I never thought I'd see this day. My luddite tendencies and concern for our society's addictive internet habits have prevented me from doing this until now. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that Facebook could be used as a valuable tool to connect people to the farm and to each other in the community. I hope you may find it useful. Currently, I have created four discussion topics, including Recipe Swap, CSA Box Sharing, Vegetable ID'ing, and Gardening Q's. If you have any other ideas for how Facebook could be useful, please share them with the farm. Here's the link.

“Who brought their own wheelbarrow?” Rob Jones asked the group of 20-somethings gathered on a muddy North Carolina farm on a chilly January Sunday. Hands shot up and wheelbarrows were pulled from pickups sportingLed Zeppelin and biodiesel bumper stickers, then parked next to a mountain of soil. “We need to get that dirt into those beds over there in the greenhouse,” he said, nodding toward a plastic-roofed structure a few hundred feet away. “The rest of you can come with me to move trees and clear brush to make room for more pasture. Watch out for poison ivy.”

Bobby Tucker, the 28-year-old co-owner of Okfuskee Farm in rural Silk Hope, looked eagerly at the 50-plus volunteers bundled in all manner of flannel and hand-knits. In five hours, these pop-up farmers would do more on his fledgling farm than he and his three interns could accomplish in months. “It’s immeasurable,” he said of the gift of same-day infrastructure.

It’s the beauty of being Crop Mobbed. Continued here.

By Kathy Jessup | Kalamazoo Gazette

February 21, 2010, 11:59AM

Special to the Gazette / John A. Lacko
Aimee Cook of Kalamazoo inspects the kiwi at the Peoples' Food Co-op of Kalamazoo on Feb. 8. Shoppers will have more room to browse for organic and locally grown produce and products when the Co-op relocates to a new location to gain more room.

KALAMAZOO — Nearly 40 years ago, it was an informal, do-it-yourself system.
A handful of friends looking for more natural foods would leave change in a cup and scoop whole grains and flour from containers stored in local basements and living rooms.

That alternative to grocery stores has ridden a consumer wave for organic, locally grown, preservative-free foods to become the People’s Food Co-op, with annual sales of nearly $1million.

The customer-owned Co-op on Kalamazoo’s South Burdick Street has outgrown its 784-square-foot grocery and announced plans to build a new facility at 507 Harrison St., in the River’s Edge mixed-use development. Construction of the 6,000-square-foot facility, a $1.7-million project, rests on the Co-op’s ability to raise more than $450,000 in loans and equity from its owner-members and an agreement with the city that includes brownfield reclamation benefits.

Special to the Gazette / John A. Lacko
Chris Dilley, general manager of The Peoples' Food Co-op of Kalamazoo, pauses near the front of the store on Burdick Street.

Members already have pledged nearly $180,000, said Co-op general manager Chris Dilley. Once patronized by food purists willing to travel to get farm-fresh goods, Dilley said the Co-op has seen an increasing number of customers willing to pay more to buy organically grown produce, eggs and meats from chemical-free animals and fresh produce from farms within 100 miles.

The partnerships have paid off for area farmers such as a Vicksburg greenhouse that developed a market for its winter raspberries. Co-op shareholders are seeing 10- to 12-percent annual returns in dividends and food discounts on their capital investments in the grocery.  

“We’re a grocery store, but what makes us different is the ownership and how we capitalize,” Dilley said.  “The owner is not an individual or a family, but now 760 individuals and families in the community who channel their vision of what they want to see offered.”

To become a part owner, an individual pays a $250, one-time fee that can be made through monthly or annual payments.  That qualifies the person for store discounts and a share of annual profits.
Dilley said the Co-op’s membership spiked by 50 percent in 2009 from 2008, which he attributed to better customer service and staff stressing the value of its products.  Consumers also are increasingly factoring “health and environmental concerns” into their food choices, he said.

“We offer an option that gets back to those values again,” Dilley said. “We’ve done the homework and made the choices, and customers say quality and nutritional value are worth paying for.”

Continue reading here.

Lack of fresh, cheap foods spurs new push

Elizabeth Willis • The Enquirer • February 14, 2010

An urban farming initiative is taking root in the Battle Creek area.

