First and most important time wise: If you intend to purchase SeafoodShare please note that we need your order by February 15th. Yes, February. The fishermen and fisherwomen are out catching the Yellow Eye right now and need a commitment from us! We don’t need you to pay for it right away but we do need to know your intentions. SeafoodShare is a fantastic way to enjoy delicious, nutritious wild Alaskan seafood caught by small boat owners. No fish from large trawlers with significant by-catch. No, these fish are caught by stewards of the waters off the coast of Sitka Alaska. If you like seafood or need to up your omega-3s, please consider purchasing SeafoodShare. Its good for you, its great for the environment and it is great for the small business owners trying to make a living protecting Alaska’s natural resources. Please place your order ASAP!
Other than that, we are still taking orders for everything else. We are ahead of last year for selling our VeggieShares (Yay!) but could use more help selling the rest of them. Tell everyone you know! Have them put your name in the “Where did you hear about us?” box on the order and we will credit your account $25!
Farm News:
I was email conversing with a member the other day and an interesting question arose in my mind: What are our members’ expectations of the shares they purchase from us? Are they looking for an inexpensive way to feed the family? Are they looking for new and different vegetables? Are they hoping to eat better? What exactly are they hoping to gain by buying a share? I know in the past I’ve asked “Why did you join a CSA?” I received typical responses like, “I want a connection to the farm and farmer”, “I want to support local businesses”, “I want to eat healthy food”, etc. But I guess I never really thought about what the expectation was for the veggies they’d receive. It seems like this is an important part of the equation.
What got me thinking this way was that during our conversation the member mentioned he felt some of the veggies he received were “cheap and nothing special (e.g. onions and garlic)”. I started thinking, “What should we be giving our members?” On the one hand I feel a CSA should provide unique, interesting veggies that aren’t generally available. It shouldn’t be the same stuff you can get at a grocery store (one of the reasons I am surprised anyone would buy a large wholesale farm’s CSA share). I feel it should be something special. On the other hand I feel people buy into a CSA for food to eat. Not everything has to be special. Onions are used in practically every recipe: “cook one medium chopped onion until translucent”, but they aren’t exactly special.
So back to the question: What are our member’s expectations? Special veggies? Staples? Something in between? I guess I really don’t know unless I ask. So, what are you looking for from your share?
And just to make this survey completely worthless (and influence our results), here is what we strive for with our shares: We try to strike a balance between normal, everyday items and more “fancy” or “exotic” items. We’ll grow “fancy” stuff like heirloom tomatoes when the item can be used like similar, mass produced items but with far superior flavor (and much higher value). We’ll grow “exotic” items like Daikon radishes or tomatillos, but in quantities that hopefully don’t overwhelm our members or make them feel like they are wasting their money. We’ll grow a lot of staples that are used frequently like onions so that you can make a lot of dishes without resorting to store bought items. We try to grow in greater quantity the popular items like potatoes, sweet corn and beans. We select varieties primarily based on flavor — not looks, transport-ability, or storage-ability. We try to grow a wide variety of many different vegetables so that we cover a lot of our members’ culinary preferences. Of course we’ll never be able to satisfy everyone every time. So our primary goal is to provide our customers with a basket of goods that cannot be found elsewhere with significant value, interest and usability. I hope we are attaining this goal.
Finally while researching this topic I went back to our home page which was written more than 12 years ago and discovered it still holds true today:
Our produce selection each year is both traditional and unusual. On the one hand we strive to provide food that is familiar and comfortable for most families – you will recognize most of the produce we provide. On the other hand, we also experiment with the unusual; we grow varieties that aren’t generally available in local stores or that are not typically grown here in Minnesota. At Fresh Earth Farms you will find more than 30 varieties of tomatoes, 10 varieties of potatoes and 10 different varieties of garlic. Typically we grow over 150 different fruits and vegetables.
I guess our founding fathers knew what they were doing!
As always, feel free to send in comments, suggestions, ideas, answers to this week’s question, etc. Plus don’t forget to order SeafoodShare as soon as possible!