Category Archives: core group

In the Share – Week 1

core group, farm crew, farm shifts, lettuce

RED LEAF LETTUCE  It is Spring salad season when the tender lettuces thrive. 

BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE The most tender of them all are our heirloom butterheads.  Enjoy them while they last. 

ASPARAGUS  We will have asparagus for two weeks, before we let it grow its summer ferns.

KALE  Some kale soup would be perfect for this weather we are having.  39 deg. forecasted for Thursday night – yikes!!

BOK CHOI & TAT SOI  Every CSA member would be happy if they had the stir fry as a tool in their culinary workshop.  Tom did an easy primer a few years back

SCALLIONS  aka green onions, young and slender.

LEEKS OR RHUBARB  See Tom’s post more on this choice.  The first harvest from the rhubarb patch coincided with a miserable survival rate of the over-wintered leeks.

HERB CHOICE  Cilantro, dill, common chives and garlic chives.

NEXT WEEK:  More lettuce, asparagus, and herbs.  Green garlic, radishes, and Swiss Chard.

FARM REPORT:

Here we are – first week of the CSA for the bulk of our members.  The last three weeks of harvest for 52 shares came from our high tunnel.  Now it is time for the real harvest to begin.  Mother Nature is in full control in the fields, toying with us as we race around tending to the Earth’s carpet.

Luckily we have a great crew to get the job done.  Linda and Jody are working part-time since early March.  Dustin and John joined us as full-time apprentices in late March.  It makes all the difference to have a good team and this year we certainly have it.  Below is teamwork in action as we cover the newly planted squashes and cucumbers to protect them from pests. 

Our team grows by 8+ people every Wednesday and Saturday morning.  CSA members with friends, family and children in tow descend upon us to reap the harvest.  The farm shift requirement is imbedded deep in the Fair Share Farm CSA.  Tom and I first met on a long-standing CSA farm outside of Rochester, NY.  I never would have met the love of my life if Peacework Organic Farm didn’t require its members to help at the farm.  And we continue to see so many benefits from bringing our families out to the farm, getting everyone’s hands in the soil and giving the young ones a chance to pull food up out of the ground.  Not to mention the relationship that is built between people, or as CSAers like to call them, eaters.

The Fair Share Farm CSA Core Group is an amazing group of talented eaters who keep the whole community running.  There are 2 farm shift schedulers who make it possible for 150 families to come to the farm in an orderly fashion.  We have 15 folks who keep the 3 distribution sites humming with activity.  There is Inreach, Outreach, Events, Kid’s Activities, Social Media and Cheese shares.  As you can see, it is not just about the vegetables.  Earlier in the month the Core Group met at the farm house.

Our lives are enriched by the bonds we have created around the most basic act of sustenance.  We are looking forward to another season with all of you.  We strive for a bountiful crop and hope you enjoy the fruits of our labor.    

2009—Our Sixth Season

bees, compost, core group, csa, fari share farm, kansas city, soil blocks, strawberries, sustainable agriculture

The years were flying by 2009. Entering our sixth season of the CSA, we were starting to feel comfortable with growing vegetables for over 100 families. Our original business plan was based on supporting the farm with a CSA membership of 100 shares, but we realized that a more realistic goal was a bit more than that in order to be economically sustainable.  To continue to grow we would need not only more members, but also more full-time farm workers.

January at the pond

We were able to grow enough crops in 2009 to sell 115 CSA shares.  The Fair Share Farm CSA Core Group continued their stellar work of running the organization as it grew: the Spring sign-up meeting, coordinating the farm work schedule, surveying the membership and expanding distribution.

Gary Glauberman and Kelly Parker helping with contracts at the Spring Sign-up

By the start of the season we hired two full-time apprentices. Lori Watley was a friend of the farm who had helped us often during 2005. Kara Jennings was so enthusiastic to apprentice with us that she drove in from Gladstone every day to learn the trade. Kara and Lori made the season what we called our best year yet.

Kara and Lori at the wash sink
Jeff and his son helping in the Spring 2008

A regular volunteer in 2008 and 2009, Jeff Hunter also was a big help in those years. He and his wife Stacey started a large garden at their local church, helped create a learning garden for kids, and now farm their own land.

In 2009 we made a big shift in our greenhouse production.  We had been experimenting over the previous couple seasons with the use of soil blocks for starting our transplants. We had found they created plants that were more robust, greener, held longer in the greenhouse, and experienced less transplant shock than plugs.