Across the nation, consumers have been increasingly concerned about the lack of fresh and affordable foods grown locally.

In Detroit, Flint, Ann Arbor, Denver, Seattle and elsewhere, volunteers have learned to cultivate nutritious foods from vacant urban land. They have found the fruits of the labor are more than just tomatoes and peas.

Community gardens can help reduce crime and blight. The food produced can be donated to hungry families or sold to benefit the neighborhood. Urban farms have the potential to stimulate positive change by bringing neighbors together, said Jeremy Andrews, a community outreach associate with the Battle Creek Community Foundation.

For these reasons, some Battle Creek area residents interested in gardening have formed a networking group, Sprout Urban Farms, to support the volunteer creation and maintenence of community gardens locally.

The seed of an idea could sprout this spring with the coordinated cultivation of several new and revived urban farms in Battle Creek. Andrews is working behind the scenes to connect people interested in leading the effort.

"There are a lot of people in the city who care about healthy food," he said. "There are backyard gardeners who want to garden for others."

Already, Sprout Urban Farms has more than 250 members on its Facebook fan page.

At an informational meeting Jan. 27, about 80 people attended and voted on areas where they'd like to see the new group focus.

Most people wanted to help develop a plot garden close to their homes or have a place where they could donate extra produce grown at home.

"They were saying, 'I don't want to have to compost good food,'' Andrews said.

The group is exploring ways to distribute produce in an efficient way, possibly through the Food Bank of South Central Michigan and its network of food pantries. Contined here.

1. You get to be your own boss!

2. You have a beautiful working environment...you are not stuck in an office on beautiful days.

3. You can work where you live. Nothing is more satisfactory to me than getting out of my front door and walking the field in the morning.

4. You get to eat really good, fresh food.

5.You are a steward of the land, air, and water. Managing it properly for future generations brings responsibility and meaning to your life.

6. People love to cook with great vegetables and they will tell you how much they love your produce.

7. You have a connection to your community by selling directly and you can build community around the farm

8. Your creative potential is limitless. Growing and harvesting crops efficiently is challenging work. Creating systems and understanding the growing potential of vegetables on your farm will be a difficult but rewarding process. You never stop learning.

9. You do not have to go to a gym to stay in shape! Farming will pretty much kick your butt every day during the season. Winter fat should fly off quickly in the spring. 

10. Once established, it is actually possible to make money from farming and have winters off. If you love to travel, it is a great career choice.

Where Do You Begin?

Before starting a farm, you must first become a proficient grower. This doesn't happen over night. Farming is not gardening. It is an entirely different scale and requires a different kind of attention to details.

You can certainly gain growing experience through gardening, but I highly recommend working on other farms prior to starting your own enterprise (unless you have a lot of money to burn!). Wwoofing (a work/trade program) is a great way to gain exposure to farming and traveling at the same time. I have wwoofed in Hawaii and Arizona on small-scale farms and had excellent experiences. Meeting other farmers (the more, the better) and asking them questions is the best way to learn about farming. The farm work itself is also a very valuable experience. It may also be a good way to "weed out" those who cannot quite make the cut. It is very physically demanding work and has monotonous moments that are clearly not for everyone. It is far better to start out, though, trying to wwoof on other peoples' dime than it will be on your own after you've purchased thousands of dollars worth of seeds, equipment, and supplies for the season. See if you like it/can handle it first.

Organic Volunteers is an excellent resource to find a farm to work on. Many Michigan farms are listed as are other across the country and the world.

You may also be able to find farms who are willing to pay you a stipend in addition to housing and food. In many cases, an intern will make a commitment for one month or the entire season under such programs. ATTRA is providing an excellent resource for those interested in internships here. In fact, Michigan is home to about 30 internship opportunity farms already.

Other farms may also be willing to pay you a full wage (normally minimum) with some/no housing, but usually vegetables. In Oregon in 2007, I worked at Winter Green Farm and they did pay an hourly wage, all the vegetables I wanted, plus a field to camp in. It was great!

