News and blog
What a beautiful week! After the oppressive heat and humidity, and then a virtual deluge in some areas over the weekend, we are loving this mild weather for the official start of summer. We have more farmer news to share with you:
From Grateful Life Farm
From Harmony Grove Farm
Hello Friends! We had a sizzling hot summer day earlier this week – it went up almost 110 degrees in our greenhouse! Then we had great amount of gushing water from the sky yesterday!! Fortunately, all our greens survived through this week!
From NuWay Farm
CSA Shares
Full Shares
- 2 kohlrabi from Chester Detweiler Farm
- 1/2 lb. lettuce from NuWay Farm
- 1 lb. snow peas or sugar snap peas from NuWay Farm
- 1 bunch green onions from NuWay Farm
- 1 head lettuce from Harmony Grove Farm
- 1 head lettuce from Grateul Life Farm
- 2 Choice
Small Shares
- 1 kohlrabi from Chester Detweiler Farm
- 1/3 lb. lettuce from NuWay Farm
- 1/2 lb. snow peas or sugar snap peas from NuWay Farm
- 1 bunch green onions from NuWay Farm
- 1/2 lb. collard greens from NuWay Farm
- 1 head lettuce from Harmony Grove Farm
- 1 Choice
Mini Shares
- 1 kohlrabi from Chester Detweiler Farm (a couple of you got carrots instead because we ran short)
- 1/4 lb. snow peas or sugar snap peas from NuWay Farm
- 1 bunch green onions from NuWay Farm
- 1 head lettuce from Harmony Grove Farm
Recipes
Kohlrabi can be eaten raw or cooked. See the link below if you're not familiar with this veggie.
My favorite way to eat snow peas is when I peel the stem and string off and just pop them in my mouth. Sweet and crunchy!
Cranberry Almond Lettuce Salad
Collard Greens Chicken Burritos
Asian Beef with Mushrooms and Snow Peas
Kohlrabi Salad with Cilantro and Lime
As you can see from the Choice box, summer produce is slowly coming. We should have more variety in your shares next week besides lettuce and greens. It looks like carrots and zucchini will be ready. Yay!!! Strawberries are finished this week, but blueberries will come in a couple of weeks.
As always, if you have any comments about your CSA Share, your pickup location, etc., please email me.
Have a great week!
Amy
What a beautiful week! After the oppressive heat and humidity, and then a virtual deluge in some areas over the weekend, we are loving this mild weather for the official start of summer. We have more farmer news to share with you:
From Grateful Life Farm
From Harmony Grove Farm
Hello Friends! We had a sizzling hot summer day earlier this week – it went up almost 110 degrees in our greenhouse! Then we had great amount of gushing water from the sky yesterday!! Fortunately, all our greens survived through this week!
From NuWay Farm
CSA Shares
Full Shares
- 1 kohlrabi from Chester Detweiler Farm
- 1/2 lb. lettuce from NuWay Farm
- 1 lb. snow peas from NuWay Farm
- 1 bunch green onions from NuWay Farm
- 1 head lettuce from Harmony Grove Farm
- 1 head lettuce from Grateul Life Farm
- 2 Choice
Small Shares
- 1 kohlrabi from Chester Detweiler Farm
- 1/3 lb. lettuce from NuWay Farm
- 1/2 lb. snow peas from NuWay Farm
- 1 bunch green onions from NuWay Farm
- 1/2 lb. collard greens from NuWay Farm
- 1 head lettuce from Harmony Grove Farm
- 1 Choice
Mini Shares
- 1 kohlrabi from Chester Detweiler Farm
- 1/4 lb. snow peas from NuWay Farm
- 1 bunch green onions from NuWay Farm
- 1 head lettuce from Harmony Grove Farm
Recipes
Kohlrabi can be eaten raw or cooked. See the link below if you're not familiar with this veggie.
My favorite way to eat snow peas is when I peel the stem and string off and just pop them in my mouth. Sweet and crunchy!
