Greetings from The Neighborhood Farm!
Things are growing well this week. The tomatoes are starting to
ripen more quickly, the eggplant are taller than I've ever seen
them, and the peppers had so much fruit on them that they all fell
over. We dug the first carrots and potatoes for market on
Wednesday. It always feels like a miracle when we dig them up and
find something down there.
We discovered that part of our bunny problem came from a bunny
living INSIDE the fence at one of the gardens. I brought my puppy
over and let him dig around the bunny hole for awhile and then we
left the gate open overnight. It seems that the bunny had the sense
to move out. We're keeping our fingers crossed.
We've had some requests to explain how the pre-order/pick up system
works. I think the description is going to be more complicated than
the actual process, but here goes:
We send out this newsletter on Fridays
and we list certain items that need to be pre-ordered. We take
pre-orders for items when we want to know the quantity needed ahead
of time. Some of these items we have limited amounts of and some we
need a lot of time to prepare.
If you want to buy any of these pre-order items, reply to our email,
and tell us what you would like. For example, "I would like 2 pints
of blueberries and 1 bag of salad mix." Over the weekend we will
get back to you and let you know that we received your order and we
will tell you where to pick it up. Pick up will be on the following
Monday between 8 am and 8 pm.
At the pick up location, there will be an information board with any
general messages from us and with a slip of paper with your name and
the items you pre-ordered on it. There will also be a gray, metal
drop box to put your payment in. You can pay by cash or check.
When you pay, please drop the slip of paper with your name on it
into the box. This lets us know who has picked up and who hasn't.
You can also choose to buy any of the specials.
Some people don't need any of the pre-order items, but they do want
some of the "specials" that we listed in the
newsletter email. If you only want specials, that's OK.
Email us and say, "I'd like to buy specials." We'll send you the
information about the pick up location. You can stop by and help
yourself to whatever specials you like. We won't make up a
pre-order slip for you, but you can still drop your payment in the
metal box.
The pick up location is always in Needham. It is self-serve. We
put all the pre-ordered items on one side and the specials on the
other side. We divide the location into a pre-order section and a
specials section so that it's easy to tell what you can take and
what already belongs to someone else.