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Page Updated: 11/5/20, 8:27am
October 15, 2020: Winter CSA Registration just opened up! Like previous years, our program will run from January through April with two pick-ups per month for a mix of produce and dairy items, or one pick-up per month for a tote of local meats! We will be limiting the total number of members for the meat CSA, so please don’t delay in signing up if you want to join us! We hope to offer delivery to Carlisle if we have enough interest, so stay tuned on that as well! Click here to register online.
Fall CSA – Week 8 – For your LAST week, you’ll be getting Pink Lady apples, Bosc pears, carrots, leeks, watermelon radishes, and apple snitz. The dairy folks will be getting AVC butter. Recipes here!
I’m not sure where the past eight weeks have gone, but here we are at the final week of the fall CSA! All of our staff and family here at Hollabaugh’s have so enjoyed seeing and getting to know so many of you. We have all commented how terribly odd it’s going to be a week from now when Thursday rolls around and we’re not wildly packing your bags, or when Friday and Saturday hit and we’re not hearing the ding of the CSA bell in the market! We hope that won’t keep you from shopping with us, however. We hope you know how truly impactful your participation in our CSA was to our small farm family business. It has become an integral part of what we do here at the farm in every way, from planning our spring plantings, to allocating ground for crop rotation, to how and where we partner with our local growers, to how we organize and run our store. Thank you for putting your trust in us this season, especially in the midst of everything going on in our world. We hope we’ll continue to see you regularly! Best regards, Ellie
Fall CSA – Week 7 – This week, you’ll be receiving Goldrush apples, Brussels sprouts (on the stalk!), turnips, leaf lettuce, and red potatoes. The dairy folks will be getting AVC pepper jack cheese. Click here for your recipes and information!
We hope those of you who were able to come for our wagon tour last weekend enjoyed yourselves and learned a little bit more about our farm and business. We’re rapidly coming down the home stretch on apple harvest for another year. It’s good to be getting to this point in the season, and we always breath a sigh of relief when the weather can no long make or break your crop!
A lot of our apples are now in the hands of our partners at Rice Fruit Company and Knouse Foods. Rice Fruit Company is the largest apple packer on the East coast, and they are responsible for getting our local apples on grocery store shelves across the US and even abroad. We’re constantly keeping apprised of the national apple crop, as it really does trickle down and affect us as a small grower in PA. Washington state is always on our radar because they grow SO many apples. As the number one producer in the US, they have the ability to dominate the apple market and dictate prices. Because they grow so many apples, they often have to sell and ship them for prices so low that grocery stores have a hard time looking away from them. It’s why we work hard down in Washington DC to keep trade open in Canada and Mexico, because the more apples we can get Washington state to export, the less pressure it puts on the domestic market. However, they’re still farmers and we still feel their joys and pains along with them. We’ve had a challenging growing season here, but so have they. They had record high temps of over 100 degrees for much of the early part of their growing season. Then, a wind storm over Labor Day knocked as much as 10% of the crop to the ground. Wildfires on the west coast have disrupted harvest, and last weekend, temperatures dropped to the low 20s, which may have ruined whatever fruit had not yet been harvested. Growing good food often comes at a high price, and the struggles happen to us all!
We hope you enjoy your second-to-last week of goodies from us. Have a great weekend – Happy Halloween! Ellie
Fall CSA – Week 6 – This week, you’re getting Romanesco, yellow onions, garlic, spaghetti squash, microgreens, and cameo apples. The dairy folks will be getting shredded cheddar cheese and goat cheese. Recipes and info here!
This mild October weather is crazy! We keep getting glimpses of more typical weather for this time of year, but this is definitely not the norm. But, what IS the norm… it’s 2020 after all! Anyway, we hope you enjoy this week’s share of the bounty! Please note a couple important reminders:
- If you’d like to take a wagon ride of the farm this Saturday, you need to let Susanne know by noon TODAY, Thursday the 22nd!
