This Week’s Produce Box (5/14 – 5/15)

Please help us out by remembering to bring your boxes back each week!  Hope you like the boxes this week!

Small and Medium share:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
Onions [RO] Buddy Edwards
Strawberries [RO] Barbee Farms
Broccoli [RB] Barbee Farms
Mushrooms **  [RB] Cottonmill Mushrooms
Rosemary ** [RB] Cottonmill Mushrooms
–Medium –
Lettuce [RB]  Barbee Farms
Extra Strawberries [RO] Barbee Farms

* Certified organic.
** Raised without pesticides, organic or otherwise.
RO – Refrigerate Open
RB – Refrigerate in bag/closed container/crisper

 

 

 

 

 

Large shares have all the above, plus:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
Arugula [RB] Barbee Farms
Bok Choy **  [RB] KC Farms
Turnip Greens **  [RB] KC Farms

 

 

 

 

Organic shares have:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
Swiss Chard * [RB] Coldwater Creek Farms
Strawberries * [RB] Watson & Sons
Collards * [RB] Watson & Sons
Lettuce * [RB] Commonwealth Farms
Mushrooms **  [RO] Cottonmill Mushrooms
Arugula * [RB] Coldwater Creek Farms

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Certified organic.
** Raised without pesticides, organic or otherwise.
RO – Refrigerate Open
RB – Refrigerate in bag/closed container/crisper

By |May 12th, 2013|CSA Contents, What's in my box?, Workplace CSA|0 Comments
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This Week’s Produce Box (5/7-5/8)

Please help us out by remembering to bring your boxes back each week!  Hope you like the boxes this week!

Small and Medium share:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
Lettuce [RB] Barbee Farms
Strawberries [RO] Barbee Farms
Swiss Chard  * [RB] Watson & Sons
Honey * Sonny Bee’s Farms
Mint ** [RB] Cottonmill Mushrooms
–Medium –
No Honey!
Sweet Potatoes * Coldwater Creek Farms
Jam Surprise! ** Garnet Gals
Extra Strawberries [RO] Barbee Farms

* Certified organic.
** Raised without pesticides, organic or otherwise.
RO – Refrigerate Open
RB – Refrigerate in bag/closed container/crisper

 

 

 

 

 

Large shares have all the above, plus:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
Turnip Greens * [RB] KC Farms
Bok Choy **  [RB] KC Farms
Spinach *  [RB] KC Farms
No honey!

 

 

 

 

Organic shares have:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
Swiss Chard * [RB] Watson & Sons
Kale  ** [RB] Watson & Sons
Asparagus * [RB] Triple J Farm
Lettuce * [RB] Green Thumb Farms
Sweet Potatoes * Coldwater Creek Farms
Mint ** [RB]  Cottonmill Mushrooms

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Certified organic.
** Raised without pesticides, organic or otherwise.
RO – Refrigerate Open
RB – Refrigerate in bag/closed container/crisper

By |May 6th, 2013|CSA Contents, What's in my box?, Workplace CSA|0 Comments
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This Week’s Produce Box (4/30 – 5/1)

Please help us out by remembering to bring your boxes back each week!  Hope you like the boxes this week!

Small and Medium share:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
 Collards [RO] Barbee Farms
Lettuce [RB] Barbee Farms
Strawberries  [RO] Barbee Farms
Carrots [RB] Barbee Farms
Greek Oregano ** [RO] Cottonmill Mushrooms
–Medium –
Rutabaga * [RO] ECO
Extra Strawberries [RO] Barbee Farms

* Certified organic.
** Raised without pesticides, organic or otherwise.
RO – Refrigerate Open
RB – Refrigerate in bag/closed container/crisper

 

 

 

 

Large shares have all the above, plus:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
Swiss Chard * [RB] Coldwater Creek Farm
Spinach **  [RB] KC Farms
Asparagus *  [RB] Triple J Farm

 

 

 

 

