In response to the growing COVID-19 pandemic and the declaration of both a state and national emergency, we here at Fresh Earth Farms are taking precautions to do our part to slow the spread of the virus. We have implemented a comprehensive plan that we believe will reduce the chance of spreading the disease to members and friends of the farm. These new processes and procedures will take effect for the rest of March at which time we will reevaluate.
- We will be performing all greenhouse seeding without a studio audience. It will be a bit weird and will take some getting used to but I think it will work out in the end.
- No farm tours for groups of 250 people or more. 248 or even 249 people will be fine but not 250. Please plan accordingly.
- Paid sick leave is extended to me during the month of March.
- We are implementing a distance learning protocol where if you want to come out to the farm and learn how we seed flats in the greenhouse you will have to stand at a distance of six feet from me at all times.
- To prevent hoarding we are limiting each person to no more than two kohlrabis per day. Please be considerate of other farm members.
- All people traveling through Fresh Earth Farms International Airport will be screened for COVID-19. This may dramatically increase travel times so plan your trip with this in mind.
- And finally, for those who don’t plan to rejoin due to all the travel you will be doing this summer, rest assured that when you finally wise-up and realize there will be no travel this summer you can still join Fresh Earth Farms. In fact, maybe just admit to yourself that those big summer trips just aren’t happening and rejoin today! And tell all your other traveler-wanna-bes that the next best thing to a summer in Greece is a summer filled with delicious, locally grown veggies from the farm. And another thing, with all the land we have there is no problem staying six feet away from anyone else so to use up all the extra time you have from not traveling this summer you can come out and lend a hand here on the farm! Its a win-win-win-win situation.
On a more serious note, please be assured that we here at Fresh Earth Farms take your well-being seriously (even if we don’t show it with all the goofiness in our newsletters). Both Rebecca and I have been through Produce Safety training and have implemented processes and procedures to reduce potential contamination of the produce we grow. But we can’t do it alone. You are the final step in preparing safe food and one of the most important steps is for you to wash your hands and all the produce you plan to consume.
This season for on-farm pick-up we may also ask you to take additional steps (such as using hand sanitizer) when selecting your produce here in the pick-up tent. We are evaluating the use of plastic bags or gloves to reduce the members direct contact with the produce. We hate to use more plastic that ends up in the landfill but at the same time we want our members to be as safe as possible.
For delivery boxes rest assured that our standard processes for packing boxes includes sanitizing the delivery tote and washing hands prior to selecting your produce. Much like the on-farm pick-up shares we will look into additional measures including the use of additional plastic bags. Again, we’d prefer not to increase plastic waste so if you have any thoughts/ideas on how to reduce contamination without increasing plastic use I am — as the corn plant says — all ears.
For many years we have used food-grade hydrogen peroxide to clean and disinfect many of the tools and containers we use to process, store and deliver your produce. Hydrogen peroxide is a great oxidizer and will kill most if not all germs. We use it at a strength that is greater than what you typically purchase when buying it at the drug store for medical purposes. And since it is food-grade it does not contain preservatives/stabilizers or other chemicals that could affect the taste of the produce. The best thing about hydrogen peroxide is it decomposes into water, oxygen and carbon dioxide (the carbon comes from the items it is destroying). No chemical smell/taste like you would get from chlorine-based cleaners. The peroxide we buy is 35% (compared to drug-store medical varieties which are around 3%). We typically dilute it to around 10% unless we feel something needs additional disinfecting power. Suffice it to say that we take produce safety seriously and will continue to find ways to improve as new threats arise.
Farm News
Other than panicking over COVID-19 we are mostly planting stuff in the greenhouse. We are also putting together a new marketing look for business cards and hardcopy marketing material. Someday, probably next winter, we’ll attack updating the website with the new look and feel. We’ve been reluctant to overhaul the website since we rank high for searches we feel potential customers would use and don’t want to lose this ranking by revamping the website. If anyone has good information on how not to lose ranking when overhauling a website please let me know. I’d love to bring us into the 2020s.
That’s all for now. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, jokes, or brain-teasers do not hesitate to send them my way!