- After our fall CSA ends in a couple weeks, we take a hiatus from our program over the holidays knowing that it’s a busy time of the year with travel and holiday celebrations. We will be taking pre-orders for Thanksgiving week, including fresh local turkeys, fresh flower centerpieces, baked goods, and of course, produce! Click here to place your order online anytime.
- Hopefully you saw the note at the top of this page about the winter CSA – that will pick up after the new year! The structure changes a bit knowing that it’s the off season. We hope you’ll continue on with us for the winter, though! If you have any questions about it, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
Have a great weekend! Ellie
Fall CSA – Week 5 – This week, you’ll be getting Nittany apples, sweet potatoes, acorn squash, broccoli, and parsnips. The dairy folks will be getting AVC garlic cheddar. Click here for your recipes and information!
The leaves have really started to turn this week! Look forward to a beautiful drive when you come get your totes! We’re hoping they continue to stay pretty for our wagon rides next weekend we’re offering you! We’re starting to get RSVPs, so if you haven’t already, be sure to reach out to Susanne! Enjoy your bags this week and have a lovely weekend! Ellie
Fall CSA – Week 4 – This week, you’ll be getting Honeycrisp apples, Yukon gold potatoes, (big, honking, beautiful!) carrots, spinach, and parsley. The dairy folks will be getting parmesan cheese wedges. Click here for your recipes and information!
We’re excited to let you know that this week in your bags, you’ll be receiving a special, CSA member only, invitation to take a wagon tour of our farm! We know that a big reason many of your are members of course is for the fresh fruits and veggies, but also because you truly care about where your food comes from and how it is produced. That’s why we’re offering this special opportunity to you. Due to COVID, we are requiring pre-registration for the event, and at the time you call, we will let you know what time slot is available for your wagon ride. All the details will be in your bags this week, but if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Nittany apples just hit the scenes yesterday afternoon, so that’s a sure sign that October and apple season has officially reached its peak! We now have at least 20 apple varieties on our bin porch. Your challenge is keeping track of them so you know what’s what when you get back home! But there are some real gems amongst the varieties. Some of you commented about how much you enjoyed Tigger apples the other week. We now have one called Sweet Zinger that’s a real treat! We also just got Snapdragon in, which folks really seem to enjoy. It has a bit more of a mellow flavor, but is mildly sweet and crisp. So be sure you take advantage of this time of year and try some new varieties while you’re here for your totes! Have a great weekend! Ellie
Fall CSA – Week 3 – This week, you’ll be getting Jonagold, Butterkin Squash, Beets, Kale, and apple cider. The dairy folks will be getting apple smoked Gouda. Click here for your recipes and information!
This has been a crazy week! We can tell we’re coming into October. Although apple maturity has been a factor this year somewhat differently than others. We often test starch content in an apple prior to harvest to help determine its maturity. As starches convert to sugars, we know the apple is approaching an ideal maturity. But for some strange reason, those starches are just not converting to sugars as quickly as we’d like to see! So we experienced a bit bit of a lull in our harvest this week. However, temperatures are supposed to shift cooler again this weekend, which should help things continue to roll along. We’re expecting a busy weekend even though the National Apple Harvest Festival was cancelled. As such, if you’re hoping to avoid our busiest times, we encourage you to come early in the day on Friday or Saturday. Generally things are pretty calm from 8-9. After that, all bets are off! 🙂 Enjoy and have a great weekend!
Fall CSA – Week 2 – This week, you’ll be receiving Yoinashi pears, Savoy cabbage, butternut squash, yellow onions, and roma tomatoes. The dairy folks will also be getting AVC milk cheddar. Click here for your recipes and information!
We’re up to 12 apple varieties in the market. The early ripening varieties are nearly all picked. Now, we’re working into the mid-season varieties like Red Delicious and Golden Delicious. That said, later varieties like Fuji, Nittany, Pink Lady, Granny Smith, Winesap, and more are still a ways away. Enjoy and have a fantastic weekend! Ellie
Fall CSA – Week 1 – Welcome to the first week of the fall CSA! For your first week, you’re receiving Autumn Crisp apples, cauliflower, acorn squash, zucchini, Eva white potatoes, and Honeycrisp applesauce – no sugar w/ spice. The dairy folks will be getting a dozen eggs. Click here for your recipes and information this week!
