Hi there!   Welcome to your final week of the Summer Share 2018! We have had a wonderful summer with you all-- getting to know you at the stop each week, trying new recipes, and enjoying the transition of the seasons. Now, it's really starting to feel and look like Fall out there-- darker mornings, crisp afternoons and colder nights. Thanks again for a great season, and we hope to have you along next week for the Winter Share ! Lots of housekeeping in this email, but most importantly, the food: we have a really fun bag in store for you all this week. We have a pound of custom vegan Ramen Noodles from Ohio City Pasta coming for you. Just like our other noodles and pastas, these are fresh, not dried, and only take a minute or two in the pot. We added plenty of soup-season extras too-- celeriac & turnips, carrots and stock, as well as salt and pepper Pork Sausage, kale, onions and much more. This week is the last week of the share, which means all your accounts need to be buttoned up: balances completely paid off to $0.00, credits used up ( place a Special Order or a Thanksgiving Pre-Order ), and bags returned (hold onto this week's bag till we see you again). If you're not signing up for the Winter Share, we hope to see you again next Spring! In the meantime, if you need a local-food-fix, you can always stop by our shop, Ohio City Provisions (3208 Lorain Avenue), which is open daily from 10-7pm.

Take back to last year's Thanksgiving Roasting on Instagram-- have you ordered your turkey yet? Click here to get started and reserve yours today.

WINTERIZING THE FARM

A light snow covering the fields at Wholesome Valley Farm a few years back in January.

Farming is a 12 month profession, but the workload and the harvest changes with the seasons. Right now, produce growers are putting their fields to rest. This means pulling up the plastic weed barriers and drip irrigation lines, mowing down vegetation and tilling it into the ground, and finally planting cover crops. The cover crops are usually a mix of legumes, such as clover, and root crops, such as turnips and radishes. The legumes help to add nitrogen to the soil, whereas the root crops break up the soil and when the root decomposes, it serves as a source of food for microbes in the soil.  For those of us doing pasture-raised livestock, the seasons affect our ability to raise certain animals throughout the entire year. Freezing nights mean freezing water lines, and when the ground thaws, that means mud. And mud means no fresh green vegetation or insects, which in our opinion are both essential for chickens: we feel that the flavor and quality of a pasture-raised bird far exceeds that of a barn-raised one, so we harvest our last “crop” of chickens in early November.  Pork and beef, on the other hand, can be raised outside throughout the winter. Their water systems are permanent, “frost-free” fixtures. The beef will be fed stockpiled forage from the summer in the form of hay. The hogs will continue to scour the woods for any nuts and vegetation they can find, but get most of their nutrition from milled grains. The beef seem to be more hardy against the cold, while the hogs will pile in their shelter close together to stay warm. It’s one big and smelly snuggle party.  From a quality point of view, hogs harvested in the winter don’t differ much from those of the summer. Beef, however, finishes best this time of the year when it is coming off of a rich diet of grass for the last 5 to 6 months. Over the winter, the quality of hay greatly influences the quality of the beef. In general, our goal with grass-fed beef is to maintain condition over the winter and gain condition (mostly fat) in the summer months.

A calf with her mother a few years back, born before Spring fully arrived on the farm.

Some reminders from our office

ALL BALANCES DUE THIS WEEK Now that we are in the final week of the season, all balances must be paid to $0. If you still owe money on your subscription, we sent you a payment reminder earlier today. If you have any questions about your account or about your payment, you can reply to this email or give us a call in the office, M-F 9am-2pm (800-861-8582.) WINTER SHARE STARTS NEXT WEEK! If you haven't signed up, now is the time! We're already ordering our food for next week's first share distribution. You can sign into your account and add your subscription or just reply to this email and we can do it for you. If you'd like to pay with a check, you can bring it to the stop this week: either $357.50 for the Divided Payment Plan, or $675 for the Full Upfront of the regular Winter Share, Omnivore or Vegetarian. We also have Full Access- $1050 upfront, or two payments of $557.50. RETURN YOUR SHARE BAGS If you have a back-stock of bags sitting in your car or in your house, please bring them back to your last pick up this week. You can hold onto this week's bag and bring it to your first Winter Share pick up, or next year for your first Summer Share 2019 pick up. SALMON & COD WEEK 22 PICK UP If you either requested a Week 22 pick up for your Salmon or Cod or you missed your pick up last week, you should have received a Week 22 confirmation email. If you did not, please get in touch: info@freshforkmarket.com or call 800-861-8582 before 2pm. CREDITS This is the last week for you to use up your credits! You have three options to take advantage: Place a Thanksgiving pre-order here Place a Special Order online Buy extras at the truck.

