Caro - Walmart Parking Lot Monday evenings from 5;30-6:30pm

Southfield - bldg 2000 at Evergreen and 10 mile on Wednesday afternoon at 3:30-4pm
Farmington - Orchard 12 Plaza at Orchard Lk Rd. and 12 mile from 4:30 - 6pm on Wednesday afternoons

To your door delivery is also available throughout our service area. It is $75 for all areas N of Rochester and $100 for the Farmington/ Southfield area.

Pricing for the Garden Goodies Summer Program is as follows:
A)Half Share Program - half bushel weekly or full bushel bi-weekly Garden Goodies Only - $350
B)Full Share Program - Full bushel weekly Garden Goodies Only - $550
C) Senior Share - half bushel weekly w/ delivery within the target area $300

Egg shares- Available to CSA customers only at this point
E1) one dozen farm fresh free range eggs delivered weekly $50
E2) two dozen farm fresh free range eggs delviered weekly $95
Last year we sold out on the eggs just for our CSA customers. I purchased more chickens this year, but I don’t expect to have Egg shares available to sell to the general public. The best way to get eggs from us is to sign up for the CSA program.

Please keep in mind if you are interested in grass fed meats that there is a discount for signing up for the annual shares that include pork bundles through the winter months. There is a seperate post that deals specifically with these programs and their pricing. Please let me know if you have any questions.

I will divide the plant list up into groups of the items that you will find in your baskets for early, mid, and late season. You won’t get all of the items in every basket, but it will give you and idea of the progression. Half a bushel is about the size of the black wire baskets you get at Krogers that go over your arm. A bushel is about the size of a square milk crate, or Family Dollar sells bushel sized laundry baskets in a variety of colors. Also, I am there when you pick up, so if there is something that you or your family won’t eat - just let me know. I will do my best to substitute it for something else that is available. I don’t want to waste anything, and there is always someone else who will take it By August, you are getting more than your half bushel because some things are just big like the cantaloupes, cabbages, watermelon and some of the squash. I had banana squash last year that I had to can, because they were too big to do much else with. It was like stacking logs in the back of the truck. They are an interesting variety: we had some that were 12 inches long and some that were 4 feet long growing right next to each other.

Early basket - cucumbers, radishes, carrots, zucchini, scallop squash, greens (we are aiming for a lettuce or green in every basket this season), tomatoes (maybe not in the first basket, but probably the second, definately the third), green beans - Dill

Mid season basket - cucumbers, radishes, carrots, zucchini, scallops, greens/lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, sweet corn (I delivered corn 7 times last year throughout the season), melons, broccoli, dragon tongue beans, onions, winter squash, egg plant - cilantro, basil, oregano

Late season - tomatoes, still more corn, winter squash, pumpkins, greens, melons, peppers, cabbage, turnips, rutabagas, beets, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, herbs, potatoes, sweet potatoes, egg plant, onions

To sign up for the 2012 CSA Program simply print out the CSA commitment agreement, which can be found linked on our Garden Goodies page, or typed out on the blog for your convenience, sign it and send it in with your check or MO for the amount of the program you wish to participate in. Some folks had trouble getting the page to open last year, so I just typed it up on the blog to make it easier.

We are really excited about the program this season. Winter can be so isolating it will be nice to see everyone again and to get to know our new members.
Have a blessed and wonderful day!
Steph

Please make checks payable to:

S. Antaya

789 Wilwood

Rochester Hills MI 48309

We will be offering pork deliveries monthly to the regular drop off sites in Rochester and Farmington.  Drops will take place the second Saturday of the month in months with 4 weeks or the middle Saturday in months with 5 weeks.  Pick up times will be in Rochester between 10am and 11am at the Kroger parking lot at Silverbell and Adams and in Farmington from 12:30-1:30pm Saturday afternoon at the parking lot at Orchard Lake and 12 mile at the Orchard 12 plaza.  On the way back up 24 I will be at the Big Boy parking lot from 3:30-4:30pm for my Oxford/Lake Orion customers. For my Frankenmuth, Birch Run, and Lapeer customers, we can set up a time to meet once monthly for you to pick up your meats.  You don’t have to drive all the way up here either :)   The pork will be divided into 20lb bundles.  You will choose which bundle you would like each month so you can adjust as you see fit as the season progresses.  I have written up the pork program to run from September 17th through February 11th, but we will take sign up for the veggie, meat and annual memberships year round.  If you want to sign up mid-season we will simply wrap your annual membership around from the date that you sign up. 

