CSA SEASON IS HERE!

Last week Hannah and I ordered the bulk of our seeds for this year’s CSA and we are EXCITED about this upcoming season!CSA members will be getting over FIFTY different types of vegetables in our CSA this year. That’s a lot of good, healthy, vegetable diversity, organically grown and delivered straight to your door.But I wanted to take a few minutes to explain how CSA works and answer some frequently asked questions.To sign up, click HERE or you can also send a check to the farm (which saves you 3%). And of course, email us if you have any other questions.How long does your CSA last?This year we have shortened the duration of the CSA from 20 to 15 weeks, starting some time in may (depending on weather).How much does it cost? The price of the CSA is $360, which works out to be $24/week, part of which pays for the home delivery.What if I can’t pay it all upfront? Hannah and I want to feed people who want good, healthy food and for that reason we are happy to work out the payment plan that’s right for you—don’t let the price be the reason you avoid our CSA! The reason we ask for the money upfront is so that we can budget for the year and buy all of the seeds and tools we need (which so far is about $2000 we’ve already spent). Your early investment in the farm is what pays for us to get the food growing! So we ask that everyone pay as much as they can before the season starts so that we can get a sense of how much money we have to work with for the year. Preferably, our members would be fully paid by the time the seasons starts BUT, you can pay in installments. Email us and we’ll work out a payment plan that works for you and your budget.Oh, you deliver?Yes! Straight to your door. So long as you live in Versailles, Frankfort, or Lawrenceburg, we will deliver straight to your door every week.How much food is in a single share?The single share is designed for a single person or couple who cook several meals at home per week, or for a small family who likes to cook a few from scratch. Larger families, especially those who cook a lot, may prefer the double share (at a 10% discount) as a single share might not be enough food.So wait, do I get to choose what goes in the CSA?Yes and no. Via a member survey, every year we make an effort to figure out what our CSA members liked and didn’t like, what they want more of and what they could do without. So in some ways you will get to help guide our planting decisions year after year, but we also have to plant the garden based on the season, so some of what you receive, and the amounts, are left to us so that we can grow foods that perform best at that time of the year. Different crops have different seasons, and by planting based on when they will perform best we 1) save water, increase biodiversity, and take advantage of seasonally sensitive crops and 2) ensure that you’re getting the most healthful and flavorful version of each veggie. This diversity of vegetables can be a cooking challenge, but we will help you there, too, giving you tips on how to store, prep, and cook your veggies with our weekly newsletter and YouTube page .What happens if I go out of town?Don’t worry. We are fairly flexible here, too. In that situation, if you would like, we can double up on a week to make up for the missed week, or we can offer you extra of certain items throughout the share to compensate. Some members like to give their share to a neighbor or friend for the week they miss. Whatever works for you, works for us!What if I have an allergy or don’t like a certain vegetable? We always encourage our customers to try vegetables that they may have disliked in the past, but we are not going to force anything on you! There are people who just can’t handle say, cilantro, and we are sympathetic to that—we will always substitute where we can! If you are allergic to something such as nightshades, the CSA is perhaps not going to be worth the cost for you as potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant are a large part of the offerings. We will happily work with you, but we will also always be honest because, more than anything, we want to get more people eating locally and diversely: if our farm is not the right fit for you we will recommend one that is!Last week I posted this video about five reasons I think everyone should join a CSA just in case you need more convincing! 

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.

THIS IS YOUR FARM.

On about the third week of giving eggplant this year, it occurred to us that almost no one in our CSA was taking them. And so after consulting with our shareholders we decided to nix growing eggplant altogether. Obviously, that in and of itself is no big deal, but it does highlight something we want to emphasize about being a part of our farm: We want our shareholders to have a say in what we grow, because we want them to see our CSA as an investment in the future of their food. They didn't mind to see the eggplant go, and that means room for something else they may enjoy more.But let's explore this idea further. Take for instance the fruit trees we are planning to plant this fall. By investing in our Fall Share, you are in turn helping us afford those trees. And if you stick with our CSA long enough––several years for fruit trees––you will get to enjoy the actual fruits of that investment. Over the past few years, our shareholders have helped us start mushroom logs, and begun eating some of those mushrooms. They have helped us buy blueberry bushes... which accidentally got run over by the bulldozer our shareholders also helped us afford in order to clear land for next year's gardens, but such is farming. But they have helped us to afford bees and we have given honey once last year, twice this year, and maybe a third time by the fall. Perhaps our shareholders would like to see eggs or meat become a part of future shares––we can talk about that. Maybe we build a cabin one day for shareholders to come and stay in the farm sometimes.  In other words, by investing in our farm, by joining our CSA, you can see your investment and your food diversity grow over time. Literally!So this week we're going to ask our shareholders how they would like us to spend their money for the Fall Share. We have three spots for fruit trees. These trees can be apple, pears, mulberry, cherry or anything else that grows well in our region. We'll be putting out a little ballot for our shareholders to take a vote on Tuesday. (No pressure, but if we can fill or nearly fill our Fall Share, we will also start more mushrooms this fall for the coming years, so tell your friends!).We also want our shareholders to feel as if they can make recommendations, complaints, ask us to grow more of something or less of another. We don't want to force on our CSA food they don't like nor use (sorry eggplant). We want this 7.5 acres of Bugtussle, Kentucky to feel like their farm. Because it is. It wouldn't exist without our shareholders, and it shouldn't exist without their input. So if you have a share in our CSA, or are considering buying a share for this fall, or for next year, consider this: on top of fresh, chemical-free fruits, vegetables, honey and mushrooms, you also get a farm to call your own.If you have joined or plan to, here's what will be on the ballot this week at our booth on Tuesday (Community Farmers' Market, Bowling Green, 2-6 p.m.):1) What shall replace the dearly departed eggplant?a) Cut flowersb) Something unique (Farmer's Choice)c) Something unique like ______c) More _____2) And what fruit trees shall we plant?a) Two apples, one pearb) Two Pears, One applec) One pear, one apple, one ______.3) What else would you like to see us grow/raise/cultivate ____________?4) What besides eggplant would you like to receive less of ___________?

THE CSA PERSPECTIVE.

2013 was the perfect season to move into our cabin and start our business. Rain came regularly, the summer was mild, everything was productive and each harvest was fruitful. Unfortunately, 2014 has not been 2013.Not that we expected it to be, but some part of us must have because it has been a deeply disappointing year financially. What we expected to make this year and what we have made are two laughably different things so far. The tomatoes have been slow in coming. The rain has been nearly nonexistent, thus the chanterelles have been all but a bust. Farms are a place where you can actually say money grows on trees, but like all trees, the amount of fruit varies by season.Thankfully, however, we have our CSA.The CSA is the one thing keeping us afloat this year. If we were to rely entirely on market sales, we would have sunk long ago. As it stands right now, hard year or not, we're still floating. And the year is, I should say, turning around a little now. We've got some rain, albeit modest, and the tomatoes are starting to roll in. All of the potatoes are out, the onions, the garlic––we've got things to sell. But without the CSA we could have never got to this point. If you are part of our CSA, or any CSA, please know how big of a difference your early monetary sacrifice means to us––it means a lot. Everything in some years.- Jesse.