Helsing Junction Farm Newsletter Archive
2-1-10
Helsing Junction Farm February Newsletter, 2010
Greetings from Helsing Junction Farm!The 2010 season We are in the process of ordering seeds, greenhouse supplies and soil amendments, activities that create anticipation for the coming growing season. We are adding a few new varieties as we do every year, we are always trying to improve our seed selection and discover the best tasting vegetables that grow well here on our farm. We are increasing our use of organically certified and locally produced seeds, as many more varieties become available; we are committed to supporting this new and much needed branch of organic agriculture. New data management software! We are incorporating new software designed specifically for CSA farms. It is tailored to handle all the data associated with running a large CSA, from sign-up to delivery. It can even track our production and box contents. This will allow for more streamlined sharing of information, better communication and will be far more user friendly for our members. As a member you will have your own password and will be able see all of your account history and we will be able to bill you monthly. We will also be able to offer more variety, such as extra fruit and produce for canning, honey and perhaps eventually eggs and meat, as we will now be able to handle the additional administrative info in a timely and totally efficient way! You will be able to add these additional items to your box by visiting our new e-farmer’s market. This new system will be up in mid-March, we will let you know when it is functioning. Thanks for your patience all these years as we have stumbled along in this area of data management and communication, we hope this will help to eliminate any delivery mishaps or accounting confusion we have had in the past! 2009 survey Thanks for all of you who took the time to fill out the survey. As always, there are many vegetables that are appealing to half of our members and not at all to the other half. The old adage holds true here: You can’t please all the people all of the time, but you can please most of the people most of the time! We try to design weekly boxes that appeal to everyone as we want you to be excited and motivated to prepare and eat all the food you receive. This year’s survey indicated that many of you want us to grow more broccoli, beets, leeks, corn, shell peas, spinach, garlic, roma beans, raspberries, pears, sweet onions, tomatoes, kale, watermelon, lavender and gladiolas. The results showed you want less cilantro, radicchio, endive, Asian pears, carrots, purple potatoes, radishes and lilies. It also let us know that you want more choices in what goes in your box in general; we hope our new e-farmer’s market will be able to help facilitate that. Provisions mushroom shares Provision’s mushroom shares will be available again this year. We got a lot of great feedback from members who enjoyed their mushroom share! Please contact Provisions directly if you wish to receive a mushroom share or for more info on the variety and quantity you will receive at: www. promushrooms.com Oakland Bay Farm’s local, grass fed meat Many of our members have shown interest in buying high quality meat, the time has come for locally raised and pastured chicken, pork and 100% grass fed beef to be delivered to your community, through our CSA pick up sites! Please visit the Oakland Bay Farm website to place an order and for more info about their farm: www.oaklandbayfarm.com Our CSA’s food bank program We will be running our food bank program again for the 2010 season. Last year we collectively raised $4000 dollars which provided 15 boxes to the food banks here in Rochester! We got some very positive responses from the people who received those boxes. Our Latino CSA Program Last year we ran a pilot program designed and tailored for the needs of the Latino Cook! This CSA program is run by some of our employees and includes in addition to staple vegetables, varieties of vegetables and herbs used regularly in Latino cuisine. Please visit our updated website in March where we will provide more information about this great program. Food Stamps and WIC In our efforts to reach out to all eaters we are currently applying to be able to receive food stamps and WIC coupons for our CSA boxes. We will let you know of the outcome, although it does look as if we will qualify. Please pass along this news to anyone who may be eligible! Changes to drop sites for the 2010 season We will be making several changes this year in order to add a few new drop sites and even out our delivery schedule. If you have already joined and any of these changes presents a problem for you, please contact us! -In the Seattle area we are adding drop sites in the Central District (near the intersection of 16th and Union) and a drop site in Lynnwood (near the intersection of 196th and 24th), both of which will be on Tuesdays. -In the Olympia area we are adding a drop site in Lacey (to be determined soon) and a drop site in downtown Olympia at the Olympia Seafood Company (Columbia and State). -We will be switching Olympia area drop sites from Thursdays to Wednesdays though the times the drop sites are open will remain the same. -We are also switching Seattle’s Green Lake drop site, the Tacoma/Lakewood drop site and the on-farm pick up to Thursdays instead of Tuesdays. -We will not be hosting a Belltown drop site this year. For those of you who haven’t joined yet for the 2010 season Based on how quickly the CSA filled up last year, we expect to reach capacity again this year. Our past members will be given priority, so please get your applications in as swiftly as possible so that we know how many new members we will be able to accommodate this year. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you would like assistance arranging a payment schedule that better meets your needs. If you’ve already joined, welcome to the beginning of another exciting season! We’ll be in touch again soon with more info on the exact start date of the 2010 season and the exact addresses of all of the drop sites, though most likely the first delivery days will be June 15, 16 and 17. That’s all for now, we look forward to growing with you again!
Your farmers, Annie, Sue, Rosalio, Bonfilio, Tomasa, Juan, Adelfo, Victor, Oly, Christian and Zac Helsing Junction Farm |
