Here’s what we’re looking at for the next 4 days. Most locations are open regular hours tomorrow. Monday the PRK truck and both restaurants are open regular hours. You can get more details on exact hours of operations by clicking on the Locations tab of this website, or by following the Twitter feed for your location.
Have a great holiday weekend everyone!
If you’re just now hearing about the whole CSA thing, and want to join a farm for this summer/fall, act now. We still have shares remaining in Drumlin Farm and Enterprise Farm (Thursday and Wednesday pickups respectively).
EDIT: WE ARE TOTALLY SOLD OUT OF CSA SHARES! PLEASE CHECK BACK IN THE FALL FOR WINTER SHARES!
I’m not exaggerating. In addition to produce, Red Fire Farm and Kitchen Garden Farm are offering egg, fruit, and flower shares. And we are partnering with Valley Malt in Hadley to offer a grain CSA (think fresh-milled flour, malt, dry beans, polenta…and kits with everything you need to make your own beer).
I was trying to figure out how to tangibly display the shares. For the first few weeks, I tried using real food, but it didn’t last. And nothing was in season that was representative of the shares. Ayr said, “How about fake fruit?”
One trip to Michael’s in Porter Square and I was all set up. Those are real, fake Concord grapes. The real ones you’ll get in your fruit share this summer will taste a lot better, I promise.
Signups end May 1. All the details are at www.cloverfoodlab.com/CSA.
That’s me at the greenhouse at Drumlin Farm, back in March. See my coat? Back then the air was freezing but the greenhouse was warm. It was filled with these tiny leek seedlings. By now the ground has warmed up enough that all the leeks have been planted, and the Drumlin farmers are on to seeding beets, carrots, spinach, peas, and fava beans.
If you want to join Drumlin farm (or 5 others) this summer and pick up your produce at a nearby Clover, act now. Sign-ups for our CSA program close 5-1-13. We’ve just added a new pickup point: our soon-to-open spot in Brookline Village (6 Harvard Street, right next to Dunkin’ Donuts). Already 20 families have signed up to be a part of this pickup point, and we’re looking at close to 300 members across all 4 pickup locations.
Don’t delay. Read more and sign up: www.cloverfoodlab.com/csa.
We got a note saying the NECN show TV Diner wanted to come to the HUB. We were really excited. Everyone knows TV Diner. It’s a really good audience for us, especially as we grow into the suburbs. I have a feeling a lot of people will watch who’ve never heard of us.
Billy and Jenny stopped by the HUB for breakfast. Breakfast sandwich, coffee, popover, and a yogurt and granola with pears. They were super professional, knew exactly what they wanted. Turns out Billy grew up right around the corner from the HUB and remembered the days when it was the Casal Bakery.
I’m told this piece will air today 4/13 at 10am. It’s part of a thing about breakfast, lunch and dinner in East Cambridge, and includes Puritan & Co., and maybe East Coast Grill. I’m going out to try to find a TV to watch…
Tim and Caroline farmed in Italy and France, fell in love with food, and dreamed about starting a CSA designed for couples like them who love to cook. If you’re a member of their CSA, you get invitations to these awesome dinner parties.
Sunday was the last day of sugaring in Western Mass. Caroline said she wanted to do a maple syrup dinner, but instead of the traditional waffles and pancakes, she decided to make Thai food. Apparently palm syrup and maple syrup are interchangeable in recipes. The food was just awesome. Crispy noodle soup. Maple sno-cones made with a hand-cranked machine. Tiki drinks made with maple. We sat across from the young couple who owned the sugar house, and next to a couple who are 14 months into running their own restaurant. It was cool to glimpse what life is like in an area where farming and food is a part of daily life.
Kitchen Garden is participating in Clover’s CSA program this year for the first time. We couldn’t be more excited. A share is $400, pickups are Saturdays at all 3 Clover locations. There are still a few shares left, but they’re going fast. I was talking to Tim and Caroline and the next dinner they’re dreaming about is an Italian dinner with homemade pasta.
Sign up for your Kitchen Garden share here.
We’ve come a long way from the single blue bin we used to place 25 hot cups, 25 cold cups, 1 box of foil to wrap sandwiches. That was back when we worked out of a shared kitchen at Crop Circle Kitchen.
Now we’re going through something like 7000 cold drink cups alone every week. 4000 spoons. Boxes and boxes of latex gloves. 5000 feet of butcher paper to wrap sandwiches.
Chris, Eddie and Ashton have undertaken a huge project to organize and maximize efficiency of Clover’s operational headquarters at the HUB. They have some help from a new yellow employee: Clover’s first ever pallet-stacker. I screamed when I saw it.
Whenever we get national press, we’re always somewhat excited because it means our relatives in other parts of the country might finally understand what our jobs are.
On Monday 3/25 a photo and video crew from USA Today will be at the MIT truck during lunch shooting a piece for the Money section about small businesses. Wednesday 3/27 the NECN show TV Diner will be at CloverHUB for breakfast. They’re doing a show about breakfast, lunch, and dinner in Inman Square and picked us as the breakfast spot.
So come by Monday (MIT) or Wednesday (HUB) to show your support for Clover to the world!
If we handed you a survey card at Clover today, click here to fill out the survey.
The survey will take you about 2-3 minutes. Your answers are going to help us serve you faster, better food. And as promised, there is a reward in it for you too.
A huge thanks for helping us with this!
When I was in 7th grade my Algebra teacher celebrated Pi Day. We all got to bring in round foods. I think it was the one day in Algebra where I excelled. I brought in kumquats.
Last week Karen, an MIT regular, wrote to our catering page asking if we would cater whoopie pies Thursday 3/14 in honor of Pi Day. We thought it was such a great idea that we’re going to make chocolate whoopie pies and run them EVERYWHERE at lunch tomorrow.
We’ll have 1 batch of whoopie pies for sale at all Clover trucks and restaurants Thursday at lunch. Keep an eye on your location’s Twitter feed to find out when they’re live (you can use this neat link to find out your location’s Twitter). I told everyone we should sell them for $3.14159 but John (finance) told me that was entirely impossible.
Pi Day at Clover
$2 Whoopie Pies for sale at all locations
Follow Twitter to see when they hit
We're here to make food you love, the kind you talk about and look forward to eating. The Clover Food Lab is serving up a new type of fast food. This food is local, it’s just-cut, when we can it is organic.
You can learn more about
our origins,
our food,
our mistakes,
and everything else about us at this website.
Ayr Muir
Founder and CEO
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