Organic shares have:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
Swiss Chard * [RB] Coldwater Creek Farms
Spinach  ** [RB] KC Farm
Asparagus * [RB] Triple J Farm
Rutabaga * [RB] ECO
Organic Strawberries * [RO] Watson & Sons Farm
Greek Oregano ** [RB]  Cottonmill Mushrooms

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Certified organic.
** Raised without pesticides, organic or otherwise.
RO – Refrigerate Open
RB – Refrigerate in bag/closed container/crisper

By |April 28th, 2013|CSA Contents, Did You Know?, Fruit, Home Delivery, What's in my box?, Workplace CSA|0 Comments
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This Week’s Produce Box (4/23 – 4/24)

Strawberries will be delayed a few weeks this Spring due to the weather.  We encourage you to place holds on your deliveries if you are scheduled for four weeks to extend into May if you want to get some local berries!

Small and Medium share:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
 Collards [RO] Barbee Farms
Sweet Potatoes * Coldwater Creek Farms
Spinach  [RB] Barbee Farms
Shiitake Mushrooms ** [RB] Cottonmill Mushrooms
Parsley ** [RO] Cottonmill Mushrooms
–Medium –
Lettuce [RB] Barbee Farms
Green Garlic * [RB] Coldwater Creek Farms

* Certified organic.
** Raised without pesticides, organic or otherwise.
RO – Refrigerate Open
RB – Refrigerate in bag/closed container/crisper

 

 

 

 

Large shares have all the above, plus:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
Spagetti Squash [RB] Barbee Farm
Strawberries  [RO] Barbee Farms
Organic Kale *  [RB] Watson Farms

 

 

 

 

Organic shares have:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
Sweet Potatoes * Coldwater Creek Farms
Organic Collards  * [RB] Watson Farm
Globe Eggplant * [RB] Bryson Farm
Shiitake Mushrooms ** [RB] Cottonmill Mushrooms
Organic Kale * [RB] Watson Farm
Parsley ** [RB]  Cottonmill Mushrooms
Green Garlic * [RB] Coldwater Creek Farms

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Certified organic.
** Raised without pesticides, organic or otherwise.
RO – Refrigerate Open
RB – Refrigerate in bag/closed container/crisper

By |April 21st, 2013|CSA Contents, Know Your Farms, What's in my box?, Workplace CSA|0 Comments
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This Week’s Produce Box (4/16 – 4/17)

Strawberries will be delayed a few weeks this Spring due to the weather.  We encourage you to place holds on your deliveries if you are scheduled for four weeks to extend into May if you want to get some local berries!

Small and Medium share:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
 Carrots [RO] Barbee Farms
Sweet Potatoes * Coldwater Creek Farms
Organic Kale *  [RB] Rawl Farms
Oyster Mushrooms ** [RB] Cottonmill Mushrooms
Thyme ** [RO] Cottonmill Mushrooms
–Medium –
Broccoli * [RB] Creekside Farm
 Eggplant * [RB]  Bryson Farm

* Certified organic.
** Raised without pesticides, organic or otherwise.
RO – Refrigerate Open
RB – Refrigerate in bag/closed container/crisper

 

 

 

 

Large shares have all the above, plus:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
Additional Kale * [RB] Rawl Farm
Spinach  [RB] Barbee Farms
Local Jam ** Garnet Gals

 

 

 

 

Organic shares have:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
Sweet Potatoes * Coldwater Creek Farms
Organic Broccoli  * [RB] Creekside Farm
Globe Eggplant * [RB] Bryson Farm
Oyster Mushrooms ** [RB] Cottonmill Mushrooms
Organic Kale * [RB] Rawl Farm
Thyme ** [RB]  Cottonmill Mushrooms

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Certified organic.
** Raised without pesticides, organic or otherwise.
RO – Refrigerate Open
RB – Refrigerate in bag/closed container/crisper

By |April 14th, 2013|CSA Contents, Know Your Farms, What's in my box?, Workplace CSA|0 Comments
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This Week’s Box (April 9 -10)

Strawberries will be delayed a few weeks this Spring due to the weather.  We encourage you to place holds on your deliveries if you are scheduled for four weeks to extend into May if you want to get some local berries!

