We are just starting to really transition into a few core summer crops. While there isn't much to go around, what is expected to come in is available on our online shop.

Okra This first harvest of a variety called Jambalaya, which is known to stay tender even at a larger size. These okra come in 2 lb bags, approx length 6 inches each.

Peaches The supply of peaches is getting better, and in fact some of the bags this week will have peaches as the main fruit.

We do have a dedicated supply set aside though for those who want them a la carte.

The cling peach is small, juicy, and messy - the flesh clings to the pit, but the old fashioned flavor can't be beat.

Sweet Corn This is a real treat this week. Certified organic grower, Levi Weaver, planted this sweet corn for us on "black plastic mulch."

Usually, sweet corn is planted with a corn planter in tidy rows, in bare dirt. It's treated like a field crop. Most field sweet corn is starting to tassle now, so it will be a few weeks until the main crop comes in.

Black plastic mulch is how most produce is raised. The field is prepared and beds are formed with a bed shaper. These raised beds are covered in a layer of black plastic - similar to a trash bag - and drip irrigation installed beneath it. This suppresses weeds and keeps the soil warmer and retains moisture.

The bad part - it's a lot of extra work, it's an extra expense, and it reduces your populations per acre.

But to get early sweet corn, it's the best way. So Levi planted corn for us on black plastic, with drip irrigation, and has babied it. We only have 100 dozen available this week, but we are sure glad to have it!

Lodi Apples This is the first apple of the season. I'll be honest, it's not a crunchy, sweet treasure like honeycrisp or gold rush.

Instead, the Lodi is an old-fashioned baker/sauce apple. It's thin skin and soft, white flesh cooks down perfectly for apple sauce and thickens up a pie.

This apple is only in season for about 2 weeks as it does not store long. We'll have a limited supply for the next two weeks as we await the upcoming ginger gold and early gold.

Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes This cherry tomato mix is my favorite item right now. These come from a co-op of urban farmers in Mansfield, all growing in hoop house structures. In fact, they have 22 hoop houses!

See below for more photos. These delicious cherry tomatoes are a real gem and can be eaten like fruit, enjoyed on a salad, or chopped and tossed with fresh herbs, mozz, and balsamic!

NEW: Guernsey A2 Yogurt. Thick with a slight tang, this yogurt is the perfect pairing to summer fruit and granola. Made with whole milk from A2 Guernsey cows, this yogurt is naturally easily digestible and full of good probiotics.

Sold in 32 oz containers, will last for approx 45 days in the fridge - often well past the best by date.

While fruit pies are amazing, there are few that take me back to my childhood like a chocolate pie.

I remember my grandmother's chocolate pie - and in hindsight, it wasn't that good. It was just chocolate pudding - from a mix - in a pie shell.

So we reverse engineered it this week. We start with semi-sweet chocolate from Cleveland's Forbes Chocolate company, then temper it into a thick homemade custard made from egg yolks, Guernsey heavy cream, and milk. The batter is heated to a specific temperature to set up the proteins, then chilled rapidly in the freezer.

These pies are best served cold, and there is no harm in a giant dollop of whipped cream on top. Or marshmallows.

For those who remember the chocolate meringue pie from the past, this one is similar just without the meringue. It is too difficult to ship the meringue on these hot days.

(on a funny note....that's a flip phone photo from today via one of the Amish girls in our kitchen!)

We've been getting a lot of emails about this one. We only have a little bit each week. When it sells out, the category disappears.

We just updated it today. Here are a few things we have in large quantities:

This week we have a great bundle available, and it's inspired by Italian sugo - a tuscan style ragu - that's based on beef chuck roast, tomatoes, and pasta.

Bundle includes:

Beef Chuck Arm Roast (includes rich marrow bone) - 3#

Tomato Pulp - 16 oz

Fresh Tomatoes - 2#

Tagliatelle Pasta - 8 oz (long, flat ribbon noddle similar to this photo)

There is a lot of room for interpretation on this recipe, and you are free to improvise.

The basic concept is -

Step 1: braise a beef chuck roast in a combination of tomatoes (juice, pulp, or crushed tomatoes) with the addition of stock and/or wine

Step 2: cool the roast. shred the meat and reduce the cooking liquid.

Step 3: Serve the beef and sauce (derived from cooking liquid) over a bed of pasta.

There are countless recipes on the web with great photos and instructions. Here is a short list of a few I can endorse:

We are so excited to see other young farmers making a go at it. Down at Blossom Creek Farm in East Sparta, Michael and Matthew are unique - no previous farming background and didn't grow up in the country.

One of the biggest obstacles facing young farmers today is access to affordable land and the knowledge to get up to speed fast enough.

When they bought Vogley Enterprises, they were fortunate to find a good mentor in Gary Vogley. Their crops are looking great and they've upped the attraction of Blossom Creek to include fresh cut flowers and a gift shop.

