The holidays have nearly arrived! As usual, I am still doing my last minute shopping. One thing we do in our house is to be sure we have some gifts around for those folks who drop by with that nice tin of Christmas cookies or their favorite fruit cake. We’ve got some nice ideas for you with our Saturday, Dec 20 order form, that keep you shopping locally and buying great locally-made products.

If you are not familiar with our delivery / pickup service, please see our Delivery Page which details how the service works and what you need to do.

Holiday Suggestions

Backyard Jams & Jellies has a plethora of choices in 8 oz. glass jars. Favorites include their hot pepper jelly – both in red and green in a nicely decorated holiday jar. And there is nothing like their chutneys and wine jellies!

Deep Grass Organic has herb-infused vinegars, a popular hot horseradish mustard and a couple of old favorite jams in 12 oz. jars. For produce this week, Deep Grass will offer a mixed bunch of red & green curly kale, and a mixed bunch of golden and red beets.

Gifts from Baue’s Bees are always appropriate. Nice honey soap is great for sensitive skin and highly moisturizing. Small lip balm tins contain beeswax, olive oil and honey and make great stocking stuffers. And of course, you can’t go wrong with raw honey from their own hives.

Chapel’s Country Creamery makes beautiful artisan cheese on their farm. They are the first Maryland farmers to have worked with their state officials to assure safe, quality production of on-farm cheese using raw milk from grass-fed cows.

And do you know why our meat is always frozen and not fresh during the winter season? This is because the meat is grown by farmers, employs sustainable methods on fresh pastures with constraints of the season of the year and the fresh growth of pasture. Pure Harvest organically fed pasture-raised chicken melts in your mouth and Greenbranch free-range beef and pork are some of the best, most nutritious and delicious meats you can buy.

For our prepared foods sections, Old World Breads and Patty’s Deli offer artisan breads, pastries, soups, and other foods you’ll not find anywhere else.

This is a great time of year to eat fresh oysters and Chinky Salt Oyster Co. Chincotegue Bay oysters are another holiday favorite. This was the comment from a long-time Rehoboth Beach customer last week: “I swear they were among the best we have ever had. Fresh beyond marvelous.”

Last, but not least, are the produce growers. We all make efforts to provide sustainably grown local food beyond the normal season. We do this for our own sustainability and livelihoods as farmers at the same time as we improve our local foodshed, helping people to eat well and to eat locally. We use low input season extension models such as passively heated high tunnels that allow us to grow cold-hardy vegetables well beyond the typical fall harvest season, and we work to develop cold-hardy vegetables for our region through research and seed selection.

Online Order Form Update

Thank you all for your patience as we improve our online ordering system. Due to the enormous number of items we are able to offer, last week’s three-page order form did not work properly for everyone, so we have moved back to an easier one-page form.

When you submit your order, you should receive a confirmation email immediately. Please check your inbox. If it is not there we do not have your order! If this happens, please contact me via email.

If you would rather talk to me in person, please include a phone number and I will call you as soon as possible. Your order confirmation will list all the items you have ordered along with an estimated total. You can reply to the order confirmation with any changes you may have and you may email us with any additions or additional changes up until the Wednesday noon deadline. A final invoice will be sent to you Thursday or Friday as we update any estimated items sold by the pound.

We wish you the best for the holiday season and look forward to working to serve you well into the winter.

Yours in the garden, all year round,