Saturday, March 18, 2006

Community Supported Agriculture

CSA Brochure:
Community Supported Agriculture
What is a CSA?
A CSA is a model of farming that directly connects the farmer and consumer. By joining a CSA, a member pledges support to a farm operation by paying for a 'share' of the farm at the beginning of the season. Members receive fresh, local produce every week throughout the growing season.The farmer and the CSA members share the risks, and bounty of a growing season. We all depend on one another, CSA's recognize the interdependence of farmers and consumers. It is an oppurtunity for the members to connect with the land and the source of their food, and an oppurtuniy for the farmer to connect with their community!

About Germantown Community Farm
Germantown Community farm exists on 60 acres of farmland, orchard, and woodland. We are in the process of restoring our old orchard (someday CSA shares may include apples!), and expanding growing operations to give more people access to healthy food. This will be our first year offering CSA shares! By sharing our produce, skills and seeds locally, practicing sustenance farming, local marketing and the CSA model, we hope to move forward as a thriving community that serves the local and global community with food, education, connection and inspiration. our other projects?

How We Farm
People and Community Structure
We operate on a collective model, and use egalitarian and concensus-based decision making processes. We share responsibility. We have individual commitments and responsibilities some of which are fixed, some of which rotate. The only way our non-heirarchical structure functions is through consistent and thorough communication. Throughout the growing season, we will have weekly field walks so that everyone involved in the farming project can have a clear idea of how the crops are doing and we can work efficiently together.

Growing practices/philosophy
Diversity is strength. It creates healthy soil, healthy cultures, and healthy people. As stewards of our natural resources, our practices are sustainable and pesticide/herbicide free. We incorporating methods of organic soil improvement such as cover cropping, mulching, compost tea, and perennial polyculture borders. We find the tastiest and highest quality produce to be that which is grown with a reverence for the land. We are passionate about growing high quality heirloom varieties.

Why We Farm
As an alternative to agribusiness, small farms stimulate community growth.
A healthy relationship between people and the source of their food is essential to a conscious community and culture.
In the face of the escalating global seed crisis, genetic modification, and food privatization, the basic ability to be a part of what you eat is increasingly difficult. statistic here about agribusiness! when the average bite comes from X miles away and x seeds/farms are owned by x corporations.....
The process of growing food and learning about how to grow food enables people to develop the connections and understanding that is at the root of sustaining healthy communities. Germantown Community Farm aims to connect with and support our local and broad community through projects based in sustainability and creativity. For a rural community to thrive in the 21st century, we need to work within traditional models of self-sufficiency while simultaneously cultivating local and regional relationships to share with one another the fruits of our labor. We want to create a physical space and a forum for community sustainability.

Supporting a First Year Project
Becoming a member of our CSA means that as well as being a part of the process of growing vegetables, you will have the oppurtunity to be a part of our farms growing process! We will be looking to this years members for feedback and suggestions for subsequent years. The risks of a first year project are mostly in the vegetables, tomato blight, and flea beetles, but we are confident that our members will receive a full season of delicious produce.

Numbers, Dates, and Dollars
Our base price for shares this year will be $500
You can expect 20 weeks of produce June 1st- November 1st
Members can pick it up on _________ between _-_ or __________ between __-__
We require 15 hours of work for the season because we want to know and work with our members. This translates to 3 hours per month or 2 full days at some point during the season. Members can sign up for work days when they come to pick up their produce.

What's in a Share?
Crops:
late spring/early Summer:
asian greens, lettuce, chard, peas, kohlrabi, mustard, arugula, radishes, favas, fennel, beets, turnips, scallions

mid-late Summer Harvest
chives, onions, kale, collards, lettuce, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, eggplants, carrots, potatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, dill, edamame, cilantro, melons, beans, corn

Fall harvest
melons, leeks, onions, tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, eggplants, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage
lettuce, kohlrabi, chard, kale, collards, beets, turnips, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, winter squash, pumpkins

Bread share: For $80 ?????? you can add a loaf of organic bread from Wild Hive Farm Bakery to your weekly box. (Locally milled and grown organic grain)

Becoming a Member
payment philosophy
our share
special shares

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