Re: NOW: I'm looking for Articles on CSA
Just Food
Re: NOW: I'm looking for Articles on CSA
btw the BIONEERS site has great links on it. Most of all, it's reminder of how many great articles are published through ACRES USA, but there are a lot of other links there, also. Thanks for thinking of your neighbors, Pat! ;-)
Re: NOW: I'm looking for Articles on CSA
Hi Allan, Have you tried bioneers.org? Pat A quality holistic health publication that has just started in Washington, DC (Integrated Health) has asked me for an article on CSA for their next issue. The rub is that the deadline is this Friday. This means that I have to find an article that I can get permission to have reprinted and submit that to them. The best slant of the article w.b. one that hilights the value of CSA to people in holistic health care situations. This is about food quality and the healing quality of food rather than about social interactions and economics. Any ideas? Thanks -Allan
Re: NOW: I'm looking for Articles on CSA
Hi Allan, Have you tried bioneers.org? Pat uh-uh. What did you have in mind? _Allan
CSA info in pop magazine
Allan, other CSA growers/shareholders and wannabes: The current March-April issue of "Organic Style" includes 3 entire pages in their FOOD section titled Fresher, Cheaper Veggies in which they suggest that buying a share in a local farm is the easiest way to a healthful diet. They also list www.justfood.org for ordering a starter kit and other helpful info. Still from article, for a list of farms in your area visit to the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center www.nat.usda.gov/afsucor Local Harvest www.localharvest.org The article seems well rounded, approaching from both grower and user perspectives. Now if there werea CSA near me Patti, central Florida wannabe
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
Super Supper
Re: csa names
Allan, I guess you would know what works best for your local customers, I have trouble keeping up with you.have you moved again ? Where are you now ? g. - Original Message - From: Allan Balliett [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 2:16 PM Subject: Re: csa names sounds like your local supermarket ! (I guess this should read convenience store in Yankese.) Actually, Gideon, 'local' is what separates it from 'supermarket.' The phrase is one that has been picked like 'authentic food' as a way of indicating that if you buy Fresh (picked this morning) and Local (within 100 miles), you've pretty much moved to supporting small, value-driven farms. My gut feeling, though, is similar to your, or I would have embraced this one. The blockage here is the difficulty with the word CSA Let's face it, if this were 'really' CSA, there w.b. a core group pulling this together while I keep working on the artichoke and the ginger management plans. But, CSA has its meaning to people who want fresh and locally grown food. Good to hear from you, my man. I wish you'd find time to write more. -Allan
: re CSA name
Food glorious Food
Re: csa names
Allan, I guess you would know what works best for your local customers, I have trouble keeping up with you.have you moved again ? Where are you now ? This is the way we get the preps on as much earth as possible, Gideon!! I'm in Middleburg, VA. (or THE PLAINS, VA) That's west of Washington DC and East of the Blue Ridge. It's horse country. It's Grass Country. It's the home of Sissy Spacek and Robert Duvall and the home of the heirs of old school business founders. For example, members of the Mellon family are neighbors. And so on. A tornado took out 23 standard 100 year apple trees from my new garden last year. No one had seen a tornado here before. Know what? I've had twisters in my last two bd gardens. We've come to associate them with prep applications. I don't think that preps had anything to do with the apple killing tornado, though. Thanks for checking up
Re: csa names
Allan, You sure don't know your celebrities and where they live. Sissy Spacek lives outside of Charlottesville, VA. I know this because when we had Komondors 10-20 years ago her husband came up and bought a couple from a litter. As far as other actors and the ilk, this isn't great country for them. Liz Taylor lived near by when she was married to John Warner but she quickly bored of being a Senator's wife and the local horsey scene. Mostly. the large estates belong to old money, the sort of inbred person that was born with money and in turn never did a thing with their life except ride a horse after a pack of hounds that are yapping at a scrawny fox. I imagine your middleburg market won't be those people. They aren't competent enough to buy food to feed themselves, they need someone else to feed them. Your market will most likely be the hangers on and the near do well (is that the correct term?) The people who own the shops that service the landed gentry, and the people who have enough for 10 acres and can afford to build a house of questionable taste with large pillars, brick facades and designs that below in another country and another time. You know, retired football players, computer executives who got out when the getting was good, and white collar crooks of various descriptions. My what a fine county you have moved to.
Re: csa names
Mostly. the large estates belong to old money, the sort of inbred person that was born with money and in turn never did a thing with their life except ride a horse after a pack of hounds that are yapping at a scrawny fox. Last weekend my arrival to the farm was slowed while waiting for three horsemen with a pack of hounds running around them. They were certainly saving themselves for the chase, I guess! After about 10 minutes they actually moved into the rough and let me pass. I had not idea that packs of hounds could be so large! The previous farmer here told me 'It's a great place, but waiting for the horses to go by gets a bit tiring.' ;-)
Re: csa names
And, of course, Allan, I should tell you about our little adventure with 'the hunt' and how they burnt down the house we were living in (long term house sitting) while we were at work because I wouldn't let 'the hunt' cross the property.
Re: csa names
And, of course, Allan, I should tell you about our little adventure with 'the hunt' and how they burnt down the house we were living in (long term house sitting) while we were at work because I wouldn't let 'the hunt' cross the property. OK, Leigh. I really don't like bringing this list down to the squabbling of neighbors with each other, but, I actually read in the Washington Post, of all places, that you are a person who plane out doesn't like rich people!! To temper this, I should say that after my 'welcome aboard tour' in Middleburg, I told my host I hate to sound like a tourist, but do you ever see the star of Gods and Generals, actor Robert Duvall, around here? only to hear from my host Allan, you just steer clear of Bobby Duvall. He's really rather an asshole.
Re: csa names
sounds like your local supermarket ! (I guess this should read convenience store in Yankese.) Gideon. - Original Message - From: Allan Balliett [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 5:42 AM Subject: Re: csa names Vital Vittles Nurtu-R-Us Working Share Caring Shares Sharing-Crops Thanks, Manfred!! I like your stick-to-it-ness!!! I'm back to 'fresh and local CSA' which is freshandlocalcsa.com Did this name not work for you folks? -Allan
Re: csa names
sounds like your local supermarket ! (I guess this should read convenience store in Yankese.) Actually, Gideon, 'local' is what separates it from 'supermarket.' The phrase is one that has been picked like 'authentic food' as a way of indicating that if you buy Fresh (picked this morning) and Local (within 100 miles), you've pretty much moved to supporting small, value-driven farms. My gut feeling, though, is similar to your, or I would have embraced this one. The blockage here is the difficulty with the word CSA Let's face it, if this were 'really' CSA, there w.b. a core group pulling this together while I keep working on the artichoke and the ginger management plans. But, CSA has its meaning to people who want fresh and locally grown food. Good to hear from you, my man. I wish you'd find time to write more. -Allan
Re: csa names
Allan: You wrote: the difficulty with the word CSA. Yes and yes again. On the one hand, you say, CSA has meaning for the people in the niche you're appealing to ... on the other hand, the term is difficult. Consider dropping it. Let Fresh and Local become its own raison d'etre. As you say, it doesn't sound like a real CSA anyway, or you, the farmer, wouldn't be choosing the name, drawing up the promotional materials, and all the rest; the core group would be doing it during the winter while you're resting [imagine that!]. I say, dump the term. Requires too much explaining. If you have to explain, explain Fresh and explain Local ... the social technology of getting the food to the people [the CSA concept] becomes more appealing when we WANT the food for the food's sake. Fresh and Local decribes the qualities I want in my food supply... Woody Aurora Farm. the only unsubsidized, family-run seed farm in North America offering garden seeds grown using Rudolf Steiner's methods of spiritual agriculture. http://www.kootenay.com/~aurora -Original Message- From: Allan Balliett [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Saturday, January 25, 2003 6:19 AM Subject: Re: csa names sounds like your local supermarket ! (I guess this should read convenience store in Yankese.) Actually, Gideon, 'local' is what separates it from 'supermarket.' The phrase is one that has been picked like 'authentic food' as a way of indicating that if you buy Fresh (picked this morning) and Local (within 100 miles), you've pretty much moved to supporting small, value-driven farms. My gut feeling, though, is similar to your, or I would have embraced this one. The blockage here is the difficulty with the word CSA Let's face it, if this were 'really' CSA, there w.b. a core group pulling this together while I keep working on the artichoke and the ginger management plans. But, CSA has its meaning to people who want fresh and locally grown food. Good to hear from you, my man. I wish you'd find time to write more. -Allan
Let's Pump the Morphogenic* Fields for Fresh and Local CSA!!