Small and Medium share:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
 Carrots [RO] Barbee Farms
Sweet Potatoes Barbee Farms
Spaghetti Squash Barbee Farms
Oyster Mushrooms ** [RB] Cottonmill Mushrooms
Globe Eggplant * [RO] Regional
–Medium –
Honey Bear ** Sonny’s Bee Farm

* Certified organic.
** Raised without pesticides, organic or otherwise.
RO – Refrigerate Open
RB – Refrigerate in bag/closed container/crisper

 

 

 

 

Large shares have all the above, plus:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
Romaine Lettuce * [RB] Regional
Collards *  [RB] Regional
Cabernet Jam ** Garnet Gals

 

 

 

 

Organic shares have:

ITEM TYPE STORAGE FARM
Sweet Potatoes * Coldwater Creek Farms
Honey Bear  ** Sonny’s Bee Farm
Globe Eggplant * Regional
Oyster Mushrooms ** [RB] Cottonmill Mushrooms
Romaine Lettuce * [RO] Regional
Collards * [RB]  Regional

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Certified organic.
** Raised without pesticides, organic or otherwise.
RO – Refrigerate Open
RB – Refrigerate in bag/closed container/crisper

By |April 8th, 2013|CSA Contents, Know Your Farms, What's in my box?|0 Comments
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Restaurants Lease Farmland

barbeefarms_fieldThe idea of restaurants “leasing” farmland from local farmers for certain produce items is not new but may be something for our Charlotte area restaurants to consider.  One of the stumbling blocks in restaurant supported agriculture (RSA), where food businesses buy from local farmers for resale, is the forecasting that farmers must do at planting times throughout the year.  They have to use data from previous years and increase their intended yields based on estimated future sales.  There is a lot of risk and unpredictability for the local farmers around Charlotte.  Sometimes when food businesses ask farmers to grow a certain amount of food with a promise to buy it four months later at harvest time, the promises are broken and farmers can be left without much-needed sales.

Restaurants Can Reduce Farmer Risk

One of the interesting and high-impact ways restaurants can help local farmers and get great food to their customers at the same time is to help farmers reduce the risk of losing future sales.  We think it would be great for restaurants to provide secured future sales to local farmers in exchange for foods that chefs would like to have in their kitchens.  The idea is not simple but can be done.

If a restaurant(s) offered to “lease” a certain amount of land from local farmers to grow certain things in certain quantities, farmers might feel more comfortable dedicating a portion of their growing space for this transaction.  We will throw in a word of caution here: 

Please, please do not consider this option unless you really are dedicated to following through.  Farmers can sadly recount past experiences where they grew for people who guaranteed future sales, only to find out the sales had vanished when the crops were ready to be harvested. 
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Restaurants Plus a CSA Offer Farmers Low Risk

Know Your Farms CSaThere is also an even more secure way for both restaurants and farmers to accomplish this mutually beneficial restaurant supported agriculture.  Know Your Farms CSA could act as a backup for these guaranteed crops so restaurants could request a whole row of produce but only have to use less than the whole row if things changed in the future.  Our goal is to protect the farmers from negative impacts of this kind of change.  It also gives chefs a safety net with their credibility with the farmers so if they do fall short of their purchase estimates, the excess will still be purchased from the farmer by the CSA.  We hope both parties will want to begin a dialogue about how to use our CSA as a safety net to facilitate the connection between restaurants and farmers.

 

By |March 27th, 2013|CSA Contents, CSA Partners, Know Your Farms, Local Food Systems|0 Comments
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Young Farmers in Local Food Growing

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s most recent statistics, the average age of farmers in the United States is 57. In 1982, 16 percent of head farmers were younger than 35, but by 2007 that number had declined to 5 percent. But behind the aging industry an even larger force is at work: the consolidation of U.S. farmland, experts say.

