and the great produce you can expect each week!