I can not stress enough that this is not supermarket pork.  It is certainly not the other white meat.  I raise three breeds of heritage hog, two of which are on the ALBCs critically endangered list.  My hogs are free ranged on 10 acres of pasture, and are lower in cholesterol and fat than most meats you could buy in the supermarket, including some poultry.  It is dark, rich, flavorful, and superbly healthy.  For more information on the advantages of pasture raised meats - please check out www.eatwild.com.  They have done some wonderful research into the health benefits of grassfed foods.

The bundles look like this:

A) Mixed pork bundle

      1.  4lbs breakfast sausage

      2.  2lbs italian sausage (hot or mild)

      3.  1 ham hock (approx 2lbs)

      4.  2lbs ground pork

      5.  1 (3-5lb) pork roast

      6.  2lbs bratwurst

      7.  2lbs. chops or cutlets

      8.  2lbs spare ribs

B) Sausage bundle

      1.  5lbs. breakfast sausage

      2.  5lbs. chorizo

      3.  5lbs. italian sausage (hot or mild)

      4.  5lbs. bratwurst

C) Tailgater bundle

      1.  5lbs. ribs

      2.  1 (3-5lb.) pork roast - perfect for barbeque or pulled pork sandwiches

      3.  6lbs. bratwurst

      4.  6lbs.  italian sausage (hot or mild)  (or in Dec. on you can substitute 8lbs. fresh natural casing hot dogs or we can do a combination of the two)

Pricing for the meat CSA is $600 and it runs for 6 months.  That is less than $25 per week, or $100 per month, which works out to approx. $5/lb including delivery to the drop points .

Pricing for the meat CSA plus a 4 dozen a month egg share is $685.  Pricing for the eggs is slightly higher during the winter months, because feed costs increase as there is less pasture for the girls to take advantage of, and egg production goes down a bit in the winter, as temps get colder and there is less light.  This puts winter egg prices at $3.50 per dozen for fresh free range large brown eggs delivered.

After speaking with my husband, we also decided that those of you who are going to be year round members should also receive an additional discount, so for those of you who would like to sign up through next year pricing is explained below.  In addition to the discount, this also holds the CSA prices at the previous years rate even if it increases next year. 

Annual CSA membership from now through next season:

A1) Winter pork CSA (from September 17th through February) plus half share vegetable CSA (July 1st - Oct. 31st) - discounted price for early sign up $900   (No eggs included in this option)

A2) Winter pork CSA (from September 17th through February) plus full share vegetable CSA (July 1st - Oct. 31st) - discounted annual price $1100

Annual CSA membership from now until Oct. 31st 2012 including egg share

B1) Winter pork CSA with 4 dozen eggs per month (from September through February) plus half share vegetable CSA plus one dozen eggs delivered weekly from (1 July - Oct 31, 2012) - price w/early sign up $1025

B2) Winter pork CSA with 4 dozen eggs per month (from September 17th - February) plus full share vegetable CSA plus one dozen eggs delivered weekly from (1 July - Oct 31, 2011) - price w/ early sign up $1225

C1) Winter Egg Only shares - 4 dozen eggs per month picked up at one of our two drop sites is $100.

As many of you know, I have a genuine heart for our senior customers and we always offer programs to keep this affordable and convenient for our area seniors.  My grandparents raised me, and it is important to me that anyone who would like to take part is able to do so.  Because I have so many seniors and smaller families taking part in the program I have set up an annual ’senior’ package as well.  If you are not a senior, don’t fret, it is available to anyone who feels that 20lbs is more than they could use or afford.  It is a 12lb bundle and subscription for the 6 month winter CSA season will run $360.