In order to remain competitive, farmers had to grow larger amounts of commodity crops over the past century to make up for the decreasing value of food.  This subsidized part of the food system has decreased the number of farmers as farmland has been consolidated to grow more commodities.  The difficulty in achieving an income consistent and large enough to support families has also made farming a less appealing career to many of the next generation growing up under the current farmers.

However, not all hope is lost.  A growing national trend of learning where our food comes from is rejuvenating the local food system – on a national scale.  There are a growing number of younger farmers (and former professionals interested in turning farmer) who are creatively breaking down barriers to entry in small-scale agriculture.  The biggest barrier to start farming is land cost versus the expected value a young farmer can expect to get out of a farming operation.  Land has simply become too expensive if it can actually produce something useful for us.  But, this new wave of farmers is taking a lean approach to growing, which makes it more affordable.  It actually costs very little to grow vegetables in small-scale and there are lots of creative ways to make small pieces of land produce quite a bit of food.  Bowing out of the commodity rat-race helps new and young farmers find niche markets for less expensive foods.

We have seen and learned so much from our local farmers here in the Charlotte area.  The creativity they have to circumvent problems in farming is amazing and inspiring.  We are lucky to be in an area with such potential for a healthy, sustainable food system.

 

By |March 8th, 2013|CSA Contents, Did You Know?, Know Your Farms, Local Food Systems|0 Comments
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South Park Location Manager

Know Your Farms CSaWe have an opening at South Park Earthfare for a location manager starting in April.  The South Park Location Manager is responsible for making sure our great local foods get into the correct member’s hands!  The LM will need to be available from 5:45pm – 7:15pm every Wednesday.  We would like to find someone in the South Park area who is enthusiastic about local food or CSAs and will help us promote the KYF CSA while at the drop.

Please make sure this time period and day works with your schedule before contacting us.  In exchange for helping us out, you get a medium share of produce!

Please email us if you are interested and include the best time to contact you.

 

By |March 7th, 2013|CSA Contents, Did You Know?, Know Your Farms, Local Food News, Location Managers|0 Comments
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10 Reasons to buy local – eat local

Why Buy Locally Owned?

There are many well-documented benefits to our communities and to each of us to choosing local, independently owned businesses. We realize it is not always possible to buy what you need locally and so merely ask you to Think Local FIRST!

Top Ten reasons to Think Local – Buy Local – Be Local

  1. Buy Local — Support yourself: Several studies have shown that when you buy from an independent, locally owned business, rather than a nationally owned businesses, significantly more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms — continuing to strengthen the economic base of the community.(Click here to see summaries of a variety of economic impact studies; these include case studies showing that locally-owned businesses generate a premium in enhanced economic impact to the community and our tax base.)
  2. Support community groups: Non-profit organizations receive an average 250% more support from smaller business owners than they do from large businesses.
  3. Keep our community unique: Where we shop, where we eat and have fun — all of it makes our community home. Our one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of this place. Our tourism businesses also benefit.  “When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace.” ~ Richard Moe, President, National Historic Preservation Trust
  4. Reduce environmental impact: Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases requiring less transportation and generally set up shop in town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.
  5. Create more good jobs: Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally and in our community, provide the most jobs to residents.
  6. Get better service: Local businesses often hire people with a better understanding of the products they are selling and take more time to get to know customers.
  7. Invest in community: Local businesses are owned by people who live in this community, are less likely to leave, and are more invested in the community’s future.
  8. Put your taxes to good use: Local businesses in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure investment and make more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally owned stores entering the community.
  9. Buy what you want, not what someone wants you to buy: A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term.  A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.
  10. Encourage local prosperity: A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.

Reposted from: Think local first + Buy local when you can = Being a local!

By |February 15th, 2013|CSA Contents, Know Your Farms, Local Food Systems|0 Comments
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