Welcome Back, Members!
Members Open House This Saturday

   Our annual welcome back to the farm event is scheduled for this Saturday from 10:00 until 5:00. Various GCF farmers will be on hand to talk about what's happening in the fields these days, and Farmer Mike McLaughlin will be back for a last day driving wagon rides before moving on to new endeavors this summer. We'll be offering a complimentary pancake breakfast for all members between 10:00 and 11:00, and we'll be sampling some of the new products in our market throughout the day.

   If you plan to come, please click this link to RSVP so we know how many pancakes to prepare.

   We'll have asparagus for sale in the market.

Sampling vendors will include  7-4 Peace Gluten-free Baking Mixes, Farmstead Ferments, Spartan Olive Oil, Falling Bark Syrups, and  Audley Farm Beef.

No you-picking this week. Strawberries should start in the middle of May.

Delivery days for group sites and and home delivery members will be determined at the end of May, after we've sold most of our shares. Watch Crop Talk for that information and other news.
Telling the Story of Holy Cross

   We learned last week that Holy Cross Monastery, our partner on the far side of the river, is the focus of a new documentary by a group called Picture Farmer Films, a small production company headed by veterans of network news.
The film makers are especially interested the monastery's efforts to develop a sustainability plan that will improve environmental quality in the Shenandoah Valley and the entire Chesapeake Watershed.
   That plan involves Great Country Farms: we lease 150 acres from the monastery, and we use sustainable growing practices on that land to produce some of the food we pack in CSA boxes, so a portion of our CSA revenue goes to support the monastery. Because there are no downstream costs associated with our kind of farming, this arrangement allows the monastery to generate agricultural income without polluting the Shenandoah River, which forms the monastery's eastern boundary.
   The film will be released by the PBS affiliate in Harrisonburg. You can watch a trailer and follow the film's progress here.

   
   When the name of the dish is basically a shopping list, you need asparagus that just came out of the ground. Add a little parsley and garlic -- and a prayer of thanksgiving for the gifts of spring. From Whole Foods Market.   
New Kids on the Block
   These guys were born on April 21, and they're currently receiving well-wishers in pen beside the pond. Come and welcome them to the farm.   (That's the farm's 12-member Super Hero 5K race contingent in the photo below -- awesome group!) 
  Coming Up

Members Open House, April 30

Pancake breakfast, farmer visits, special vendors. Full details in Crop Talk next week. 

Admission included in CSA and Fan Memberships.
 
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Great Country Farms | 540-554-2073 | [email protected] | www.GreatCountryFarms.com