S) “Senior” bundle

      1.  (3-5lb) pork roast

      2.  2lbs.  your choice sausage (italian, bratwurst, breakfast, chorizo) or ground pork

      3.  2lbs.  pork chops or cutlets

      4.  2lbs.  pork steak

      5.  2lbs.  spare ribs or an additional 2lbs. sausage (choice)

That makes annual membership for this program look like this:

S1) Senior or small family Annual membership without eggs including Senior winter CSA ($360) and half share senior vegetable membership ($300) - $660

S2) Senior or small family Annual membership with eggs Including Senior winter CSA w/4 dozen eggs delivered each month ($445) and half share senior vegetable CSA membership including 1 dozen eggs delivered weekly ($350) - $795

If you need to set up payments for the annual membership options, that is certainly doable.

Please feel free to call or email with any questions.

Steph 

810-656-2036

CSA Payments can be sent to :

Stephanie Antaya

8231 S. SIlverwood Rd.

Silverwood, MI 48760

Dear Heavenly Father,

Praise to you this morning and every morning for all of the blessings in my life!  Thank you for your wonderful work in Katie Lord..thank you for her healing and her heart.  Thank you for strengthening her, and giving her the peace to push on.  Praise you for your grace and your mercy and your love.  Thank you for the rain - I can feel it in the air this morning and I know it is coming.  Thank you for thinking of me and the plants in the field.  For loving me when I am unreasonable, and not so lovable.  For finding joy in the things that make me me, when others don’t always appreciate them.  Thank you for your presence in the field as I work and for the prayer time I enjoy out there.  I almost think you send me rough seasons because that is when we get to spend the most time together..talking and working.  I will try to be better in the good times about not taking you for granted.  I know I am sometimes guilty of that.  I try not to, but I am definately a more attentive daughter when I am brought to my knees.   I just really wanted to say thanks..for everything! Amen!!

I have 3 hogs ready to butcher which are not yet spoken for. This does not happen very often, as we are almost always back ordered. However, due to some wonderful abundant litters this season we have some extra pigs to move on to make room for new additions to the herd.

We raise Tamworth, Large Black, and Old Spot hogs on acres of pasture here in the thumb of Michigan, all of which are listed as threatened or critically endangered by the American Livestock Breed Conservancy (ALBC). Our pigs glean between 80-90% of their nutrition from rich green alfalfa, clover, and grasses. Pasture raise meats are signifigantly higher in vitamins B, D, and E as well as the healthy Omega - 3s and CLA (a cancer preventative). It is also much lower in bad fats and cholesterol. If you are looking to feed your family only the very best Michigan has to offer. This is the pork you want to put on their plates!

Meat from these hogs is sought out by chefs and foodies all over the world. It is a culinary delight you won’t soon forget. Although I should warn you - once you start eating this way there is no going back. This is absolutely NOT the other white meat!!

I am offering these pigs by the quarter, the half, or the whole - as I am low on freezer space at the moment, and the cuts take room at my place. Pricing is as follows:

1/4 hog - $4.50/lb + processing
1/2 hog - $4.25/lb + processing
whole hog - $4/lb. + processing

Processing fees vary depending on what you would like done with the pig, but typically pricing is  .30/lb for cutting and wrapping plus a flat fee of $7.50 per quarter. Smoking the meat for bacon and hams etc… costs .75/lb.

There is a $100 non-refundable deposit for reserving your quarter or half hog, and a $150 non-refundable deposit for reserving your whole pig.