An image of a friend in one of Winter Green's fields:

So, after a couple years of farming, you may be ready to launch your own farm. Where do you go from here?

Access to good land and financial resources are normally your two top needs when starting a farm enterprise.

To be continued...

Farm Comments: While I would love to see a national health care plan adopted to prompt more pro-active, cost-saving solutions to our health care crisis, it's important to realize that our health care crisis is largely a result of our food/agriculture crisis. By subsidizing Big Ag and a handful of crops like corn and soybeans, we have cheapened the ingredients of the processed food industry and meat producers (most livestock now eat corn, not grass). This has consequently made it cheaper to buy a Pepsi than a pear, thus creating an incentive to make poor food choices. This has led to a society where obesity, heart disease, and diabetes are becoming commonplace (very expensive to treat!). A health care plan that would actually save the country money, improve health care drastically over the long-term, and could be implemented almost immediately would be to reduce or eliminate the crop subsidy payments. 

I never thought I'd see this day. My luddite tendencies and concern for our society's addictive internet habits have prevented me from doing this until now. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that Facebook could be used as a valuable tool to connect people to the farm and to each other in the community. I hope you may find it useful. Currently, I have created four discussion topics, including Recipe Swap, CSA Box Sharing, Vegetable ID'ing, and Gardening Q's. If you have any other ideas for how Facebook could be useful, please share them with the farm. Here's the link.

Green Gardens 2010 CSA Information

Please contact the farm at trent@greengardensfarm.com to be on the 2010 CSA list. The farm is increasing its membership for 2010 to 80 members (from 60), There are still some spots left. Green Gardens' 80-member CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program will run every week from June 8th to October 29th in 2010. CSA members will receive a weekly box of vegetables, melons, and herbs. Here are the details...

What's in a Box?

Boxes will have a nice variety. I understand that getting the same produce over and over again is boring and makes eating a chore. Not to worry, we will provide you with recipes weekly in your box - some traditional basics as well as new tasty combinations. Staple crops will be emphasized because they are most versatile and commonly consumed. These include tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, winter squash, beets, radishes, turnips, broccoli, onions, garlic, sweet peppers, lettuce, etc. Greens such as kale, swiss chard, collards, mustards, and spinach will also be commonplace in the boxes.

Unusual crops, though, will also be part of the boxes from time to time. Kohlrabi, pac choi, fennel, hot peppers, strange melons, tomatillos, eggplant, etc. are  examples of crops that will be limited but show up in the boxes on a weekly basis. To get a better sense of what will be in the boxes at certain times of the year, check out our 2010 monthly produce availability.

Examples of CSA Boxes:

Spring Box might include: 1# of spinach, bunch of radishes, bunch of turnips, lettuce, kale, broccoli raab, kohlrabi, green onions.

Photos of 2010 boxes at Green Gardens Community Farm...

Summer Box: 4 Sweet Peppers, 2 LBS Red Potatoes, 8 summer squash/zucchini, 1 pint cherry tomatoes, 6 ears of Sweet Corn, 1 LB Tomatillos, 2.5 LB Tomatoes, 6-8 Baby Eggplant, 1 bunch cilantro

Early Fall Box: 1 Bunch Beets, 5 Sweet Peppers, 2 Jalapenos, 1 bunch Kohlrabi. 1 bunch of Mustard Greens, 1 bunch of Kale, 1 pac Choi, 1 bunch of Carrots, 1 bunch of Hakurei Salad Turnips, 2 Summer Squash, 2 Delicata Winter Squash

Later Fall Box: 1 bunch Kale, 1 stalk of Brussel Sprouts, 5 Eggplant, 1 Pac Choi, 1 bunch of Japanese Spinach, 5 bulbs of garlic, 4 Sweet Peppers, 2 Ancho Peppers, 2 Sugar Dumpling Winter Squash, 1 bunch of Hakurei Salad Turnips, 1/3 LB Arugula.

To provide you with an idea of what a bunch may look like, here are some examples:

TL: Swiss Chard, TR: Mustard, ML: Hakurei Salad Turnips, MR: Beets, BL: French Breakfast Radishes, BR: Cherriette Radishes

Each weekly box is likely enough to feed...

