Week of January 9th, 2012

In This Week’s Box

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• Warren Pears & Shinko Pears, Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood, CA
• Navel Oranges; Olsen Organic Farm, Lindsay, CA
• Navel Oranges (larger type) Purity Organic, Kerman, CA
• Hayward Kiwi– Swanson Berry Farm, Davenport, CA

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From Farmer Al

Dear CSA Members–
New Trees

January. Tree-planting time. And we’re very excited this year to be planting over 2000 trees and we’re especially delighted that this cold dry weather is perfect in every way!

Perfect for planting because it was easy to prepare the ground for planting; it’s easy and fast to dig holes for each tree when the ground is dry (mud makes it impossible!); the warmish, sunny, fog-free days are great to do work in. So planting is going great this year.

So is pruning and compost production. And of course the big news is the chilling hours we’re getting from these cold-cold nights. We’re hundreds of hour ahead of last year at this time, and the Winter of 2011-2012 is the best chill-hour Winter in 10 years.

All this gives us hope for a good apricot crop in 2012……which we’ve not had since 2009. By the end of February, we’ll know………..

New Feature for our CSA Website- Donation Option

When you opt to put your box on HOLD, you can either ‘Hold’ to create a credit that will be applied, or you can choose ‘Donate” your share. We now have a “Donate Box” option for holds.  Your hold can now be “donated” and boxes will use up a delivery credit when processed. We donate to the East Contra Costa Food Bank.

To do so online, you must have a *login*, so if you don’t have one set up, please proceed to the website at www.happychildcsa.com or contact Melissa at melissa@froghollow.com, or call (925) 634-2845 x 206 to get a password. Once logged in, you’ll be on the Member Dashboard Page, Click on the Place box on hold for a week link, a calendar will appear where you can select the days you don’t want your box. Click on the days, and the Box will appear allowing you to select hold or donate!