Topic: Newsletter

It may be winter, but there are still plenty of colors and local flavors in the boxes. A rainbow mix of potatoes are coming in from Misty Meadow Farms in Maine, and we have watermelon radishes and carrots from Red Fire Farm of Granby, MA. The featured add-on of the week is Taza's Salted Almond Mexicano Chocolate discs, made right around the corner in Somerville. Check out this week's newsletter!

Visit 12/21/12

We try to make an effort to visit our local growers and vendors at least once a year, and a few weeks ago we took a trip out to our new organic milk supplier, Shaw Farm of Dracut, Massachusetts! Located just an hour north of our Charlestown office, this family-owned dairy farm is about as local as it gets for Boston. After tasting some of their legendary eggnog and other products, we’re tempted to make our visits more frequent.

Shaw Farm operates their own farm store with fresh milk, ice cream, and even baked goods. The farm store is heated by geothermal energy – a renewable energy created by the heat found below the earth’s surface. It not only helps with their energy bill, but it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions on the farm.

1. Story and history of Shaw Farm

Since 1908 Shaw Farm has been providing high quality local dairy products to the Merrimack Valley. Located in Dracut, MA, the farm offers fresh milk, ice cream, and many other local products. Their tagline – “if they say it’s homemade, ask to see their cows” – reminds us of the true farm-to-table process and begs us to ask the question where does our food come from?

2. Why did they start the organic brand?

In 2007 Shaw Farm began to market its own “certified organic” milk products under the name New England Organic Creamery. Owner, Warren Shaw says changes in the marketplace driven by consumer demand for local organic milk have made this change important to the future of the farm. He saw that there was a demand for organic milk and realized that the transition to become certified organic was fairly simple since the farm already operated under many of the organic standards. Now they are the only certified organic milk producer in Massachusetts.

3. How are the cows fed?

Shaw Farm has 16 cows that make up the organic herd. The cows go out in the morning to graze on organic pasture and relax in the field during the day. The majority of the organic herd’s diet consists of organic grass from their pasture and is supplemented with organic grains. Three generations of Shaw’s take care of the 150 acres of nutrient rich orchard grasses that help give the cows their proper protein and fiber. Warren also explained that he has never used antibiotics, growth hormones or anything that might taint the organic milk or harm his cattle.

4. How does farm legislation affect the Shaw Farm business and operations?

The recent nine-month extension of the federal farm bill allowed Shaw Farm to avoid an immediate rise in conventional milk prices. We asked Warren how the farm bill and other dairy industry legislation might affect his business, and he explained that federal milk subsidies and regulations only impact dairy farms that belong to co-ops, not independent dairy farmers like himself.

Because of Shaw Farm’s proximity to the city and densely concentrated population, they have direct access to a large customer base and are able to provide dairy directly to customers and retailers, such as Boston Organics. Because of our collective support, Shaw Farm will be able to thrive, operate, and continue their environmental stewardship of the land that has been in the Shaw family for several generations.

Happy New Year from your friends at Boston Organics! Thank you all for a remarkable year. We've got some great produce coming in this week, including alfalfa and radish sprouts, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, beets, collard greens, and watermelon radishes. We still have 2 lb bags of Clementine add-ons available. Also, we have a special New Year's promotion for you!! Check out the newsletter!

It's the last full week of 2012! We wish you all a happy, healthy holiday season.

It's hard to believe it, but Christmas and New Years are right around the corner! We will be closed on Christmas and on New Years day, so please check the newsletter and the website for your updated delivery schedule for both of those weeks.

The fall season is winding down and that means we're approaching the end of our produce from Atlas Farm for a while. We've got cabbage, daikon radishes, potatoes, and celery root from Atlas this week, and beets and carnival squash are coming in from our friends at Deep Root Organic Coop in VT. We're getting local broccoli as well as onions and kohlrabi from Porter Farms this week! Also, learn the scandalous story behind the Gilfeather rutabaga in this week's newsletter!

The Dogma Box is transitioning into local winter produce in a bulbous way. This means hardier vegetables like celery root, turnips, winter radishes, beet, and other tubers and root crops.

All year round we work closely with Atlas Farm out of South Deerfield, MA and are always excited to see what they have for us. This week’s Dogma Box will be a bit more colorful with Atlas’s watermelon radish - cut it open to see where it gets its name!

As the temperature drops and the ground begins to frost, we look to Deep Root Organics, a cooperative of almost 20 organic farms in northern Vermont and southern Quebec to get some of the best root veggies around! We are getting beets and acorn squash in from Deep Root and look forward to their winter offerings.

This week’s Dogma Box includes:

• Watermelon Radish - Atlas Farm (S. Deerfield MA)
• Celeriac - Atlas Farm (S. Deerfield MA)
• Parsnip - Atlas Farm (S. Deerfield MA)
• Green cabbage - Atlas Farm (S. Deerfield MA)
• Onions - Porter Farms (Elba, NY)
• Kohlrabi - Porter Farms (Elba, NY)
• Red Potato - Happy Valley Organics (Whately, MA)
• McIntosh Apples - Dwight Miller & Sons Orchards (E. Dummerston, VT)
• Beets - Deep Root Organic Coop (Johnson, VT)
• Acorn Squash - Deep Root Organic Coop (Johnson, VT)

Recipes
The recipes below work well with many of the items that you’re receiving in the Dogma Box this week. These recipes are usually quite flexible and easily adaptable based on your pantry and your dietary needs. Feel free to get creative in the kitchen! If you come up with new ways to use some of our recipes and would like to share, post them on our Facebook or Tweet us.

Creamy Parsnip, Celeriac, & Turnip Soup

Cabbage and Apple

Holiday Cheddar Mash

Beet and Apple Salad

What are you cooking this week? Feel free to share with us at any time! For more recipes, check out the Produce Info, Storage Tips and Recipes section on our website and browse recipes by item. Here you can find nutritional information, preparation tips, and recipes for each produce item we offer. Happy eating from your friends at Boston Organics!

There's lots to be excited about over here at the Boston Organics office! We're now carrying organic milk from Shaw Farm in Dracut, MA, and we have local honey back in stock from Boston beekeeper Mike Graney. Also, boxes this week are filled with plenty of tasty root veggies to help you warm up your kitchen. Check out the newsletter!

We hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving holiday! We've got lots of great veggies this week along with some special fruits, including persimmons and Ataulfo mangoes! It's also the last week for cranberries, and we still have some of our holiday produce and pecan add-ons for your cooking needs this holiday season. Check out the newsletter!

Happy early Thanksgiving from your friends at Boston Organics! Due to our condensed delivery schedule for next week, we're sending out the newsletter today.