To anyone who wants a pdf copy of our flyer this year, contact me off-line at [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Did I spell it wrong? Sheldrake's hypothesis is that 'the more people who know about something, the easier it is for other's to learn about it.' This is not a local thing, it's a global thing. So, in a way, it's fine to throw your advertising EVERYWHERE. And it's good to have people thinking, even if just for a moment, about and idea, ANYWHERE. Thanks -Allan
Re: csa names
Woody - I don't think I've been clear on my 'nobody understands CSA' laments. Last year when our article ran in the post, we sold 160 shares in two days. I talked to a lot of people who called. They were DESPERATE to FIND A CSA! CSA **IS** the word that drew them in. Unfortunately, to most, CSA means 'a box of fresh groceries each week for the growing season.' So, what it means is that CSA is a good marketing term if you want to sell your crop, even in advance. What I'm lamenting is that CSA today is NOT the inspired associative economics that brought you and I into this realm. I'm Fresh and Local CSA this season. That url was available, Fresh and Local itself is not, nor is Freshnlocal. One thing I've run into a lot this past two years is people who are interested in lowering standards to appeal to more and more people. I guess that's what we call 'marketing,' pulling enough of the grit out of a topic to make it appealing to the masses. That's our job as BD growers: holding the standard, although it is difficult. On the social movement known as 'csa,' I have to say that I continue to feel that the BDA failed to give the support to this movement that it needed in the beginning and it waifed over into the conventional organics realm, stripped of most of its community building. I can't save CSA by myself. I can grow very healthy vegetables by myself, so, that's what I'm going to do: fill the demand known as CSA and try to stop feeling so sad for the opportunities that have been lost for both consumer and grower. Hence, no need to explain 'CSA' to my customers. They already 'know.' -Allan
Re: csa names
Allan, I disagree about that post article (of course I don't have it in front of me to quote) but I think the author defined CSA for his readers and he defined it as getting fresh vegetables straight from the farmer without going to a farmers' market. I agree, those people that called me from the article didn't mean what you mean by CSA. And without the article to 'define' the term for them they wouldn't have had a clue wether CSA meant Confederate Soldiers of America or Confectionairy Students Association. I use the term subscription vegetables because, while I think it is a bad term, I always assumed it was more intuitive. My wife, however says that I'm wrong. She says that only slightly more people understand subscription vegetables than understand CSA. She says we still need to find a better term or spend several hundred million on an ad campaign educating people about our definitions.
Re: csa names
Leigh - My point is that the people I talked to all said that they had been looking for a CSA and were afraid they wouldn't find one for this season (last year) They didn't say they were lookign for vegetables and saw an article about CSA and decided to buy vegetables. all the ones I talked to had already internalized some definition of 'CSA' and had either been in one or wanted to join one. That's my point. I didn't have the article in frong of me, either. Here's the first paragraph from your webpage: BULL RUN MOUNTAIN VEGETABLE FARM A Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm, providing fresh, subscription vegetables and flowers grown on our farm without chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. Our vegetables and flowers are chemical and gmo free. I think you sort of cover all the bases there, www.bullrunfarm.com -Allan I disagree about that post article (of course I don't have it in front of me to quote) but I think the author defined CSA for his readers and he defined it as getting fresh vegetables straight from the farmer without going to a farmers' market.
Re: csa names
My concern about CSA is the Community part. We all agree that community (whatever that means) is a major part of what we are striving for. It is just my practical, hands-on experience, that a lot of the community that is talked about in the csa literature is pie in the sky. It doesn't work, at least around here, on the ground. We need to be thinking of different ways of creating community besides a core group and work shares. (I'm sorry, having a justice department lawyer on a core group trying to do my planning for me is insulting and a waste of my time. I don't advise him with his briefs and anyway, he wouldn't take my advise).
Re: csa names
When I started the Westchester County drop off site for Roxbury Farms two seasons ago, only ONE member in 25 knew what a csa was and was relieved to know about us. She is the one who has now taken over the drop off site for the farm, instead of our garage. Thanks, Jane. Yours is the other way that demand is spread, word of mouth, teaching face-to-face. The article brought in people who probably read about CSA in PARADE a year back, and several people who missed their old CSA from Ann Arbor or Amherst, but our CSA deliveries this season brought in many neighbors of last year's shareholders. It's the way it happens. I have a woman in Arlington right now who is promising me THIRTY new names this season. Her husband and she are going DOOR TO DOOR this weekend, trying to get their neighbors excited! This is, of course, a core group, but it has arisen on its own.
Re: csa names
Leigh, Where is yoiur farm located? I live in Takoma Park. Jane Parker
Re: csa names
Leigh, Where is yoiur farm located? I live in Takoma Park. Jane Parker Jane - Check out his webpage www.bullrunfarm.com Otherwise, he's in THE PLAINS, VA. I'm also in THE PLAINS this season. Leigh's, what? The highest farm in the county(?) and Im down in the rolling 'horse country' below. (Seems like there must be some sort of season shifting symbiosis in that (and I bet there is) Leigh is a really good man. Not just a successful farmer bringing lots of toxin free food to lots of families for a very long time, but also a man with a strong social conscience and a history of effective activism...why just the other day...Oh, hell, I'll leave the stories to Leigh. He's also a famous story teller.