1. A family of six light vegetable eaters for one week

2. A family of four moderate vegetable eaters for one week

3. A couple who are heavy vegetable eaters for one week

4. One vegetable-eating machine!

With farming, there are simply no guarantees when it comes to having crops. Numerous things can go wrong. Excess rain, early and late frosts, pests and diseases, and lack of time can all hamper crop production. Fortunately, most things go right most of the time. Sharing the risks and reaping the benefits of the harvest is an integral component of the CSA concept. CSA members will be updated with crop-growing information, farm gatherings, and recipes via newsletters at least bi-weekly.

One-half shares may be available in 2011 or 2012, not 2010.

New Add-On for 2010: Flowers!

A flower share will be available for approximately 8 weeks of bouquets of flowers from the farm. The bouquets will include a wide assortment of flowers: sunflowers, zinnia, black-eyed susan, amaranth, celosia, gomphrena, cinnamon basil, eucalyptus, and grasses.

Here is a good example....

Cost will be $60. They will be delivered in buckets of water to pick-up locations.

Since these are freshly cut flowers, they normally should last 6-7 days in a vase

Will all the items in the boxes be for sale at the market or the farm?

Many of them will, some of them won't. Since CSA members have decided to invest so heavily in the farm, we intend to give them priority when we have a limited amount of a certain crop available. This means that hierloom tomatoes and other unusual crops may be in the boxes, but not at the farmers market or farm stand.

Is The Produce Organic?

The farm follows the standards as layed out in the National Organic Program for organic growers. However, the farm is not Certified Organic. Instead, we opted to be Certified Naturally Grown. We use composted dairy manure for fertilizer, organically-approved pesticides and fungicides only, cover cropping, crop rotations, and other techniques to reduce our footprint on the land and grow great produce. For more information on CNG and the farm's growing practices, click here.

Sharing A Box

Sharing a box in perfectly acceptable. It is fine for family/friends to either rotate weeks or share the contents of each box.

When and Where Do I Pick My Box Up?

There will be three days you can pick up your box at pick-up sites each week. Additional sites may be offered in 2010! These have yet to be determined.

Tuesday: Harper Creek (4-7 PM), Lakeview (4-7 PM), North-side close to Downtown (4-7 PM), and the Farm in Pennfield from 4-7 PM (dusk later in the Fall).

Wednesday: Richland Farmers Market (from 3:30-6 PM) at the Richland Area Community Center on CD Ave.

Friday: Lakeview (4-7 PM) and the Farm in Pennfield from 4-7 PM (dusk later in the Fall).

We Want To Discourage Driving Great Distances For A CSA Box

We encourage people not to be CSA members if they are required to drive more than 10 miles and/or cannot group box pick-up with other members. Driving great distances to pick up a CSA box is not a sustainable practice. When we talk about lowering our food miles, we must also factor in how far we drive to get our food. Having a pick-up spot close to you makes the CSA concept sustainable!If you don't have a CSA farm near you, consider organizing your community and hiring a farmer. This is how many CSA's have started.

What If I Can't Pick Up My Box?

If you nor anyone you know can pick up a box for you at the drop site, there are several possible options. We can hold your box for you at the farm. We have a cooler at the farm and it can remain in there until you can pick it up. You can also donate the box to a local non-profit/food bank in Battle Creek. Or, you can can tell us that you simply don't want us to prepare a box for you for a certain week. In that case, the produce would likely be sold at the Farmers Market, instead. No money is returned for boxes that are not used during the course of the season.

Cost?

Shares will be $425. This is the same price as 2009. Early payment discount will not be available this season, although if you want to pay early that is fine. Despite breaking even in 2009, the farm still has considerable debt from 2008 and is investing in a $10,000 high tunnel (greenhouse) for early tomatoes in 2010, so the extra revenue is sorely needed. 2010 boxes will be of higher value than 2009's, including more salad mix, earlier tomatoes, more potatoes, alliums, and lettuce.

The $425 price tag works out to be roughly $20/week. We believe this is a fair price for premium, local, sustainably-raised, and healthy food.

