Get Involved » The Farm Bus from Farm to Family

Fall/Winter CSA – Join Now and Save! DC/Capitol Hill and Richmond, VA

CSA Farm Share, CSA/Farm Market, Get Educated, Get Involved, Local Food No Responses »

Sep 042017

Details have been finalized on our CSA for the Fall/Winter season, and are online now!

Join Now because…. We are offering a FLASH WAIVE on the member fee if you sign up now thru Wed at midnight. This is for ANY type of share, and includes payment plans. Cannot be combined with Military discount, or the FULL17 discount (see details below).

Our CSA proudly serves Washington, DC and Richmond, VA

You will receive a seasonal mix of the finest local produce, sustainably and humanely raised local grass-fed/pastured meats, fresh grass-fed dairy, pastured eggs, fresh baked bread, and a variety of other items are also available!

Shop a la carte items.
Hold deliveries when you need to – use online calendar to place your box on hold when you want.
Payment plans available.
Membership fee (includes fuel, admin, labor) is $90/$45 for Washington DC, $25/50 Richmond for the season of weekly 20x/bi-weekly 10x. Member fee is charged separately (we will bill, and pro-rate)
Home Delivery in Washington, DC is powered by Schlep It eco-friendly trikes $8 time). RVA home delivery is FREE within 5 miles of Farm to Famiy.
Referral Rewards Program – Earn $25 credit for each new member you refer!

10% discount for Active military/Veteran (not including member fee) – email for info.
We were listed in the Washington Post story on flexible CSAs in the Washington DC area.

Here’s the info on Fall season:

Season is 20 weeks (10 for biweekly, every other week)
If you have credit, it will roll over to use for Fall. If you forego Fall, it will roll until Spring. You can donate your credit, or transfer it to someone else.
Promo code for Full Share (the combo one with produce, meat, dairy, bread) paid in full up front: receives 10% discount with code FULL17. This will be valid until the end of September. Does not combine with any other discount. This is not for any of the other shares paid in full up front.
Military discount 10% for active military/retired veterans. Must be someone in your immediate family. Email me with your service info. Code is same as last time. Email me for the code if you need it. Does not combine with any other discount.
Starts week of 9/26 – no break from Summer so no missing out on any of the bounty! Host drops and biweekly deiveries start week of 10/3. Ends week of 2/27. Based on weather, the Spring CSA will start in March or April, with a little break to let the farmers get back on their feet.
We will have a holiday break from 12/25 resuming 1/9.
Holiday meat will be pre-ordered soon. More details as we go along: Polyface turkeys, lamb, oysters, etc.
Cost: Produce remain the same $45 (yay!); meat and dairy are going up $1 to $35, Full share $2 to $122. Fruit is $10 and goes until the winter holiday. Use the drop down menu to choose frequency. Price will pro-rate for the number of drops left in season.
Payment plans: You have the option of paying in full at subscribing (we appreciate this!), or choosing payment installments. Depending on subscription type, between 2- 4 payments. These happen every 30 days from the time of subscription. It is a hybrid between a more conventional CSA where you have to pay in full up front months in advance, and a service where payments are more spread out as it helps us to have more money at the beginning of season to work with your farmers. If you need a more generous payment plan, email me and I can set that up for you. We want everyone to be able to afford the CSA! Thank you!
DC drops are Eastern Market, 7th/G, 23rd Pl (if we get 10 people!) and Home Delivery ($8/time 20002/20003 Capitol Hill).
RVA – Drops will be: Farm to Family Market, Home Delivery (FREE).
Host Sites/Home Delivery need 10 minimum people before they are a go. If this is you – please share so that it happens!
- 7th/G – biweekly
- 23rd Place – biweekly
- DC Home Delivery – weekly/biweekly
- RVA Home Delivery – weekly/biweekly
- If we do not get enough people at the DC drops they will revert to Eastern Market. If we do not get enough weekly home deliveries, they will revert to biweekly. If we don’t get enough biweekly home deliveries, they will revert to Eastern Market in DC and Farm to Family Market in RVA.
Seasonal member fees are: DC $90/45, RVA $50/25 for weekly and biweekly memberships. Member fees are for the season (not per time) and prorate for late joiners. These fees pay for fuel, labor, software, admin etc – everything to get your food to you. We are unable due to our many flexible options to roll these into the CSAware software without multiply charging the people who have multiple options in their share. Charges thru CSAware are COST OF FOOD ONLY. The member fee will be charged to your card on file shortly after you subscribe for the season, or added on to a check or cash payment.
Home Delivery – Weekly/Bi-Weekly – We need a minimum of 10 members to do weekly home delivery. Share and get your friends on board! Your home delivery fee will be charged separately when you sign up.
Partial season: if you think there is even a remote chance you are moving or need a partial season for any reason, email me and I can set you up. We can extend you based on what happens. It is very hard on us and our vendors when you decide to exit mid-season without notice, or making arrangements for someone to take over your share.
Host a drop! You need 10 confirmed members to host a drop and receive a free share. Contact Mark at 804-397-7337 for more info and see if your location works. Share with your friends/family etc. Worksites are ok!
Fall Fruit share (hooray!) – DC only. 12x weekly/5x biweekly at $10 time This will end in December. This will be apples, pears, possibly raspberries (Agriberry has a variety that fruits in November) or other late fruit season surprises. maybe jams and other fruit added value items. This is great if you have kids, juice, love apples, pack your lunch, make applesauce, pies and other desserts, dehydrate, jam, etc. If you are in Richmond and want extra fruit, please join the Agriberry Fruit CSA – They are our fruit partner. Thank you!