Many of you are continuing on from prior seasons, and we’re so glad you’re continuing the journey through the flavors and tastes of fall! We’re also welcoming a lot of new faces to the program here at our farm, and we’re ever grateful you decided to give us a try! We have certainly made the switch to fall here at the farm, as the last peaches were sold and we have completely transitioned into apples, pears, grapes, squash, potatoes, pumpkins… you get the idea! We’re grateful the temperatures have finally turned a little cooler as well. Apples especially need cool nights to develop deep coloration in the skin, so the summer was challenging for the early maturing varieties. Hopefully our shift to cooler temperatures is in time to give the apples that are still maturing on the trees time to “red up” before harvest. Even so, the flavor profile of everything we’ve been harvesting so far has been fantastic!
We started growing potatoes about ten years ago when we had some open ground on our farm. There is truly nothing like a home-grown, fresh-dug potato! Eva are one of our favorite varieties, and we love to make homemade french fries or mashed potatoes with them in our house. We have also gotten into growing a wide array of fall squash and pumpkins over the years, which fills a strong need at our retail market while also helping us with a crop rotation pattern on our farm as we remove orchards and renovate the ground for future plantings.
We hope you enjoy and have a fantastic weekend! Ellie
Summer CSA – Week 12 – For your final week of the summer program, you’ll be receiving Gala apples, Concord grapes, portobello mushrooms, carrots, and broccoli. The dairy folks will be getting Chef Shamy honey cinnamon butter. Click here for your recipes and information!
I don’t know about you, but the past twelve weeks sure did fly from my perspective! Here we are at the final pick-up for the summer program. We surely hope you’ve enjoyed the bounty all summer long with us. And if you’re continuing on with us, you’ll just pick right back up here next week. We’ve enjoyed getting to know you these past twelve weeks and hope that you, too, have learned about our farm and family. So often we hear that you’re the appreciative ones for having a farm nearby where you can purchase fresh, delicious fruits and veggies. But you’re the ones who deserve our thanks! We wouldn’t be here without you! So I guess you could call it a win win. Regardless, thank you for joining us this summer. If you’re not continuing on for fall, we hope we’ll see you again soon! Thank you! Ellie
Summer CSA – Week 11 – This week, you’ll be receiving Flaming Fury peaches, Red Bartlett pears, a canary melon, bell peppers, and radishes. Dairy members will be receiving Buffalo Wing Cheese. Click here for your recipes and information!
Looks like the weather is going to shift this weekend for a truly lovely Labor Day weekend! And we’re certainly anticipating that shift big time here! We need cooler overnight temps to give good color to our apples. We’re harvesting pears now, and somewhat disappointed with the results – much of our pear crop got frozen out this year, so enjoy these Red Bartlett! We’ll have some of most varieties, but just not large amounts of most anything, unfortunately. But, apples are looking really nice as they’re coming in. Please enjoy the last hoorah of summer this weekend and we’ll see you soon!
Summer CSA – Week 10 – This week, you’ll be receiving some of the last of the summer peaches – Crest Haven. You’re also getting Cabbage, Sweet Corn, Cantalope, Yellow Squash, and bonus Eggplant. The dairy folks will be getting AVC Colby Cheese. Click here for your recipes and information!
It was a big week around here this week! On Tuesday, we had our annual third party food safety audit. They review our growing, harvesting, and handling practices and documentation and observe our workers to verify that we’re following all the rules to ensure we’re using safe handling and growing practices for our farm. It’s always one we’re happy to cross off the list, too! Rest assured, we passed with flying colors and you can be confident in our farm and its safety! 🙂
It was also back to school this week for kids in the Upper Adams School District. While it’s different in every district, we wish all of you with kiddos well as you get back into the routine, whatever that may look like this year! I just put my youngest child, Claire, on the bus for her first day of kindergarten this morning, so if you see me with puffy eyes today, you’ll know why! Have a great weekend and enjoy!