Join us this Friday at 6:30 PM for a private U-Pick event for Fresh Fork members. Or really anyone who you want to pass this link along to.

Blossom Creek is about 60 minutes south of Cleveland. It's really easy to get to. Give yourself a little extra time to account for traffic thru road construction in Canton.

Family friendly and well behaved dogs welcome, too. Feel free to pack a picnic and drinks; just please be responsible and cleanup after yourself as well.

Details and ticketing on the link below.

The Wall Street Journal article that I'm referencing - Consumers are Giving Inflation the Bird - just scratches the surface of a major problem, and in a light hearted way.

The article points to surges in Reddit and YouTube content regarding "depression" recipes and how to save at the grocery store. A re-occurring theme is to buy a whole chicken.

The big picture is that food prices are raising at an alarming rate. The post-pandemic inflation is rampant. Fuel is up 59%, but everything else - including food - is up around 15%, give or take.

I'll discuss what is driving this from a producer point of view below, but the marketer point of view is more scary.

With limited funds, where will the consumer chose to spend their dollar? Will they skimp on food to be able to afford the gas for their car, the electric for their house, and the raising interest rates on their mortgage? I'm afraid so. Groceries are bought week to week whereas it is difficult and costly to switch to a more affordable car, to reduce your commute, to lower your energy consumption at home, or change your mortgage payment.

While there are many variables in life right now out of our hands, one can invest a little time into teaching themselves a new skill - such as cutting up a whole chicken - to not have to sacrifice good and healthy food.

There are many tutorials on the web, including ones we have put together. Scroll down for links to our various materials related to working with a whole chicken (including Thanksgiving tutorials, which are very similar).

The chicken eats a milled diet of corn and soybeans to give it the desired energy it needs to thrive. Our birds are raised on pasture where the birds get exercise and eat grass, bugs, and seeds they find in the pasture.

The forage component mostly satisfies a need for different minerals and exercise that the bird needs. The feed - carbohydrates in the form of corn and wheat, and protein in the form of soybean meal and roasted soybeans - provide the energy for the bird to develop.

The average meat chicken - referred to as a broiler - consumes a little over 3# of feed for each 1# of live weight. We take our birds up to approximately 7 lbs live weight - which produces a 70% yield (approx a 4.2# dressed weight bird).

That's 21# of feed per bird. The feed ration changes with age, where the starting ration is more protein rich and more expensive.

Feed costs on the farm are up significantly. Corn that used to cost $4.50 per bushel 2 or 3 years ago (for Non-GMO) is now $9.60 per bushel. The fuel that powers the tractor that spins the feed grinder is up from $2 per gallon to $5 per gallon.

Across the board, this year feed costs are up. In 2019, broiler feed averaged me $372.23 per ton. This month, it's right now $658.64 per ton.

We haul our broilers to a USDA processor for slaughter and to have them cutup. Like most of American businesses, he is struggling to find enough labor to do the work. And, his costs are up.

The price of plastic goods - particularly vacuum bag pouches and single-use disposable gloves - are way up. Before the pandemic, at OCP we used to get a case (10 boxes) of single use gloves for $41. Today it is $171.

This year for poultry processing, our average cost to process a bird is $5.65! Besides the cost of inputs driving this, it's also driven by the American diet.

We struggle to sell whole birds - which are the cheapest to process. They require only 1 vacuum bag - which is $1 each - vs the 4 needed when it is cutup and packaged separately into breasts, thighs, drums, wings, and bones.

Because the demand is for breasts and thighs, we have to cutup over half of our broilers. This drives up the processing costs.

Further, we don't sell all parts equally. No matter how cheap the bones are, few people want to buy them. The bones make up 25% of the carcass. The drumsticks are also difficult to sell. Breasts, thighs, and wings move OK.

As much as I hate it, I've had to spend a lot of time staring at spreadsheets this year.

We try our hardest to keep prices down. I'm aware that our products - by the nature of how we raise them - are more expensive. And food is a volume based industry. For the small farmer to succeed, he has to find the happy-medium of scale and quality.

We did have to raise our prices this year. The current prices reflect a goal of a 33% gross margin - if we sell everything. The realistic scenario is that demand isn't balanced, and we'll end up with a 20% gross margin.

From that margin, we have to pay our staff at the warehouse, pay the rent, and all the other overhead that goes into a business.

We thank you in advance for your continued support and encourage you to try a whole chicken as an alternative to the pieces.

Here is some content from the past that we put together about working with whole chickens.

OCP YouTube Page - a chicken is similar to a turkey, check out these videos (brining, carving, roasting, smoking)

FFM Guide to Cooking a Whole Chicken - includes documentation dating back 10 years now of teaching Chicken 101

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For more recipes, visit our archive at https://freshforkmarket.com/recipes/