Re: csa names
.I have to add one more suggestion: You could feature Hugh's testimonial and call it AgriViagra. Lurkin' Lance
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
Earth Shares CSA !! Gideon. (has different meanings. ) - Original Message - From: Katherine Griebel [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 6:42 AM Subject: Re: Looking for a new CSA name How about Prime Edibles Kathy Griebel
csa names
Vital Vittles Nurtu-R-Us Working Share Caring Shares Sharing-Crops
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
My Garden Consider please how your customers would love to claim great produce came from My Garden; on repeat sales you could begin gentle teaching if so inclined. Yours could become THE official garden of good because those who tried would be convinced. Cheers, Patti, central Florida where we had a hard freeze for a few hours last night and are expecting another tonight
Re: csa names
Vital Vittles Nurtu-R-Us Working Share Caring Shares Sharing-Crops Thanks, Manfred!! I like your stick-to-it-ness!!! I'm back to 'fresh and local CSA' which is freshandlocalcsa.com Did this name not work for you folks? -Allan
Looking for a new CSA name
Looking for a new name for my CSA, that is. Guess I'm looking for a PORTABLE name, also. Not because, yes it's true, like Jane I won't keep my mouth shut when I see standards being lowered for the sake of the masses, but because I'm waitin in line for a better farm site next year. Besides, if I took a local name this year, 'Lost Corner CSA' would be the best choice and, well, it don't have te ring... Anyway, what say? It's got to appeal to DC professionals and metro families with my marketing, my friends, so I can't be too esoteric! I'm thinking 'Fresh and Local CSA,' but it sounds a lot like SUPER FRESH, an area grocery chain. I'd like to think of 'Authentic Food CSA,' but I don't think it speaks without explanation. What about you? Do you have a good CSA name that you've dreamed of using and wouldn't mind sharing with a WV farmer? Thanks _Allan
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
Allan: I think AUTHENTIC is great! Makes the competition look like a fake-- Frankenfood, Fastfood, Phoneyfood. The food your CSA offers, in contrast, is Real, Fresh, Value dense stuff. Woody Aurora Farm. the only unsubsidized, family-run seed farm in North America offering garden seeds grown using Rudolf Steiner's methods of spiritual agriculture. http://www.kootenay.com/~aurora -Original Message- From: Allan Balliett [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thursday, January 23, 2003 11:27 AM Subject: Looking for a new CSA name Looking for a new name for my CSA, that is. Guess I'm looking for a PORTABLE name, also. Not because, yes it's true, like Jane I won't keep my mouth shut when I see standards being lowered for the sake of the masses, but because I'm waitin in line for a better farm site next year. Besides, if I took a local name this year, 'Lost Corner CSA' would be the best choice and, well, it don't have te ring... Anyway, what say? It's got to appeal to DC professionals and metro families with my marketing, my friends, so I can't be too esoteric! I'm thinking 'Fresh and Local CSA,' but it sounds a lot like SUPER FRESH, an area grocery chain. I'd like to think of 'Authentic Food CSA,' but I don't think it speaks without explanation. What about you? Do you have a good CSA name that you've dreamed of using and wouldn't mind sharing with a WV farmer? Thanks _Allan
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
Allan: I think AUTHENTIC is great! Makes the competition look like a fake-- Frankenfood, Fastfood, Phoneyfood. The food your CSA offers, in contrast, is Real, Fresh, Value dense stuff. Woody Authentic CSA? Authentic Food Authentic Food CSA? Thanks
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
Maybe? Authentic Bounty CSA jeff
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
some ideas: Real Food, Moveable Feast, Shining Harvest, Food for Life, Elemental Foods
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
I happen to be a lucky an EXPERT at naming things. F'rinstance, there is an organic gourmet mushroom farm in Ohio that I named SHITAKE HAPPENS! I still think business names are best if they comes from within the creator. It will mean more to you. Names are incredibly powerful and become a touchstone for your inspiration and daily devotion. Naming is easy. Many of us could give you one, but that would be depriving you of the joy. The one I had for you derived both from the fact that you are NOT making Fast Food and the name Slow Food movement is already trademarked, so I thought you could take the name THE HALF FAST CSA. Does that work? But, seriously, I would stay away from words like authentic or real as they become meaningless in inflated advertising hype just like organic or natural have become. Plus, they sound so pompous and preachy. Why use a name that puts others down? I would go with words that have a deep meaning to you and yet have a clever ring to them. Personally I have always liked Stella Natura (also taken, but there are so many more). Remember that words like dirt, soil, plant, manure and so on sound SO much better in Latin, French, Spanish, German, Japanese or Italian. When I go on a Quest for a name, I run all media and conversations I contact through the Name Filter. I become obsessed with the process. As you read your Biodynamic books, your sustainable ag books, your foodsoilweb books, with this filter you will discover a list of potentials. Sleeping and dreaming on the list will bring the cream to the top. Let the name flow from within you. This is the organic process. Make it beautiful. Make it magic. Will Winter
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
When I go on a Quest for a name, I run all media and conversations I contact through the Name Filter. I become obsessed with the process. As you read your Biodynamic books, your sustainable ag books, your foodsoilweb books, with this filter you will discover a list of potentials. Sleeping and dreaming on the list will bring the cream to the top. Let the name flow from within you. This is the organic process. Make it beautiful. Make it magic. Will, I've been through all of this the past two week, and, yea, verily, the past three months and nothing is really snaping up. Now the deadline is here, the flyers must go out, the lease must be signed, etc. That's why I'm throwing it out to the family. Come on, man, give it a name and you'll be the godfather!!! (But it can't be Hardy-har-har CSA) Folks: I wouldn't ask if I didn't need help. I appreciate the suggestions that have been made. elementalfood.com is taken (check it out, it's intrigueing. Gosh, Sustainable Suppers comes to mind... -Allan
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
Again - I'm reaching out, looking for the person who has been holding onto 'the name they would give their CSA if they ever get around to starting one.' I bet there are a lot of good names being treasured that way. Oh, man, SECRETIONS of the SOIL Damn, COMPOST TEA and CARROTS Anyway, I'm still stuck...
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
Authentic Food, I think...with whatever organization name you wish...or none at all. CSA takes a lot of convoluted explaining. The big guys [e.g., Whole Foods, Walnut Acres, Eden Foods, Wild Oats] don't necessarily say they are health food stores or food purveyors. You have to do the explaining at some point, but shouldn't have to do it right up front in the next breath after saying the name. W Aurora Farm. the only unsubsidized, family-run seed farm in North America offering garden seeds grown using Rudolf Steiner's methods of spiritual agriculture. http://www.kootenay.com/~aurora -Original Message- From: Allan Balliett [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thursday, January 23, 2003 3:43 PM Subject: Re: Looking for a new CSA name Allan: I think AUTHENTIC is great! Makes the competition look like a fake-- Frankenfood, Fastfood, Phoneyfood. The food your CSA offers, in contrast, is Real, Fresh, Value dense stuff. Woody Authentic CSA? Authentic Food Authentic Food CSA? Thanks
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
Allan, elemental-food.com is not taken.. too confusing?lifesupper.com availablesustainablesupper.com availablesustainablefeast.com availablelifefeast.com unavailablefeastforlife.com availablePerry elementalfood.com is taken (check it out, it's intrigueing. Gosh, Sustainable Suppers comes to mind... -Allan
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
Authentic Food, I think...with whatever organization name you wish...or none at all. CSA takes a lot of convoluted explaining. The big guys [e.g., Whole Foods, Walnut Acres, Eden Foods, Wild Oats] don't necessarily say they are health food stores or food purveyors. You have to do the explaining at some point, but shouldn't have to do it right up front in the next breath after saying the name. the url has to go with the csa name. It has to be intuitive to be worthwhile. Not only is 'authentic food.com' taken, it is taken by a scalper who is accepting bids starting at $1500!!! AuthenticFoodCSA.com is available, but it introduces the complexity you have mentioned. Elemental Food, as I said, is gone,also. Thank. Keep trying!! -Allan W Aurora Farm. the only unsubsidized, family-run seed farm in North America offering garden seeds grown using Rudolf Steiner's methods of spiritual agriculture. http://www.kootenay.com/~aurora -Original Message- From: Allan Balliett [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thursday, January 23, 2003 3:43 PM Subject: Re: Looking for a new CSA name Allan: I think AUTHENTIC is great! Makes the competition look like a fake-- Frankenfood, Fastfood, Phoneyfood. The food your CSA offers, in contrast, is Real, Fresh, Value dense stuff. Woody Authentic CSA? Authentic Food Authentic Food CSA? Thanks
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
Thanks for the 'leg' work, Perry. I want to avoid hyphens and such. Looking for a name that can just be pounded in and it will work. -Allan
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
Hi! Allan, How about The Fast Supper? Totally meaningless, but close enough to something well known, to make people think, regardless of their intentions. Every time they mentally check to see it is that, with which it rhymes, it reinforces your business and could potentially be good cheap advertising. I note that www.thefastsupper.com is not in use. Your graphic could depict RS standing at the road side stall, it loaded with ready to eat produce and his self flanked by a dozen who have taken his ideas and set out to spread them across the world in a popular movement... If I was handling the promotion, I would pick pick some gullible cleric and send the media with a copy of the graphic to ask him it it was true he objected to your use of the image... [I would have a cartoonist do the graphic, using the composition and putting the figures in the same positions.] Gil Robertson THE ALL SHOP Allan Balliett wrote: Again - I'm reaching out,
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
Essential Fare, Glorious Greens, Fibre Juice, Scents of Humus,
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
Earth Wares
CSA Names
Wealth o' Health Human Salivations Salivations!