Thank you Lord for comforting my spirit over these last few days.  I have had moments where this whole situation with the neighbors has just felt unnerving and overwhelming.  I am grateful that you know my heart and my spirit and that you are always available to give me your peace and direction.  Praise you Lord for your wisdom and your provision.  I want to lift up some of our friends today Dear Jesus - I thank you Lord for Anita and for the wonderful friend she is and has been to me.  I am so blessed to have found her up here.  I pray Lord that you would bless her farm and her family in every way.  I also Lord want to thank you for Darcy and her husband Ben.  My heart goes out to them this Memorial Day weekend.  I am so grateful that I have met them and would just ask that you be with them and bring them your peace as they celebrate the life of their son this weekend.  I thank you for Tammy at the video store.  She has been such a good friend to both Brett and I.  Please help her to get through her Aunts things and have a great yard sale.  Thank you for Norm and his wonderful wife on Fish Lake Rd, and for Bob and Linda at O’Connell Suffolks.  You have truly blessed us with so many wonderful people in our lives, and I should thank you more often.  Thank you for being with Jodi and the baby Lord, and for helping that little booger stay inside this long.  Please be with them both and get her here healthy and vigorous.  Their family has had some real tragedies Lord and I would just pray Lord that this year would be a turning point for them.  That you will provide them with a wonderful year filled with joy and blessings and that this year would just be the first of many.  Thank you Lord for each of the wonderful families that have chosen to take part in our CSA this season.  Please bless them all abundantly.  Continue to touch hearts and move mountains in the lives of those we love.  Please be with me today and reveal yourself today.  I get so much joy out of seeing you work! You are the great and mighty Lord of Lords and I am so blessed to be your daughter.  Help me Lord to truly be and become the woman you created me to be.  Please help us to get caught up on all of the things we need to get done and help our garden to be so wonderful this year that all those who see it will call it truly blessed.  Thank you Lord for my family and the way they touch my heart each day.  Help us to truly be your hands and feet in this world.  Thank you for the health and happiness I see when I look at them and the animals we raise.  We are so blessed indeed.  Thank you Lord for loving us the way you do and for helping us to be the best we can be.  In Jesus Holy Name we ask and pray - Amen!

Thank you for a sunshiney morning.  Thank you for calm skies and sweet breezes.  Please be with us today as we seek your presence.  Bless us with your guidance and your love.  Please continue to speak to our hearts and to encourage our walk with you.  Help us to grow closer as a family as we work hard together to achieve the goals of the farm.  Please help us to be a blessing to those around us, and help us to be patient with those with whom we have misunderstandings.  I ask Dear Lord that you would just open our hearts and minds to your will and your way.  Help us to see through your vision and to be a positive influence on the world around us.  Please be with our extended families today and everyday Lord.  Help them to be safe and healthy and to feel the light of your love upon them.  Please be with the garden this year Lord and help it to grow and produce in amazing abundance.  You are the great grower Lord, and from your touch and your presence beauty sprouts.  You are the mighty creator of all things …please touch our garden with your gentle hand and let it spring forth for your people.  I pray today in Jesus Holy name.  Amen!

Thank you for today.  Thank you for your constant provision over our family.  Thank you for loving us and keeping us safe.  We are grateful for all of the gifts we have been given.  Thank you for a roof over our heads, food on the table, and that farm and family are doing well.  Thank you for our health and for the blessings of our children.  I am grateful Lord for each of them and the way they touch our hearts and enrich our lives.  Please Lord continue to guide us through our days.  Help us make the right decisions and to move in the right direction.  Please give us wisdom as we make decisions to grow our farm.  Help us get all of the things done we need to.  There is always so much work and it feels like we always run out of time to get it all done.  Help whatever is wrong with the truck not be too costly.  Please be with us as we go through our day.  Help keep our focus on You and Your will for our lives.  Give us courage to push through the tough spots and time to enjoy the gifts you have given us.  I so enjoyed our time with the kids yesterday.  It is so uplifting to play with them and to enjoy their laughter and their love for each other.   Help us to be the very best we can be Lord.  Help us to be the very best we possibly can.  Help me to have courage through the hard times and please use our trials for your glory.  In Jesus Holy Name we ask and Pray! Amen

