Week 1 of the Summer 2024 Season is here, and we are excited! Almost all of our members were at one point referred by another member. Please feel free to share our newsletters with friends and encourage them to sign up.

There is still time to get in on this week's bag. How?

1) Signup online and send an email to info@freshforkmarket.com to adjust the start date

2) Reply to this email and state what size bag you want and where you want to pickup.

Our office (aka Allyson) is slightly underwater right now, so please be patient as she battles the phone and emails to get a response back to you. Please leave a message and we'll call back!

It has been many years since we were able to start the season with strawberries in the bag. In fact, this week we had too many veggies available!

Every year is different. This year, the season seems to be early. Our strawberry growers are already over the peak of the season, and we are expecting it to end in the next week or so.

In the produce patches, June starts out green. Kale, lettuce, and Chinese cabbages are the "reliable" early crops. This year our first crops of radishes and spinach actually came too early and were unfortunately wasted.

Spring onions, zucchini, and bulb onions are all ahead of schedule.

On the fruit side, raspberries are also ripening fast. In fact, I just got a surprise call that red raspberries will be coming in TODAY.

To the right is a photo of one of the many letters I receive each week. Once we start picking up from growers several times per week, the communication gets a little easier. However, in the early season I send a lot of letters, receive a lot of handwritten notes, and spend quite a bit of time driving around. Last Friday, I was on the road until 9 at night visiting growers and firming up the coming orders. In the next few weeks, expect items like garlic scapes, bok choy, chard, lettuce, and broccoli. Cabbage and bulb onions will appear right before Independence Day. And, by early July we will likely start seeing peaches, cherries, corn, and so much more.

Each week we try to feature some new or interesting products. It's a good way to showcase what's new coming in and also what is the best value. Here are some specials for this week. Order online by Midnight Tonight.

Turkey Burgers - $12.25

New, 100% pasture raised turkey lightly seasoned with salt and pepper. The seasoning helps to create a bind so that when the meat is pattied up, it holds together.

Sold in 4 packs, approx.1.3# to 1.5# per package.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

6 inch Strawberry Rhubarb Pie - $10.30

12 inch Strawberry Rhubarb Pie - $18.55

Each pie is made with our signature crust of organic Stutzman flour, local butter, and house rendered heritage pork lard. This provides a substantial and flaky crust.

Inside, we cook together fresh strawberries, rhubarb, and some pure evaporated cane sugar to make a sweet-tart filing and top it with a buttery crumb topping.

Strawberries

Here's Allyson, the voice behind the emails and phone, enjoying one of the first strawberries a few weeks back.

This year's season has been as unpredictable as ever. I was hesitant to put them in the share this week as I was predicting I'd get shorted.

But Zach, one of our drivers, has been calling me every 30 minutes when the growers have twice what we were predicting.

We went from not enough, to an abundance at once.

If you are thinking of freezing, making jam, etc, don't hesitate. This is the week.

Plasticulture Berries - larger, generally sweeter - Moreland Fruit Farm - $8 per quart

Matted Row Berries - deep red, smaller with intense sweet tart flavor - assorted Amish growers, Homerville/West Salem settlement - $6.5 per quart

Berries by the flat - 8 quart per flat - $46

Honey Vinaigrette Salad Dressing - $5

It's salad season now. The spring greens are tender and sweet. There is no reason to ruin them with a bad dressing.

Making salad dressing at home is really quite easy, but we know that not everyone wants to do that, so we put together a homemade salad dressing for you.

We start our dressing by making a base emulsion of whole farm eggs, lemon juice, and oil. Cider vinegar, honey, salt and spices are added until the perfect consistency is achieved.

Sold in 8 oz bottles. Keep Refrigerated at all times.

Bundles of Savings

We had some extra time the last few weeks to put together a few bundles to get your freezer restocked for the beginning of the summer. Here is what we have.

Breakfast Meat Variety Pack - $36.05

1# bacon, 1# bacon breakfast patties, 1# maple breakfast links, 1# apple cinnamon brats, and 1# country style breakfast patties (sized to fit on English muffins

Get Grilling Bundle - $43.26

Chicken Breast (1 pack, 1.25#), Beef and Bacon Burger Patties (4 pack, 1.25#), Hot Dogs (1#), Dortmunder Beer Brats (4 pack, 1.25#), Green Onion Brats (4 pack, 1.25#)

Ground Meat Variety Pack - $25.75

1# each of: Salt and Pepper Sausage, Ground Pork, Ground Italian Sausage, Chorizo, and Ground Chicken

Mini Cluckin Good Deal - $69

Chicken Breast (2 packs ~ 3#) Chicken Thighs (1 pack ~ 2#) Drumsticks (2 pack ~ 2.5#) Chicken Patties (1 pack ~ 1.3#) Ground Chicken (~ 1#) Caramelized Onion Apple Bacon Chicken Brats (1 pack ~ 1.25#) Wings (1 pack ~ 1.6#)

A La Carte Produce

Another surprise call came in. Red Raspberries are ready really early. I usually don't get calls saying "I have hundreds of pints of red raspberries." Yes, Yes we'll take them all.

