not CSA, but farmstand
A couple of days ago I forwarded a newsletter I get from a woman who runs a produce stand in Austin Tx. Granted, her stand is practically downtown Austin, but they also have about 60 acres under production in a smaller town nearby. The stand is in her front yard and only open Wednesdays and Saturdays. They sell out usually about midday every time. I'm amazed at the quantities and varieties they can offer year round. She calls her customers her 'FOFers' Friends Of the Farm, and sends out a weekely newsletter to them. To find a way to sell blemished tomatoes and past prime peppers, her husband devised a smoke shed on the farm. He smokes the romas for several days until they're smoke cured. They're then either packaged dry or packed in oil, etc. They have a certified kitchen and produce salsas and other things out of the 'past prime' vegetables. Because FoodTV featured their smoked tomatoes on a Food Finds show, their entire Fall harvest is already sold out. She even sells Rainwater! I wrote and said, 'you've got to be kidding'. She said she'd never sell AUSTIN rainwater, but this is from a man who has a catch and filtration system in Dripping Springs, and the water is a big seller there at the stand. Word of mouth has always been the best way to advertise. If you have an excellent product people who discover it are always anxious to tell their friends. Besides the gorgeous organic foods, this produce stand always has 'stationary items' such as goat cheese (the water), and organic eggs, coffee, breads, etc. I know of another produce stand open year round 24 hours a day but it is not manned. It's totally on the honor system and seems to do very well. They do keep a camera trained on the slide the money goes in and on the parking lot. This farm is basically a peach orchard but have 4 or 5 large greenhouses where they grow tomatoes during the winter. (as a rule greenhouse tomatoes are yucky but these are wonderful as they have the luxury of being vine ripened and never shipped green.) This one is not organic however. I've been wondering about a way to combine the successes of both of these stands. While we're about 60 miles from any major town, we're only 5 miles off the Interstate, half way between Houston and Dallas. I don't know if that market would bear looking into or not.
Perfect Orchard
Perfect Orchard what would it be like. A very practical question, please describe an ideal plantation of an Orchard starting from scratch. In my case with a hard pan, and we will plant Hybrids grapes (cold hardy types) We will start digging a 3 foot wide trench 3 foot dip for the purpose of loosening up the hardpan, and as long as we plan to plant. In our case we also need to drain the field from stagnated water, Ok, what do we do next ?? Hardy and decease resistant grapes. Mulch or not Cover crop or not What type of cover crop Companion planting with the cover crop Grassing animals in the vineyard and more Thanks, for your input. Per Garp/NH
Re: CSA Retention rates
Chris - Thanks for your post. It brings up another question: how does a CSA farmer (you? people you know?) afford to contact potentially quality members for a CSA? Myself. this past year, 99% of our members came as a result of a plug Leigh was able to get for us in the washington post. We went from 1 share, I think, to 160 shares and a waiting list almost that big. On the other hand, my weekly requests via the newsletter for help on the farm resulted in maybe 10 TOTAL hours of donated time even though we were located at an incredibly beautiful site relatively close in and could offer nature walks and a petting zoo. -Allan Hey Allen, We got started the same way, with an article in the Nashville paper. That basically got enough names for 3 farms to get started. Since then it has been all word of mouth and we (haven't needed any advertising) and the other farms have basically not needed to push too hard to get an increase in members. As far as the second part of your post, I have been contemplating this inherent problem in our society for a long time and I'm actually taking off from farming (for our income) next year and maybe for good to try and focus on this problem. With our CSA, what really struck me the hardest was that our customers didn't need our food (they had ample money, the availability of plenty of organic food and didn't REALLY understand the difference of BD), but they did have a tremendous need for something. Nearly every person that I've come into contact with goes from one moment to the next constantly looking for satisfaction from entertainment, material or sexual inputs. But you know from your own experience that it's those times on the farm when you may be stressed of in a hurry and your wondering why your even doing this, and you look up and the sunset is catching the clouds, a owl hoots, you feel the breeze on your face, feel the Earth under your feet, smell that rich smell of a healthy farm and all of a sudden it makes sense, there is something real and alive, and money, time, work, life and even death not only don't matter but they aren't even an issue. If a