Summer CSA – Week 9 – This week, you’ll be receiving Allstar peaches, blue Adirondack potatoes, bell peppers, yellow seedless watermelon, buttercup and/or delicata squash, and garlic. The dairy folks will be receiving butter quarters. Click here for your recipes and information.
Cicadas are emerging, crickets are chirping, and FINALLY, overnight temperatures are dropping a bit! Fall must be on its way! It’s amazing how quickly the shift happens in our minds and on the farm as we hit the second half of August. We’re still heavy into picking peaches and summer veggies, don’t get me wrong, but we start thinking about pumpkins, fall decorating, apples, and pears much more.
We have our annual farm certification audit next week, which always adds a layer of stress onto the month of August on the farm. Receiving that certification allows us to market our fruit through larger packers and distributors, and any more, is just a necessary part of being in business when you grow and sell food. While the process doesn’t ultimately change much about our growing, harvesting, and packing practices on the farm, it adds an immense amount of paperwork and documentation to back up and “prove” what we are doing. I guess at the end of the day, it’s designed to help keep folks who may be more likely to cut corners in check. But for us, we’re already doing all the things that are required and it’s just a matter of maintaining records of it all. It’s still stressful all the same, though, because every auditor is different, and every auditor tends to have an area of focus where they really dig in deep. And while we know we have everything we need, it doesn’t make it less stressful! So, if you see bags under my eyes this week, you’ll know why!
Enjoy your goodies and we’ll see you soon! ~Ellie
Summer CSA – Week 8 – This week, you’ll be receiving Bounty Peaches, Castleton Plums, Eggplant, Tomatoes, Lettuce, and Microgreens. Dairy add-ons will be getting AVC Pepper Jack. Click here for your recipes and information!
The intensity is creeping up around the farm as we’re hitting the peak of our summer fruit season while early fall fruits are starting to make an appearance. Demand for good apples year round has really changed the whole apple “game”, if you will, over recent years. Now, our first variety of good eating apples are harvested in the heat of peach season, and from here it’s a steady increase in intensity as more and more layer in. We hope you enjoy your goodies this week, and we’ll see you soon!
Summer CSA – Week 7 – This week, you’re receiving a bounty! You will be getting Saturn Donut peaches, sweet corn, tomatoes, swiss chard, eggplant, and zucchini. And maybe a couple extra peppers if we have enough to go around! Click here for your recipes and information!
We FINALLY got some greatly needed rain! We know some suffered from severe wind and flooding and our hearts go out to them. Here in upper Adams County, we got a steady, gentle rain that lasted for hours. All told, we got about 1.5 inches of rain over the course of a 24 hour period of time. And it was exactly what we needed. Our family board had just been weighing our options to try to get some water to some of our new orchard plantings before last weekend. A lot of factors go into the decision to irrigate new plantings, not the least of which is access to enough water to supply them! And so, for a variety of reasons, we decided not to irrigate a few blocks that were planted this spring. And over recent weeks, those orchards have really started to show signs of suffering. Again, for a wide variety of reasons, we decided to hold out through last weekend in the hope that we would get some of the rains forecasted from Isaias as it moved up the coast, and this time, we were blessed with just that. We’ll need more regular rainfall, but we’re so grateful for what we got earlier this week!
As you may recall, we cancelled what would have been our 30th annual peach festival this weekend. I still remember some of our very first festivals in our original farm market. My Grandma, Dorothy, would serve peach ice cream sundaes. My Grandma Hollabaugh would sample peaches for all to taste. Tom Jolin would play and sing folk songs. We’d have a peach dessert sampling bar. And my favorite at the time – clowns! So while some of the elements of that festival have changed over the year, you can see the foundation still lives on in what we do today. It’ll be sad without the festivities this weekend, for lack of a better word. But we know that this year, it’s the right thing to do. Our fingers are crossed for 2021!
We hope you enjoy your goodies this week – it sure is a bountiful bag!
Summer CSA – Week 6 – This week, you’ll be getting Emeraude Nectarines, Cantaloupe, green beans, purple/white bell peppers, yellow squash, and kale. The dairy folks will be getting garlic cheddar cheese. Click here for your recipes and information.