Cranberry Almond Lettuce Salad
Collard Greens Chicken Burritos
Asian Beef with Mushrooms and Snow Peas
Kohlrabi Salad with Cilantro and Lime
As you can see from the Choice box, summer produce is slowly coming. We should have more variety in your shares next week besides lettuce and greens. It looks like carrots and zucchini will be ready. Yay!!! Strawberries are finished this week, but blueberries will come in a couple of weeks.
As always, if you have any comments about your CSA Share, your pickup location, etc., please email me.
Have a great week!
Amy
What a beautiful week! After the oppressive heat and humidity, and then a virtual deluge in some areas over the weekend, we are loving this mild weather for the official start of summer. We have more farmer news to share with you:
From Grateful Life Farm
From Harmony Grove Farm
Hello Friends! We had a sizzling hot summer day earlier this week – it went up almost 110 degrees in our greenhouse! Then we had great amount of gushing water from the sky yesterday!! Fortunately, all our greens survived through this week!
From NuWay Farm
CSA Shares
Full Shares
- 1 kohlrabi from Chester Detweiler Farm
- 1/2 lb. lettuce from NuWay Farm
- 1 lb. snow peas from NuWay Farm
- 1 bunch green onions from NuWay Farm
- 1 head lettuce from Harmony Grove Farm
- 1 head lettuce from Grateul Life Farm
- 2 Choice
Small Shares
- 1 kohlrabi from Chester Detweiler Farm
- 1/3 lb. lettuce from NuWay Farm
- 1/2 lb. snow peas from NuWay Farm
- 1 bunch green onions from NuWay Farm
- 1/2 lb. collard greens from NuWay Farm
- 1 head lettuce from Harmony Grove Farm
- 1 Choice
Mini Shares
- 1 kohlrabi from Chester Detweiler Farm
- 1/4 lb. snow peas from NuWay Farm
- 1 bunch green onions from NuWay Farm
- 1 head lettuce from Harmony Grove Farm
Recipes
Kohlrabi can be eaten raw or cooked. See the link below if you're not familiar with this veggie.
My favorite way to eat snow peas is when I peel the stem and string off and just pop them in my mouth. Sweet and crunchy!
Cranberry Almond Lettuce Salad
Collard Greens Chicken Burritos
Asian Beef with Mushrooms and Snow Peas
Kohlrabi Salad with Cilantro and Lime
As you can see from the Choice box, summer produce is slowly coming. We should have more variety in your shares next week besides lettuce and greens. It looks like carrots and zucchini will be ready. Yay!!! Strawberries are finished this week, but blueberries will come in a couple of weeks.
As always, if you have any comments about your CSA Share, your pickup location, etc., please email me.
Have a great week!
Amy
This hot weather should bring a great appreciation of your farmers. Even when it's sweltering outside, we are still out in the fields planting, weeding, and harvesting. If possible, we get up early to beat the heat, and then work again in the evening. But sometimes we just have to stay hydrated and keep on going when temperatures soar, like when we're cutting hay. Most crops stay fresh longer when we pick them early in the day, before the sun heats them up. Greens are quick-chilled in cold water, and then weighed and packaged under a roof.
We have a new installment from David Yoder of NuWay Farm:
And an update from Grateful Life Farm:

For those of you with Chicken Shares, your first chicken will come next week. Biweekly shares will receive chickens two weeks in a row, and then biweekly for the rest of the season. When we start chickens too early in the spring, we have found that they are more susceptible to illness and death because of the cold, so we delayed the start of Chicken Shares by one week. If you don't have a Chicken Share, some of Grateful Life's chicken will be available in the Webstore soon.