person feels that, even 1/20th of the time that most of us (BD) farmers feel it they cannot help but DO something because it is more real than any other thing in their lives. I feel that humanity is getting more and more burned out on this frantic search for fulfillment from the material and is in the deep throws of a desperate search for something more. So how to accomplish getting people to feel that? In one word I'd have to say that it's JOY. So my answer (or question) would have to be, How can we make our experience (farming) more joyful? And we each have a different answer for that. For me, I have a knack and a joy for showing the inner workings of the natural world to people. I don't look at it as talking about the incredible diversity or the complex dance of the insects in the garden or even what makes the walk of a fox special. To me it's more like, Look at this, isn't this joyful and this, doesn't it bring you joy to see that even the most obscure insignificant thing in the garden has a purpose, a place and is in harmony with the world and is at peace. Oh my God I see in their eyes, if harmony can exist so easily out here than it's also possible for me/us. I believe that our true answers are both simple and complex at the same time. Simple because what we're really looking for is joy, complex because we don't know quite how to get it and we've convinced ourselves that the answers lie in the physical or intellectual. So what I wish for you in your CSA above (but not excluding) all else is joy. (This of course would also take care of the first question) Peace be with you throughout this holiday season. In Love and Light, (Mr)Chris
Anthroposophy in print in Nature 12Dec02 vol. 420 p.611
Fancy this. I nearly fell off my chair. Came upon the word "Anthroposophy" in print in the journal Nature while reading a "concepts" article just out by Senior Editor Henry Gee which is denying that evolution is progressive. First some quotes of Gee's viewpoint: "It [evolution] is not a force, an entity separate from the materials on which it acts." "It is directionless with respect to history; if there is direction in evolution (perhaps biased by developmental constraint), it is not propelled by any inherent drive for improvement." "...mindless selection." Gee asks "So why, almost a century and a half after Darwin, do we still so readily accept this view of evolution as progressive?" He then answers "I blame nature philosophy, a remarkable movement that flowered in Germany in the eighteenth century, and whose adherents were both acutely scientific and breathlessly romantic at the same time." Gee then gives a dandy quote from Oken: " 'What is the animal kingdom other than an anatomized man, the macrocosm of the microcosm?' " [Anyone know source of that passage?] and moves on to Goethe. Then smack dab in the middle of the page, Gee writes: "Although nature philosophy is long dead, such sentiments still find ready acceptance among alternative or 'holistic' philosophies. Anthroposophy--the world view of twentieth-century philosopher Rudolf Steiner--draws heavily on Goethe, and a germ of nature philosophy survives, if buried, in every anti-scientific, anti-establishment eco-warrior." Not exactly a flattering presentation of anthroposophy. Yet, Gee does close his opinion piece thus: "Perhaps there is a nature philosopher in us all."___Barry Lia \ [EMAIL PROTECTED] \ Seattle WA
FW: [globalnews] 'Sci-Fi' Weapons Going to War
Title: FW: [globalnews] 'Sci-Fi' Weapons Going to War Los Angeles Times December 8, 2002 'Sci-Fi' Weapons Going to War By William M. Arkin [EMAIL PROTECTED] On April 30, 2001, more than 30 square miles of the rolling Maryland countryside that make up the Aberdeen Proving Grounds were cleared of all nonessential personnel for the first full-scale test of a new weapon. Planners also took care to remove all unnecessary electronic equipment, because electronic equipment was exactly what the new weapon was designed to destroy. At 6:13 p.m., the antenna on the exotic new device was switched on and a high-powered beam of microwaves was fired at a nearby truck -- the first field deployment of a directed energy weapon. It fried the truck's ignition and air-fuel mixing system, bringing the hapless vehicle to a halt. About the same time, at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, field demonstrations were being wrapped up on another microwave weapon, this one mounted on a truck and designed to inflict intense pain on human skin. The weapon sprang from a program devoted to what military researchers call active-denial technology. Now, a year and a half later, an enormous effort is underway to move these speed-of-light weapons from the realm of research to combat readiness. The same is true for an array of exotic new weapons, including new generations of so-called agent defeat bombs. Among the latter is a guided cluster bomb that scatters 4,000 titanium rods capable of penetrating chemical and biological bunkers and storage tanks with lethal effect. Most promising is a new incendiary device that generates a firestorm so intense it cannot be quenched with