What will be in Produce?

Late Summer/early fall will overlap.
We promise this will never be the kale/potato/turnip CSA.
Virginia and surrounding food shed are 4 season growing states – You will see numerous varieties of heirloom veggies: greens such as kale, creasy, collards, some herbs may grow all winter thru snow and cold, and broccoli, cauliflower, beets, cabbage, parsnips, spinach, lettuce/salad greens, herbs and other veggies thrive in cooler weather.
We also work with a lot of smart growers who are using hoop houses, greenhouses, hydroponics and other methods to stretch the season with lettuce, herbs, sprouts, tomatoes, mushrooms.
You will get items that are also grown, harvested and stored in the fall – apples, pears, squash, pumpkins, turnips, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, potatoes, carrots.
Produce share WILL contain pantry items in addition to veggies/fruit depending on weather, and especially as the season progresses. These are items that are grown and dried/preserved/frozen and support our farmers during the lean seasons and reduce food waste. Some vendors are food artisans using ancient food traditions, women/minority owned, or other small entrepreneurs that work year round and keep the local food economy cooking. You may see: fermented veggies/krauts, apple sauce, vinegars, sauces, pastas, popcorn, grains, cornmeal, flours, baking mixes, barbecue sauce, honey, sorghum molasses, jams, Virginia peanuts, nut butters, frozen corn and more. We encourage you to try these items. These are our personal favorites, we choose them carefully and hope you do too. If there is something on the pantry list you cannot eat, or don’t want to eat, a sub is always available with advance notice.
Please help us get the word out! We rely on word of mouth to sustain our business season to season. We will have paper and electronic flyers (email me) you can share starting next week, and I will do posts with links. Mark needs people to flyer and he will pay (contact him 804-397-7337)If you share paper, do so mindfully (we hate litter and so do your neighbors). Please post us on your neighborhood listserves and facebook groups. Anyone who signs up that uses your name in referral earns you $25 . If you know of a fall fair, or other event we can bring the FarmBus to, let us know!

So Join Today and Eat Well all Winter. We appreciate you and your families and your choice to eat local. Email us with questions.

SaveSave

What’s in the Share – Week of 7/16 – Deep summer deliciousness

CSA Farm Share, CSA/Farm Market, Get Educated, Get Involved, Local Food, Recipes No Responses »

Jul 162017

We congratulate Omar Flores and his wife on the birth of their new baby, who joins their two year old. The share list is late this week because of the birth! We wish mama and baby vibrant health and many blessings. Baby is super cute and I hope to have a picture to share with you soon.

