Next year...

Today is very windy (45+mph gusts), very warm (74 degrees), and very spring like (with the threatening thunderstorms) and with spring in the air (although it is October) it makes me think about next season all the more.

This is a fun time of year. We get to make great plans and execute them on paper! I will always find a way to make a spreadsheet or two, which Farmer Hubby will laugh at me for. He spends time looking at equipment deciding what are next seasons big investments (we need a chisel plow, but what about a new tiller? we really do need to get that cooler we have been talking about, if we can swing it but how are we going to upgrade our wash line (technical term for a couple tables with slatted tops and a garden hose)?)

Right now things are still so preliminary our plans are in the sky and there is no need to put numbers to anything. That will come later, the reconciling of reality with our budget.

We are deciding which areas we will just grow cover crops on next year, which places need the most TLC.

It would be nice to cover the whole farm all next year, but at some point we need to actually grow food, I doubt our CSA members want to eat just Buckwheat, Clover, Rye, and Mustards. So we are working on a cover strategy. Right now almost everything (not next years potato field) has a winter cover planted. We will try to rotate cover through a lot of our tilled areas next year, and start a couple new small fields. Eventually, we will build up good soil, but that is a long term project. One of the "Wish list" items is a planter for limited till cover crops ($9,000, but WOW, is it a nice toy!).

(More dreaming as I dream...)

When will the season end

The past couple pickups I have had people ask "So when is the season over?" The answer is I don't know, it depends, as so many things in farming do, on the weather, and more specifically our first frost. Once we have that the our pickup days are numbered.

It is easy to point to a day on the calender and say that is our first frost, but what does that mean? It can frost on our farm on a day when the heat-island effect caused by asphalt, dark roofs, and buildings keep cities and suburbs warm enough not to frost.

It can frost on one side of the valley but not the other, or in the valley or not out. Or depending on the wind direction flip that the opposite way and frost up here, but not down there.

It often frosts later by the lake, but not always. And, of course, it does not always pick the same days to frost every year. That would be nice of mother nature, but it is not nearly that easy.

Add to all of that the weather patterns seem to shifting world wide and your guess is as good as mine.

The government is nice enough to put out a chart that tells me at the Akron Canton regional airport there is a 10% we will see frost by October 4th, a 50% chance by October 19th and a 90% chance by Nov 3rd. For a hard frost (28 degrees) which will kill even some "frost tolerant" stuff 10% Oct 20th, 50% Nov 2nd, and 90% Nov 15th. So basically we know in October it will probably frost at some point, although 1 year in 10 it will frost before then and 1 year in 10 after that!

But the question remains, "What about our season?" If everything goes well weather wise our season will run to our full 18 weeks which will put us into the last week of October/first week on November. We can usually go a week or two past the last frost. Some things can happily keep growing past frost, and others you may see in bulk your last week, enough onions to last you a while, for example. We are just about to start the winter squash, which is a storage item, and we have cover to protect lettuce and beets from lighter frosts. However, if we see an early and hard freeze our season might end a bit quicker then we planned. Right now the forecast looks good for the next two weeks. So keep your fingers crossed...

(Who knew farming would be so tiring on the fingers!)

Are all CSAs the same?

I thought I would take a minute to comment on all the “CSA”s which are springing up in our region. For those who don’t know CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Starting in Japan in the 1980s it was a way of connecting consumers in a city to farmers. The benefit to the farmer is that they receive 100% of the food dollar (no middleman) and the consumer commits to the farm at the beginning of the season. The benefit to the consumer is that they have a personal relationship with the person who grows their food, and know where & how it is produced. They are guaranteed a share of the harvest throughout the season, sharing both the risk of farming and the bounty in good years. Together the farmer and the CSA members start to form a community, around food, which is traditionally how most communities were organized.

Now however, at least in our region, we are seeing a new phenomena, it started a couple years ago and is beginning to increase. We are seeing “CSA”s start with no farmer directly involved. It seems to me that people see the possible profit margins in selling direct to the consumer but do not want to actually do the work of being a farmer.

More “Subscription” services then CSAs they purchase food from multiple farms or ,as often as not, from food auctions. Often the primary reason they select one supplier over another is cost.
While I understand that our region is woefully short of true CSA spots, with just about every farm based CSA having a waiting list of some size by the first of the year it does frustrate me that these box schemes are selling themselves as CSAs. To me a CSA is a unique and special relationship between farms and their members. I would ask any person who is considering joining a CSA to ask themselves and their CSA some basic questions.

-Is there a farmer directly involved? Do I know him or her, get to meet them, have an opportunity to visit the farm (even if weekly pickup is elsewhere?)
-Is one of my reasons for joining a CSA to directly support the farm and support small scale local agriculture in my region?
If so, would a farmer’s market be better for my needs.

- Is natural or organic important to you? How committed is your grower to those principles?

I would ask my CSA
· Who grows the food?
· If the answer is not “ME!” then ask “Can I have names for all your growers?”
o If they do not know that may mean they will get whatever is least expensive when the time comes.
· What percentage comes directly farms from and what percentage from elsewhere, like produce auctions?
o Sometimes a small percentage comes from farm or gardens and a majority purchased in bulk.
· How is the food produced?
o If it is important to you is it organic or naturally grown?
· If “naturally” how do I know that if I cannot talk to the farmer?
o Note that neither “Amish” or “Small” means natural or sustainable.
· What percentage of my payment pays administrative costs, salaries, and profit compared to what goes to the farmer?

I would also look around and do a “gut check” How much land would it take to support a CSA as large as they have. Could you support hundreds of families off 2 acres? Probably not. The average is somewhere between 20-40 families per acre, an acre is about 210 feet by 210 feet.

There are other equally important questions, but these are a start… I fear that if none farm “CSAs” continue to expand “real” CSAs will begin to disappear. I have heard people say that farmers should be able to grow and not spend time marketing, but of a food dollar less than 20 cents goes to the farmer, the balance to the marketers and distributors, of various kinds. By getting all of the food dollar small farmers have a chance of making a real go at it… Otherwise…

If what you want are veggies, then any “CSA” might be right for you. But if you want more than that, be careful that you know what you are joining. Know your farmer, Know your food.