TBF 029 :: The Crooked Gap Farm Meat CSA Announcement Episode

Click on the image to check out the
new Hoop House website!

A Hoop House, a Meat CSA, the Soap Club, and More...

This is the big news that we have been hinting at for a while now. We are very excited to tell you about our plans for expansion of the farm with the construction of a hoop house, our new Meat CSA Subscription, the Soap of the Month Club, and how all of those things fit together!

After much research, we have decided that in order to produce more hogs and build sustainability on our farm, we need to build a hoop house.  This hoop house would allow us to increase the number of hogs we raise out, decrease the number of hogs we bring in, and provide a comfortable place full of deep bedding and natural lighting for this greater volume of pigs to wander in and out of during the winter while they wait for spring, summer, and fall where they will reside in the larger pastures and woods. To check out our new website detailing our project, visit www.CrookedGapFarmHoopHouse.com.

The biggest hurdle we face in putting up our hoop house is the capital expense. We are excited, however, about the new offerings we have available to not only provide our customers valuable products, but to also help us raise the needed funds.

Meat CSA Subscription:
This prepaid membership will allow you to receive pre-assembled shares of our meat products to be enjoyed on a regular basis throughout the year. This is the perfect opportunity for those who don’t have freezer space for a whole or half hog, who like to cook with a variety of meat cuts, and who don’t want to try to beat the crowds at the Downtown Des Moines Market to get those prime cuts which sell out so quickly.

There are three levels of our Meat CSA

• Full Share :: $1400    
  24 Shares Delivered Twice a Month - 216 lbs of meat and 24 dozen eggs
• Half Share :: $775
  24 Shares Delivered Twice a Month - 108 lbs of meat and 24 dozen eggs
• Quarter Share :: $400
  12 Shares Delivered Once a Month - 54 lbs of meat and 12 dozen eggs

If you are interested in more information about the Meat CSA Subscription check out this link.

Whole/Half Hog Purchase:
We are offering the opportunity to purchase a hog upfront for us to raise out for the summer/fall of 2014.  The majority of the cost of your hog will be paid upfront, allowing us to bring in additional Herefords from a trusted farm and providing the funds needed to grow them to market weight. Once your hog is ready for processing, the remaining balance will be due, as well as the locker processing fees. The upfront purchase price of a whole hog is $375 and a half hog is $175. If you would like to purchase a whole/half hog please e-mail us.

Soap of the Month Club Membership:
As a member of our “Soap of the Month Club”, you will receive pre-selected bars of our Farmcrafted Soap mailed to you throughout the year for personal use or to give as gifts.  This soap is full of natural emollients which leave your skin feeling unbelievably soft, smooth, clean, and moisturized. It's “A soap so wonderful, it doesn’t need to be scented!”

• Full Membership ::   $150 / 24 bar
  2 bars of Farmcrafted Soap mailed once per month
• Half Membership ::   $75 / 12 bars
  2 bars of Farmcrafted Soap mailed every other month

You can learn more about the Soap of the Month Club here.

Additional Opportunities:
For additional ways to support our project we also have a limited amount of Crooked Gap Farm T-Shirts available and information on how to be a Hoop House Backer.

Links Mentioned in This Episode:

• Crooked Gap Farm Hoop House
• The Beginning Farmer Show Episode 24
• Crooked Gap Farm

TBF Show 029 :: Play in a New Window | Right Click to Download

Combination CSA Subscriptions

Even though we aren't at a place where we could support supplying a CSA with meat (both in production volume and storage capabilities) I am becoming increasingly interested in the idea of joining with other farms to create a CSA subscription that includes vegetables, fruits, herbs, eggs, beef, pork, poultry, and more. It just seems like it would be a great thing for all of the farmers involved and for the consumers. This way people could pick up a box of food that includes much of what they need for a diverse number of dishes. They could have pork one night, beef the next, a veggie meal following that, and even mix in some poultry. The possibilities are endless!

But, what really got me thinking about all this was the article I read about Marin Sun Farms from California, the subsequent comment on that post from "The Farmers", and now an article that I read in "Farmers' Markets Today" (FMT) magazine (that newish publication I think you should check out).

The article in FMT talks about a group CSA in the Chapel Hill/Durham/Raleigh area of North Carolina. This CSA is set up so that the consumers have a choice of participating in any combination of the three options they offer. You can purchase a produce share, a meat share, and a dairy share for various prices and then combine them in any way you would like.

Of course I have no practical working experience with this, but in my mind it could be a good marketing tool for the different farms involved because it will expose them to new potential customers and in turn open up new sales. I could also be a great way to sell some of the things that you seem to have a surplus of (that is what the Marin Sun Farms article was about).

I would love to hear any more thoughts on this subject if you have any. Or if you have any experience about how it has or hasn't worked let us know!

Late Post ... But, Interesting Article

Wow, this is one of the latest times I have posted (except when I just forget to put it up). It is Vacation Bible School week at the church and I have been crazy busy (especially after the weekend) getting things ready and trying to coordinate it all. Hopefully things will continue to slow down a little ... but, I doubt it. So, that is my sob story on why this is a such a late post. But, I did come across a really interesting article that I wanted to share.

According to the article, "New Research: Consumers Willing to Pay More for Locally Produced Food", the average grocery store consumer is willing to pay a little more for locally grown foods. And, at the Farmer's Market they are willing to pay almost twice as much as the would for the same food at the grocery store (I assume they are talking about the bigger Farmer's Markets, not the dinky ones like in my community). I find this news very encouraging and it also backs up what I have been experiencing and hearing.

Although the researcher found that people are more willing to buy local food he wouldn't go as far as saying that people should only eat local food. I would say that most people would agree with that assessment, but I do know of some that believe we should go local as much as we can ... even if it means not having some foods available at certain times.

Since this is just going to be a quick post I'm not going to take the time to throw out all of my thoughts, but I do have a ton. In fact, I think this would be a good thing to bring up on the Epi-Log ... to see what other consumers think. If you have a chance to read the article I would love to hear your thoughts! So, read the article and leave a comment...

Community Supported Beef?

Yesterday I ran across an interesting article on CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture) and the normal risks involved with farming in general. The article is titled, "When things go very wrong: Community Supported Agriculture and shared risk", and is the cover article on the New Farm website. I thought it was a pretty interesting article detailing some of the risks involved in CSA's and market garden farming. The idea is where does the "community support" come into the CSA? CSA's are supposed to spread the risk out for the farmer by bringing in some money up front. But, what happens when disaster strikes at the farm?

That is a good question to ponder and there are probably lots of thoughts that could be kicked around. Many of the CSA farmers mentioned in the article said they didn't really pass on all of the "risk" to their customers and did buy in food or refund money if there was something like a late frost or flood. But, that isn't really what got me thinking after I read the article.

What got me thinking was the idea of a beef/pork/poultry/etc. based CSA. I know these exist in some places and there are something that I would be interested in learning more about. But, the main reason they interest me is the idea of spreading out the risk (and I don't know how I really feel about that from a business standpoint). How would it work for people to buy shares of a beeve or pig? What would sharing the risk look like in that case?

Of course if you were going to give people a weekly subscription of meat then you would need plenty of storage of prepared cuts. On the positive I suppose you could do a better job of distributing all of the cuts and ground meat. Maybe...

So, what are your thoughts on meat/livestock CSA's or CSA's in general? I would love to hear what everyone thinks!