I have 2 shares to sell for members who are moving:

5x biweekly full share with fruit add-on which would either this week 7/18 for EM/Richmond, or next week, 7/25, all locations, for $675.

I also have 2x shares of produce and choice of either meat or dairy for $158- this also makes a great gift. Member fees waived. If people are interested, they need to email me farmshares@thefarmbus.com, and I will manually set them up.

Thanks everyone and happy cooking.

Suzi

Here is what is in the share, subject to change:
orange cherry tomatoes
fairy tale eggplant
green onions
bitter melon – used in Asian medicine for a host of benefits. Here’s what Dr. Axe says. And recipes.
colored peppers
tomatillos – My tomatillos this year were volunteers, and are a huge patch in the middle of the yard. They are awesome!! We put them in all sorts of things, and love to make raw salsa verde, ready in moments by putting in the blender, or you can get all fancy and grill your peppers like Jamie Oliver. Here are a bunch of other ways to use it.
string beans
baby celery – one of my favorite things. you’ll never want to use store celery again.
Austrian crescent fingerling potatoes from Dominic Carpin
sweet jalapenos
carrots
peaches
corn
cantaloupe or blackberries

fruit – blackberries, raspberries, peaches

meats – ground bison, pork chops, polyface breakfast sausage

Bread – mixed

Cheese – Eberly Farms Stonewall

What’s in the Share – Week of 7/10 Tomahtoes!! Corn! Squash, Cantaloupe and Donut Peaches!

CSA Farm Share, CSA/Farm Market, Get Educated, Get Involved, Local Food, Recipes, Uncategorized No Responses »

Jul 082017

Hi everyone — I hope you are enjoying the sunshine this weekend, and staying cool.

We are moving into the heart of the summer, with a lot of my personal favorites! Happy Cooking!

PRODUCE

Hanover tomatoes 🍅 – Hanover tomato pie and 9 other great ways to eat them.

Eggplant – vegan eggplant parm, italian eggplant ragout, Italian style refrigerator pickled eggplant

Cucumbers – easiest fridge dill pickles Yellow squash – sautee with olive oil, sea salt and fresh basil. spiralize and top with your favourite sauce.

Sweet yummy peppers – throw these in your lunches as a snack. eat them with a little chèvre.

Yellow potatoes

Malabar spinach – this Asian spinach is not really spinach but rather a climbing vine. Its really good, but is meant to be cooked rather than used raw. It is often used in Indian and other Asian recipes, and is rather sturdy in texture. Tomato malabar quiche, malabar spinach curry, malabar pakora.

Onions roasted balsamic onions

Basil – raw tomato sauce – this is by far my favorite way to use fresh tomatoes and basil. You can serve it as a soup. I also shave corn and throw that in after I’ve pureed, and serve over spiralized squash, topped with sunflower seeds. Pablano peppers – these are my favorite peppers to stuff. Use the Peachy chèvre, and some sausage, the ground goat would be delicous as well. You can easily make vegan, or veg.  Bell peppers Donut peaches – these are super sweet, so eat them early in the share. Kids love them.  Cantaloupe Corn 🌽 my fave is grilled, or summer corn salad.

Fruit; blackberries, donut peaches, blueberries

EM meats: Bacon, chicken breast, trout

DC Host meats:

Cornish game hen – marinated cornish game hens with citrus and spice

goat kabob meat – goat skewers with vinegary herb sauce, chargrilled moorish goat skewers , Jamaican jerk marinade with beer. use your hot peppers! Ground – I love to make burgers/sliders with them. You can use it just as you would any ground meat. Its really delicous.

pork chops – perfect pastured pork chops , balsamic marinated pork chops

Rva meats; ground or cubed goat meat, pork chops, trout

pork chops – perfect pastured pork chops , balsamic marinated pork chops

Cheese: Peachy Family goat chevre or aged

What’s in the Share – Week of 5/22/17

CSA Farm Share, CSA/Farm Market, Get Educated, Get Involved, Local Food, Recipes No Responses »

May 212017

Hi Members –

We are getting into summer holidays. Some of you may be away for your share – don’t forget to hold. When you put your share on hold via your dashboard, please send me an email letting me know how you wish to redeem that held share: move to another week, credit or donate. Held shares do not automatically get moved to the next time – I need to hear from you to know what to do with it. You can also give your shares to friends – but let me know. Thanks!

