Bumper crop bounty. Boxes overflowing with a cornucopia of vegetables. Refrigerators stocked with a colorful array of carrots, kale, purple kohlrabi, and a bowl of sweet potatoes on the counter. If you’re reading this, you’re likely a customer of ours, maybe a CSA Member, and we hope this describes your current vegetable inventory. The fall is one of the most plentiful seasons here in Texas!

Today, we’re writing to ask you to consider sharing this bounty with those in our community who are in need. Specifically, we wanted to draw attention to our Sponsored Share Program. If you were considering postponing your CSA box for the holidays, why not donate it instead? These organizations rely on your donations of our vegetables. (P.S. Scroll to the end of this post to see our Thanksgiving CSA delivery schedule.)

Share the bounty this season, if you're able. Illustration by CSA Member, Ashley Franklin.

Since January of 2012, with the help of our CSA Members, we’ve been sending weekly boxes of vegetables to two local organizations: The Settlement Home and SAFE Alliance. We did some quick back-of-the-napkin math, and over the past 8 and a half years, we’ve delivered over 2,800 boxes of fresh produce to The Settlement Home and SAFE Alliance… that’s around 43,000 pounds of organic vegetables! These vegetables are integrated into the programming of both of these organizations. At The Settlement Home, for example, these veggies are available to the girls and young women who live on the premises at one of the organization's amazing group homes as well as to some of the foster homes housing boys and young men. Earlier this season our friends at the Settlement Home shared an email from one of their foster parents regarding the CSA boxes. This foster mom has placement of an older foster youth, and we were so delighted to hear how our veggies were being used:

"One great way to get kids to try new foods is to serve them unusually colored items. Tonight 'S' and I made stir fry for dinner. The kid who won't eat vegetables ate his first purple carrot, his first bok choy, and his first colored pepper! YAY! It was delicious, and the veggies were much appreciated. It proved to be more than a cooking lesson. It also became a mini economics lesson, too, because we talked about diversity in cooking, using what we have, and learning a technique, but not sticking to a recipe. Stir fries are very versatile and the flavors can go in many different directions depending on what you have on hand, so it's a good, economical dish for a young man about to be out on his own. :)"

At the Settlement home, girls ages 7 through 18 live onsite with a house mom. These homes focus on building life skills in a more independent environment that will prepare the girls for life on their own or being integrated back into a family situation. Each week, residents at the Settlement Home have access to our fresh veggies as a part of their pantry staples, and vegetables are incorporated into shared meals and cooking classes.

One of the group kitchens at the Settlement Home. This is where our veggies are prepared and shared!

Our support of the Settlement Home’s programming would not be possible without our CSA Members: it’s your donations that make this possible. If you need to postpone your share for the busy holiday season, please consider donating it instead. Traveling work work? Consider donating instead of postponing. All you need to do is email A (farm@jbgorganic.com) and let her know that you’d like to donate your share for a particular date. You can do this at any point in the year, but we find that many of you travel for the holidays, hence our usual ask this time of year.

If you need all of your veggies but would still like to donate, you can simply purchase a share to go to the Settlement Home or Safeplace on this page. And if you’re wondering what to get your friend or family member who has it all, you can donate a share of vegetables on their behalf. We’ll send them a card letting them know.

Thank you for your support our Sponsored Share Program. We know these two local organizations are incredibly grateful for your generosity, and so are we.

Thank you for your support of our Sponsored Share program. Illustration by CSA Member Ashley Franklin.

As many of you are likely aware, Thanksgiving is right around the corner! We will be closed on Thanksgiving day, and so our CSA Delivery schedule for the week will be adjusted. Please take a look below to see when your CSA Delivery will be made for the week of Thanksgiving. For some of you, you’ll have the same pickup time but on a different day!

Deliveries on Monday 11/23: ATX Tuesday Pickups, HTX Pickups, SATX Pickups, DFW Thursday Pickups

Deliveries on Tuesday 11/24: Tuesday Home Delivery, ATX Wednesday Pickups, DFW Friday Pickups

Deliveries on Wednesday 11/25: Wednesday Home Delivery, Thursday Home Delivery, ATX Thursday Pickups

Deliveries on Friday 11/27: Friday Home Delivery, ATX Friday Pickups

Saturday 11/28: Normal Schedule Sunday 11/29: Normal Schedule