Soil blocks in the greenhouse

A flat of nice cabbage plants

When the harvest came in we couldn’t complain.  Shares were full, filled by the harvest of 835 quarts of strawberries, 1,000+ lbs of beans, melons for all, great brassicas, and a stellar fall carrot and beet crop.

All this with the same annual rainfall (44+ inches) as the previous year. While the rain fell in less of a downpour pattern than 2008, our adjustments to how we prepared the ground also helped keep the crops out of the muck.

This was also to be the year that our cover cropping program came to life. We had initated an annual system whereby we plant oats and vetch in April, turn the crop under in June/July, and plant the bed in fall vegetables in August. We had a very good cover crop that year and the carrots and beets in those beds grew like none we had seen previously.



Strawberry harvest at its best
The Rouyer Family picking peas

Bean picking crew returning with their harvest
Sweet peppers
Watermelons for all

That year, we experimented with raising livestock.  We borrowed six of Parker Farms’ sheep to reduce our mowing needs, apply some fertility to areas of ground yet to be broken, and learn about caring for livestock. It was fun and a success.



Katahdin sheep borrowed from Parker Farms

Bees proved to be a harder project. We had everything in place; an experienced beekeeper in member Keith Stubblefield, new hive boxes put together with the members’ help, organic fields, and thousands of bees bought in their packages. But alas, for the next 3 seasons we could not develop a strong hive, and very little honey was drawn while most of the hives disappeared. The experts call the phenomenon Colony Collapse Disorder, a generic term that describes a problem with no known cause.



Ann Flynn, Fran Gillespe, Keith and Nancy Stubblefield
building the hive boxes
Bees but little honey

Rocky continued to grow and make friends, among them Nora Gibbons. Her parents, Heather and Scott, have been CSA members since our second season in 2005. As Heather was pregnant then, Nora has the distinction of being the oldest person to have been in the CSA her whole life!

Nora and Rocky

That Winter we drove down to Texas as part of an annual trip for Rebecca and her snow-bird, Grandmother Kathleen. It was a chance for me to meet her many cousins, uncles, nieces and nephews in the Lone Star State. When back at the farm we planned and studied. One such science project included looking at our compost through our microscope and realizing I could film it. Those critters are called springtails.

Rocky in December

Next up…2010 and lots of heat, learning to gutter, best winter squash, solar stimulus and a wedding day.

2007—Our Fourth CSA Season

calabria, cauliflower, community supported agriculture, core group, csa, easter freeze, fair share farm, missouri state fair, persephone, row cover, strawberries
In 2007 we reached our 5-year goal of 100 members. It was an accomplishment we were proud of, and it established a good economic base for the future. The next step…was figuring out the next step.
 
A rare chance to skate on the old pond in February
 
Exterior work on the farmhouse before the season starts
Pre-season Core Goup meeting at Kelly and Rick’s

We decided to approach the season as if we were starting fresh. We pretended that all the work in the previous years had been done by a different couple we called Rachel (a common misnomer for Rebecca) and Joseph (my middle name). For all the good things we saw on the farm we thanked them, and for all the things that broke or had to be redone we sighed and assigned them the blame.

St. Patricks Day was spent working on the barn, fixing the east loafing shed roof and walls with the help of fellow farmer Tom Parker and members Jim Markley and Victoria Wert. Working on a barn with the farm community is always fun.

Jim Markley, Tom Parker and Rebecca

Weather again played a unique role in the season, as it was the year of the “Easter freeze.” After the third warmest March on record with literally everything blooming, the buds of Spring were killed off by two overnights of record low temperatures in the upper teens.

We fulfilled our contractual obligation to the CSA, doing everything in our power to protect the many beds of plants we had out in the fields by covering them with up to 3 layers of row cover. All the while we were battling high winds and the urge to take a shortcut or two. Our efforts paid off, as by June much of the broccoli we had protected headed up beautifully.

Row cover mid-April

Spring broccoli

The combination of high winds and temperatures in the teens made keeping the row cover on a never-ending chore for us and Libby Negus, who started her apprenticeship with us that week.  Working hard at the farm, moonlighting at Green Acres Market, and going to school to become a Montessori teacher kept her busy that year.



Picking peas with Libby (photo by Lorne Carroll)

April was also when we planted the strawberry patch. Members had voiced their opinion in our yearly survey that they wanted us to add berries to the shares. We felt that strawberries were the best choice, as they are sturdier than bramble fruit and, based on earlier trials, seemed to grow well here.