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
What about something with connections, like Food Connections, because a CSA is about connecting or re-connecting the consumer with the people and places where the food comes from and vice versa connecting the farmer with the consumers in his local community. Christiane
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
Taste Connection CSA ? From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 13:43:09 +1100 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Looking for a new CSA name What about something with connections, like Food Connections, because a CSA is about connecting or re-connecting the consumer with the people and places where the food comes from and vice versa connecting the farmer with the consumers in his local community. Christiane
Re: Looking for a new CSA name
How about Prime Edibles Kathy Griebel
Noted CSA Advocate, Steven McFadden to Speak Thursday evening,Jan. 30 at Longevity Cafe, in Santa Fe, NM, USA
Santa Fe's Land, Farms and Families: Steps Toward Environmental and Economic Renewal Santa Fe could readily establish environmental oases on open land, use water wisely, and provide both good jobs and fresh, clean food for its families and households, says local writer Steven McFadden. The co-author of the book Farms of Tomorrow Revisited which has helped spark nearly 1,000 community farms across America, McFadden will explore these themes on Thursday evening, Jan. 30 at Longevity Cafe, 112 W. San Francisco St., Santa Fe. The talk is free. The Santa Fe journalist - author of six other non-fiction books - says the foundation of America's future is being laid right now, and Santa Fe has a golden opportunity. He wants to share the concept of community supported agriculture (CSA) with the citizens of Santa Fe, so they can begin to actively consider how community farms could bring multiple benefits to the land and the people. No matter what kind of civilization lies ahead of us, McFadden says, it will be built upon farms. No culture, no technology, no larger spiritual advancement of humanity can occur without healthy, thriving farms as a sound base. Yet via industrialization, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, genetic experimentation, and economic pressures our foundation is rapidly mutating into something ugly and unsustainable. Government will not face these problems, McFadden said. It's up to the citizens. With economic uncertainty and war looming, now is the time to reflect carefully on the kind of agricultural foundation we are establishing for ourselves, our children and our children's children. With co-author Trauger Groh, McFadden explored the possibilities for agricultural and social renewal in a 1990 book entitled Farms of Tomorrow. At that time there were about 60 community-supported farms (CSAs) in America. While the US lost more than 300,000 general farms through the 1990s, CSAs grew. There are now over 1,000 CSA farms in America, involving over 100,000 households. Noting the steady growth of CSA farms, McFadden and Groh returned to the subject eight years later to write Farms of Tomorrow Revisited (1998). The free talk at Longevity Cafe will start at 7 PM., on Wednesday, February 6, 2003. For information see the schedule page at http://www.chiron-communications.com, or at http://www.LongevityCafe. - 30 - Farms of Tomorrow Revisited is published by the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Assoc. (1-888-516-7797), and distributed by Chelsea Green, Inc. (1-800-639-4099). Steven McFadden Chiron Communications 7 Avenida Vista Grande #195, Santa Fe, NM 87508 505-248-8444 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.chiron-communications.com
Re: Leigh: What makes a successful CSA operator?
Allan, How about --- I have happy subscribers. And I'm happy doing what I'm doing. I feel good about my farming practices, and my subscribers do to (at least that's what they tell me). Even the people who do not renew these days tell me how much they liked the program (but as you know, as CSA is not for everyone -or even for half the people), I have a good relationship with a large core of my subscribers. They like me and I like them. I produce a remarkable amount of wholesome food in a sustainable manner on land that most people would think was not good farmland. I feel reasonably at peace with my environment (though the ever encroaching city is a problem). With the addition of a Great Pyrenees into our family the deer have decided that it is not worth the risk involved in eating our vegetables. The longer I do it, farm, the less stressed I am. I get 4 months off in the winter to pursue my other interests. The people that help me farm get paid a liveable wage. More than they would get paid doing similar work. I don't feel I'm exploiting people (I did when I used interns). In other words, I live a lifestyle that is comfortable, doing what is basically good. Without exploiting others or being exploited myself. I think you get the gist. I'm supposed to talk about this very subject for half an hour at the future harvest conference tonight up in Hagerstown.
Re: Leigh: What makes a successful CSA operator?
I'm supposed to talk about this very subject for half an hour at the future harvest conference tonight up in Hagerstown. That's why I asked,Leigh, to keep you on your game! ;-) I still don't understand why you feel that the intern system is exploitive? (Oops! Maybe you, like I sometime do, feel that it is exploitive of the farm and the farmer!) Don't you think there is a fair exchange when you actually pay someone to demonstrate to them for a season how to get into the good life that you have outlined above? On a different topic: Dr. jim Duke is speaking at the same conference on 'making money with medicinals' or something like that. Since I know that the money for medicinal herbs has moved off the coast and the American organic farmers who essentailly created the herbal renaissance were essentially pushed out of the market place by cheap imported herbs the year after the boom started, I wondered what in the world he had to tell mid-atlantic growers. I contacted him and the answer is MEDICINAL MUSHROOMS, there is a growing, accessible, market for medicinal mushrooms!! For more details, one will have to attend the Hagerstown conference this weekend. Or wait for Leigh to tell us all about it! Thanks for the good news, Leigh. ;-) -Allan
Re: Leigh: What makes a successful CSA operator?
I still don't understand why you feel that the intern system is exploitive? (Oops! Maybe you, like I sometime do, feel that it is exploitive of the farm and the farmer!) Don't you think there is a fair exchange when you actually pay someone to demonstrate to them for a season how to get into the good life that you have outlined above? You know, Allan, you are probably right. It's just not a model I enjoy. I've seen CSA's who have their interns out there living in tents, expecting 60 hours a week from them, and then not fairly paying them for their labor. But then, on the other hand, when we had interns on our farm, I could never work our interns like that and while the interns were generally good people (some weren't) the amount and quality of work I got wasn't satisfactory. I guess I'm just locked into the concept and model of a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. I want workers who come to work expecting to work, and expecting to get paid fairly for their work.
Re: Leigh: What makes a successful CSA operator?
Leigh, Could you tell us how much you pay and how much you charge? thanks, daniel - Original Message - From: Leigh Hauter [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, January 17, 2003 6:26 AM Subject: Re: Leigh: What makes a successful CSA operator? I still don't understand why you feel that the intern system is exploitive? (Oops! Maybe you, like I sometime do, feel that it is exploitive of the farm and the farmer!) Don't you think there is a fair exchange when you actually pay someone to demonstrate to them for a season how to get into the good life that you have outlined above? You know, Allan, you are probably right. It's just not a model I enjoy. I've seen CSA's who have their interns out there living in tents, expecting 60 hours a week from them, and then not fairly paying them for their labor. But then, on the other hand, when we had interns on our farm, I could never work our interns like that and while the interns were generally good people (some weren't) the amount and quality of work I got wasn't satisfactory. I guess I'm just locked into the concept and model of a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. I want workers who come to work expecting to work, and expecting to get paid fairly for their work.