There are a few things in the share that look similar – dill, chamomile and baby fennel. Ive posted some pictures in the FB group, along with extra recipes.

Here’s what we anticipate to be in your share this week – subject to change. Often what we think will be in the share changes by the time Thursday rolls around. Mark often gives you extras of things. I hope you are enjoying it all.

PRODUCE

dill – feathery fronds – wonderful to add to salad, or vinaigrette. Here are some ideas.
tomatoes – zucchini noodles with raw tomato sauce
chamomile – like tiny daisies, with feathery fronds. might look like this – with the yellow center of the dairy most pronounced.
- Chamomile — so many neat things you can do: fresh tea is amazing, but you can use it in ice cream – here’s a vegan salted caramel chamomile version, make simple syrup, put it in cocktails, add it to salads, crostini, chop fine and add to yogurt like you would with dill. bake a cake here’s ideas. Here’s some health and beauty things you can do.
onions – Sicilian onion and tomato salad
purple kohlrabi – this looks a little like a purple spaceship. Part bulb, part bundle of greens, kohlrabi may seem like one of the more intimidating items at the farmers’ market, but it offers a delightful combination of familiar tastes. Kohlrabi has the texture of a radish and the sweetness of jicama, with a slight hint of broccoli, and the edible leaves are like a milder version of collards. It is super versatile. Here are some ideas.
zucchini – grill it
strawberries –strawberry gazpacho, balsamic strawberries with ricotta cream. Its easy to make ricotta at home, and a good way to use milk, if you are having trouble getting thru it. strawberry cocktails.
baby fennel – feathery fronds with a bulb. Smells like mild anise or licorice. My favorite way is in an Italian simple salad, shaved thin, with olive oil, squeeze of lemon, orange slices (blood orange is delicious), salt and pepper. You can add cheese, olives, dill, onions etc. I also love to roast it, or grill it.
bok choy – 9 ways
- Bok choy – bok choy with garlic
asparagus – slow butter braised asparagus with parmesan
pea shoots – these will have leaves, and tendrils. Treat like any green. They are delicious. Here is a guide.
beets – these have a red bulb, and greens. Use your greens early – cut them off and sauté – put the steps in first as they take longer than the leaves. sauteed beet greens with olive oil and garlic. roasted beets with dill, beet salad with dill and lemon
daikon radish – this looks like a white carrot. It is super versatile, and can be subbed for turnips. I like to make easy refrigerator pickles with it. Here are some ideas.
romaine – grill it. Its fantastic.

Fruit

strawberries – strawberries with balsamic vinegar (and blueberries!) swap the sugar with honey or maple syrup for a healthier option.
blueberries

Meat – Weekly people I do not know what the meat will be yet. Will try to send out an email as soon as Mark knows so you can plan – so sorry.

Biweeklies – this is what you might expect.

pork short ribs
trout filet (2 filets in the pack)
Sausage Craft Sat Nite Sausage – with Sriracha and beer (gluten alert)

Bread

Billy Bread — this is also lovely in grliled tomato bread salad and gazpacho!

Cheese – TBD

Happy Cooking!

Suzi

What’s in the CSA- week of 5/1 – Oysters, Clams, Asparagus, Ramps, Strawberries!!!

CSA Farm Share, CSA/Farm Market, Get Involved, Local Food, Recipes No Responses »

Apr 302017

Hi members, Hope you are all staying cool!