Abe, Andy, and Emanual at Moreland Fruit Farm in Wooster are go getters. They bought the farm about 5 years ago and put a big focus on early production, utilizing high tunnels, hoophouses, and row cover. They do an exceptional job and are eager to get their product in front of our members.

Check out their red raspberries this week.

Other notable extra produce online:

Spinach from Busy Bee Organics, Baltic. Very tender, clean, and flavorful.

Jumbo Bok Choy from Mose Swartzenbruber, Polk. Dark green, delicious "spice" that tastes like a cross between cabbage and mustard greens/arugula.

Edible Pod Peas from Eli Weaver, Fredericksburg. Tender and sweet. Blanche them and enjoy on a salad or as a snack. No effort needed.

Bent and Dent

We spent a lot of time in May organizing our "pull trays" in the freezer. In doing so, we have quite a few packages of bent and dent. This could mean: broken seal, mislabeled, wrong size, misshaped, overstock, or simply not picked up. Check it out for the best deals.

The Weekly Newsletter

Welcome to Week 1. Each week I'll send out a Newsletter on Tuesday in the afternoon. At its core is the bag contents for the week. But really, the newsletter is so much more.

I like to nerd out about the food and farmers. I've been very fortunate in the last decade to meet so many interesting people and learn so much! The newsletter is for you and my attempt to share my good fortune with you.

If you ever have questions or want to learn more, please reply back and ask. It helps me know how to tailor the experience. I know what I find fascinating, and hope that you find it so as well, and get writers block from time to time, so suggestions are welcome!

Thanks, Trevor

About Bag Contents and Seasonality

The bag contents listed are what we expect to get. It's a guess really, and we - us and our farmers - try our best to deliver. Substitutions will happen. There are times when a farmer guesses wrong on how many pounds of beans are in the field, or it rains, and you can't pick strawberries. Because we are telling you what you are getting BEFORE THE FOOD IS HARVESTED, we can't be exact. We appreciate your understanding if/when substitutions happen.

In the event that something isn't harvested or doesn't match our quality expectations, we'll attempt to substitute that week. Generally, at the back of the truck the bag contents sheet will be adjusted with sharpie marker. Or you may find an item you weren't expecting on the list and another item missing -- usually that's a sign of a substitute.

All bags/weeks aren't created equally. We try to spread the bounty out, but there will be weeks that are bigger and some that are smaller. We generally joke that the season starts out green, gets colorful, and ends heavy.

This week's bag is a good example of how we had to adapt. Crops that hit the fields early and usually don't need irrigation - like lettuce and spring onions - have suffered in the dry conditions lately. Because early season is tough for the farmers, we always plan some back-up items - like the granola, yogurt, cheese, and mushrooms - to get us through this first week. Next week we are hoping to see the strawberries proliferate!

Getting the Most Out of your Veggies

One of the most common reasons someone doesn't renew their share is that they get too much food with Fresh Fork.

Let me help you read between the lines. They throw out their kale because it wilted before they could use it or didn't make it to the snow peas.

Eating in season is very affordable, healthy, and tasty. With about a half hour of prep work each week, you can keep dollars in your pocket and feel like an Iron Chef in the kitchen.

Here are some tips for getting the best value out of your bag:

Step 1: Unpack your bag when you get home.

Step 2: Wash, peel, and prep your veggies. If your veggies are ready to cook, you will more likely cook them when in a hurry.

Step 3: Use the most perishable or unusual item first (lettuce or kale, for example in this week)

Lettuce: wash and pack in a zipper bag with a damp paper towel.

Kale: strip from the vein, wash, and pack in a zipper bag with a damp paper towel. I find this to be a very versatile ingredient -- use it as salad, saute it with a little S&P and vinegar, and more often than not I add it to my morning egg scramble/quiche.

Recipes

We have recipes on our website that are easy to find and matched to the Fresh Fork experience. Visit the recipe section here.

Place a Special Order

The weekly share can be thought of as your base package and access to the store. For this model to work, we need weekly subscribers so that the farmers can grow efficiently, our trucks can run full, and we can guarantee work for our staff. The subscription model allows us to offer affordable prices and a big bang for your buck.

To maximize your experience, consider a special order. We have access to hundreds more products than what is in the weekly bag. From milk and eggs to meat and additional veggies, the best way to round out your groceries for the week is to place a special order.

Special orders must be placed online by Tuesday at midnight (11:59pm) to make it in for the week.