re:fwd csa
In 1700 it took nineteen farmers to feed one nonfarmer, a guarantee that people who minded other people’s business would only be an accent note in general society. One hundred years later England had driven its yeoman farmers almost out of existence, converting a few into an agricultural proletariat to take advantage of machine-age farming practices only sensible in large holdings. By 1900, one farmer could feed nineteen, John Taylor Gatto from The Underground History Of American Education. Leigh- A lot of my concerns fall back to my belief in the inspired validity of 3-Fold Economics. Allan Now, since those 1000 people exchange money with me, money that I need to grow the vegetables and provide the things I don't produce myself for my family, that seems to be an economic relationship. Leigh Hauter a threefold quoting. Hello Leigh. I hope we farmers and farmers - to - be here in the North Carolina piedmont can approach your success. Its not that there isn't an economic aspect to what you do. Artists also have to deal with economics. Priests and school teachers too. Every individual does. Are you farming primarily or merely for economic purpose? That is the image that pulls agri-business along; that is its purpose (actually in the case of agri-business it is money, which is financial, an embalmed version of economics. enron et al). It is true that religion, schools and art have been commodified. It shouldn't be. My spiritual life and education and relationship with the soil and wind and rain and cosmos shouldn't be. The commodification of plots of earth has brought the environmental and spiritual need for the heroic pioneering work of csa practitioners. Its not mere philosophy to see that there are three spheres in all we strive to institute and that, the picture out of which you operate determines the vitality and shape of all relationships - with people, nature, tools and conscience. The threefold social organism is no more theory than root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit. As Marshal McLuhan instintively understood, what we create is done in our own image: physical, soulful and spiritual. Societal relations are no different. The living reality beyond any social theory or belief is that we have before us a life of meaning, value and conscience; an evolving spiritual self, a uniqueness that we all share in common. That is the 1st sphere and the determining agent of all other economic or political endeavours. This sphere includes the cultivation of life: vegetable, self, child, ecosystems, art... - you know living relationships. The protection and support for that independent spirit's freedom to cultivate is the second sphere of all social institution - laws and rights and such. "Well", you may say"our government does a poor job of that and what about religious fanatical governments?" In our case the government is largely an economic tool that is used, among many things, to manipulate our children into a devolutionary docility so they will not grow up to think for themselves. This makes for better consumers and a conformative workforce. That is what economics as top priority leads to - that is standardized education with a manufactured history and agriculture that lacks vitality but not poisons so that the whole child can't enter fully into this life. Fanaticism is when the spiritual religious life rolls over the rights and sanctity of personhood. Religious fundamentalists and extremists come to mind. The economic system knows no boundaries. Mcdonalds in Kuwait. Globalization is like the crazy brother who barges into strangers homes. He knows not what he does. He thinks he does. You follow and try to make peace; you show them that you respect their privacy and maybe you share something of your self and maybe you've made mutually respecting friends. Economics without a cultural accompaniment crosses bounds into the profane - pro: outside, fanum: temple - Genetic manipulations, chemicals everywhere, standardized testing, financial sham, war for oil... The reason farming in particular is a spiritual cultural institution is because life is holy. You cultivate life so that the body and earth may be a temple. Not as exxon extracts oil to fuel machinery. Food is living and perpetuates life. Farming is science, which is an art, when not commodified - as we find in conventional institutions. It is true: I'm not a farmer... yet, nor do I have practical experience with the farming end of a csa. Last year I participated in a new farmer's csa. I work in the retail food industry. I am a manager that strives to work out of a different organizational paradigm that is non-heirarchical. I try to establish, against a powerful mainstream force, everyday, a more self sustaining work soil. This in my experience can only be done through renewing, to the best of my ability, human relationships every day. Retail lives firmly in the economic life of our society. But, if economics dominate our m
RE: CSA names
Allan or anyone please give me some of the best bd sites I want to link them up with mine rex tyler -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Allan Balliett Sent: 06 January 2003 00:54 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: CSA names Martha - The USDA operates a CSA database that can be accessed at their page, at the BDA's page and at the Robyn Van En pages, to name just a few of the portals. that's the place to look for CSAs. I don't know if it would make me happier if they added a 'subscription farming' section. -Allan
CSA names
When I ran a Google search on CSA in Texas, I got one only. (And I know the person running it, and I wouldn't trust her as far as I could heave her.) But, instead they're calling it subscription farms. I'd think even contract farming would have a good ring, nicer than 'subscribers'. Especially since some (like yourself, Allan) will grow a good deal of what the client wants on their table. Asking the members what they want to see harvested seems like a good idea.
Re: CSA names
Martha - The USDA operates a CSA database that can be accessed at their page, at the BDA's page and at the Robyn Van En pages, to name just a few of the portals. that's the place to look for CSAs. I don't know if it would make me happier if they added a 'subscription farming' section. -Allan
CSA
Title: CSA Alan, I'm sure you've seen this definition of csa's from the usda page. what do you think? by Suzanne DeMuth September 1993 Since our existence is primarily dependent on farming, we cannot entrust this essential activity solely to the farming population-- just 2% of Americans. As farming becomes more and more remote from the life of the average person, it becomes less and less able to provide us with clean, healthy, lifegiving food or a clean, healthy, lifegiving environment. A small minority of farmers, laden with debt and overburdened with responsibility, cannot possibly meet the needs of all the people. More and more people are coming to recognize this, and they are becoming ready to share agricultural responsibilities with the active farmers. (1) Community supported agriculture (CSA) is a new idea in farming, one that has been gaining momentum since its introduction to the United States from Europe in the mid-1980s. The CSA concept originated in the 1960s in Switzerland and Japan, where consumers interested in safe food and farmers seeking stable markets for their crops joined together in economic partnerships. Today, CSA farms in the U.S., known as CSAs, currently number more than 400. Most are located near urban centers in New England, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the Great Lakes region, with growing numbers in other areas, including the West Coast. In basic terms, CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community's farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. Typically, members or share-holders of the farm or garden pledge in advance to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer's salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm's bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and participating directly in food production. Members also share in the risks of farming, including poor harvests due to unfavorable weather or pests. By direct sales to community members, who have provided the farmer with working capital in advance, growers receive better prices for their crops, gain some financial security, and are relieved of much of the burden of marketing. Although CSAs take many forms, all have at their center a shared commitment to building a more local and equitable agricultural system, one that allows growers to focus on land stewardship and still maintain productive and profitable small farms. As stated by Robyn Van En [1948-1997], a leading CSA advocate, ...the main goal...of these community supported projects is to develop participating farms to their highest ecologic potential and to develop a network that will encourage and allow other farms to become involved. (2) CSA farmers typically use organic or biodynamic farming methods, and strive to provide fresh, high-quality foods. More people participate in the farming operation than on conventional farms, and some projects encourage members to work on the farm in exchange for a portion of the membership costs. Most CSAs offer a diversity of vegetables, fruits, and herbs in season; some provide a full array of farm produce, including shares in eggs, meat, milk, baked goods, and even firewood. Some farms offer a single commodity, or team up with others so that members receive goods on a more nearly year-round basis. Some are dedicated to serving particular community needs, such as helping to enfranchise homeless persons. Each CSA is structured to meet the needs of the participants, so many variations exist, including thelevel of financial commitment and active participation by the shareholders; financing, land ownership, and legal form of the farm operation; and details of payment plans and food distribution systems. CSA is sometimes known as subscription farming, and the two terms have been used on occasion to convey the same basic principles. In other cases, however, use of the latter term is intended to convey philosophic and practical differences in a given farm operation. Subscription farming (or marketing) arrangements tend to emphasize the economic benefits, for the farmer as well as consumer, of a guaranteed, direct market for farm products, rather than the con- cept of community-building that is the basis of a true CSA. Growers typically contract directly with customers, who may be called members, and who have agreed in advance to buy a minimum amount of produce at a fixed price, but who have little or no investmentin the farm itself. An example of one kind of subscription farm, which predates the first CSAs in this country, is the clientele membership club. According to this plan, which was promoted by Booker Whatley in the early 1980's, a grower could maintain small farm profits by selling low cost memberships to customers who then were allowed to harvest crops at below
CSA Tx
This one in MASS says she supplies 33 members. I did some digging on CSA + Texas and came up with one I know for a fact is a rip off near Houston. Two around the Austin area who call themselves 'subscription farms' rather than CSA. These only will allow 10 members, and charge $25 per week. Our growing season is different, of course, allowing harvests from the first of April to the end of November. So their members pay $800 but get 8 months worth of produce. None are biodynamically grown, but all are certified organic. (except miss ripoff near Houston.) The reason I'm asking all this is because my cousin is a physician's assistant at a hospital south of Houston Tx. She has mentioned several times that I could be growing food for so many families. And, everyone she works with is very health-conscious and would be pretty eager to have food grown that (1) they didn't have to take time to shop for (2) healthier and fresher than in the stores. So, whether they would acknowledge or respect the fact they're helping maintain a family farmstead, as long as it's to their advantage, they're interested. I just didn't know quite how to tap into this large pool of hungry Houstonians. Nor, do I think I'm ready to do so this season.