The hot weather has continued this week, and while the rain we got last week helped our shallow-rooted crops, our fruit trees are still in need of some good rain. We’re blessed to have ponds on our farm from which we can irrigate, and we are irrigating our crops heavily. Furthermore, the intense heat and humidity is definitely taking its toll on the maturation of the crop in general. Apples need the nights to start cooling off more than they have so they can develop color and firmness. The good news in it all is that it’s making the flavor of the peach crop incredibly sweet! We just wish the crop was maturing a little more quickly! Enjoy your goodies this week and we’ll see you soon!
Summer CSA – Week 5 – This week, you’ll be getting blueberries, bicolor sweet corn, radishes, jalapenos, and leaf lettuce! Dairy members will be receiving two yummy flavors of goat cheese: Tomato Basil & Jalapeno! Click here for your recipes and information this week.
We have FINALLY gotten some much-needed rain! It has been one of the hottest July’s on record, and crops were starting to show some signs of stress as a result of the continued hot, dry weather. But over this week, we have gotten a little over a half inch of rain that fell in such a way that it could soak in nicely. When it is so terribly dry and the ground is hard, if it rains too hard too fast, it will just run right off and not actually soak in. But the first rain we received would have softened the ground enough so that by the time the second rain came it could gently soak right in. We’re grateful that some of the nasty storms that came as a result of those rains largely steered clear though. Enjoy your totes this week and we’ll see you soon!
Summer CSA – Week 4 – This week, you’ll be receiving Spring Snow Peaches, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots, and Swiss Chard. Our dairy members will be receiving butter quarters and Chef Shamy garlic parmesan butter! Click here for your recipes and information!
It’s been a busy week here and the summer is rolling on! We’re harvesting tons of broccoli and other veggies now, moving on to the next varieties of peaches, and wrapping up with cherries! We hope you’re enjoying the program so far this summer! And thanks to everyone who is using the facebook csa page – the pictures and recipes you’re sharing are great! Thanks to you, I’ve recently made garlic scape pesto and kohlrabi fritters for my family at home, and both have been huge hits! So keep posting and sharing! Have a great weekend!
Summer CSA – Week 3 – For week three, you’ll be getting blueberries, Rich May peaches, cabbage, new red potatoes, kale, and cherry tomatoes! Dairy members will be receiving their milk and a wedge of parmesan cheese this week. Please click here for your recipes and information!
One of the joys of operating in a small family business is just that – it’s a small enough business that all of the family is critical to the day to day operation and success (or failure, as it may be!). No two days are ever the same here, and when push comes to shove, your family just works as hard and as long as is necessary to get the job done. And even in the hardest times, there is joy and satisfaction that comes with knowing that at the end of the day, whether the result is good or bad, you have no one to blame or to applaud but yourself. These times are pushing us in ways we never dreamed possible. Doing what we can to provide a safe and sanitary shopping environment for our customers, a work environment for our employees, and following an ever-changing governmental mandate has truly become a full-time job. Except that there aren’t any new “health and safety officers” here at Hollabaugh’s. Just the same family, doing what it takes to get the job done.
I don’t write this for a pat on the back or sympathy. I write it just to help you understand that while week in and week out I talk about the weather, there is so much more going on behind the scenes. And I wouldn’t want to be doing it with anyone but the family here with me. Thank you for becoming a part of our lives through this CSA. It truly means so very much to us, especially in these times.
Summer CSA – Week 2 – For week two, you’ll be getting blueberries, zucchini, cucumbers, Swiss chard, fennel, and fresh pulled candy onions! Our dairy members will be getting Apple Valley Creamery’s swiss cheese. Click here for this week’s recipes and information!