If you would like to break this down into two or three payments and pay in January and February that will work, too! I have time to be an accountant in January and February!

When Do I Pay?

Please pay $425 to the farm by April 1, 2010. Checks can be made payable to Green Gardens and sent to the farm at 8319 White Rabbit Road, Battle Creek, MI 49017. No deposit necessary for 2010.

A membership agreement will be sent out in late January to remind you of your balance and membership details.

The 20% OFF CSA Member Discount

All CSA members are entitled to a 20% off discount on all additional orders made from the farm at the Farmers Market or through the online farm stand.

Green Gardens CSA Farm Fund

Finally, several members have expressed interest in setting up a low-income box fund, so the farm would be able to provide boxes to low-income families or deserving non-profits in Battle Creek.  Poor nutrition from cheap, processed foods tend to plague low-income families in America. There will be a box to check and add a donated amount to the final amount due on your CSA Membership Form. Whatever money is raised will go towards providing boxes for the families/non-profits.

Nominated families will receive a subsidized share and will be asked to contribute $100 (2, $50 payments) towards the $425 value of their share. The remainder ($325) will be paid through the CSA Farm Fund from generous donors. Therefore, if $1300 is raised, the farm will be able to donate four boxes. The donated boxes will make a huge difference in the health of these families.

Other CSA Tidbits!!!

•               Watch a movie about CSA farms in Michigan!

•               Listen to a Maryland organic farmer discuss the CSA concept.

•               An article from the NY Times about the recent growth of CSA's across the country... 

July 10, 2008

Cutting Out the Middlemen, Shoppers Buy Slices of Farms

By SUSAN SAULNY

CAMPTON TOWNSHIP, Ill. — In an environmentally conscious tweak on the typical way of getting food to the table, growing numbers of people are skipping out on grocery stores and even farmers markets and instead going right to the source by buying shares of farms.

On one of the farms, here about 35 miles west of Chicago, Steve Trisko was weeding beets the other day and cutting back a shade tree so baby tomatoes could get sunlight. Mr. Trisko is a retired computer consultant who owns shares in the four-acre Erehwon Farm.

“We decided that it’s in our interest to have a small farm succeed, and have them be able to have a sustainable farm producing good food,” Mr. Trisko said.

Part of a loose but growing network mostly mobilized on the Internet, Erehwon is participating in what is known as community-supported agriculture. About 150 people have bought shares in Erehwon — in essence, hiring personal farmers and turning the old notion of sharecropping on its head.

The concept was imported from Europe and Asia in the 1980s as an alternative marketing and financing arrangement to help combat the often prohibitive costs of small-scale farming. But until recently, it was slow to take root. There were fewer than 100 such farms in the early 1990s, but in the last several years the numbers have grown to close to 1,500, according to academic experts who have followed the trend.

“I think people are becoming more local-minded, and this fits right into that,” said Nichole D. Nazelrod, program coordinator at the Fulton Center for Sustainable Living at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pa., a national clearinghouse for community-supported farms. “People are seeing ways to come together and work together to make this successful.”

The shareholders of Erehwon Farm have open access to the land and a guaranteed percentage of the season’s harvest of fruit and vegetables for packages that range from about $300 to $900. Arrangements of fresh-cut blossoms twice a month can be included for an extra $120 — or for the deluxe package, $220 will “feed the soul” with weekly bouquets of lilies and sunflowers and other local blooms.

Shareholders are not required to work the fields, but they can if they want, and many do.

Mr. Trisko said his family knows that without his volunteer labor and agreement to share in the financial risk of raising crops, the small organic farm might not survive.

“It’s very hard for them to make ends meet,” he said, “so I decided to go out and help. We harvest, water, pull weeds, whatever they need doing.”

Under the sponsored system, farmers are paid an agreed-upon fee in advance of the growing season, making their survival less dependent on the vicissitudes of the market and the cooperation of the elements. The arrangement involves real farms and real farmers and is distinct from community gardens and other forms of urban farming, where vacant or public land is typically put to agricultural use by residents.

