The start of the CSA season
Posted: Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
74-degrees as the last of daylight slips away…and the June Bugs hum against the window…
It’s been a busy Monday – the first CSA box harvest is well underway. Our crew came prepared to work hard and we got more accomplished than expected (always a great thing!). Things are growing well despite the early dry conditions. We’re loving the seasonal temperatures that we’re getting this week, along with more rain in the forecast.
But enough about the weather…we want to put more of a face to you food and tell you a bit about the farms history. This season we have 14-acres in vegetables – an increase of 6 acres from last year and 9 years ago we had just 1-acre under cultivation. Since then, we’ve built a packing shed, are the process of completing our high tunnel, and added many perennial crops (rhubarb, asparagus, raspberries and apple trees). But we’ve maintained our original dream – to be farmers who take pride in growing crops, raising animals, and tending to our 70-acres with care. It’s been through our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) members, that we are able to farm just about full-time (we’re still not able to entirely support ourselves from farming income yet).
Farming as a full-time profession is something of the past. “For nearly 40% of farming families, the primary operators work off the farm for more than 200 days per year.” We know this to be true…both of us held down full -time jobs until just a few years ago when our first son was born. This season, Cate continues to work a flexible off-farm job. But CSA gives us the opportunity to farm because it is reliable income, much unlike a farmers market which has unknown income. We’re also able to involve our two young children in farming activities.
Your support is increasingly important as the average age of farmers in America is 57.1, up from the last agricultural census. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack stated in a recent interview, “The aging population of farm operations is a real concern: it calls into question the future of stability of American agriculture and puts at risk the promise that our land will continue to feed America’s families for generations to come.” But your CSA membership directly supports our young family farm. Thank you!