Share Contents
Full Shares
- 1 quart strawberries from Chester Detweiler Farm
- 1/2 lb. lettuce mix from NuWay Farm
- 1/2 lb. collard greens from Grateful Life Farm
- 1 bunch green onions from NuWay Farm
- 1 bunch radishes from NuWay Farm
- 1/2 lb. Swiss chard from NuWay Farm
- 1 head lettuce Grateful Life Farm
- 1 bunch garlic scapes from Red Dog Farm
- 2 Choice items
Small Shares
- 1 pt. strawberries from Chester Detweiler Farm
- 1/3 lb. lettuce from NuWay Farm
- 1 bunch green onions from NuWay Farm
- 1 bunch radishes from NuWay Farm
- 1/2 lb. kale from Grateful Life Farm
- 1 head lettuce Grateful Life Farm
- 1 Choice item
Mini Share
- 1 pt. strawberries from Chester Detweiler Farm
- 1 bunch radishes from NuWay Farm
- 1 head lettuce Grateful Life Farm
- 1/3 lb. collard greens from NuWay Farm
Recipes
White Bean and Garlic Scape Dip
Simple Spaghetti with Kale, Lemon and Garlic
Spicy Kale and Quinoa Black Bean Salad
One Pot Mushroom and Swiss Chard Pasta
Roasted Salt & Pepper Radish Chips
Radish & Herb Cashew Ricotta Crostini -- Sub regular ricotta or goat cheese if you eat dairy and don't want to make cashew cheese.
Cuban-Inspired Black Beans and Rice with Collard Greens and Pan-Fried Plantains -- If you're not familiar with plantains, they are a relative of bananas.
Blanched Collard Greens for Wraps
Garlic Ginger Collard Greens + Eggs & Feta
If one of these recipes looks yummy but you didn't receive that particular green in your Share, I have found that I can substitute other greens in recipes. Kale, collards, Swiss chard, spinach, etc. can be swapped out in many (not all) recipes.
Have a great week and try to stay cool! Enjoy some new recipes, try different foods, and have fun with fresh local food!
Amy
Welcome to our first week of Summer Farm Shares! Each week you will receive this email with farm news, a list of your share contents, and recipe ideas. If you are on vacation, you will still receive the email so you can drool over what you're missing that week.
News from Leah from Grateful Life Farm last week:
We weathered a pretty intense storm on Sunday night with thankfully no significant damage. I had just finished planting spinach and tomato transplants, moved the laying hens’ fence and started mowing grass when the first burst of rain hit. I was initially happy to have my transplants watered in and went in the house to get cleaned up for a trip to the store to buy materials for another chicken pen. Soon Shawn came in to tell me to hurry up and get out of the shower because the thunder and lightning were getting really close. We never left the property, but instead spent the rest of the afternoon and evening alternately staring helplessly out the window as heavy downpours, including hail, pelted our vegetables, and running outside during the breaks in the storms to check on the animals.
Hearing stories on the news, I could never picture in my mind how people and cars could be swept away by flash floods, how water could rise so fast, but I could imagine it that night. The tiny trickle of a stream dividing our property and the neighbor’s, nearly dry in the summer, roared with racing water, overcame the drainage pipe at the bottom of our driveway and partially submerged the road, dumping into an angrily churning Shull Run. The ground was already so wet and saturated that the additional water just ran across our yard and field, inches deep in places. We had moved the broiler chickens in their pasture pen to the highest ground we have earlier in the day, but by dark their area was getting really soggy and I was sick at heart, feeling like there was nothing more I could do for them. After my final tour around 10:30 PM, I went to bed feeling depressed and helpless and slept poorly, dreaming of finding all the animals dead and all the lettuce and collards and kale flattened in the morning.
The morning dawned pleasantly sunny and I forced myself out the door for morning chores, dreading the carnage I expected to find. Instead, I was reminded how resilient plants and animals can be. There was no damage to our crops and only a handful of wet and cold broiler chickens who were transferred back to the brooder for a few hours of warming. The hail had broken a hole in the plastic sheeting roof above the brooders, but the hole was on the eave and had not allowed rain on the baby chickens and turkeys. We are so grateful that all of our season’s hard work was not destroyed that night, but also wistful for the time before we farmed when a bad storm was no more than a beautiful light show.