Last Thursday afternoon, we had a severe thunderstorm roll through our farm that gave us five minutes of hail. While normally hail events tend to be rather isolated, it appears to have largely blanketed our farm. Hail is never good, and when it lasts as long as five minutes, there’s no way you can’t have damage. And we do. The few apricots the had miraculously survived the frost dropped to the ground. Apples were pummeled and bruised. Stone fruit seemed to fare better but was still affected. The good news is that because of the direction the storm came through the farm, only one side of the trees was largely impacted. The other good news is that hopefully, the bruising caused will subside a bit as the fruit grows. Here is a picture of a red delicious apple bruised by hail.
In other news, we made the sad decision to cancel this year’s peach festival, and while we were intending to hold a smaller scale blueberry festival, most of the “extra” events have also been cancelled for it as well. Of course no festival does not mean no fruit! Nothing will be different as far as our normal availability of fruit in the market, and in your CSAs, too. But we look forward to these fun events and we know many of you do, too.
We hope you have a safe and enjoyable 4th of July holiday weekend! Please note that our market closes at 3pm on Saturday the 4th! See you soon!
Summer CSA – Week 1 – For the first week of our summer program, you’ll be receiving sweet cherries, beets, kohlrabi, radishes, leaf lettuce, and garlic scapes. Dairy members will be receiving feta cheese and cream cheese. Click here for your recipes and information about the contents of this week’s bag!
The timing for the start of our summer CSA program has sure hit perfectly with the start of the fruits and veggies we associate with this time of year. Many things are ripening and growing really nicely! Other things are just now truly showing us how much damage the late frosts we had did. And it’s rather curious how some things can be affected so deeply while others seemingly weren’t affected at all. We have a lovely crop of blueberries coming on. Raspberries, however, definitely suffered. We still have some, but just not a lot. We have yet to see the first apricot, too, which is so sad! There may be a couple, but definitely not many this year.
We’re also starting to see the effects of the farming world around us come into play. Often at this time of the year, we will look to Lancaster county for some early veggies – sweet corn in particular. Last week, prices for some of the first local corn of the season were as high as $16/dozen! We’re hearing that that’s a sign of a few factors coming together – first, demand for fresh, local produce has been high since Covid hit. Second, we’re hearing that farmers may have planted somewhat more cautiously this spring not knowing if there would be a place to sell. Nothing is worse than paying to care for a crop only to get it to market and discover what you will get paid for it doesn’t even begin to cover the amount invested in bringing it to harvest. Finally, these late frosts definitely nipped some of these early plnatings. So the combination of all of these factors together is really affecting supply, demand, and pricing on produce.
But, I digress. We have a record number of participants for our CSA program this summer and we are SO excited you’ve chosen to join us! We know there are other options, and we don’t take it lightly that you’ve chosen us! We hope you enjoy! Have a great weekend!
Week 8 – Final Spring Week! This week, you’ll be receiving apple cider, Swiss chard, strawberries, garlic scapes, zucchini, and the most gorgeous shell peas you’ll ever see! 😊 Dairy folks are receiving Mexican Cheddar cheese and Garlic Butter! Click here for your packet of recipes and information for the week. We hope you enjoy!
If you will not be continuing on with us for the summer, we hope you enjoyed the past 8 weeks with us! If you have any suggestions, please feel free to reach out – we are always looking for ways we can do even better! Please know, especially this year, how much your patronage has meant to us. I’ve commented to a few people that the past three months have by far been the most stressful I have experienced in my life to date – kids at home to care for and educate while both parents are still working full time, a business to run in the midst of a pandemic, worry with doing everything you can to keep yourself, your family, your employees, AND your customers safe while still providing what everyone needs to the best of your ability… the list goes on. But through it all, we saw a surge in support from all of you. And please know I’m not exaggerating when I say that it truly made the difference for our family’s business. Thank you for your trust, your confidence, and your loyalty. Whether you’re continuing on with us for the summer or not, we sure hope you’ll continue to put your trust in us. After all… who’s your farmer? For 65 years, it’s been Hollabaugh’s, and we hope to be here for that many years and more!
Enjoy your final week of spring! All the best, Ellie
Week 7: This week, you’ll be receiving broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, strawberries, snap peas, and lettuce! Our dairy members will be receiving Apple Valley Creamery’s Colby Cheese! Click here for your recipe packet this week!