We have a bang up share for you this week. Post pictures of what you are making on our facebook group page! Others love ideas and recipes. I also post other ideas and info. Thank you!

We will be having the option of oysters and clams again next week, so if you are getting a share with meat in it, and need to OPT OUT and get the ALTERNATE MEAT (I do not know what it will be), send me your OPT OUT email with no oysters clams in your subject. If you want them, do NOTHING – you will get 2 dozen each oysters and clams, or the quart of shucks (email if you want the shucks). If you want more, or a la carte oysters, clams by the dozen, or pints or quarts of shucks, please order via your dashboard under MEATS – Oysters Clams a la carte. NEED ORDERS BY WED next week. thank you.

Happy eating. Suzi

Veg share so far, subject to changes:

Swiss chard – Swiss chard is delicious, versatile, and don’t forget to pickle the stems. It is hearty enough to stand in for pasta, say in a lasagna. The stems take longer to cook than leaves, so I usually put stems in first, then leaves. Here are some ideas.
Baby spinach – put on pizza with the ramps. or make a salad.
Green onions – these guys may get overshadowed by the ramps this week, but put them in your salad with bibb lettuce, baby spinach and strawberries and they will shine.
Ramps – boy we love these, and we have a family tradition of getting them every year. Ive posted some ramp info on our FB group. Don’t be intimidated by them. Treat them like you would garlic or onions, only better, and you’ll be ok. Here’s a great video on how to find, clean and pickle them. They are forest foraged, so still have soil on them. Clean them well, dirt can hide in them, like leeks. Use the leaves to make pesto, or chimmichurri. If you aren’t going to get to them for a bit, cut off your leaves, and keep them in a bag in your fridge. I have actually had them stay in the fridge for a month or so. They are great in biscuits, which we included below. Put on pizza.
Bibb – make lettuce wraps, use it as a bun for your burger.
Radishes – young radishes have a sweetness to them. Try roasted radishes with brown butter, radish tops, and lemon. You can also sautee the tops like any green. Slice and add to salad. Pickle. Here are some recipes. There is a radish corn salad in here, that would be good with your corn if you haven’t used it yet.
Strawberries – I posted info on how to freeze them to use later in the season in smoothies. You can also make fruit leather, dehydrate for snacks, or jam. Here is the boss small batch strawberry balsamic jam recipe I posted in the group that I made for Mother’s Day gifts last year. I cooked it in the slow cooker. this makes only 4 half pints, so refridgerate, eat on the biscuits, or give away. No need to process. But if you want to process, I used a saucepan, and a veggie steamer and it worked great. I used this on baked brie at mom’s for Easter.
Asparagus – we are grilling bacon wrapped asparagus for dinner tonight. or put in salad.
Arugula – good on pizza with the ramps.
Cilantro (good with clams) – Clams with bacon, cilantro, ginger and galic (sub ramps!!)
Mushrooms – good on pizza with the ramps.
Golden biscuit mix from Wade’s Mill for strawberry shortcake and ramp biscuits. to make ramp biscuits: thinly slice the bulb and add it right in. Or you can use only the leaves. You can caramelize the bulbs in a little butter first. Cook as usual. Wade’s Mill is a circa 1750 water grist mill and we love their products. You will see them on the menu at fine restaurants.

Meat
Oysters and clams – how to shuck an oyster with Chef Pete at Merroir. How to prepare them raw 0 use your ramps, or green onions! Grill them. Here’s a few other methods of cooking like roasting, and steaming. Here’s how to steam clams. Here’s the Ultlimate Pasta with Clams – perfect if you still have your pasta from the other week! Make oyster shooters. You can use sake, tequila, vodka etc. Look them up. You’ll be in heaven.
If you opted out, looks like a picnic grill special:
Polyface hot dogs
ground beef
bison summer sausage – make a plate with the cheese from your share. You can add in sliced radishes, and make a delicious sauce with a spoon of our lovely jam with some stone ground mustard. You can slice it and add it to your salad. Or put it on the pizza!!!!

Older Entries Newer Entries