Greetings,

Hope you are bearing up with the swings of weather—snow, sleet, rain, ice, but it’s the Christmas season, so who’s notic ing?

We are planning “winter” veggie deliveries for Wednesdays 12/10 and 12/17 and also Thursdays 12/11 and 12/18. The routine is different than the summer boxes in that you may opt in or out of the box each time we offer them.

We’ll have dropoffs Wednesdays in Wexford, Bloomfield/Friendship, the East End, Squirrel Hill, Beechwood Nature Ctr/Fox Chapel. On Thursdays, we’ll have drops in Cranberry/Mars, Bradford Woods, Sewickley, Northside/Brighton Hgts., Mt. Lebanon, and at the farm. We will drop off by 3:30 and ask that you pick up by 7:00.

Here’s a list of what we plan to have in the box for 12/10-11:

A small bag mesclun salad greens from the greenhouse, 4# apples (mostly Fuji), 4# red potatoes, 2# carrots, red cabbage, 3 # beets, mixed herbs, ½ gal. frozen cider, turnips, fennel, leeks, bag of spinach, large bag of kale.

Here’s a list of what we plan to have in the box for 12/17-18:

A small bag mesclun salad greens from the greenhouse, 4# apples (mostly Fuji), 2# red potatoes, 2# Russian Banana fingerlings, 2# carrots, 1 cabbage, 3 # beets, mixed herbs, 1 red hubbard squash (a lot like kabocha), turnips, 1 bag sauerkraut, large bag of kale.

The cost is $45/box. If anything changes, we’ll increase other items or figure a reduced price. These are larger amounts of many items than your usual in-season box. Most everything except the greens should store well even without refrigeration for quite a time.

You needn’t respond if you don’t want this box and will be notified for the future ones.

You must confirm if you want this winter delivery by 12/5 or 12/12 depending for which week. E-mail (best) or phone is fine. We’ll get back to you with confirmation and the pickup spot so check your e-mail the Monday prior to pickup. The pickup day and place can be different from your normal one during the summer. The number of boxes is limited so, first come, first served.

As options, we can also include fair trade coffee as we had in the summer (whole bean & ground $9/lb. decaf. $11), feta, chevre, and cheddar cheeses (1/2#--$6), apple butter ($3.50/ pint), and blueberry jam (organic and low sugar from Rich Hunter $5/pint).

The next winter box we are penciling in is for 1/14/09.

Hope all is clear. Thanks for all.

--The Kretschmanns

P.S. Critical to these winter boxes are dropoff points. We don’t have any prearranged ones like we do in the summer. Nor are they permanent ones. You needn’t host for more than the one week. Everything will be in cardboard boxes which people will take home.

If you’ve got a suitable sheltered place for delivering the winter boxes—like a porch or garage—consider volunteering to host a delivery.