Thank you Lord for this beautiful day!  Thank you for helping us get the things done on the house that we need to.  It feels so good to make good progress.  It is so easy to get behind on things with the amount of work we have to do.  Praise you for helping us to all work together the way we need to with minimal complaining and just a sense of unity as a family.  I am so proud of my family this week for their dedication to making everything fall into place.  Help us Lord to just stay focused and diligent.  Please be with us and help us to get the rest of the planting taken care of that we need to get done and help the plants to grow strong and healthy.  Please continue to bless our family and our farm and help the contracts continue to steadily arrive.  Thank you for all of the wonderful blessings in our life.  Please continue to help us meet our obligations and Your expectations.  Please use our family to achieve your purposes and keep us in the center of Your will.   Please help me as I prepare to speak at the Green Living Festival.  Please send the Holy Spirit to comfort me and keep me.  I will need You there with me if I am to get through this.  I long to pursue Your goals for me and I can’t wait to see my children and my family grow in You as we seek your presence and your will, please help me make the changes I need to so that I can be useful.  I want so much to be everything You designed me to be.  You have been so gracious and generous to me throughout my life.  Please continue to use us to reach out to others.  Help us to be aware of those who are in need, so that we do not miss the moments we could be of service. 

Please be with our nation Lord.  Help us to seek You as a country.  Forgive us for discounting the blessings You have bestowed on our great nation.  Help us to help ourselves.  Please keep us focused on lifting up one another.  Help our leaders to be servants of Your word and Your teachings.  Let us be an example and light of your love and truth throughout the world.  Through these hard times reveal yourself to those who do not know you.  Let these difficulties be used for Your glory and honor.  I pray for stronger leadership.  I continue to pray for a leader who is in Your service, who will be strengthened by You in difficult times.  We pray for a more peaceful world to come from all of the unrest in the middle east.  Please be with the Japanese people Lord as they continue to recover from last months tragedies.  They are such a gracious people.  Please bless them Lord and reveal yourself to them through those who are reaching out to them right now Lord.  In Jesus Holy name we ask and pray.  Amen

If we do indeed hit $6 per gallon gasoline this summer, you can bet our prices in the grocery store will reflect those increases and then some.  Those same prices have already been affected by the issues with the dollar.  Anyone else notice that first they raised the canned good prices, and then they decreased the size of the can?  And how many of you realize that most farms are already paying approximately 25% more to feed their animals the same grain they fed them last year?  Being a pasture farm we are less effected, but we still feel it when we pick up our supplementary grain at the mill.  How about dog food prices..first they reduced the bag size… Purina Dog Food used to come in 50 lb bags, now they are 40lb bags and if you are really lucky you can pick up that bag that has the free 10% giving you 44lbs.  Unfortunately, you are paying 30% more for that 40-44lb bag then you were when they were still packaging it the other way.   I am not making this up, and this is just the beginning.

Most CSAs set the rate, and payment is received at the beginning of the season, which holds your pricing through the entire summer.  If you are very fortunate, your CSA has annual programs which allow you to pay for the year..this keeps you in the cheap for at least 12 months regardless of who is in the White House or Congress and what they decide to do, or not to do, to ease our financial woes.  Your grocery store will certainly not offer you the same peace of mind.  Being a farm and being local allows CSA farmers some luxury that your grocery stores simply don’t enjoy.

If we do indeed suffer a deeper financial crisis in this country, the stocking of the grocery shelves can slow.    The farmers are still producing, but getting things to market becomes more difficult.  Many stores rely heavily on goods from great distances away, including other countries, who may or may not be interested in extending us further credit as our credit becomes more questionable and particularly if the dollar continues to fall.  Locally grown farm fare is virtually uneffected regardless.   We can still hop in the truck and pick bushels of produce, and driving our wares to deliver them the short distance to you (even in my gas guzzling F-350) is still doable. 

So when you are budgeting your expenses this year, consider local food insurance - the kind offered by an area farm with a farmer who you know and can trust.  CSA programs are the very best source of fresh locally grown produce, and many offer meat and eggs as well these days.  Do the research, and by all means do the math.  Get involved and make choices now that will keep your family finances and their food stores stable come what may.

Stephanie Antaya

Antaya Acres Heritage Farm

Silverwood, MI 48760

810-656-2036