Re: CSA Tx
Flylo, I just didn't know quite how to tap into this large pool of hungry Houstonians. Nor, do I think I'm ready to do so this season. Sounds like you've got a great resource of customers via your cousin. It's always easier for me to approach someonethat I have any kind of connection to. Maybe you could get 5.. even 2 of your cousins co-workers that would want to buy from you this year on a limited scale... It would give you the chance to see if you like working with families... and help you understand more of how the season works and what will be available when. I'm sure much of the learning process will only come with experience!!! So, whether they would acknowledge or respect the fact they're helping maintain a family farmstead, as long as it's to their advantage, they're interested. They may not even know that subscribing to a CSA could help maintain a family farmstead... or that respect for farmers or food is due. Igenerally don't see that we have those values in our culture. Working with these families could help broaden their knowledge of what being "health-conscious"is I convinced my sister to sign up for an organicyear round buying club. She lives in Greensboro, NC. There is a grower in Linwood (about 30 miles away) that has a CSA in the summer, but also supplements with produce from COG (Carolina Organic Growers). COG was established in 1992 to help farmers in North and South Carolina market products. I do not know how things are going for them as far as how the business is going, but.. they are still in business and today that says something. From what I remember of a workshop I attended a few years ago.. their main route is Asheville to Wilmington (mountains to coast) via I-40. That passes right by Greensboro and the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market. The CSA, my sisterjoined, has the option of only getting a CSA share or participating in the buying club. I think membership is $20. You need to order (fax or e-mail) by Sunday for a Thursday or Friday pick-up from the PT Farmers Market, or home delivery for an extra $5/week. The list is incredible!!! COG's mission is to help farmers in North and South Carolina (regional) but, they do have things that are obviously not local or regional.. bananas for instance. I would like to see better labeling on these products as to where they are coming from, but it's not my deal. The buying sheet she got was for November and December. I can not comment on service as she has just joined, I'll let you know ina few weeks. Perry
Re: CSA Tx
Thanks Perry, there's a lot to think about. For the next couple of seasons, until my garden beds get re-established, I'm probably going to just try growing enough extra to build a produce stand business locally. Land expansion isn't a problem, i have one 18 acre field that's shaped triangular with the 'long side' fronting the road. would make a very nice front garden site for passers by. My Aunt lives pretty close and I think word of mouth would be excellent recommendation from her to her friends, her church group, etc. And for much of the year, she'll be feeding my 2 nieces who desperately need a more healthy diet in their lives. The cousin I spoke of is their mother and the best 'advertisement' in the world would be improving the health of her own children. Going from there, I'll see if it looks like enough interest in 'real' vegetables to start something like this (gardening basically on contract). A problem I see is that people barely have time to stop by the grocery store and toss something in their basket, rush home to cook it. If it's something out of a box and 'instant', so much the better. It's pretty hard for them to stare at an eggplant or sack of corn and realize the time requirements to turn it into table ready food. You can educate the public all you want, but basically, their food decisions come with how much time do they have to cook?
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.
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
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: 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.
CSA Retention rates
The biodynamic CSA I belong to, the Temple-Wilton (NH) Community Farm, has been in operation since 1985 and provides 100 families with vegetable and dairy products. We have 60 families on the waiting list and have only 1 or 2 openings a year, a retention rate of 98+%. http://www.templewiltoncommunityfarm.org/ - Original Message - From: Allan Balliett [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 10:10 AM Subject: Re: FW: fad? I do not see where you are muckraking as I see no disagreement. Although I am not really sure what people are voting for these days, I do know that just in the short time I have been a member of a csa in this country, from 1989 until now, that csa farms and memberships have multiplied from a handful to hundreds. That's good grassroots campaigning. I meant the Walmart market economy is not the one to target as ultimately their market share will be like empty calories. Change is here. it has to be aknowledged that the energy of a typical csa is very slight. Typical retention rates for a strong, long running CSA in this are is around 30% What I get out of this doesn't make me comfortable with the idea that something is actually being built. Jane, what is the retention rate of Roxbury? I'd expect it to be much higher. It's just a fact: people north of here (WV/MD/VA) take FRESH LOCAL CLEAN food more seriously than they do here. -Allan
Evolving meaning of CSA
Evolving Concept of CSA ROBYN VAN EN CENTER CSA is a relationship of mutual support and commitment between local farmers and community members who pay the farmer an annual membership fee to cover the production costs of the farm. In turn, members receive a weekly share of the harvest during the local growing season. The arrangement guarantees the farmer financial support and enables many small- to moderate-scale organic family farms to remain in business. Ultimately, CSA creates agriculture-supported communities where members receive a wide variety of foods harvested at their peak of ripeness, flavor and vitamin and mineral content. As Wendell Berry identifies, how we eat determines to a considerable extent how the world is used. With this in mind, it is important to remember that the goals of CSA support a sustainable agriculture system which . ++ JUST FOOD CSA helps to support family farms that are struggling to stay in business, while providing city people, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, with access to good, affordable produce. In a CSA arrangement, a farmer sells shares in his or her farm's upcoming harvest to individuals, families, and institutions in the city. The share price goes toward the costs of growing and distributing a season's worth of produce and paying the farmer a living wage. The cost of a share - for a bounty of organic vegetables - is less than the same amount of vegetables (conventionally-grown) at most grocery stores. During harvest months, the farmer delivers field-ripened vegetables once a week to city neighborhoods where the CSA members pick up their share of farm produce. Just Food is contributing to the nationwide movement to build CSA by focusing on NYC and experimenting with training and outreach methods in low-income communities. We do not run CSAs - we train others (urban groups and farmers) to run them. We focus our efforts on promoting alternative financing mechanisms and reaching out to low-income urban communities where fresh, affordable vegetables are in poor supply. Since 1996, Just Food has provided training and assistance to help start 24 CSAs, serving approximately 6,000 people. + LOCAL EXTENSION University people don't see CSA as a relationship. They like to refer to it as 'another tool in the farmers marketing kit.' Not clear in the paragraph below is that the 'shares' would be assembled from various farms and then most likely transported by a 3rd party to the distribution site. In other words, contact between consumer and farmer is at a minimum. I'm envisioning acooperative CSA (basically the only way to get some in-roads where I'm heading), using Metro parking lots for a weekly distribution point. Idea is to catch people as they get off the train and walk to their cars or houses, and once a week have their goodies right there for them. This tries to catch a bunch of people all in one place. Lowest cost of infrastruce if the grower delivers his produce weekly to the mtro stop where it is packed, and then consumer picks it up right there. Worst case (meaning most expensive which is difficult) but nicest for the farmer is to have a truck pick up the product from the farmers and then go park at the metro stop.
Re: CSA Retention rates
I have now been in the CSA business for over a decade in the DC area and have spent much of the time wondering what I should expect as a satisfactory renewal rate. and what made people renew or not. My observations (these are all pretty obvious, once said) production does matter. this is very obvious but renewal rates are higher after a successful growing season than after a poor one. But it accounts, at the most, for only a 10% increase. Community is important. Generally speaking (this isn't true for everyone) the more a subscriber feels part of the program, the more likely they are to renew. The years we turn out a regular newsletter, have get together's at the farm, shareholders gleaning the fields, get shareholders to meet each other, those are the years the renewal rate is higher (but not much - less than 5%). -in DC the idea of a working share is mostly unworkable. Subscribers work long days, traffic is terrible and even driving to our farm which is on the edge of the suburbs (40 miles from the city) takes over an hour. CSA's in our area that have a work share have very poor renewal rates and often pass quickly into history- Consistency. A CSA must be run like a business if it is to keep its shareholders. Think of a restaurant, even your favorite restaurant. How many times of poor service or poor food does it take to stop you from coming back, even if you have been going weekly for years. A CSA must be concerned about the details. Deliveries on time, vegetables presented in very good conditions, Few crop failures, Availability of the crops that people want (ie you need to spend special attention on things like broccoli and tomatoes- believe it or not, the vast majority of people judge the success of a CSA on the plentifulness of those two crops more than any others). A subscriber might understand that spotted wilt wiped out your tomato plants but they more than likely will not renew if their life revolves around tomatoes. Length of existence of a well run program. So, if the program produces regularly and works on community, the longer it is around, the higher the renewal rate. This is basically the winnowing process. CSA's sound neat but the truth is they aren't for everyone. Not everyone cooks (especially in the DC area) at home enough to use all the vegetables a CSA provides. Each year, though, our core group of renewers increases. Which means, each year we add a few more people who from experience actually match up well with a CSA lifestyle and don't just think that they will. I imagine this is true for the long lived CSA's around the country. They have built up a core of people who actually eat at home and cook. and like to eat vegetables. There are also a few outside factors that affect renewal rates. Things like the local economy and who your market is. In DC we have a large transient community. People who come to DC to work for the government, lobby organizations or non profits. A number of these people know CSA's back home and sign up. Over the years, especially in the beginning, this was the core of our subscribers. But, the problem is, they don't stay long. They do their 2 or 3 years in DC, decide its better back home and leave. This all said, I have experience starting two CSA's -- someone else's, a non profit organization, and our own. Both showed very similar renewal rate lines. Production, for a first year CSA is of course going to be spottier than a well established CSA. The growers haven't figured out the kinks of their land, their delivery system, what crops their particular subscribers like more of, how many of each and just the logistics of growing 50 plus crops a season. First year CSA's (in the DC area), I've observed, usually have renewal reates in the 20-30 percent range. But, if everything goes right, the CSA is operated in a professional, consistent manner, the renewal rate should go up each year. Our list of long time subscribers grows longer each year. I think our renewal rate was well over 40 percent last year and from all indications will be over 50 percent this year. These are, in part, the people who we know when they were single, remembered when they got married, when their first child was born and are amazed at how large their children are now. Our CSA is part of their life. I imagine, if we keep doing this for another decade (or two) then we will have gotten to the point where are subscriber list is filled up with these people. One other point, when I managed the non profit program we had to take into our program the longest lasting CSA in the DC area. Because of a number of factors (most of them mentioned above) their renewal rate which had been high in the past was rapidly crashiing. In other words, just like a restaurant, no matter how long it has been established, poor management can destroy the loyal customer base.
