Abbe Hills Farm CSA

For some silly reason, I thought that this winter I would have time to rest, clean my office, improve my website, organize my papers, read all the publications I threw on the coffee table over the summer, paint the living room, get the farm machinery serviced, shop for cultivation equipment, study some new seed catalogs, sell the seed corn we grew last year, give a few talks, prepare the hoophouse for spring, and sew some drapes.  And I thought all those things would be done by about February 1 and I would devote the rest of my time to communicating with you.I must have been crazy.

I'm getting lots of calls from new people who want to join the CSA this year.  I am planning for 200 shares, so I think there should be plenty of room for all of you and also all of them, but it wouldn't hurt for you to get registered as soon as you can.  The registration form is attached.  If you can't open it, you can also access it from the website, www.abbehills.com .  Click on "sign up" and it will take you directly to the 2010 registration form.  Please print it and mail to me - hopefully with a check of some sort - and you'll be registered.  You can pay me in installments if that works better for you, although I would like to have at least $100 to start if possible.  Spring bills, like for seed and equipment, are starting to accumulate around here.

I've made a few changes in the CSA.  I've decided to simply my life this year and only offer regular size shares.  This is the size that almost all of you have, so most of you won’t notice any change.  (For those who had large shares in the past, they were really just two regulars, and the bookkeeping is easier if I call them that.If you sign up for two regulars, you can have a 5% discount in price, which is how I normally priced the large size shares.)In a regular share, I try to include enough vegetables for a week, with enough of some items to make a standard recipe using that thing as the base.  It works out to about 10 pounds per week, although there is much less than 10 pounds in the spring, and much more than 10 pounds in the fall. 

We found out with some pretty comprehensive data collection in 2009 that this is about the amount of food that most CSAs in Iowa think is enough for a family of two adults and two kids for a week.  I know some of you think it is too much and that you need someone to share, but I urge you to consider using an entire share for your family this summer, and maybe only sharing one or two things a week with grandma or the neighbor. You’ll eat more vegetables, you’ll learn about the less famous vegetables, and you’ll get the full dose of the CSA experience.It will be fun!

OK, but, what if you have to eat out a couple of times one week?Or if there really are too many vegetables?One strategy that many people use successfully to keep up every week is to cook all of a vegetable at one time, for example, steam all of the green beans at once, and then eat whatever your family wants at that meal, and either save the extras for leftovers, or immediately put the leftovers in the freezer for use in the winter.  Some families find that they eat more vegetables when there are more vegetables on the table, and even busy moms with infants have told me that it is pretty easy to throw the extras in the freezer, and they are happy to have them later on. 

So, I’m not saying that you can’t share a share with someone; I know that is the best arrangement for many of you, and I’m happy to have you do it that way if it works for you. But, if you have a regular size family of regular vegetable eating kids, I urge you to release your inner CSA, and commit to eating a regular size share every week.

Which brings me to the really big change this year – the price.Regular shares in 2010 are going to be $400, or $20 per week.Twenty dollars per week is completely reasonable for a generous bag of top notch produce, but it’s a lot higher than the prices of the past and might be a little shocking when you see it on the registration form. I have been thinking for about a year that my price has not been high enough to support the CSA (and the CSA farmer) adequately, so I felt better when I saw the results of that data collection exercise I told you about.At $400, Abbe Hills will be about in the middle of CSAs in Iowa on share price. And, $400 is a fair price that pretty closely represents the true cost of the veggies in the bag. Actually, we’re still a little cheap compared to the others, but we can be because you do all the weighing and bagging, which cuts costs considerably.Also, you pick up at the farm, which saves me delivery time and expense, which saves quite a lot on the share price.And, I think both of those responsibilities actually make it more fun to belong to Abbe Hills than to other CSAs where all you get is a box of vegetables from a pickup in the Hy-Vee parking lot.So, you are actually getting a bonus by paying me more and still doing all your own work!Who knew!?!

So why do I need to raise the price so much?Well, as you know, the cost of nearly everything has increased considerably in the last year.Property taxes, seed, machinery, farm insurance, health insurance and medical expenses, repairs, garden supplies – all shockingly more expensive.I know you are seeing the same thing at your house. By the time I get done with the payroll and regular expenses, there isn’t much left.And while I have enough to live comfortably and modestly, the two things that concern me most about my financial condition are the need to have some money available to reinvest back into the farm every year, and the need for me to have a rainy day fund.In order to work efficiently and to provide good quality (and to prepare to meet potentially costly new food safety standards that are looming larger every year), we need some new equipment.Right now, I’m coveting a potato washer and a couple of specialized pieces of cultivating equipment.And for the rainy day, I’d like to have a little money put away in case I break my leg or something similarly inconvenient happens.Not that I intend to, but emergencies happen, and I’d like to be a bit more prepared.I’m feeling a little naked without some money in the savings account.At $400 per share, I think both the reinvestment and the rainy day accounts can begin to happen.

Which brings me back around to the full CSA experience I mentioned earlier.Community Supported Agriculture is about a whole lot more than reasonably priced, good food.It’s about rebuilding our local food system, recognizing the true cost of good food, eating seasonally and abundantly and enjoying it.  About building community food security, and about valuing more that comes from the farm than just the food.  By being a member, you are part of a pretty big movement that is rocking this country, where people are realizing that it does matter where their food comes from!And it does matter that everyone in the food system is treated equitably.  And that the land is tended carefully.  And that if we want to have good quality and sufficient quantity of the foods we want, we have to support the farmers who are doing the kind of agriculture we want.I hope I am being that kind of farmer.Your support of the CSA – whether it is being a member, or helping to weed in a pinch, or delivering to the food pantry, or coming to movie night, or just being nice to the farmer – all make it possible for this farm to be here for you.Plus, our community has a place where second graders and college sophomores can taste red peppers for the first time, where the native pollinators have habitat to survive, where the water running into Abbe Creek is really, really clean, where there is art on the machine shed, and where people can get an idea about another way to think about food and farming.So, I’m happy for your support and I want you to realize that you are deep into something very, very good.Once again, cool before it was cool!!!

The CSA in 2010 will operate very much like it did in 2009.Pickups will be Mondays and Thursdays, 4:30 until 7:00.I’m planning to start the week of June 7, unless some miracle happens and I am able to grow something worth coming here for earlier.We’ll change to Saturday pickups in October.Our last day will probably be October 23.Like last year, if you want to do some volunteer work, send me a volunteer form.And if you want to donate to the fund to support families who can’t afford the full price of a share, there is a place at the bottom of the registration form where you can add a little extra to your share.Half-summer shares are available for those of you who plan to come home just in time for the really good garden stuff.

I’m going to work hard on spinach, carrots, and watermelons this year.Let’s hope we have some warmer days and less rain than we had in 2009.I’ve got three great returning student workers, two returning cats, and one new white rooster.It’s going to be a great year.I hope I get to grow some food for you.

Laura

PS:If you made it this far, you’ll keep reading, I think.The Linn Soil and Water Conservation District (of which I am an elected commissioner) is in the middle of our annual tree and wildflower sale.Lovely trees, shrubs, and native plants, very reasonably priced.We use the profits to support our educational work.Trees come in bundles of 5-10.For more info, call our secretary, Mary Hepker, and she’ll send you the information.377-5960, ext 3.The deadline is approaching, so don’t dally.

Also, do you have an apartment/room that one of my workers could rent for the summer?Know of one?If so, please contact him directly at jharrity12@cornellcollege.edu.