Athens Hills CSA
During this
time of year, we are busy planning for winter. It is an excellent time to be
reading through all the feedback from our survey. I find it incredibly moving
to read the comments from our happy customers and realize the impact that local
food really can have on so many lives. All of you are speaking with your
dollars, when you buy locally, through the CSA, farmers markets, and small
independently owned businesses. Our CSA is proud to be able to promote the
products of at least six other family farms and small businesses, and thus,
support our local economy.
I am writing
this to thank all of you who have given your feedback, and also to address some
concerns and comments from the surveys. Since the surveys are anonymous, I am
going to do my best to generally respond to comments, without mentioning
specific remarks. We share all this feedback with everyone here at the farm and
some of this feedback comes from the owners, workers, and farm manager.
My apologies
for the survey that required answers for partner items. I did not realize that
this survey program defaulted with mandatory response settings. I think I fixed
it in time for more people to respond.
About customizing our shares:
I want to
clarify the combo vs. a la carte options. You are welcome to purchase as many
partner items as you like, as long as you are purchasing at least a half share
of veggies. The combo shares are packaged for anyone who plans to purchase all
that we offer. Some families choose to get two fruit, cheese, milk or eggs, and
only a half share of veggies. Others get two shares of veggies and only add a
half share of a partner item. If you have any questions, just ask!
About quantity/quality:
As with any
business, our farm in constantly evolving. We strive to grow the best food we
can, using strictly organic practices, and provide year-round employment to our
farmers. Some folks say that they wish we offered more variety, and we hear
you! But, there are some things, like corn, broccoli and others that are simply
not profitable for us to grow. Others crops do not work well in our soil.
Growing
organically means that the labor on our farm is slightly higher per crop, and
thus, the cost of our veggies is slightly higher than conventionally grown
food. We believe that it is worth it to charge a little more for high quality
local food. But that also means that you may not get as much produce per week
as some conventional CSAs.
Finally, a
few people said that they would like to see more of a singular type of veggie,
rather than smaller quantities of more veggies, for example, more potatoes or
beets at one time. We try to balance our small-family households and
large-family households, so that individuals don't feel like they get too much
of certain things, while families have enough of one thing to make a dish. We
are trying to figure out how we can best supply more of a given veggie at a
time. Rest assured, we are considering making some adjustments!
And, a note
about mushrooms:
We hear equally as often from people who want more mushrooms
and those who don't care for them. We have considered before, and are
considering again for the future, the possibility of offering mushrooms less
regularly in the veggie share and offering a mushroom add-on option, for those
who want them every week. This is a possibility for next summer, so stay tuned.
About partner items:
I'd like to
correct an error on our Winter Enrollment brochure: I accidentally wrote that
the bread full share is 16 weeks, but it is actually 20 weeks. A half share of
bread is 10 weeks. Sorry, for those who thought our bread price had inflated!!
It has stayed exactly the same as summer! Fruit is the only partner item that
is only delivered for 16 weeks, since there are not enough apples to supply in
April.
I hope
everyone knows by now, but in case you missed it, the bread share this season
will include a variety of breads throughout the season! This is a change that
was made based directly on member feedback.
About recipes/storing/preserving
information:
We received
some feedback about things wilting quickly or not storing well. I am going to
make an effort to include more information about storing our veggies next
season. We also have a veggie information section on our blog already, that
provides some great tips: http://greenedgegardens.blogspot.com/p/vegetable-storage-information.html.
If you find
certain websites or veggie resources particularly helpful, please let me know!
I plan to expand our veggie resources on our blog.
Thanks to all of our members for your participation. I am always happy to speak with any of you, if you have further questions or comments about our Community Supported Agriculture program (greenedgegardens@frontier.com, 740-448-4021).
Have a great month and I'll be in touch with our winter members in December!
Miranda
Miranda