Re: Evolving meaning of CSA
A problem JUST FOOD CSA helps to support family farms that are struggling to stay in business, while providing city people, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, with access to good, affordable produce. The low-income aspect of a csa subsciber is very very problematic. It is real hard to get people who don't have money to pay money they don't have for a csa subscription. Unfortunately, the minimal income hurdle is a problem for CSA's and low income neighborhoods. Various programs try to focus on low-income neighborhoods, but it is hard. One of the programs in the DC area that does this applies for grants and then 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: CSA Retention rates
Also, Leigh, in your own CSA practice, you make a point of maximizing your contact with the shareholders, delivering food yourself and chatting the folks up rather than delegating that task. I had to use interns to deliver this season. I just couldn't leave the farm for that long twice a week. Because of the foundation politics, I was stressed by May. It's funny how little empathy farmer stress will invoke inlight of the amount of negativity it can bring out in people. The 'box scheme' version of CSA, the one tht extension advocates, where crops from various farms are pulled together and delivered to the shareholders would prefer to hire a driver who wasn't associated with ANY of the farms, thereby completing the separation of farmer and consumer. Just like Safeway, eh? -Allan
Re: CSA Retention rates
The 'box scheme' version of CSA, the one tht extension advocates, where crops from various farms are pulled together and delivered to the shareholders would prefer to hire a driver who wasn't associated with ANY of the farms, thereby completing the separation of farmer and consumer. Just like Safeway, eh? Our county farm development guy pushed a version of this for people doing farmers markets in DC. For whatever reason, it didn't work. We talked about it as a CSA model at several of our county small farmer meetings but couldn't really make it work on a large scale. (there is a CSA in Fredricksburg that is made up of a group of farmers - I don't know how successfully). Over the past several years I have had neighboring farmers grow crops that I didn't have room for or that they specialized in. I don't like it. I can't account to my subscribers for what they are doing. We do an add on fruit share. The fruit is grown by a couple out by Shenandoah park. As Allan implies in his comment, the separation of the farmer from the eater (even once removed like that) isn't all that comfortable. If the subscriber doesn't like a week's apples I can't explain it, I can only say 'I'll check what went wrong with the person that did grow them.'
CSA and United way
Instead, try and get national local non profits involved in your csa's to sponsor share prices for low income members, such as Roxbury Farm did this year, through the United Way, sponsoring some membership in Harlem. Got any more info on this, Jane? Are there any write-ups? This is brilliant, a strong variation on what I've been working towards the last 5 years. Let me know, ok? Thanks -Allan
JEFF POPPEN, the Barefoot Farmer, on CSA
This article is from the Macon County Chronicle. See earlier post for contact info for Jeff Poppen and info on how to buy his newest book. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Jeff Poppen Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is the way we market about half of our farm's produce. I still sell vegetables to health food stores and have a cow/calf operation of about 30 head. But as our CSA approaches the end of its second year, the farm feels financially more secure A group of families living around the Nashville area care about the farm. I'm less concerned now with how to market produce, price fluctuations, and occasional crop failures, and can make important farming decisions based on what is best for the farm. This doesn't keep me from making wrong decisions; I should have dug those sweet potatoes by now. When people join our CSA, they agree to help cover the farm's expenses with $25 a week or $100 a month between Memorial Day and Thanksgiving. In return for their support, they receive a half bushel of vegetables every Monday afternoon, which they pick up in Nashville. But they get something else, too. These people, our members, have a chance to care for a piece of land - our farm. I encourage, and would like to insist, they come out to the farm and get to know its beauty and characteristics. Most folks don't want to be farmers. It's a dangerous and stressful occupation, although filled with numerous fringe benefits. When folks join a CSA, they enjoy many of the pleasures of a farm without having to won one. They can bring the family out for a picnic, see animals and gardens, and their Monday dinner will likely have been harvested that morning. But more importantly, they are reestablishing a connection to the land, reuniting a lost tie between the city and the country, developing a mutual trust and friendship with a farmer, and actually saving a farm. Every day farms are lost. The majority of food nowadays is not produced on small, self-sufficient farms, but on large corporate agricultural businesses with environmental and economic consequences which are often not in the local communities' best interests. The smaller family farms, which are disappearing at an alarming rate, are much more productive, healthy, and cared for. CSA members are using their vegetable dollars to support a sustainable agriculture system which is ever bent on improving the fertility and long term production of the land. They offer hope for rural America. Farmers who tend their farms organically, producing crops with just the energy of cover drops, compost, and animals, deserve to be paid well. CSA members made this admittedly biased opinion of mine possible. Best of all, the farmer in turn spends his money locally. I hire local people to help on the farm, I buy just about everything the farm needs locally and it's an economic fact that prosperous farmers create the need for many other local businesses. I can see where the tobacco allotment program, which is now being dismantled, has saved many of the small farms and communities in the Middle Tennessee and Kentucky area by insuring a market for a crop. CSA's now offer another chance to save a small family farm, this time by a group of families offering to meet the farm's financial needs in exchange for produce. Simply put, instead of a tobacco crop, I raise a few acres of vegetables. Instead of grossing 15 thousand from tobacco, I ask 25 people to pledge $100 a month for half a year, and gross the same amount. We start sending peas, lettuce, onions, carrots, and beets on Memorial Day, and soon add garlic, green beans, summer squash, and cucumbers. As the spring vegetables decline, we send tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and sweet corn. By fall, CSA members are getting winter squash, sweet potatoes, and an assortment of oriental vegetables. We try to add something new each week, and occasionally send melons, mushrooms, herbs, and flowers. A large garden, with 40 different crops, always has plenty to harvest. Mary drives the produce into Nashville where Gabrielle, Donna, and Tina divide it up into boxes for the members to pick up. Then Mary comes back to the farm with a handful of checks. I have a stash of Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternuts, and garlic to feed our members through Thanksgiving, if not longer. Our garden is full of greens which will also last through then. Our members feel secure knowing they have this organic food coming each Monday, and the farm knows its monetary needs will be met. Everyone gains from Community Supported Agriculture. It's a model for reinvigorating the countryside with productive and profitable small organic farms. Members learn where their food comes from, and eat what is in season. They bear crop losses with the farmer, and enjoy the bumper crops, too. They are part of the farm. Rekindling this feeling of caring for the land in the 21st century may be more nourishing than
Associative Economics (AE), CSA, and the Food Fight for the Future
of nitrogen-based chemicals after World War II. No surprise, then, that the resulting farming methodology consists of napalming the soil, feeding it junk food and torturing it into yielding uniform, tasteless, nutritionally empty crops. To achieve a genuinely sustainable food system, more complex issues than whether food should be organically grown (certainly a vital first step) need to be addressed. The large cartels could conceivably grow food organically (though most likely in large scale mono-cultures, probably using some form of genetic manipulation) if the market grows enough to make it profitable. In fact, some are beginning to explore this possibility, threatening to drive even more small farms out of business. A sane society would take into account the scale of agricultural enterprises and the need for small and medium farmers to prosper. Several movements point us in the right direction. Farmers' markets, also an endangered species until 25 years ago, have made a spectacular comeback, with more and more organic produce available. A few key organizers have also managed to set up markets in poor urban neighborhoods (i.e., the Bronx's Sunday Market and La Marqueta in New York City), and the visionary WIC Farmers' Market Nutritional Program for low income families has done unmeasurable good in helping fresh produce get to those who need it most at a very low cost to the taxpayer. Farmers' markets make sense. They help farmers survive, revitalize urban areas