Ashley and I were talking last week about different styles for apple pie. We were joking a little about the Amish apple pies of this area. The filling tends to be more syrupy and with softer apples. There is something almost fake tasting about them - maybe the karo syrup or the cleargel they use to thicken the fruit filling, giving it a gel type texture and glisten.

So I asked Ashley how can this be done better.

She showed me. She started by reducing down apple cider with brown suger and some mulling spices to make an apple cider reduction.

She then seasoned her apples and tossed with tapioca flower and butter. The cider reduction was poured over top the apples in the whole wheat pie crust and a second crust added on top, dusted with cane sugar and brushed with egg white for a glossy finish.

The result...an apple pie with a gooey, delicious apple filling and beautiful top crust. Enjoy.

For those interested in joining us for the winter season, there appears to be some confusion based on my last email. Our Carnivore share - the meat only option - is not being offered this winter. We do, however, still have a few shares of the Ominvore (meat and vegetable) share available. Vegetarian share are also sold out.

The Winter Season is different than the summer. When you go to signup, it can be a little confusing because our website was custom built for a weekly subscription. The Winter Season, with the exception of the first 3 weeks, is every-other-week. Each pickup is $45 for a total of 15 pickups, so $675. It is not $45 per week, but rather $45 per pickup week.

The Winter Season is a 1 size bag and each bag is larger than the summer. The shares - with the exception of the first 3 weeks - are every other week. Pickups are still outside at most of the same locations. For full details on the Winter Program, visit here.

Early Winter (Nov/Dec) - cold hearty vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, and brussel sprouts paired with frozen meats and pantry items

Mid Winter (Jan/Feb/March) - storage crops like potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, turnips, etc in moderation, with the introduction of frozen and canned goods we put away this summer, in addition to the meat.

Late Winter (April/May) - more pantry items, grains, eggs, frozen vegetables, and the introduction of spring greens and foraged items

Just as with the summer, not all bags are created equally. The bags tend to be larger early in the winter when produce is more affordable. As the season progresses, the bags reflect the larder and freezer, and towards the end of the season we'll help you get your pantry stocked for the upcoming summer season.

There have been some changes to the available pickup locations for the winter, so please review the details on the page linked above. The Winter Season starts next week.

For those not joining us this winter, we expect to offer occasional specials and bundles as supply permits. And as always our butcher shop Ohio City Provisions is open and stocked 7 days per week, 10 AM to 7 PM at 3208 Lorain Ave, Cleveland. Free street parking available right in front and in our attached lot.

We hope to see you out there this winter!

Sincerely,

Trevor and the Fresh Fork team

The rain was a major obstacle in the last week at digging potatoes. It let up on Tuesday afternoon and we had sunshine and warm weather on Wednesday and Thursday to dry off the field.

By Friday mid morning, David and I had raced through chores and met Allyson and her 4 girls at the potato field. We had never planted this many before, and we had a new tractor since spring.

Of course the tractor didn't line up with the rows of potatoes. We kind of expected this as the planter is almost 100 years old and was probably designed to be drawn by a horse. We figured we could straddle one row and put the PTO driven digger off-center and plow up what we needed. Nope, instead we were just cutting potato chips as we sliced the potatoes at an angle.

We stood there and argued a bit about the best option and up the road I ran to snatch an antique. A wooden potato plow, also for pulling behind a horse. Well, with a couple adapters and some ingenuity, we had it secured to the back of a 100 hp John Deere. It was funny to watch, almost like a man playing tug-a-war with a machine. The John Deere pulled the plow the through the ground pushing potatoes to either side.

We next started picking them up. Clearly a few of the girls had more experience than I. Emma, whose family has a certified organic farm that also supplies Fresh Fork, was hustling up the row, bent over grabbing potatoes with both hands and kicking others into reach with her bare feet. She explained that she feels better without shoes and doesn't scar the potatoes. Me, well, I'm 6' 3" and not designed to bend over picking potatoes. On both knees I scrambled thru the field. Then Allyson and Rachel thought I too was trying to dig potatoes with my feet. As I crawled through the field with my left leg extended behind, I explained, "No, I have a cramp. I'm getting old." I looked like a wounded soldier crawling to safety - by no means would anyone have confused me for a farmer.