We also have a new installment from David Yoder of NuWay Farm. If you have missed his previous journals this spring, you can read them at http://www.nwpagrowers.com/blog
Farm Shares
Full Shares
- 1 head lettuce from Harmony Grove Farm
- 1 head lettuce from Grateful Life Farm
- 1 bunch radishes from NuWay Farm
- 1 pt. strawberries from Chester Detweiler Farm
- 1 bunch green onions from NuWay Farm
- 1 lb. rhubarb from NuWay Farm
- 1 bunch garlic scapes from Novotny Farm
- 1/2 lb. spinach from NuWay Farm
- 1 herb from Silver Wheel Farm or Bushel and a Peck Farm
- 2 choice
Small Share
- 1 head lettuce from Harmony Grove Farm
- 1/4 lb. lettuce mix from NuWay Farm
- 1 bunch radishes from NuWay Farm
- 1 pt. strawberries from Chester Detweiler Farm
- 1 bunch green onions from NuWay Farm
- 1/2 lb. rhubarb from NuWay Farm
- 1/4 lb. spinach from NuWay Farm
- 1 Choice
Mini Share
- 1 head lettuce from Harmony Grove Farm
- 1 bunch radishes from NuWay Farm
- 1 pt. strawberries from Chester Detweiler Farm
- 1 bunch green onions from NuWay Farm
Recipes
If you are new or have been away from our CSA for the winter and spring, we are now using Pinterest to share recipes. Follow us at https://www.pinterest.com/nwpagrowers/pins/. Besides the recipes that I share each week, you can find additional recipes from previous weeks. The old recipes are still available at http://www.nwpagrowers.com/recipe if you want to search for an old favorite or look for additional ideas.
For salads that call for red onion, you may substitute your green onions. And if you want to make a larger spinach salad, mix in some lettuce.
Strawberry, Feta, and Spinach Salad
Strawberry Avocado Spinach Salad with Chicken
Creamy Garlic Scapes Salad Dressing
Savory Radish and Goat Cheese Muffins
8 Ways to Eat Radishes and Radish Greens
Double Crumb Rhubarb Coffee Cake
It's the season of green with a splash of red from the fields. My family is beginning to tire of salads (not me! I love them), but that's what is fresh right now. So they will have to deal with it. More variety will come soon.
I always welcome your feedback about your Farm Share. Please let me know what you like or don't like, what you wish for in your share, or how we can make the CSA better.
Amy
This is the final day of our Spring Share, full of fresh spring greens! Summer season begins in just two weeks. It seems impossible that June is almost upon us, yet the seasons don't wait for us to be ready. Your farmers are planting seeds and seedlings, mulching and weeding, planting new perennials, tending to baby animals, managing pasture and fence for older animals, and more. Soon it will be time to cut hay for winter feed.
David Yoder of NuWay Farm shares another installment from his life on the farm:

Farm Shares
Today's farm shares include:
- Pea shoots from Harmony Grove Farm
- Rhubarb (2 lb.) from NuWay Farm
- Broccoli Rabe from NuWay Farm
- Spinach from Grateful Life Farm
- Green onions from NuWay Farm
- Watercress from Miller Farm Products
- Mixed lettuce from NuWay Farm
- Lettuce from Grateful Life Farm
- Lettuce from Harmony Grove Farm
- Herb from Springfield Acres or Bushel and a Peck Farm
The Broccoli Rabe was a nice surprise. We didn't think it would be ready yet, but we were surprised. So we substituted that for mizuna that we had planned. If you're not familiar with it, it is a member of the brassica family (cabbage, broccoli, etc.). It forms a small broccoli-like floret on top of a tender stalk with leaves. Some say its flavor is reminiscent of arugula. My family ate some with dinner last night. When I boiled it in salt water for a few minutes, most of the bitter, spicy flavor was subdued. I then sautéed onions and added the drained rabe and seasoned with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Delicious!
Recipes
You will be eating lots of salad in the coming days!
Need Salad Recipes? Chart with Topping Combinations
8 Healthy Salad Dressing Recipes
Avocado, Strawberry, and Spinach Salad
Spring Onion and Pea Tendril Flatbread (this one is a little more involved, unless you take shortcuts and use a purchased flatbread and pesto...but it looks delicious!)