water. What lies behind this rush to bring these exotic new weapons into the American arsenal is the Bush administration's almost obsessive determination to eradicate nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in Iraq -- and potentially in other rogue states -- as part of its war on terrorism. The new devices, along with the development of highly secret special operations units and new tactics, are intended to help the armed forces seize or neutralize the so-called weapons of mass destruction (WMD) with greater speed and security -- as well as with less damage to surrounding areas or people, and less danger of inadvertently spreading toxic materials. There are risks, however, because some of these new weapons could arguably be construed as violating established codes of wartime conduct. And the risks of a backlash, whether at home or abroad, are magnified by the administration's almost total refusal to talk about what it is doing and thereby build public understanding and support. Unfortunately, one side effect of framing the war on terrorism in terms of weapons of mass destruction is that it instills in government officials a sense of moral certainty so great that they feel no need to explain or justify themselves. And, for all the talk of withering airstrikes on thousands of Iraqi targets and of armored divisions racing toward Baghdad, what really distinguishes Washington's preparation for war with Iraq is its focus on finding and destroying Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz made this crystal clear last week when he said, Our goal is to achieve the disarmament of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, peacefully if possible, voluntarily if possible, by force if necessary. And the administration clearly sees high-powered microwave, or HPM, weapons and other such devices as potentially useful in achieving that goal. When Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld was asked at an August press briefing how promising he considered HPM technology, he replied in his characteristically elliptical way by recalling the unexpected emergence of unmanned aerial drones in the Afghanistan war. You never know, he said. Drones that were used in Afghanistan had not reached their full development. In the normal order of things, when you invest in research and development, you don't have any intention or expectations that one would use it. On the other hand, the real world intervenes from time to time. The real world that drives current war planning is the absolute imperative of thwarting Iraqi use of chemical or biological weapons. For many years, the military and the defense industry have dreamed of directed-energy weapons -- lasers, microwaves and electromagnetic pulses that would operate in milliseconds and leapfrog over the current generations of conventional and nuclear weapons. Microwave weapons work by producing an intense surge of energy, like a lightning bolt, that short-circuits electrical connections, interferes with computer motherboards, destroys memory chips and damages other electronic components. As antipersonnel weapons, active-denial HPMs send a narrow beam of energy that penetrates about 1/64th of an inch into the skin, where nerves that cause pain are located. By instantaneously heating the skin to
Re: CSA Retention rates
I think you've really hit it on this one, Leigh. Lots of folks, at least in cities burbs just don't cook for themselves anymore. I cannot tell you how many members in our small group we just started here in Westchester (just outside NYC) did not know what kale was, or broccoli rabe, or beets even. Many people are intimidated by anything other than corn, broccoli tomatoes or green beans. On the other hand, I just ran into a neighbor at a block tea party a few weeks ago who was raving about how different and how much better Roxbury farm food tastes. She even said, when I first told her about the csa that she thought I was a bit crazy, claiming how much better locally produced, fresh, organic produce is. Now she's singing that song. Really, I think people just have to taste this food. Yes, many have lost their taste for real food from a steady processed diet. But just as many are being reclaimed by exposure to real food. Blessings on all you farmers out there growing awesome food for us lucky enough to join csa's!! With Love, Jane S. From: Leigh Hauter [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 13:04:20 -0500 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: CSA Retention rates They have built up a core of people who actually eat at home and cook. and like to eat vegetables.
Re: Evolving meaning of CSA
Leigh, Allan et al, I believe the Roxbury situation was that some shares at their normal price were subsidized in full. JS From: Leigh Hauter [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 13:16:02 -0500 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Evolving meaning of CSA A problem with the foundation and donation money buys shares from CSA farmers which are then sold in low-income neighborhoods at prices lower than the farmer could sell them.
