ANNOUNCING THE FALL SHARE 2016.

Okay, y'all! It's that time! We are super excited––like, sweet potatoes and fresh ginger excited––to announce our fall share! It will be our last in Bowling Green sadly, but for that reason, we're working hard to make it extra special.Here is the breakdown:The fall share will run 9 weeks, starting September 27th (Hannah's birthday!) and going until November 22nd.The cost of the share will be $180 (which works out to be $20/wk).Delivery will be ONLY ON TUESDAYS at the CFM from 2 - 6 p.m..We will still come most Saturdays, but only for market-style sales and to see you beautiful people! So unfortunately, no Saturday CSA pickup in the fall share.If I may editorialize, the fall is the best. It starts out with all the summer stuff still coming in, but moves quickly into carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, ginger, Brussels sprouts, several different kinds of kale, spinach, arugula, lettuce, turnips, celery, [crosses fingers] shiitake mushrooms, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, garlic, potatoes, winter squash, and so on. And SO so on. What a great food season the fall is!SPACE IS LIMITED!If you are interested, please email us ASAP at roughdraftfarmstead at gmail dot com.Or call us at two seven zero - four five seven - four nine five six!Thank you!Jesse + Hannah + Further.

SEVEN NON-FOOD RELATED REASONS TO JOIN A CSA (OURS OR OTHERWISE).

 As a farmer, choosing to sell your veggies through a CSA is a semi-preposterous endeavor. You are, in essence, asking people to pay upfront for something you have not yet produced, something you do not know precisely how much you will produce successfully, all before you've even planted it.But one thing our shareholders learn quickly is that a CSA isn't just about good food––though it is definitely that––it's also about everything that goes into, and comes out of, growing it.So, in case you're still on the fence this year about joining a local CSA, we've put together a handful of reasons that aren't food for you to consider it––reasons we believe are as essential to the CSA as the food itself.The ExperienceThe first year we ever did a CSA, one of our lovely members (hi Alissa!) and her son came for a visit. We took them to the garden and asked him to reach into the soil in a particular spot. He did and then, with his arm half buried, he smiled. Looking up at us grinning he then pulled from the soil a fresh potato. Recognizing what he was holding I could see the wonder––a wonder I still feel when I pull potatoes from the ground. Neither Hannah nor I ever had this experience growing up of knowing where our food came from, or how it grew, but possibly because we never had a place to go to see it happening in real time. We never had our own farmers to show us. But in our CSA, our farm is open to you. Come dig, come pick, come see your food as it grows.The CommunityCSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and I often jest that it's a horrible acronym for how well it explains absolutely nothing about what a CSA actually is. But in reality, it explains precisely what a CSA is. A CSA bonds people together––patrons and farmers, patrons and patrons, families and families. It is a shared experience we all go through together––even if you live in Bowling Green and we live in Bugtussle––in the same way a community would. We swap recipes with one another––recipes, ideas, thoughts, ups, downs, everything. Last year we had a couple who ran into financial trouble mid-season, but we wouldn't let them drop out of the share. Instead, we gave it to them when they couldn't afford it because when do you need good food more than in a crisis? And, because that's what a community does.The RelationshipAnd that brings us to our favorite part––the relationship. We are friends with our shareholders. In many ways, they are family. We have eaten meals with them, had beers or coffee, shared personal stories and become close to a lot of our members. We look forward to seeing them every spring after a long winter away. Building that relationship is a big part of why we do this––we want to know the people eating our food as much as they want to know the people growing it. Watching families grow, and sharing the growth of our family, is one of the greatest joys of this job.The ImpactHannah and I care greatly for our soil––figuratively and literally. We amend it naturally, fertilize naturally, feed it, think about it, and make sure it's healthy. This is something to enjoy when you join a CSA like ours––that the farmers you support are taking care of the soil that's feeding you. They are working it gently and doing what they can to keep it thriving. In other words, when you join a CSA, you are hiring professional stewards to manage at least one small portion of the Earth on your behalf. Food has a great environmental impact––join a CSA and you get to control yours.The FarmersFarming the way we do is hard––no doubt about that. But it's something we love and it's something that we couldn't do without our shareholders. If we were to sell all of our food to retail stores, I'm not sure we could survive financially, at least not on this scale––a sustainable scale. We need our own customers––people willing to invest in the beginning of the season for what they will get throughout. It helps us do what we love, and provides our family with a sustainable income, but also allows us to know personally the people we are feeding.The InputWe don't design our farm anymore––our shareholders do. They have asked for more fruit in their share and we are working to establish it. Maybe one day they will want meat or eggs, and we'll work that in, too. More of one thing, less of another, we hear it, we put it into our plans. Because to us this isn't our farm. This is your farm. We are your farmers. And we want, in five or ten or twenty years, for you to be able to eat the fruits of our combined efforts––things you chose to eat.The SeasonalityOn our farm we grow over a hundred different varieties of veggies. The season starts fluffy and green (or sometimes amber gold in the case of honey), turning heavy and colorful by July, then rich and sweet potato-y by the fall. And perhaps nothing will make a tomato taste better than waiting for that first ripe Cherokee Purple of the season, or that first taste of fresh sweet corn (which we often get up early the morning of delivery to pick so it is at its freshest). Eating seasonally as you do in a CSA connects you to the seasons, to what the farmers are going through, and encourages you to be creative in the kitchen, but also forces you to wait until optimum ripeness when food is at its best and most nutritious.If any of that sounds good to you, don't forget that we still have shares available or that someone nearby to you probably does!-Jesse.