This will be the last week for asparagus – we weren’t sure we’d be picking enough to supply you once more, but that’s part of the nice thing about being a CSA member! You’re getting dibs on some of the last asparagus of the year. There won’t be as much available for sale in our market as a result. Normally by this point in the year we would be seeing some first picks on apricots, cherries, and blueberries. But with the cold, wet spring, things have really been delayed. We hope to start seeing some of these other early summer fruits in the next week to 10 days. Every year is different, there is no doubt about that! Please enjoy everything this week! And don’t forget to sign up for our summer or summer/fall program if you haven’t already – time’s running out! 🙂
Week 6: This week, you’ll be receiving asparagus, leaf lettuce, red beets, tomatoes, and vidalia onions! Our dairy members will be getting butter and feta cheese. Click here for your recipe packet this week!
We had some threats of some pretty scary storms yesterday, so we were greatly relieved when they all went around us. Hopefully those of you in the Carlisle area were ok, too, as it seems like a lot of them went to our north here. Things are progressing here on the farm as you might expect. The early frosts we got this year basically nipped all of the early-ripening strawberry varieties. Just now for the first, we’ve started to see some local berries arriving. Their supply is incredibly tight and prices are incredibly high right now – the beauty of economics! We had hoped to get you some this week, but we just didn’t have enough to make it happen. Hopefully next week. Enjoy your goodies and have a great weekend!
Time is running out to sign up for our summer or summer/fall program, so please use the link at the top of the page to submit your registration soon!
Week 5: This week, you’ll be receiving asparagus, Delaware strawberries, cauliflower, spring onions, and grape tomatoes. The dairy add-ons will also be getting Strawberry Greek yogurt.
You’re also getting TWO bonuses this week! First, you’ll all be receiving some fresh radishes! And second, you are getting some seed potatoes to plant! Half of you will probably be thrilled about that, and half of you will probably have no interest, and that’s ok! Potatoes are SUPER fun to grow, especially if you have kids. There is nothing more magical than sticking a potato in the ground and months later digging up a multiplied bounty of them! Call me a nerd, but it’s true. These aren’t taking the place of other produce you might be receiving, so enjoy the bonus or pass them on to someone else! If you’re interested in planting, click here for some helpful tips on how to do it.
We’ll be coming down the home stretch on fresh asparagus for the year before too terribly long, but with its end will come the start of summer fruits! Apricots were affected by the frost early on, but we hope to have at least a few. Local strawberries should start arriving next week – early ripening varieties of those were also stunted by the frost, so everything is just hitting a little later than normal.
So, we hope you enjoy your goodies this week. Click here for your recipes and instructions! See you this weekend!
Week 4: This week, we think you’ll be receiving: cider, beets, baby carrots, red leaf lettuce, and hopefully asparagus. The weather is still playing a factor into things at the moment! The dairy folks will be getting AVC pepper jack cheese. Here are your recipes and information for the week!
It’s hard to believe we’re already at the mid-point of our spring program! Is time flying by for anyone else these days? I still don’t know what day it is most days, but somehow we’re already at Memorial Day weekend, the “unofficial” start of summer! And yet, again last night, the low was down to 40 degrees. What is going on!? You might be sick of hearing me talk about the weather, but it truly rules our lives this time of year.
We’re loving all of your conversation and pictures on the facebook group – thank you for sharing your delicious concoctions! I regret to inform you that not one plate of leftovers has been delivered for Susanne and I to try… 🙂
We’re stocked up on hot dogs, brats, bacon, and tons of produce for Memorial Day with lots of specials, so be sure to allow an extra moment to shop when you come this weekend. All specials are also listed on the curbside form! Thanks and have a lovely weekend!
Week 3: This week you’ll be receiving russet potatoes, turnips, onions, kale, microgreens, and honeycrisp applesauce! The weather was challenging this week. Generally speaking, tender growing veggies don’t like when it snows on May 9th any more than we humans do! Stay tuned for your recipes and info!