Simple Crustless Spinach Quiche
Grilled Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps
Watercress Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette
Watercress and Pistachio Pesto
Lemony White Beans with Broccoli Rabe
Italian-Style Garlicky Broccoli Rabe
Hmmm...I think I went a little overboard with pinning recipes today. You should not be lacking for ideas for your veggies, and you have no excuse if you forget them in your fridge.
We all wish you a festive Memorial Day weekend filled with family and friends. Take time to remember those who have died in service of our country.
Amy
Based on feedback from some of you, we have added a new type of Vegetable Share: Select. Now you can build your own share to satisfy your family's tastes.
More lettuce and less kale? Done.
Hate onions but love tomatoes? Check.
Customize your share each week. Take a vacation and order extra the following week. Just like the grocery store but it's fresh, local, and naturally grown. Just like the farmer's market, but it's already packed for you.
Sign up today to eat fresh and local all season.
Did you already join the CSA for this year, but you would rather have a choice? You can change your share type and pay the additional 10% for this option.
On another note, Summer Farm Shares begin June 7. Some of our pickup locations are still lagging behind where they need to be for us to deliver there. They may be cancelled early next week unless numbers increase. They include:
- Erie
- Cranberry Twp.
- Greenville
- Meadville
- Harmony
- Sharpsville
- Pittsburgh
Thank you for your continued support of local farms. Whether you buy from our farms or others, we appreciate when you spend your food dollars to support local agriculture and for trusting us with a portion of your family's nutrition.
Visit our Website to see all the options and to sign up for your Farm Share.
Email me with any questions or comments.
Amy Philson, manager
NWPA Growers' Cooperative
This was shared by one of our Farm Share members:
"I can't do CSA because I don't have time to cook!"
I would like to challenge this statement with a story. My college aged son was living on his own for the first time last summer and working full-time in Erie. He had grown up going to farmer's markets and CSA share pickups, and I wondered if he would like to be part of a CSA. He agreed to give it a try but was worried about how to use the shares without wasting food. His strategy was to pick up his share on Wednesdays, see what was in the box, and go to the grocery store to pick up any additional ingredients to make a meal that night. Then he used the recipes provided by our CSA manager to cook again on Sunday to use up any of the fresh items he received that week. He would then eat leftovers on the other days of the week. It worked perfectly and what was intended to be an experiment ended up being a very positive experience for him. He is going to be a CSA member again this summer and hopefully for many years to come.
If you have considered a Farm Share but haven't signed up yet, time is running short! We have veggie shares that range between $10 and $26 per week.
http://nwpagrowers.com/summer-farm-sharecsa-types-and-pricing
We have a special treat for you today. I have been asking our farmers to compose a paragraph to include in our newsletter, and they just don't take (or have) the time. So you get to hear what's going on from my perspective.
This week, David Yoder from NuWay Farm made time to do this. Below is what he wrote:
I hope to continue with more of these updates from our member farms in the future.
Here is what is in your CSA Shares this week:
- 1/2 lb. popcorn from Chester Detweiler Farm
- 1 lb. rhubarb from Sunny Meadow Farm
- 1 bunch green garlic from Bushel and a Peck Farm
- 1 bunch green onions from NuWay Farm
- 1/3 lb. ramps from NuWay Farm
- 1/2 lb. arugula from NuWay Farm
- 1/4 lb. horseradish root from Bushel and a Peck Farm
- 1/3 lb. watercress from NuWay Farm
- 2 heads lettuce from Harmony Grove Farm
A note about fresh horseradish: Making your own horseradish sauce to keep in your fridge is quick and easy. I hope yours doesn't languish in your crisper drawer until it is no longer useful. Here is a quote from one of the recipes below that speaks volumes about our modern culture:
"Betty and I were talking about how very few people make homemade horseradish sauce anymore, even when they have access to a horseradish patch. The big batch we did took a couple hours (with digging and cleaning), but we ended up with four quarts of sauce. (I'm gifting out horseradish to local friends and family this fall.) If you were making only a cup, it wouldn't take much time at all.
