Mon, Jul 16, 2007 · Filed under Building & Fixing, Market & Stand, Summer
Today, I assembled this rather simple mini-stand to sell veggies at a local coffee shop. The trays were put together on the farm, then we drove over with the cut pieces and screw-nailed it together on site. It’s part of the bit of expansion this year, a completely new side to this tiny farm—we’ll see how it plays out! The shop is about 12 miles (19km) away, in a small village that swells in summer with cottage and boat traffic (it’s on a busy recreational waterway; we’re in lake as well as farm country around here). It serves salads, baked-on-premises pastries, fair trade coffee… I’ve known the owner, from the farm, for four years. She wanted to add veggies this year, and the overall…karmic vibe (!) seemed right, so here we are! The shop is actually buying all the veggies upfront at our regular price, and maintaining the stand themselves, so it’s not a BIG change, all in all. Still, a very cooperative, new thing to do. The stand itself is a work-in-progress, for one, it has to be bolted to the concrete pad, and it needs some sort of backboard built in. More as it happens! :)
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Mon, May 28, 2007 · Filed under Market & Stand, Spring
As the season picks up, I’ve been thinking a lot about…how short it is. Around here, we only have four months between last and first average frost dates, which means five months of fresh local veggies (six on the outside). This bothers me. Is eating locally-grown just a seasonal, novelty act…then it’s back to the supermarket for the rest of the year? I have all kinds of daydreams and plans for extending the season, most of them somewhat expensive and involved, like a large root cellar for a year-round supply. One of the things I have been doing, and decided today to make more…formal this year, is recommending customers to other local growers who offer things I don’t. For example, two spaces down at the market is a family farm, mother, father, daughter growing several acres of potatoes (in the pic, at last Saturday’s market they had stored spuds for eating and growing). It’s not a big operation, but they do offer 50lb bags in fall, a quantity I can’t provide at this point. I figure, anything that makes it easier for people to eat what they want, like truly local food, is…good! No tiny farm grows alone!!
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Sun, Apr 01, 2007 · Filed under CSA, Spring
This single printed sheet is the other farming thing on my mind this time of year. It’s the CSA sign-up form, filled in by new members and past shareholders renewing their stake in the harvest. I don’t do any advertising, just word of mouth and leaving off sheets at a handful of local spots. The goal is to have near 100% renewals, but we’re still expanding, aiming for 50 shareholders this season. I don’t think of this as the “business” end. Like the farm stand and farmers’ market stall, it’s another equal part of tiny farming, same as planting, cultivating, harvesting, sharing, eating. By buying into the whole season in advance, and picking up their weekly shares, CSA members become as much a part of growing veggies as if they were out weeding in the field (which some of them are planning to do as well this year). More »
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