Harvest Events are a unique benefit for Bluebird Gardens CSA members!

Defying the notion of common sense and  being totally unique to a typical CSA, Bluebird Gardens Harvest Events are a massive gift from our farm to you.  Harvest Events are opportunities to connect YOU, our valued member, with the place where your food is grown. It's our way of showing you that Bluebird Gardens is YOUR farm! 

The core of the CSA is no doubtedly the box.  That is what you pay for.  If all you want is to pick up your box each week, we are totally happy with that.  We know lives are busy and hectic and not everyone is into preserving food.  But we also know that some want to eat year-around with the product of our biological farming.  What happens to flavor and health when the minerals you need are in your food.

2012 Harvest Events will be different than past Harvest Events.

What's different in 2012? A few things:

• In the past, Harvest Events were held across the entire farm. This year, however, most of them will be on the Wind Turbine field to the left of our driveway. 
• In 2012 there will be FREE Harvest Events that last the whole summer! On the Wind Turbine field, we have crops planted that you can harvest anytime you are in the area, including flowers, herbs, burpless cucumbers, kale, brussel sprouts, grape tomatoes, and zuchinni. We will let you know when these crops are in season, and you can come pick as much as you want, anytime you want!

Harvest Event crops are separate from the crops for our CSA boxes. 

Harvest event crops are planted separately from where we harvest for the boxes, so vegetables taken during Harvest Events will not reduce the number of veggies in your boxes. 

Harvest Events are a great opportunity to stock-up on produce for winter.

Crops from Harvest Events are great for canning, freezing, and pickling. In this age of rapidly rise food prices, being self-sufficient and stocked up for winter by fall is a mighty fulfilling feeling! 

Harvest Events depend on what's in season and what's growing well.

Some years, there is so much bounty, that we add extra Harvest Evetns. When all the harvest events were completed by mid-October in 2011, we still had much left so that we decided to host a free, grand finale Harvest Event to celebrate the bounty!

Other years, there is a crop that doesn't do as well in a particular season. In that case, there might not be a harvest event of that crop. But the chances of that are unlikely; generally bounty reigns!

Some Harvest Events overlap, so you can harvest a variety of crops on each trip.

In the fall of 2011, we had combined Harvest Events for squash, potatoes, pumpkins, fall decoratives, beets, carrots, spinach and kale during the first weeks of October. Our CSA members made one trip and got a variety of produce. 

Harvest Events are a lot of fun and are a great opportunity to relax on YOUR farm!

When you come for Harvest Events, plan to stay for a picnic in the Magic Woods! Some of our members have decided to make picnics at Bluebird Gardens an annual tradition!

Harvest Events allow you to get more of the vegetables that you like the best!

You can use your Harvest Event coupons to stock up on your favorite vegetables. If you are really into a certain vegetable, you can use multiple Harvest Event coupons to get more of that vegetable. For example, you can use three Harvest Event coupons to get thirty dozen corn. We also let people "split" their coupons, so they can get half the allowed amount of one vegetable and half the amount of another to equal one full Harvest Event portion. 

Below is more information on the types of Harvest Events you can choose from. 

• Pea Pick in mid-July. Come with your family and pick peas to eat fresh, can or freeze. You can pick shelling peas, pea pods and sugar snap peas. Last year this harvest event was unlimited picking! 
• Green Beans. The Green Bean Pick occurs any time in the season when we have extra, and you can pick two five-gallon pails of beans. You will find our Jade green beans are amazing for freezing or canning. We are adding other varieties as well that should be terrific for freezing, including yellow beans. 
• Broccoli Pick. With your own patches in the wind turbine field, you will have a royal harvest of broccoli this year. Come to this Harvest Event and get one five-gallon pail of broccoli heads.
• Pickling Cucumbers. This Harvest Event is held by appointment only. Many chose the cucumber pick last summer and picked a bushel of pickling cucumbers! A bushel is two five-gallon pails. Hundreds of pickle jars from our cucumbers were enjoyed over the winter throughout the valley! This year, dill will be planted right beside the cucumbers so you can get what you need for pickling. 
• Cabbage Pick. Some who are into kraut will choose the cabbage pick and get ten heads for sauerkraut.  Since you will have your own patch in the Wind Turbine field, you won't have to wait for the end of the season.
• Tomato Pick. Many took part in the tomato pick in 2011! The tomatoes, in spite of the frost, did well into the middle of October so we had several weeks of free tomato picks.   
• Sweet Corn Pick. This event entitles you to ten dozen of our delicious sweet corn. In 2010 and 2011, the Sweet Corn Harvest Event began in August and continued for two months! 
• Potatoes. The Potato Pick was huge the last two seasons!! Members could pick Norland Red , LeSota, Russett and Yukon Gold potatoes. Since we had such a bountiful crop, the two five-gallon pail amount was changed to four! That amounted to 100 pounds of potatoes...free as a bonus from Bluebird Gardens!!
• Squash Pick. Come and harvest twelve winter squash for your fall and winter season. Last year, members could get 12 squash from our field.  Butternut, Delicata, buttercup and Celebration were the favorites last year.  We will make sure we have plenty of those for the Squash Pick in 2012. 
• Pumpkin Pick. Many families had a blast finding their eight pumpkins in the pumpkin patch!
• Fall Decoratives. In 2012, we will have a Harvest Event for a variety of gourds, small pumpkins, and Indian corn.
• Beets. Come and get a five-gallon pail of our super sweet beets! With a bountiful crop, we might raise it to two five-gallon pails as we did in 2011
• Onions. If you choose this harvest event, you get a five gallon pail of our sweet onions. 
• Cauliflower. We will be planting harvest event patches of our very best and biggest cauliflower!!  You will receive a pail for each coupon.