Let’s get started! A glance at the 2021 farming season

Here’s a rundown of what you need to know about the start of our farming season. Want to get right to the details? Skip the Introduction and jump down to Season at a Glance.

Introduction

The other day, we were procrastinating. We knew it was time to put aside the time we had given ourselves to celebrate and reflect and relax during the holiday season. We knew it was time to start thinking about our first farming season in our new home. But the thought of all of our to do lists and the work ahead felt daunting. We promised that we’d have our first “farm meeting” that day, but we were putting it off.

Finally, we came up with a way to make the meeting palatable. We layered up in our winter clothes, stepped out the back door and strapped on our snowshoes. We trudged off toward the field where we’d soon be planting vegetables for our first season and Heather-Maries 12th season running a CSA (community supported agriculture).

It was a rare, sunny day. The wind was still. We walked on a thick layer of snow and across the part of our 40-acre farm that was tilled with the help of neighbors. We passed the rows of garlic that were planted this fall by family and friends. We kept going and up the small rise at the edge of our property and plopped down in the deep snow at a spot where we could look back across the fields with our barn, house and silo in the distance.

If you’ve got to have a meeting, why not do it wearing snowshoes, sitting under a cloudless sky, looking at the farm that’s been lovingly passed along to you to live on and care for?

We sat and talked and before long, the ideas and the energy began to flow as we envisioned what our first season at the farm would look like.

Season at a Glance

This year, as has always been the case, our first priority will be running our CSA (community supported agriculture), which provides weekly vegetable deliveries — called shares — to our members. We also hope to run a weekly farm stand and perhaps sell some produce to area restaurants.

Here’s what we can tell you:

CSA membership: Starting small

In a few short weeks we will open registration for the 2021 season. We will give first priority to those who have been with us in the past — many of whom have been loyal supporters of this farm since its inception. After that, we will open it to the others who would like to join us, but our plan for this first year is to keep our membership numbers low.

This year, we will plant seeds in soil we don’t know very well yet. Perhaps it will deliver a bountiful harvest from the start; perhaps it will take some time and nurturing before we realize its full potential. Because of this, we have decided to be conservative with how many members we have join our CSA.

For those not familiar with how it works, a CSA, or community supported agriculture, is what’s called a “shared risk” between the customers and the farmer. We ask our members to invest in our farm at the start of the season, which helps us pay for things like seeds and infrastructure. In return, we will provide members with weekly “shares” over the course of the growing season of whatever it is that our land produces.

Some years, that may be a bountiful harvest, carrying us all well into fall and the first frost. However, it’s also possible that the harvest won’t deliver, and if it doesn’t, well, that’s where the shared risk comes into play.

Members are asked to fill out a form and submit a deposit to reserve their spot. Final payments are due in June.

CSA shares: What to expect

CSA members will receive a weekly share of produce over the course of the growing season starting in late June and continuing until October. We will keep this process very close to the system we have used in the past.

Each CSA member will be given a box of produce each week. Now that we have our own farm and pack shed, we will go back to pre-packaging these shares for members.

Some of our members are called “splitters”: This simply means that they find someone else interested in the CSA and they coordinate a way to split up that produce, and cost, with that other member.

CSA share costs to be determined

We have not yet decided on a cost for membership.

We have historically priced our shares lower than other CSAs in our region, in part, because we want our CSA to be within reach for people, regardless of income. We are also one of the only CSAs in the region that allow our members to work at the farm to reduce the price of their shares.

We are also exploring ways to offer financial assistance to those for whom a CSA share price seems out of reach. So, if you are in this category, please contact us and let’s explore ways to make this work for you.

To determine our share price this year, we will compare current share prices of CSAs in our area before deciding on what that amount will be.

We will be transparent with our members about our price and what that price is based on.

It’s important to realize that the expenditures on this farm have never been more than our revenue (This farm has always been “in the red,” in other words.) It’s likely this will continue as all of the revenue we get will be put back into the farm as we work to improve the quality of our soil and create a system that will make us more efficient.

Each week, our Duluth members will pick up their shares on Tuesday afternoon between 4 and 7 p.m. However, we have yet to determine a location for this pickup.

Searching for new CSA pickup location in Duluth

This region’s CSAs use the homes of their members, the parking lots of area churches and non-profits and other centrally located options as pickup locations.

We are exploring a few options, but if you have any suggestions for a good location, please let us know.

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