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!

Community Lives Here...

Four years ago Becca and I spent two years working at Cono Christian Boarding School in the corn fields north of Cedar Rapids, IA. Even though we were only there for two years and were completely ready to move on when we left it is an experience/occupation that I will never regret. We learned so much while we lived and worked on the campus of the boarding school (we had a boys dorm in our basement that I was in charge of), but I believe one of the biggest things that we were taught while living there was what real community looks like.

Frequently we long for the intense community that we were able to experience while we lived and worked with our friends in such close proximety (even though the thought of working at the school again doesn't thrill us). During the school year at Cono we at dinner and supper together with the students and staff most nights, spent time working together on work crews, enjoyed free time together on the soccer field or around the state, and supported each other through many ... many ... many difficult things! It really was community at it's finest, and possibly a glimpse of what life may have been like in some areas a hundred years ago or more.

But, I say all that only to say that recently we have experienced the wonders of community. Eariler this week while I was working in my office at the church a member stopped in and began asking about the progress of our house. I gave him a quick run down of the progress we had made and what we were hoping to accomplish in the coming days ... well, it didn't take him long to realize that we weren't going to have much done by the time we needed to move in (Sept. 26th).

To make a long story short ... yesterday he gathered up a crew of men from the church to go out to our place and checkout what needed to be done. Then they sort of made up a "Help Ethan, Becca, and the Kids Out" plan and are hoping to have way more done on the house by move in day than we could ever have imagined. Somebody mentioned that we can call it an old fashinoned barn raising (expect this barn is our house)!

This is a blessing beyond our belief and comprehession and we are so thankful for such a wonderful community. Hopefully I can share some updated building progress pictures soon with quite a bit more work done!

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!