Re: Getting Worried
The truly morally superior, of course, stop reading private mail at the point they realize it wasn't for them. Allan dont know about moral superiority - but thought common sense would have said most of us should know you well enough by now to realise that the 'offending' post was not something intended for general consumption and to have disregarded it at that point. I sympathise with your frustration - have been laid up a couple times myself. Take a tip from an old hand - the week you spend doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING after you think youre ready for work will be the best and most profitable weeks work you ever do! Re lax Lloyd Charles
Re: Other than Jeavons?
Title: Re: WENDELL BERRY: The Agrarian Standard My only information on biodynamic gardening is from the Jeavons books. Anything else I should be reading? Rose Hi Rose Please excuse the long post but this is a collection of postsfrom the last few years that I have collected for enquiries like yours.the Acres USA site is full of even more titles. Happy reading.Regards Tony Robinson.New Zealand.Buy as many BD books that you can afford. I'd start with Maria Thun's"Gardening for Life" and I'd get a copy of "Culture and Horticulture"by Storl. Hugh Lovel turned a mountain 'ravine' into a bountifulfarm, so you'll find lots of good information in his classic "ABiodynamic Farm"(available through ACRES USA http://www.acresusa.com)This is an excellent site to look for books worth a visit. While talking to the ACRES people, pick upNicolas Jolies biodynamic viticulture book. I strongly recommend thatyou read other biological classics so that you gain perspective. Readthe Malibar Farm books, read Fukuoka, Jeavons, "Farmers for FortyCenturies," Sir Albert Howard's titles, and the more recent stuff byAlan Savory and Alan Nation. All of these ideas are being pulledtogether at http://www.gardeningforthefuture.com .Look at the introductory class on www.oregonbd.orgThere are links to other resources on the web in the acknowledgementssection and in the appendix.The best intro is Wolf Storl's "Culture and Horticulture". Maria Thun's"Gardening for Life" is a good intro for gardening. Proctor's "Grasp theNettle" is an intro for farmers. Steiner's lectures are the basis but arevery difficult for a beginner, I wouldn't recommend starting there. When youare ready for the source, Malcolm Gardner's more recent translation of the"Agricultural Lectures" is definitely preferred. Glen has posted somechapters at http://rimu.orcon.net.nz/garuda/Agriccourse/Agricourse.htmlKoepf's textbook is comprehensive tho a bit dull reading. It is, however,one of the few resources completely available on line athttp://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010114koepf/bda.html==Suggested Reading on Biodynamic Farming:BDFGA (New Zealand). 1989. Biodynamics: New Directions for Farmingand Gardening in New Zealand. Random Century New Zealand, Auckland.230 p.Castelliz, Katherine. 1980. Life to the Land: Guidelines toBio-Dynamic Husbandry. LanthornPress, Peredur, East Grinstead, Sussex, England.72 p.Groh, Trauger, and Steven McFadden. 1997. Farms of TomorrowRevisited: Community Supported Farms, Farm Supported Communities.Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association, Kimberton, PA. 294 p.Lovel, Hugh. 1994. A Biodynamic Farm for Growing Wholesome Food.Acres, USA, Kansas City, MO. 215 p.Koepf, Herbert H. 1989. The Biodynamic Farm: Agriculture in theService of the Earth and Humanity. Anthroposophic Press, Hudson, NewYork. 248 p.Koepf, Herbert H., Bo D. Pettersson and Wolfgang Schaumann. 1976.Biodynamic Agriculture: An Introduction. Anthroposophic Press,Hudson, New York. 430 p.Koepf, Herbert H. 1993. Research in Biodynamic Agriculture:Methods and Results. Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening Association,Kimberton, PA. 78 p.Pfeiffer, Ehrenfried. 1975. Sensitive Crystallization Processes ( ADemonstration of Formative Forces in the Blood. AnthroposophicPress, Spring Valley, NY. 59 p.Pfeiffer, Ehrenfried. 