where they are held, and help consumers develop a relationship with the food they eat and those who grow it. Why not buy the freshest (ideally organic), locally-grown produce from those who grew it, instead of giving money to corporate predators such as A.D.M. Cargill, Grace, Monsanto, et al? Another visionary impulse afoot is the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement. About a decade old in the U.S., CSA was developed in the Biodynamic Farming community and is based on Rudolf Steiner's ideas on voluntary, neither capitalist nor communist associative economics. In the basic CSA model, a farm and a group of consumers form a partnership of sorts. The consumers as a group raise money and buy shares of the farm's output before the harvest season, take charge of distribution and often do some work, though usually not actual farm labor. Each CSA set-up is different, but as a rule, farmers are freed from seeking commercial credit and the shareholders develop an active relationship with the origin of their food and get the freshest possible produce. Sometimes the land is placed in a land trust as well. CSA's have boomed-from two in 1986, to as many as 500 to 600 today, though they are multiplying so rapidly, no one knows the exact figure. CSA is a fascinating, hopeful model, and its success reveals how deep the yearning is on the part of many people to reestablish a connection with the land-with real food and the natural world. But it is still a tiny movement, and there is a limit to how far this concept can spread. Besides all the usual problems inherent in building visionary movements on a shoestring-conflict, neurosis, burn-out, etc.-the main issues facing CSA are economic: How to secure reasonable, livable incomes for farmers and farm workers, and especially, how to secure agricultural land in a socially Darwinian, free market economy that allows (and demands!) the commodification of everything, including land, air, water and now even plant, animal and human genes! Obviously, it is not possible for small organic farms to compete with large scale, industrialized agriculture in terms of price or quantity and, as land prices soar, population expands and development paves over the world, it is very hard to hold on to farmland. Unless society's hierarchy of values radically changes so that farmland, wilderness and other natural resources are protected, positive movements such as CSA will only be tiny islands of sanity in a toxic wasteland. Perhaps most heartening is the recent rise of a national movement of local and regional food activists seeking to draw the outlines of a sustainable and just food production and distribution system. Called SAWGs (Sustainable Agricultural Working Groups), they bring together farmers and farmers' market organizers, CSA groups, community food banks and state and private nutrition education efforts to build grassroots institutions and networks and create a powerful voice for food sanity. These activists realize that, although the food counterculture is a strong force, unless its disparate stands can coalesce around a unifying vision, its potential to bring about real change is next to none. If change is not implemented, more will go hungry, poor communities will continue to suffer from illnesses caused by pesticides and poor nutrition, and small farms will disappear, while specialty divisions of the transnational food cartels corner the health
New Internship Openings in Biodynamic Bio-intensive CSA Garden inNorthern Virginia
Blue Ridge CSA has funding to add two internship positions this season at the beginning of June. Priority will be given to applicants who are willing to stay to the end of the season, which is October. Two to four interns desired. No experience necessary, but a passion for working with soil, plants, and families is important. Ability to accept and understand instruction and a willingness to get along with others is important. Work in a diversified biodynamic biointensive CSA vegetable garden. This is a start-up season for the CSA; interns must be aware that this first season will be particularly challenging, as well as uncommonly rewarding. Please be prepared to put in as many hours in a day or a week as are necessary to keep us on schedule. CSA manager Allan Balliett is the founder and organizer of the Mid-Atlantic Biodynamic Food and Farming Conference. Primary source agriculturists visit the farm during the season, with the regional conference occurring in October. This past year author and seedsman Howard Shapiro, herbalist Jim Duke, and agroforester Mark Shepherd visited the garden at The Blue Ridge Center. The intern program will also attempt to visit several other sustainable farms in the region through the season. We are within commuting distance to the monuments and museums of Washington, DC. Stipend of $900/mo. is offered for qualified applicants. Interns willing to live in the garden will have access to rustic cabins and tent sites. Meals require flexibility this season. Interns will provide their own meals (assisted by the stipend), but are invited to browse the garden. We are located just off the Appalachian Trail, about 2 miles south of the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers on 1200 acres of environmental preserve. We have bear, deer, red fox, gray fox, and coyotes, as well as Alpine goats, Jacobs sheep, organically raised Black Angus beef, Guinea fowl, Barred Rock and Rhode Island Red layers, and some of the smartest mongrel pigs you've ever chased in your underwear! The garden is constructed on 4 acres and 4 slopes of historic land (Union and Confederates swapped control of these fields repeatedly during the Civil War). Practices here are biodynamic biointensive. We just purchased an Earthworks brewer and will be brewing and experimenting with compost teas extensively this coming season. (Elaine Ingham will be speaking at this fall's conference.) We do a great deal of cover cropping and make extensive use of our Celli spader. We have over 50 acres of grasslands and transitional grasslands, which will be under rotational grazing in future seasons. Deadline for application is on-going. Contact by e-mail ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) or letter (Allan Balliett 111661 Harpers Ferry Rd, Purcellville, VA 20132), with phone follow-up. Blue Ridge Center CSA is located at 11661 Harpers Ferry Road, Purcellville, VA 20132, Contact CSA manager, Allan Balliett, at (540) 668-6165, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] website:http://www.gardeningforthefuture.com
New Internship Openings in Biodynamic Bio-intensive CSA Garden in Northern Virginia
Please forgive the x-postings. Blue Ridge CSA has funding to add two internship positions this season at the beginning of June. Priority will be given to applicants who are willing to stay to the end of the season, which is October. Two to four interns desired. No experience necessary, but a passion for working with soil, plants, and families is important. Ability to accept and understand instruction and a willingness to get along with others is important. Work in a diversified biodynamic biointensive CSA vegetable garden. This is a start-up season for the CSA; interns must be aware that this first season will be particularly challenging, as well as uncommonly rewarding. Please be prepared to put in as many hours in a day or a week as are necessary to keep us on schedule. CSA manager Allan Balliett is the founder and organizer of the Mid-Atlantic Biodynamic Food and Farming Conference. Primary source agriculturists visit the farm during the season, with the regional conference occurring in October. This past year author and seedsman Howard Shapiro, herbalist Jim Duke, and agroforester Mark Shepherd visited the garden at The Blue Ridge Center. The intern program will also attempt to visit several other sustainable farms in the region through the season. We are within commuting distance to the monuments and museums of Washington, DC. Stipend of $900/mo. is offered for qualified applicants. Interns willing to live in the garden will have access to rustic cabins and tent sites. Meals require flexibility this season. Interns will provide their own meals (assisted by the stipend), but are invited to browse the garden. We are located just off the Appalachian Trail, about 2 miles south of the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers on 1200 acres of environmental preserve. We have bear, deer, red fox, gray fox, and coyotes, as well as Alpine goats, Jacobs sheep, organically raised Black Angus beef, Guinea fowl, Barred Rock and Rhode Island Red layers, and some of the smartest mongrel pigs you've ever chased in your underwear! The garden is constructed on 4 acres and 4 slopes of historic land (Union and Confederates swapped control of these fields repeatedly during the Civil War). Practices here are biodynamic biointensive. We just purchased an Earthworks brewer and will be brewing and experimenting with compost teas extensively this coming season. (Elaine Ingham will be speaking at this fall's conference.) We do a great deal of cover cropping and make extensive use of our Celli spader. We have over 50 acres of grasslands and transitional grasslands, which will be under rotational grazing in future seasons. Deadline for application is on-going. Contact by e-mail ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) or letter (Allan Balliett 111661 Harpers Ferry Rd, Purcellville, VA 20132), with phone follow-up. Blue Ridge Center CSA is located at 11661 Harpers Ferry Road, Purcellville, VA 20132, Contact CSA manager, Allan Balliett, at (540) 668-6165, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] website:http://www.gardeningforthefuture.com