Strawberry patch humble beginnings 4/19/07

In general, 2007 was a good year for the crops. The tomato harvest topped 5,000 lbs and we picked over 5,000 individual summer squash. We planted some of the potatoes where we had run the chickens the year before and had our best yields to date. Beans, carrots, and the Fall brassicas were standouts.



Happy lettuce harvest led by 2013 apprentice-to-be Lorne Carroll and long-time member Betty Marcus
Picking summer squash
Members with the harvest
Thanks to the scarcity of wild fruit after the Easter freeze, the raccoons and opossums feasted on our successes in the field. We used a live trap to catch more than 30 racoons that summer, sometimes catching two at a time. They seem cute, but I will tell you that picking up a metal cage with a snarling wild animal in it at sunrise wakes you up for the day, and gets you thinking of alternative methods of predator control.
 
One of many
In June my Mother passed away. She was a grand lady, the source of my German blood, and a role model like no other. I’m glad Rebecca had a chance to make her aquaintance.
 
Mom would have been thrilled that August, as we were honored as the Clay County Farm Family of the Year. We have the local University of Missouri Extension Council to thank for nominating us for the award, and recogznizing a sustainable farming operation for the honor. They won us a free trip to the State Fair to pick up the award, where the orators noted that “farmers are the backbone of democracy.” That’s us! Love that quote.
 
 
We had a great Fall harvest with little to no frost until late in November. 
 

Fall cauliflower
The year ended with more home remodeling before heading to Italy in December.  We visited Rome, then took the train to the southern tip of the continent, Calabria, the ancestral home of the Ruggieri’s.
 
Working on the back porch
In Calabria…the land of Persephone

Next up…electrifying the G, strawberry bonanza, Rocky, solar irrigation, adding mulch, and toooooo wettttt!

In the Share – Week 19

core group, end of season dinner, survey
hot pepper wash

TOMATOES (F/P) They aren’t as pretty as they used to be, but they are packed with flavor.

LETTUCE (F/P) The cucumber beetles are after anything they can find, including the lettuces. We are picking them young while they are still nice.

RATTLESNAKE BEANS (F/P) We will have a pound for all this week, if our guess is right.

KOHLRABI (F/P) check out Tom’s post to hear from our one of our most misunderstood vegetables.

CABBAGE (F/P) our early-maturing green cabbages are ready. Still growing in the fields are red, savoy and Napa types.

CARROTS (F) The last of the stored carrots. We hope to have many fresh ones in late October and into November for the extended season.

RADISHES, KALE, COLLARDS, OR CHARD (F) Eating a rainbow includes the color green!

EGGPLANT OR OKRA (F)  The okra is being shy this summer but the eggplant is starting to kick in to it’s fall flush.

SWEET PEPPERS (P) We are mostly harvesting purple peppers right now while we wait for the other colors to ripen.

HERB CHOICE (F) Hot peppers, tarragon, or garlic chives.

NEXT WEEK: More tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and beans. Onions and sweet potatoes.

FARM REPORT:

pole bean pick

This past Saturday Tom and I joined the FSF CSA Core Group at our mid-season meeting. On the agenda: review of the CSA member survey results and the planning of the End of Season dinner.

The 9th Annual Fair Share Farm End of Season dinner will be held Saturday, October 27th, 4-6 pm at the St. James Lutheran Church (same spot as the Spring Sign-up). As always, the event is a potluck with some of the best food in town. Man, our members know how to cook! Kid’s crafts and a scavenger hunt. Halloween costumes are encouraged. Bring an instrument to play in the pre-program jam if you like. Keep your eyes out for an “evite” coming to your mailbox soon.

The 2012 FSF CSA survey results are in, with over 100 responses. Thanks to all of you who took the time to offer your thoughts and feedback. We actually want to know your answers to the questions in the survey and we use your feedback to guide us in our planning for the future. We were delighted to hear that over 90% of you plan to re-new your membership for 2013 and that you believe the CSA share is a “good value” and a “sufficient” amount of produce. 100% agreed that your time at the farm was productive and that distribution is clear and efficient.

Beyond the produce, many of you commented that you appreciated the opportunity to connect with where your food comes from, that there is a great benefit to the children especially in having that experience, and coming to the farm is a good remedy for the cubicle blues. Getting out of bed early, dealing with the heat and hard labor were your least favorite aspects of it all, but most acknowledged that they couldn’t have one without the other. Thank you again for all your comments.  I plan to include more on the 2012 survey in the following weeks.