1981. Weeds and What They Tell. Bio-DynamicLiterature, Wyoming, RI. 96 p.Pfeiffer, Ehrenfried. 1983. Bio-Dynamic Gardening and Farming.[collected articles, ca. 1940 - 1961] Volume 1. Mercury Press,Spring Valley, New York. 126 p.Pfeiffer, Ehrenfried. 1983. Bio-Dynamic Gardening and Farming.[collected articles, ca. 1940 - 1961] Volume 2. Mercury Press,Spring Valley, New York. 142 p.Pfeiffer, Ehrenfried. 1983. Soil Fertility: Renewal andPreservation. Lanthorn, East Grinstead, Sussex, England. 200 p.Pfeiffer, Ehrenfried. 1984. Chromatography Applied to QualityTesting. Bio-Dynamic Literature, Wyoming, RI. 44 p.Pfeiffer, Ehrenfried. 1984. Bio-Dynamic Gardening and Farming.[collected articles, ca. 1940 - 1961] Volume 3. Mercury Press,Spring Valley, New York. 132 p.Suggested Reading on Biodynamic Farming: (continued)Podolinsky, Alex. 1985. Bio-Dynamic Agriculture IntroductoryLectures, Volume I. Gavemer Publishing, Sydney, Australia. 190 p.Podolinsky, Alex. 1989. Bio-Dynamic Agriculture IntroductoryLectures, Volume II. Gavemer Publishing, Sydney, Australia. 173 p.Proctor, Peter. 1997. Grasp the Nettle: Making Biodynamic Farmingand Gardening Work. Random House, Auckland, N.Z. 176 p.Remer, Nicolaus. 1995. Laws of Life in Agriculture. Bio-DynamicFarming and Gardening Association, Kimberton, PA. 158 p.Remer, Nikolaus. 1996. Organic Manure: Its Treatment According toIndications by Rudolf Steiner. Mercury Press, Chestnut Ridge,
Re: not CSA, but farmstand
My Partner's daughter has been in Dallas for a year and would have been most greatful to purchase organically grown food. she is now packing up and returning to N.Z. There are sure to be others in Dallas who would like to purchase good food. Best wishes. Peter. - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2002 7:01 AM Subject: not CSA, but farmstand A couple of days ago I forwarded a newsletter I get from a woman who runs a produce stand in Austin Tx. Granted, her stand is practically downtown Austin, but they also have about 60 acres under production in a smaller town nearby. The stand is in her front yard and only open Wednesdays and Saturdays. They sell out usually about midday every time. I'm amazed at the quantities and varieties they can offer year round. She calls her customers her 'FOFers' Friends Of the Farm, and sends out a weekely newsletter to them. To find a way to sell blemished tomatoes and past prime peppers, her husband devised a smoke shed on the farm. He smokes the romas for several days until they're smoke cured. They're then either packaged dry or packed in oil, etc. They have a certified kitchen and produce salsas and other things out of the 'past prime' vegetables. Because FoodTV featured their smoked tomatoes on a Food Finds show, their entire Fall harvest is already sold out. She even sells Rainwater! I wrote and said, 'you've got to be kidding'. She said she'd never sell AUSTIN rainwater, but this is from a man who has a catch and filtration system in Dripping Springs, and the water is a big seller there at the stand. Word of mouth has always been the best way to advertise. If you have an excellent product people who discover it are always anxious to tell their friends. Besides the gorgeous organic foods, this produce stand always has 'stationary items' such as goat cheese (the water), and organic eggs, coffee, breads, etc. I know of another produce stand open year round 24 hours a day but it is not manned. It's totally on the honor system and seems to do very well. They do keep a camera trained on the slide the money goes in and on the parking lot. This farm is basically a peach orchard but have 4 or 5 large greenhouses where they grow tomatoes during the winter. (as a rule greenhouse tomatoes are yucky but these are wonderful as they have the luxury of being vine ripened and never shipped green.) This one is not organic however. I've been wondering about a way to combine the successes of both of these stands. While we're about 60 miles from any major town, we're only 5 miles off the Interstate, half way between Houston and Dallas. I don't know if that market would bear looking into or not.
