Vegetable Highlights at Outer Aisle!

Spring has arrived! Snap peas, the first coastal Fava beans, English Peas and Strawberries. Wow and all in one week!  

Asparagus will continue strongly for another 4 weeks as will artichokes. Kholrabi is on the menu this week - the swollen stem of a brassica (broccoli family vegetable). If you like broccoli stems you'll love this delicacy.  

Sierra Greeen Days returns to Ironstone on April 31st and May 1st! 

Don't miss this important event! As FoCuS Board members we encourage you to join us and it's free. We will be there with a food booth and a nursery starts. If you want to be connected with what's going on in our community this is the event that will get you there. There's speakers, ceremony, displays, performances, food, auction and of course an awards dinner.  

Check out the website for more details. 

We have reserved a table and personally invite you to join us! Email us to let us know you want to sit at our table and we'll sign you up. Normally $60 pp, but if you sit at our table it'll cost you only $50 pp! We are supplying the ingredients and Chef James from Kautz is cooking the meal! Can't go wrong and you don't want to miss the conviviality! 

CSA/Grain Shares - we are continuing our campaign to bring grain to our region both in the form of food and seed!  

LATEST UPDATE: We are 3/4 of the way with 20 people signed up. Thank you! We are stilling accepting grain and CSA shares. 

We have a unique opportunity to partner with John DeRosier of With The Grain, a certified organic and bio-dynamic grain farmer, and bring local grains and beans to our community.  (See his bio below). 

We are really excited to bring this important component of food security and sustainability into Outer Aisle. We hadn't realized until this past weekend with John how crucial and important it is to act now! We hope you will respond with enthusiasm too and trust that our judgment alone will be enough of a guarantee. To demonstrate our commitment to the success of this relationship Outer Aisle is purchasing 10 shares! 

Here's how it works:

Following in the footsteps of our recent success in community financing, where we raised enough upfront capital to put solar on our store by selling "futures" and paying participants back in Outer Aisle purchases, thereby creating a win-win situation. 

The CSA/Grain Shares will cost $500 (or special offer $250). This will buy you a $200/$100 share of grain seed and beans received in 3 increments over the next three years. The grains that would be included would be a combination of heirloom wheats, oats, barley, rye, millet, corn, lentils, peas, and dry beans in 10, 20 and 20lb increments. The other $300/$150 share will be in Outer Aisle purchases with no time limit. This is available to existing CSA delivery customers, CSA members that shop at our store and the general public. 

Win-win-win benefits for all:

• You receive the full $500/$250 back in food (a portion in grain over a period of time and the other in Outer Aisle purchases with no time limit)
• John receives upfront money during a time of difficulty
• Outer Aisle receives your continued commitment
• We together create a model financing system.

Multiple benefits abound:

• Pioneering a micro-loan financing model that will not only help John continue his important work, but provide a sound model for future projects/businesses.
• Establish a direct supply connection between Outer Aisle and With the Grain. We'll have his grains and beans on our shelf and other customers get the health benefits too.
• Provide a local source of hard-to-find heirloom varieties of grains and beans that are adapted to human scale  production (ie. home gardening) and adapted to our regional climate. These seeds will be used to increase local production of grains and beans on a larger scale bringing back this important crop closer to home.
• Provide a source of bulk seeds for distributing through our store and seed share events for everyone in the community to grow.
• John's extensive knowledge will bring an important educational element to our community.   

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE GARDEN 

Last week was winter, this week it's spring! We'll have plants this week. Beautiful looking tomatoes and peppers. It's getting to be time especially if you have covers and hoops to protect these tender frost sensitive babies.We have plenty on hand at the store (hoops and covers)!

Compost is available through Brice Station between Murphys and Avery. You must call ahead: Stuart Mast 768-7262.  

Seed potatoes have arrived! This is a good time to plant the first succession of potatoes. You could start harvesting these in mid-late June as young baby potatoes!     

If you enjoy sowing your own seeds, now is the time to start all your summer crops. We have a wonderful array of vegetable varieties to choose from: lemon cucumbers, dill, Cherokee purple tomatoes to lettuce, basil and beans. 

The store will be stocked with gardening supplies as well, covers, hoops, irrigation tape and deer fencing. Eric will be available on Thursdays to answer your questions.