The bakeshop at Wholesome Valley Farm is rolling out a new pie for us to try this week-- Concord Grape! Limited quantity available, $16 for a large & $7 for a small pie. Ingredients: Organic White & Wheat Pastry Flours, Organic Butter, Organic Leaf Lard, Organic Cane Sugar, Water, Free Range Eggs, Concord Grapes & Corn Starch

PLACE A SPECIAL ORDER

Bag Contents

THE MINI Acorn Squash Carrots Turnips Celeriac Apples

SMALL OMNIVORE Acorn Squash Carrots Turnips Celeriac Rich Winter Stock - 1 qt Ramen Noodles* - 1# S&P Pork Sausage - 1#

LARGE OMNIVORE Acorn Squash Carrots Turnips Celeriac Rich Winter Stock - 1 qt Ramen Noodles* - 1# S&P Pork Sausage - 1# Kale - 1 bunch Onion Apple Butter - 1 pt Chicken Drumsticks - 4 ct

SMALL VEGETARIAN Acorn Squash Carrots Turnips Celeriac Apples Ramen Noodles* - 1# Chevre - 8 oz

LARGE VEGETARIAN Acorn Squash Carrots Turnips Celeriac Apples Ramen Noodles* - 1# Chevre - 8 oz Kale - 1 bunch Onion Apple Butter - 1 pt Frozen Sweet Corn - 1 qt

VEGAN Acorn Squash Carrots Turnips Celeriac Apples Ramen Noodles* - 1# Apple Butter - 1 pt

* Ramen Noodles: pasta dusted with rice flour. Made with fresh quality ingredients in the traditional Japanese methods that produce a distinct chew that is uniquely Ramen. Use in a vegan miso ramen broth or a traditional Tonkotsu broth. Cook 45 seconds to 1 min. Ingredients: wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, water, Kansui (water, sodium Bi-Carbonate, Potassium Carbonate), salt, wheat gluten, citric acid.

Place a Special Order

Recipes featuring this week's share ingredients

Spicy Pork & Turnip Noodle Bowl Ingredients from share: Ramen, Stock, Turnips, Carrots

Roasted Acorn Squash & Apple Soup Ingredients from share: Acorn Squash, Apples

Shepherd's Pie Ingredients from share: Onion, Celery Root, Turnips, Carrots, Stock

Nuts, Seeds & Squash Quick Bread Ingredients from share: Acorn Squash, Carrots, Apple butter

For more of our recipes, click here .

More recipes online

Pioneer Woman's Turnip Gratin FFM on Pinterest, "Fall Recipes" Rosemary Garlic Turnip Noodles Grown Up Grilled Cheese with Caramelized Onions & Kale Fried Goat's Cheese with Tarragon& Honey Butternut Squash & Goat Cheese Pasta Spiced Acorn Squash Apple Muffins Spicy Pork Ramen Noodle Soup Maple Kale,Quinoa & Toasted Pecan Salad Farro Risotto with Acorn Squash and Kale Kale, Corn & Jalapeno Muffins Creamy Celeriac & Kale Soup with Mushrooms Apple Butter Cinnamon French Toast Sticks Kale Grain Salad with Apple Butter Vinaigrette Herb & Cheddar Corn Pudding

Crockpot Pork Ramen with Curry Roasted Acorn Squash Creamed Corn au Gratin Roasted Corn Pudding in Acorn Squash Celeriac & Garlic Soup with Parsley Oil Garlicky Kale Salad with Spicy Chickpeas Oatmeal Baked Apples with Maple Brown Butter & Hazelnuts Sticky Honey Soy Chicken Drumsticks Twice Baked Acorn Squash with Maple Butter Goat Cheese Scrambled Eggs with Blistered Tomatoes Beet, Goat cheese & Hazelnut Tart Roasted Acorn Squash & Apples, w/ Quinoa Kale Maple Salad Turnip & Leek Blue Cheese Gratin Celeriac Puree Butternut Squash & Goat Cheese Pasties Super Kale Pesto

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