Gotta start with the mandatory holiday cheer which trickles into the first few days of the new year.  We hope you had a great New Years Eve and that you're starting 2017 on the right foot!  Being a CSA member makes it easy to get back into healthy(ish) eating after the holiday season.  This week's share is full of color and flavor and it should get you pretty excited to start cooking light. 

You'll be getting some of the first carrots and broccoli of the season, straight from Verde Farm in Homestead.  They are growing these crops specifically for our CSA this season; a farm partnership we are pretty excited about.  Speaking of farm partnerships, you'll notice that non of the items in the share this week (and very few items in general so far this season) have come out of our personal fields.  There are a few reasons for that and we'd like to take a moment to explain.  For one thing we expanded the size of the CSA substantially this season with the goal of growing about 2 items per week for you.  The rest of the share would predominantly come from the fields of two organic farms in Homestead, French Farms and Verde Farm.  These two farms are working with more space than us and they are both going over and beyond to grow some of the best quality local veggies in South Florida and we felt inspired to collaborate with them.  It's a win/win to be able to have a bigger CSA and support other young farmers in our area.  One of the other reasons you're not seeing many items from our fields is that our property has had some tricky pest issues this season.  We started off with a successful bang when the weather was sweet and cool, but as soon as the tempts went up mid December we started having crop failures.  You may have noticed the past few farm related instagram posts have been about this struggle and the struggle continues into the new year.  We're hoping for a second pop of crop success and you'll be the first to know.  In the mean time, enjoy your CSA knowing that you are still supporting Little River Cooperative in our efforts to make a local food economy viable along with a handful of other hard working young farmers in your hometown. 

The shares this week include the following veg:

Small Shares:
Broccoli from Verde Farm
Carrots from Verde Farm
Choice of kale or swiss chard from French Farm
Carmen and cubanelle sweet peppers from Verde Farm
Cherry tomatoes from Verde Farm
Lettuce head from French Farm
Parsley from C&B Farm

Large Shares:
Broccoli from Verde Farm
Carrots from Verde Farm
Choice of kale or swiss chard from French Farm
Carmen and cubanelle sweet peppers from Verde Farm
Cherry tomatoes from Verde Farm
Lettuce head from French Farm
Parsley from C&B Farm
Extra broccoli
Extra cherry tomatoes