FREE T-SHIRT WITH CSA!

The family will be in Bowling Green on Saturday - Further and me at Community Farmers Market from 8 to 1 and Jesse at the BAC Fitness Fair from 9 to 1. We will be taking signups for the CSA, and since the growing season is right around the corner - we wanted to offer a little "early-bird" incentive!So anyone who signs up for our CSA before February gets a free Farmacist shirt!To sign up, you can click here, or see us on Saturday at either location. You do not have to pay for the entire thing up front to get the shirt (though if you do, we will hug you), but the goal here is to raise enough money for the seed and tools we need get things rolling!Remember, this offer is only good until next Sunday, January 31st! So act fast!For more info about our CSA, go here.

ANNOUNCING THE SPRING/SUMMER CSA 2016.

We are beyond excited to announce that our Spring/Summer 2016 share is officially open! Starting some time in May the veggies will begin to roll in and there are many fun additions to the CSA this year (did someone say strawberries?). But first, as always, we need some sign ups so we can buy your seeds and get to planting!Here's the rundown but don't please don't stop at the price––we are introducing some new payment plans (below) to make this affordable for as many people as possible. Everyone deservers their own farmers!Single Share: $400 ($20/wk)Double Share: $760 ($38/wk)Payment Plans.In order to get the season going, we always need to receive some money upfront. That's the only way we can afford the seeds ($1000), the few tools we need ($500), etc... But we know not everyone can do it that way. So here's what we've come up with!- The Week-to-Week:In the Week-to-Week plan we only ask that you a) dedicate yourself to the entire season, through glut and dearth, and b) pay for two shares upfront (like a deposit) so that if you miss a later week, it's already covered. In other words, $40 for the first week, $20 for every subsequent (the last week already paid for). HOWEVER, we are only allowing any one family to do this for two years (starting this year, of course, for those who have done it before). The reason is that we want you to treat our farm like your own farm and budget it into your lives. So after two years, which do not have to be successive––in case you have an off year, as we all do––we would ask you to switch to the Half-and-Half plan to continue with our farm. Also, because our farmers market is the best, we can accept SNAP!- The Half-and-Half:This one is pretty self explanatory––half up front ($200 for a single) and the other half before week #11. Neither half has to be paid all at once, just paid before that half of the season begins––installments are fine. Again, our goal is to have you paying in full eventually, so any one family is allowed the half-and-half plan for three years.- The All-at-Once:The entire share is paid for before the season begins. This is where we want everyone to be eventually, which we realize may seem crazy for some. But think of it this way, if you put back roughly $7.70/week––$1.10 every day––for a year, you would be able to handle this no sweat. Just set a reminder and put the money away. We would happily take jars of change as payment if necessary–-whatever works for you!There are a few other new things about the CSA this year - including your choice of Tuesday OR Saturday pick-up, online payments, and other changes you can read more about HERE. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask! We look forward to growing you loads of healthy, seasonal, chemical-free food!J+H.