I thought that I would share this picture with you. It is a picture of our biggest pest problem. It isn’t our biggest problem pest – that would be squash bugs, or maybe cucumber beetles, or flea beetles, or potato beetles – but it certainly is our biggest pest. Last season it had more than its fair share of beet greens. And as we all know, beets without beet greens don’t grow.
This time of year there aren’t any beets growing in the field. So I was curious as to what the big pest was eating. It appeared to be cleaning up some old cabbage stumps. I thought that was a bit odd. And more importantly it makes me worried that it is acquiring a taste for cabbage! Let’s hope not. I’d prefer that it acquire a taste for buckthorn.
Other than seeing one of my many nemeseses (is it nemesi?) life is pretty calm this time of year – except for the pending seed order. I need to finalize the order quickly so that we can get the seeds here ready for the greenhouse opener the first week of March. This is a big event here at the farm. Last season we had our largest turnout ever – one person, me. It was the same turnout the prior year and the year before that as well. I guess we have the largest turnout ever every year! I suspect this year will be no different, but more about that when we get closer to the date.
If you have any specific plants or varieties of plants you want us to grow please let me know ASAP. Otherwise you will be stuck with whatever I choose. If there is something you would like more or less of this season let me know ASAP so that I can accommodate your dietary needs. This is your last chance!
Finally we are looking to implement a new service here at the farm. Since we are a small business we always appreciate any help we get from wherever we get it. I would suspect other small businesses feel the same. I surmise that many of our members own and operate small businesses. Though I would love to support the people who support our business, I am, unfortunately, unaware of these businesses. So what we are looking to do is emphasize the “Community” part of Community Supported Agriculture – as well as the “supported” part now that I think of it – by creating a business directory of members’ businesses. We figure that we are like minded people with potentially similar needs and that it would be great if we could support our fellow member business owners by buying their products and services.
How does this work? Any member who owns or manages a small business and feels that other members of the farm could benefit from your products and/or services is welcome to provide a listing. A listing would include a logo, contact information, and a one paragraph description. If we get a lot of interest we may break up the listings into categories. We are also looking at promoting the directory in our weekly newsletter. The goal of course is to get other members of the farm to learn about your business and hopefully build a network of great small businesses. Plus, with the directory being on the internet it would provide one more place for search engines to find you. And as we all know, links are everything when it comes to search engines.
We are asking for $25 to cover the cost of creating the listing in the directory. This fee will provide the listing for the duration of 2012. If you are interested in signing up for this please let me know. I plan to get this started sometime in February. I’m hoping that we can create a real community by exposing all the talents our members have to offer.
Referral Bonus: Just a reminder to tell all your friends, neighbors, relatives and fellow workers about our farm. We are ahead of last year’s recruiting but I’d love to be completely full by the end of March. For every new member who joins the farm from your referral you will receive a $25 credit toward the purchase of any Fresh Earth Farms product. Just have the person put your names in the “Where did you hear about us?” section of the order form. And if you are feeling generous you can offer your referral bonus to your friend as a further incentive for them to join the farm. We appreciate your help in getting to this year’s goal!
FruitShare: We are offering FruitShare all year. If you are interested in adding Fruit to your winter diet this may be a great option for you. It is a semi-weekly pick-up of ~10 pounds of certified organic fruit. The fruit has been spectacular this season and has prevented scurvy in many of our members. If you are interested please contact me and I will provide to you the prorated price for the remainder of the winter/spring season. Pick-up locations are St. Paul (near Dale and 94) and the farm.
MeatShare: We are offering MeatShare all year as well. This is a great way to add grass-fed, organic meat to your diet. This is a monthly assortment of beef, pork and chicken. If you are interested in adding MeatShare please contact me and I will provide to you a prorated price for the rest of the winter/spring season.
As always, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or jokes do not hesitate to contact me.