Well this week sure was a week of extremes, wasn’t it? We had winter-like cold, wind and snow just a few days ago, and by Friday we’re to hit 80 degrees. It sure makes farming difficult this time of year. We’ve done our best to protect our crops these nights when the temperatures dropped near freezing. And hitting near 80 degrees so soon after being so cold will send a strong message to our trees and plants that it’s time to grow! We’re glad it looks like we may finally be out of the woods with the weather though. Growing much of anything over the past few weeks has been challenging though, which is why your bags this week represent some of the more cold-hardy veggies.
Here are your recipes and information for everything you’ll be getting this week. We hope you enjoy! Enjoy the nice weather!
Week 2:
Good morning!
It was nice to wake up to the sun this morning after yesterday’s raw, cold, rainy day. We got over a half inch of rain on the farm. Combined with temps below 50 degrees and it wasn’t one of the best spring days in any way on the farm! We’re grateful for the forecasted sun today, but looking ahead with concern to the next few nights. The overnight low on Friday night is to be 32 degrees. Please send warm thoughts and prayers our way that the temp does not hit freezing. The air is supposed to keep moving, which generally helps frost from settling on blossoms and fruitlets, but 32 degrees when we’re as far along as we are developmentally is not ideal. My grandpa used to always say we weren’t “out of the woods” (from the danger of frost) until Mother’s Day. And yet again this year, that’s going to prove true! So warm thoughts, please! 🙂
We hope you enjoyed everything last week. Here’s what we know you’re getting for week 2 of your CSA: the first home-grown asparagus (woot woot!), N.C strawberries, spinach, button mushrooms, cabbage, and parsley! Our dairy members will be receiving Apple Valley Creamery mild cheddar cheese this week – SO good! Please click here for your packet of recipes and information for the week. And keep posting your recipes on our Facebook Group page! If you plan to place a curbside order to go along with your CSA pick-up, we’d appreciate having it no later than noon today, please. Thanks!
Have a great weekend!
Morning everyone! Here we are at week 1 of your CSA! We hope you’re as excited as we are! The girls are busy packing bags that will be going to Carlisle later today and then will be starting in on Biglerville bags soon-after!
The rain is pouring down here this morning, and we’re supposed to get as much as three inches of rain. While rain isn’t all bad in the spring, this cycle of cool, wet, dreary weather we’ve been in is not ideal for pollination. Our apples are now basically in full bloom across the farm. Our rented honey bees and purchased bumble bees are here, and both much prefer warm, sunny, lovely days to be out and about searching for flowers and nectar. So, we’re a little concerned about pollination. This rainy weather also creates the perfect environment for disease to spread in the orchard, and springtime is the time you want to keep your orchards healthy. If you go into a growing season with a sick orchard, it’s really hard to keep your developing fruit healthy! But, fortunately, we’ve been doing this for 65 years and we kind of know what we’re doing. My dad, Brad, manages our Advanced Integrated Pest Management Program here on the farm and does a really fantastic job of keeping an eye out and protecting our trees when and as necessary. It’s a 24-hour a day job this time of year though!
We will try to post what you’ll be receiving here on the website each week as soon as we know so that you can place your curbside orders in a timely fashion. If you’re ordering curbside to go to Carlisle, we would appreciate having that by 5pm Wednesday each week if at all possible. If you’re ordering curbside for Biglerville, we’d like it no later than noon on Thursday. Please bear with us as we get into the swing of things these first few weeks!
So, without further ado, in case you didn’t look yesterday, this week you’ll be receiving Evercrisp apples, broccoli, carrots, spring onions, snow peas, radishes, and leaf lettuce! Our full share members will also be receiving romaine. Please click here for your packet of recipes and information that go along with these ingredients!
Thanks again for joining our family farm for our program this spring. It’s a privilege to share a piece of our farm with you! Enjoy!
Welcome to the Hollabaugh CSA! Each Thursday, we’ll update this page with the list of what you’ll be receiving, information about the farm, and links to your recipe packets! If at any time you need help or have questions, don’t hesitate to email us at ellie@hollabaughbros.com. We hope you enjoy!