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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  • Know Your Farms CSA
    CSA Pickup CSA Pickup

    CSA Pickup

CSA Pickup

How do I get my CSA Share at a Public Site

If you are new to the Know Your Farms CSA, you may have wondered what happens after you signup.  Well, this post should provide you with the next steps.  You will receive automatic reminders to the email address you used to create your CSA account the day before the day of the week you chose for your CSA pickup site.  Each site has a specific day assigned to it.

You can switch sites if necessary in your account by the Friday deadline

There is also a timeframe associated with drop sites so make sure you know the correct timeframe.  Once you know the correct day and time, all you have to do is show up during that time and check in with the location manager.  They will make sure you get your order(s).  If you have empty boxes or other containers you received from us, please bring those to the drop with you.

How do I get my Workplace CSA Share

Most workplace drop sites will have a contact person at the location who can help you find your orders.  At Workplace sites, you should be able to find out exactly where we are bringing your food from your internal contact person.

How do I get my Home Delivery CSA Share

The most important thing to remember about your home delivery shares is that we require you to leave a cooler out so we can feel comfortable that we are leaving your food in the best possible condition.  If you forget to leave your cooler for us, we can only leave produce.  If you ordered extras, we cannot leave them and you will still be responsible for the cost of the food.  You can call your neighborhood contact person to find out if they still have your orders.  The second thing you need to make sure you understand is the day that you need to leave your cooler out.  Your area will be assigned a specific day.

Area Managers are asked by KYF to donate orders that cannot be left because no cooler is available.

That’s it!  The only thing left to do is enjoy the awesome local food you got from the Know Your Farms CSA!  Don’t forget to check out the blog and facebook pages for great recipes each week to help you use up all of the food in your share!  Feel free to post your own too!

By |March 5th, 2013|Did You Know?, Know Your Farms, Workplace CSA|0 Comments
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QR Code – What is that?

QR Codes

QR codes are designed to present information quickly when scanned.  Most QR codes will take you to a website but there are over 10 different functions they can perform.  Any iPhone, Android, or Blackberry with a barcode scanner can use QR codes.  Barcode applications are free and can be downloaded onto your phone from iTunes or Google Play.

Know Your Farms CSA and Farm Tours use these codes on some of our promotional materials.  We do this because it allows us to provide you with a quick and convenient way to connect with us online.  Sometimes, we use them to display a text message or instantly connect you with our social media pages.  Scan each of the images below to see an example of three different uses.

By |March 4th, 2013|Did You Know?, Know Your Farms|0 Comments
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Partner Highlight: The Milky Way

Partner Highlight – The Milky Way

TheMilkyWayWe decided to start off our partner highlights with The Milky Way in Dilworth.  Adam and Wooten opened up their doors to the local food movement a few years ago and let us bring our CSA orders to the store.  The Milky Way can help you with all of your breastfeeding, fussy baby, baby carrier, cloth diapering, shower gift and infant apparel needs. They care about baby care! The Milky Way has been helping grow healthy and happy families since 2003.

The Milky Way is located in the Dilworth neighborhood in the Shops at Twin Oaks.

The Milky Way
1419 East Blvd
Charlotte, NC 28203

Phone: 704-374-9200
Email: info@amilkyway.com

Hours: Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 10-5 EST.

By |March 3rd, 2013|CSA Partners, Did You Know?, Know Your Farms|0 Comments
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Did You Know? Buying Local is Important!

On a dollar-for-dollar basis, the local economic impact of independently owned businesses is significantly greater than that of national chains, this study concludes. Analyzing data collected from 28 locally owned retail businesses in Portland, Maine, along with corporate filings for a representative national chain, the researchers found that every $100 spent at locally owned businesses contributes an additional $58 to the local economy.  By comparison, $100 spent at a chain store in Portland yields just $33 in local economic impact. The study concludes that, if residents of the region were to shift 10 percent of their spending from chains to locally owned businesses, it would generate $127 million in additional local economic activity and 874 new jobs. Read the full study here.

By |March 2nd, 2013|Did You Know?, Know Your Farms, Local Food Systems|0 Comments
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CSA Membership Benefits

Know Your Farms CSaDid you know that joining the Know Your Farms CSA is easy and offers you maximum convenience and flexibility?  Our CSA members are part of the most flexible and convenient local food delivery service in the Charlotte area. 

  • Multiple Produce Share Options
  • Set Your Delivery Schedule – Great for vacations, sick days, and conflicts!
  • Ability to Change Your Share Size
  • Ability to Change Your Pickup Location
  • Locations throughout Charlotte region
  • Signups at any time during the season with no commitment!

Know Your Farms CSA

Once the season begins in April, you can join anytime.  We encourage CSA members to participate for at least 4 deliveries and after that, there is no commitment.  We support multiple farms and list the contents on this page, Facebook, and your CSA account each week.  You will know the farms providing the food.  Recipes are also posted online every week to help make it even easier to Eat Local!