The average share price is $500 to $800 a season across the country, Ms. Nazelrod said, though community-supported agriculture seems most popular on the coasts and around the Great Lakes region. The states with the most farms, she said, include New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and California.

“The C.S.A. provides a base that’s certain, and we get the money when we need to spend the money,” said Beth Propst, who farms the fields at Erehwon, using the abbreviation for community-supported agriculture. “Having the money upfront and guaranteed, that gets us through at least the beginning of the season.”

The operations are as diverse as they are numerous.

Erehwon — the word “nowhere” spelled backward — started with two shareholders, reached its goal of 140 last year, and now has raised its target to about 200 members. Another farm in the Chicago area where the community sponsors the crops, Angelic Organics, makes weekly deliveries to more than 1,400 families in Illinois and Wisconsin.

At least 24 vegetable farmers serve an estimated 6,500 members throughout the five boroughs of New York City, said Paula Lukats of Just Food, which connects farmers with residents there. In 2005, there were 37 C.S.A. groups in the city; today, there are 61.

The Golden Earthworm Organic Farm, on 80 acres on the North Fork of Long Island, grew from 10 members in 2000 to about 1,300 this year, according to Matthew Kurek, one of the owners. About half of the members live in Queens, he said, and the farm delivers their weekly shares to six different sites there, mainly churches and community centers, 26 weeks a year. The farm grows arugula, strawberries and sugar snap peas in the spring; watermelon, eggplant and tomatoes in the summer; and broccoli, potatoes and carrots in the fall.

At the Cattleana Ranch in Omro, Wis., Thomas and Susan Wrchota offer grass-fed meat and organic produce through a community-supported arrangement. They have 55 members, and a seven-month meat membership costs $715.

Mr. Wrchota developed a taste for grass-fed beef while working for the Peace Corps in Costa Rica in the 1970s. When he returned home, he said, he was at a loss for that particular flavor and eventually decided to raise animals himself, starting with just one cow.

“We don’t do millions in revenue, but we make a living, which is rare,” he said. “Our goal is to provide a full portfolio of products for folks who want sustainable products. Up until about five years ago, we had to do a tremendous amount of guerrilla marketing. The consumer who is interested now, they’re doing their homework. They know the health and taste benefits.”

Teresa Crisco is one such consumer in Little Rock, Ark. She is a member of the community-supported agriculture program at the Heifer Ranch, an international humanitarian relief organization that is experimenting with how to make such arrangements more popular and profitable for farmers around the world.

“You feel like you’re doing more than one thing: you’re helping the project and you’re helping yourself,” said Ms. Crisco, a document specialist at a mortgage company who heard about the program from a friend. “The whole premise is really neat.”

Here in Illinois, Erehwon sold out of shares last year and had to turn people away.

Tim Fuller, Ms. Propst’s longtime companion and business partner in running the farm, said: “People are coming to us. We do very little marketing except for explaining what we do. It’s amazing.”

With a wry smile, Mr. Fuller said he considers himself both personal farmer and personal trainer, because shareholders under his direction are going to break a sweat.

“There’s always pressure on,” he said. “This is a complicated business, growing so many crops. We do everything by hand for more than 100 different crops.”

The farm expects to gross between $80,000 and $90,000 this year.

Some shareholders said they found the arrangement a bargain compared to grocery shopping, while others considered it a worthwhile indulgence. Most agreed that the urge to buy and spend locally — to avoid the costs and environmental degradation that come with shipping and storage — was behind the decision to join. Shareholders can pick up their goods at the farm or at a store across the street.

“From a ‘going green’ standpoint, it’s an appropriate thing to do,” said Gerard Brill, a musician who bought a share of Erehwon. “Like everything organic, it’s not a bargain, but what price do you put on being healthy? Considering all things, it’s actually a very good deal.”

The downside for people who are used to grocery shopping comes when they want fresh blueberries in January or, as was the case at Erehwon last week, the tomato plants needed more time in the ground because of a cold spring.

“We eat with the seasons, and there’s no guarantee that Mother Nature will cooperate,” Ms. Propst said. “That’s all part of the deal.”

Catrin Einhorn contributed reporting from Chicago.