I think that perhaps our modern palates are spoiled by the abundance of food choices available in the average grocery store, and how much fresh produce is available all year round. In the olden days, folks were more appreciative of the zip of horseradish when they had to rely on storage food all winter. The same might be said of heavy spiced cakes and cookies. I find when baking that spice cakes and cookies are much more appreciated by the older crowd, while young palates more commonly go for chocolate or vanilla."
Use the green garlic just as you would regular garlic. Slice or chop it and sauté in your favorite recipes. Most people discard the tough green leaves and only use the tender white/light green portions.
Recipes
Bean Salad with Crips Celery, Watercress, and Red Onion
Watercress, Leek and Coconut Milk Soup (sub ramps or green garlic for the leeks)
Easy Spring Garlic and Oregano Meatballs
Soy-Lemon Flank Steak with Arugula (I would serve it on a bed of arugula rather than just sprinkling some on top.)
Spiced Braised Rhubarb Serve it on ice cream or yogurt...or eat it plain!
Savory Ramp and Cheddar Muffins
An update on the email that I sent last week to our entire mailing list: We have had a great response to it. A number of people signed up for shares who had been procrastinating. I have received many emails with encouraging words, ideas, offers of help, and also constructive criticism why some have not signed up again. We welcome input from you all, both positive and negative. While NWPA Growers exists to market and deliver our farmers' products, we want to serve you in the best way that we can. And we are encouraged when former members tell us why our program didn't work for their family but they are still seeking out local foods from other area farms. We all have the same goal: healthy food from a healthy local economy.
Enjoy this beautiful day! I would love to get away from my desk and work in my gardens, but I'm afraid that my day is filled with paperwork and computer work, and then a meeting tonight. My husband is spreading manure with his team of draft horses right now. Maybe tomorrow I can get outside...
Amy
Yes, it's already May. Flowers are blooming, weather is warming...and farmers are planting their summer crops.
We need your help. Sign-ups for our Farm Shares are falling short of our past seasons. In fact, way behind. Our farmers depend on the preorders of Farm Shares to plan what and how much to plant. However, they are shooting in the dark right now. And they are getting worried that they won't be able to sell their products. Which means more family farms closing down.
In fact, two of our member farms decided to do just that this year. They couldn't make ends meet by depending on farming, so they were forced to take a different job in order to care for their families.
Farming is a gamble, and we seem to lose more often than we win. And people wonder why the price of local food is so high. It's because we don't receive farm subsidies from the government. We prefer to rely on our hard work and the support of our community.
Since you are a part of our mailing list, we know that you see the importance of healthy food. You value supporting our local economy by purchasing that food from small family farms.
We all know that there are some drawbacks to purchasing a Farm Share. Sometimes it is inconvenient to make another stop to pick up your share. And you have to actually cook! But if good health is important to us, then we all must make the time to seek out the best food and prepare it for our families.
At our cooperative's recent Board of Directors meeting, we discussed ways to meet the needs of our changing society, including a mobile farm truck, farmer's markets, home delivery, a storefront or market stand, and more. All of these ideas are in the discussion stage right now, but we welcome your input as we adapt to the needs of our communities.
How can you help?
- Some of you have already signed up for your Farm Share. A big THANK YOU to you! You can help by telling your friends, family, and acquaintances about our Farm Share. Some of our pickup locations are in danger of being cancelled if membership there doesn't increase.
- Some of you are brand new to NWPA Growers and don't know much about us. I encourage you to try a Farm Share. We have several sizes available to match your eating habits.
- Some of you have been considering a Farm Share but just haven't gotten around to signing up. Do it now!
- Some of you grow your own garden. Consider joining our Webstore to supplement what you grow. The Webstore also has healthy meats, eggs, cheese, maple products, honey, and more.
- All of you can forward this email to others. Or go to our Facebook page and share.
Again, thank you all for your support of local farms. We take our mission to provide healthy food to our surrounding communities very seriously. But we can't do it alone.
Live well and eat healthy.
Amy Philson, manager
Northwest Pennsylvania Growers' Cooperative