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In Japan, the word for CSA means “putting the
farmer’s face on the food”.
Community Sustained Agriculture (CSA) members enjoy fresh
chemical-free berries, vegetables, and herbs as they emerge over the growing
season. Members also buy into some of the risks of farming: drought,
flood, temperature extremes, failed seed, marauding raccoons.
For 20 weeks, starting in mid-May, you will receive a package of
freshly picked produce along with a newsletter that lists the items in your
package, news of what’s happening on the farm and recipes that utilize that
week’s harvest.
Some of the vegetables you will receive are asparagus, baby leaf
lettuce, spinach, beets, turnips, chard, tomatoes, peppers, summer squash,
winter squash, eggplant and a large variety of herbs.
Jayne and I would like to give you a bit of information on our
practices at Safe Home Farm. We are chemical-free fruit, vegetable, herb
and flower growers. For the most part, Jayne starts the vegetables and
Robin starts the herbs and flowers. Once in the ground, we both tend to
the picking, weeding, packaging and eating.
As chemical-free growers, we do not use any chemical fertilizers,
insecticides, fungicides or herbicides. One of Jayne’s favorite summer
projects is picking squash bugs out of the squash flowers. You may notice some
holes in some of the herbs or greens. We think if the bugs like our
produce, it must be good. I spend a lot of time on my knees, pulling out
all that invading grass. And we both swear at the raccoons. Because
of the raccoons, we do not grow sweet corn.
In February and March, we start the bedding plants. We
start our seedlings in peat and vermiculite. As the seedlings grow, we
add fish emulsion for nutrients.
To fertilize the garden, we use a combination of composted
chicken manure and green manure. Green manure is a living
fertilizer. On areas that are not in cultivation, we plant cover crops of
rye grass, oats, buckwheat or clover. Later in the season, we will till
in the cover crop. This helps break up the clay and gives the soil a
boost of nutrients.
We also are avid recyclers. If you aren’t receiving your
newsletter by email, don’t be surprised if it is printed on the back of some
scrap paper.
The cost for 20 weeks of produce is $325. We ask for
payment by April 1st as this helps defray our spring expenses.
We always hope for a bountiful year with just enough rain and
plenty of sun to provide you with plentiful produce packages, every week of the
season.
Jayne and I enjoy bringing our little bit of country to
you. We hope that you enjoy participating in our CSA.
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