Supporting Know Your Farms CSA makes it possible for us to continue our important work for the benefit of the Charlotte community.  Unlike other food services popping up, we are fully invested in our community here.  We have been supporting Charlotte area farmers since 2008 and are based in Charlotte, NC.  You can help us continue to improve the local food system and local economy in Charlotte by participating in the CSA.  It’s a great way to eat healthy and get to Know Your Farms!

Find out more by visiting Know Your Farms CSA!

By |March 1st, 2013|Did You Know?, Know Your Farms, Local Food Systems, Workplace CSA|0 Comments
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Charlotte’s CSA Home Delivery

Know Your Farms Home DeliveryHome delivery from Charlotte’s CSA service, Know Your Farms, is now available for a growing number of neighborhoods.  The Elizabeth neighborhood is the first of a growing number of areas supported by the home delivery option.  Each area will have at least one coordinator who lives in the area helping KYF distribute local food shares.  Other neighborhood areas that can get home delivery are Dilworth, South End, South Park, NoDA, Plaza-midwood, and Sedgefield.  Uptown Charlotte will be able to participate in home delivery later in 2013.  Neighborhoods north of Charlotte that can participate are Highland Creek, Skybrook, and Davis Lake.

Anyone interested in adding their neighborhood to the service areas should contact Know Your Farms through their website drop site form and area coordinator form.  The forms are located under the Get Involved menu.

Know Your Farms

Know Your Farms has been providing local foods from Charlotte-area farms since 2008.  Their CSA supports small family farms surrounding Charlotte.  They are the only home delivery service in Charlotte that uses local foods from farms within 40-50 miles of Charlotte.

By |February 28th, 2013|CSA Partners, Did You Know?, Home Delivery, Know Your Farms, Local Food News, Local Food Systems|0 Comments
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Health Insurance Rebates for Workplace CSA Members

Workplace CSAs can help employees make healthier food choices at work by making it convenient and easy to get healthy foods delivered to the office.  If you have been in Charlotte, NC during the last few years, you may have noticed the increase in chatter about workplace CSAs and employee wellness programs.  A growing number of employers are rolling out ambitious employee wellness programs and incentives designed to encourage healthier lifestyle choices.  It’s good for employees and even better for employers as they see their healthcare costs decline in correlation with healthier lifestyle choices of their employees.  Workplace CSA programs support this effort by making it convenient for employees to get access to fresh, healthy food alternatives.  Employees who take advantage of workplace CSA services increase their fruit and vegetable consumption and play an important role in supporting Charlotte’s local food system efforts by farmer advocates like Know Your Farms CSA.

Workplace CSA Programs

Know Your Farms Workplace CSAWhen we visit workplaces interested in starting a workplace CSA for their employees, we are often impressed with the thought and planning that employers are putting into their decisions to move forward with incentives encouraging employees to make healthier lifestyle choices.  However, one area that is almost never directly addressed is the possibility of offering a tangible incentive to the employee through their healthcare insurance program.  There is a successful example of how this can work in the Madison, WI area run by a coalition of CSA farms.  There is a group called the Fairshare CSA Coalition that works with four insurance companies

to provide incentives to employees at participating workplaces.  There is a maximum $100 annual rebate for singles and $200 annual rebate for families.  Only produce share purchases are eligible and the total annual purchases have to at least equal the maximum rebate amount.

Know Your Farms Workplace CSAThe program is managed by the insurance companies. The  employees interested in taking advantage of the health insurance rebates work directly with the insurance provider, not the employer.  This direct connection makes the process much more efficient.  Since the program started in 2005, 75% of the Fairshare CSA shares totalling 28,000 rebates have been claimed.  All employees have to do is submit proof of payment to one of the CSAs in the Fairshare CSA program to receive their rebate if they are a member of a participating insurance program.

We have not heard of any NC insurance providers offering anything like this to our employers.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could lead the charge in the Southeast by creating our own version of this awesome program?  Perhaps contacting your insurance provider or HR benefits office and requesting an incentive like this may spur our health insurance providers to create a model that other states will use to launch their own programs.

 

 

 

By |February 25th, 2013|Know Your Farms, Workplace CSA|0 Comments
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NC seafood to be focus of Local Catch Summit

AP

SKYCO, N.C. – Speakers for the 2013 Local Catch Summit in Skyco are focusing on ways to include North Carolina seafood in the local food movement.

Most of the summit is scheduled for Friday at the Coastal Studies Institute campus in Skyco, near the Wanchese waterfront.

It begins with a dinner presentation about local food and beer Thursday at Basnight’s Lone Cedar Cafe by the owners of the Weeping Radish Farm Brewery and Farmer to Fork Butchery Market.

Activities begin Friday with tours of Wanchese fish houses. Talks focus on the seafood supply chain, the growing demand for local food and innovations by chefs and watermen to improve the seafood industry, among other topics.

Link: http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=9000835

By |February 22nd, 2013|Did You Know?, Know Your Farms, Local Food Systems|0 Comments
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10 Reasons to 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.

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

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