Monday, January 21, 2013

What's in a box?


How much are CSA shares?
 CSA shares are $650 for a season, running from the week of Memorial Day to the week before Thanksgiving - 26 weeks in total. If you're picking up at the New Cumberland market that'd be June 1st to November 23rd; customers getting a box mid-week will be picking up a little before that.  Half shares are exactly that - one half of a standard share - so they're available this year for $325.

What can you expect in a CSA box?
            Weekly boxes are never determined much before harvest – they’re designed to take advantage of what’s growing best that week and what might have failed to take off as quickly as expected.  That said, here are a few guidelines I try to follow and some ideas of what you can expect:

Box Size: I aim for enough food for a family of four that regularly cooks and eats veggies, and I aim for about $25 worth of produce a week.  When I figure that out I generally give CSA customers a bit of a discount over farmer’s market prices, too. That’s the benefit they get for paying in advance, for letting me pick out what they get each week, and for possibly getting produce with some cosmetic blemishes.  Like one of those forked carrots, or an eggplant with a nose on it.  Of course, every family of four eats differently, and $25 gets you a lot more onions than it does strawberries, but over the season that’s where I try to get the averages.

Reasonable mix: I assume people want six to ten different items in  useable portion sizes. I won’t leave you with a box consisting of fifty-seven cucumbers and nothing else, nor will I throw in a beet and hope you can find a dish that uses just one.  I try to put salad fixings in every box – either bagged or head lettuce, depending on the season – as well as hearty vegetables like roots and cooking greens, and bright flavors like tomatoes and peppers.  I try not to repeat flavors – don’t expect to get onions, garlic, leeks, and scallions all in the same week.

A couple samples:

June                                                                          
Snap peas                         
Swiss Chard
Lettuce mix              
Carrots
Chinese cabbage     
Radishes
Garlic scapes
New Potatoes           
Beets                            

August
Tomatoes (heirloom, slicing, and cherry types)
Canteloupe
Bell Peppers
Basil
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Garlic

September                                                               
Tomatoes (2-3 types)                                             
Winter Squash
Eggplant                             
Cucumbers         
Hot Peppers                      
Basil                       
Bell Peppers        
Canteloupe

November
Kale
Beets
Turnips
Arugula
Cabbage
Spinach
Carrots
Salad Mix

If you are interested in the seeding schedule, let me know - I'll be happy to share it with you.  But it can be a chaotic spreadsheet mess if all you're really wondering is what's in a typical box.  - Farmer Dave

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Farm Overview

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the blog for Frost Arrow Farm - until I get the farm's "real" website up and running, this will be the place for all the information that would normally go on a whole website.  Afterwards it will still be the place to go for the  most recent news from the field, information on sales and what's growing right now, plus my own musings on life.

Frost Arrow Farm is my organic vegetable farm in Carlisle, PA.  It's a brand new venture for me; after almost five years working for Village Acres Farm in Mifflintown, PA (and three managing the CSA there), I'm striking out on my own.  2013 will be my first year of production here in Carlisle and I'm looking forward to it.

I'm planning on selling my produce through three outlets: the New Cumberland Farmer's Market on Saturdays, a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program in Cumberland County, and the Tuscarora Organic Grower's Cooperative, a farmer-owned wholesaler of organic produce.  If you're interested in buying vegetables from me at the farmer's market, just come visit me there when it's in season! It'll be a great way to pick and choose just what you want from the farm and to see all the best of what local farmers are growing each week.  If you're interested in a closer commitment to the farm, then you may be interested in joining our CSA program.  For $650 a year, I'll provide you and your family a fresh box of vegetables every week from Memorial Day to just before Thanksgiving. (That works out to 26 weeks, or $25/week).  The contents of the box will vary with whatever's in season and growing well each week, but are intended to provide an interesting variety of vegetables for a family of four that cooks pretty regularly.  You can pick up at the market on Saturdays, or we can work out any other reasonable delivery schedule - that's the benefit of getting in from the start with a new farm.  Please send me an email if you'd like to discuss joining the farm in more detail.

Pictures and news to come soon!  Right now (Jan 2) I'm working on getting my high tunnel set up to grow late winter/early spring salad mixes in, and trying to get my seed order and other beginning-of-the-year tasks completed. 

Dave