But by dusk we had quite a few potatoes out of the ground. The sky darkened and lightening popped up in the distance. We hustled to get the potatoes to the barn, just in time before 1.5 inches of rain came down. It has rained all weekend and this week, so we are hoping to get more out tomorrow or Thursday.

This week the potatoes in your bag are russets, a new offering for Fresh Forkers. If we can't get more russets out of the ground due to the weather, some later stops might get Yukon golds as they are already dug.

I was reading an interesting article last week in the Wall Street Journal. It was about the shortage on canned corn due to the virus.

The article pointed out both supply and demand reasons for the shortage.

On the demand side, there was a "hoarding" mentality that took place. Consumers were stocking up, and even if they had not intended too, the sight of nearly empty shelves encouraged them to stock up. In short, the problem compounded as supply shrunk and demand artificially increased due to fear.

On the supply side, big producers looked to increase their production for 2020 growing season. Then they ran into problems. Only 0.9% of all corn grown in the USA is sweet corn. The rest is dent corn grown for cereal grains, animal feed, and ethanol production. That meant that only a small number of growers were outfitted with the production equipment to plant, harvest, and process sweet corn.

Further, the article explained that growers already had their planting plans figured out. They had ordered seed at the end of 2019 and had fields prepared for sweet corn. A little more was able to be planted, but not enough to really put a dent in the excess demand.

Then, the icing on the cake, so to speak. When additional supply was available, the trucking and transportation networks could not accommodate it. The product was perishable and had to be shipped ASAP. The virus had added additional stress to America's trucking networks with increases in demand for delivery and was already operating at or beyond capacity.

In short, the sweet corn supply is effectively unchanged for this year. What the article did not discuss though is whether or not the price will increase. I certainly believe it will. Price increases in all goods, including food, should be a major concern for America over the next year.

The scenario faced by big multi-national producers like Green Giant and Del Monte mimics what I've seen in Ohio this year. Local producers can't just instantly produce more product, and even if they could, can the supply chain accommodate it?

Meat has been a particularly big issue across the nation. And we have faced obstacles as well, which is why we are not offering the Winter Carnivore Share.

I have lots of animals in the field right now. My biggest issue is getting them slaughtered, cut and packaged. On a normal year, we book red meat - hogs and beef - about a year in advance. Right now, most independent packers in Ohio are booked all the way through 2021 and some into 2023. To put that in perspective, farmers are booking kill dates for the grandchildren of hogs being grown now. These are dates for hogs and beef that aren't even conceived yet!

The independent slaughterhouses that I and many small farmers use are generally very small in character. Their facilities are designed to kill 10 to 15 beef per week and 20 to 30 hogs. We slaughter 3 to 4 cattle per week and 10 to 20 hogs per week. Never less than 2 and 10.

The first problem: the plants are already operating at capacity.

The second problem: they are too busy to think about how to increase capacity or build on

The third problem: the skilled labor that knows how to cut meat is not readily available and in general the labor markets in these rural communities are quite tight right now. There is a lot of work and not enough people to do it.

Ohio is badly in need of additional processing capacity but the investment and red tape required to open a licensed slaughter plant and packing facility is beyond the interest of most entrepreneurs. And even if someone stepped to the plate today, it would be a at least a year before a design is approved, permits pulled, the plant built, a staff trained, and everything passes inspection!

OFFICE REMINDER: PLEASE LOG INTO YOUR ACCOUNT AND CHECK YOUR BALANCE. PLEASE PAY ANY REMAINING BALANCE THIS WEEK EITHER ONLINE OR AT THE BACK OF THE TRUCK.

Reminder: Carnivore Share bags are every-other-week based on pick-up location. You will be randomly assigned to a group (A, B, C). Check for the assignment in your last name. By the end of the season, all groups will have received the same amount of all products.

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

Your special order will only be delivered only to your primary location as selected in your profile (see below). Please review this BEFORE placing your order (adjust + save as needed). Please do not email or call to change the location of your special order. It sounds easier said than done. Our software prints a pick list per location for what products we must take along. If we attempt to move it manually there is a high probability that we'll mess it up and no one will be happy.

Please leave the "new" location set in your profile until after you pick up your special order. You will have to log back into your account to change it back to your usual stop BEFORE you place your next order the following week.