CSA Q & A

There are many factors that go into planning for another season of farming, let alone a first season of a new farm. The art work to the left is just some sketches that lead to the final "logo" seen on the top of the blog, on our facebook page, and egg labels.  While my main passion is sustainable agriculture, I also have a deep love for fine arts, and truly see little difference between the two! Both are a mix of science and attunement with the world we live in. 

 As with being in tune with the natural world, our hens have also found their balance of rest and production, and have tapered off on their laying over the last few weeks....They are picking back up, and eggs will be available soon.


Q & A
As we start getting CSA sign ups rolling in, there have also been a slew of questions that I hope to answer here. 

One of the most asked inquiries is: Is Grindstone Farm offering a CSA? 
 The answer is no, they are not. They will continue offering local and organic produce through the healthy box program, and wholesale markets, but will not be offering a CSA. Having been in operation for over 30 years, owner Dick DeGraff is ready for a much deserved downsizing, and that is how we came to a lease agreement to grow our own farm. We will be working cooperatively with one another as well as some of the other nearby farms Grindstone has done business with over the years to provide fresh organic foods to our communities, and supply the growing demand for locally grown food. 

Why doesn't CSACNY.org have any information about our farm? 
CSA CNY is a non profit group of volunteers and sometimes it takes time to get to things like that. We hope that this doesn't deter folks from signing up, but maybe encourages folks to volunteer their time. 

Can I still get special orders and Wholeshare orders with my CSA? 
Yes, we will be coordinating with both Grindstone Farm's store and Wholeshare to continue providing other items we don't grow to be delivered with your shares as you've been able to do in the past. 

Can I still get a pre packed share instead of building my own box?
 While we offer the build your own box option for our market pickups, it is not standard. Depending on pickup site the way you get your share may vary. We offered this option for folks who have dietary restrictions or have picky eaters in their household. We want people to eat the food they bought, and from our years with Grindstone have found that many people just feed their compost with unfamiliar foods. 

What pick up sites will be available?
 So far the only confirmed pick up sites are Oswego, Watertown and a Syracuse farmer's market, and on Farm pick up tentatively Sundays. While I love that people open their homes for the CSA,  the POD leaders on Fellows Ave in Syracuse and Walnut St in Fayetteville have been the only members that has confirmed that they will continue hosting a drop site. We invite folks to host if they have a covered space to distribute from, and we would like at LEAST 10 shares per each drop site. We would like to look into another market in the Syracuse area, as the lease for the Regional Market is fairly high compared to others and would like to try the Westcott Community Center one instead. We will be relying on input from our members to determine where the best pick up locations would be. 

Is your farm certified organic?
Yes. We are certified by extension through NOFA-NY. While our eggs are not certified, our free range hens are supplemented daily with organic food scraps and waste from the farm, keeping a steady supply of organic nutrients throughout the seasons, and maintaining a rich golden yolk color. 


What veggies can I expect in my shares?
We will be offering much of the same variety that Grindstone Farm has offered in the past, while selecting varieties that we know to do well in the soils and climate. From asparagus, strawberries, various greens, radishes, peas in spring; tomatoes, peppers, summer squashes, beans, eggplant, blueberries in summer; beets, carrots, winter squash, potatoes, onions and cold hardy greens in the fall, we aim to remain diversified in our selection to provide variety each week.  Also we will be working with some experienced orchardists  to improve our apple and pear quality. 

Why no spring or winter shares?
After having been part of Grindstone's extended seasons for numerous years; we realize that offering these share options is not only a lot of extra work, but also requires the high tunnels which we are not leasing from Grindstone. While we intend to put one of our own up in the spring, one is not really enough to offer shares from. Any early crops grown in our's or Grindstone's high tunnels will be a available on their online store, at farmer's markets, or from some of our local wholesale customers, such as Real Foods Co-op. As far as winter shares go, we are working on a winter harvest share that would include late fall harvests from ours and other local farms, and might include canned goods from our surplus,  meat, eggs, or cheese from other local farms as well. 

Why no cheese shares?
We are starting our first season, and want to keep things simple and offer our own goods. You will still be able to order Cranberry Ridge's wonderful raw goats milk cheese from Grindstone Farm's online store to be delivered with your CSA.

Are there discounts available?
While we offer a 10% if you sign up and payment is received by Jan 31st, and a $45 savings for on farm pickups, there are no other discounts being offered this season. However we are willing to work out payment arrangements with families upon request. 

I hope that this helps answer some questions folks have about our CSA, and please don't hesitate to contact us with any other questions not covered here. Any suggestions pertaining to interest or ideas about a possible  coffee share, or fall harvest share are welcome as well. Also pickup site suggestions are welcome!

We wish all our friends and family a very healthy and happy new year!

This is our youngest, Freyja, who was just so excited about that tiny egg, and the full moon, I had to share the photo.  She brought the egg to her sister, and they bundled it up in some of Travis' old silk ties; hoping to hatch it, and refused to believe me when I told them that a small egg like that probably wouldn't hatch. In their young creative minds anything is possible, and if a massive pumpkin can grow from a tiny seed, a bullfrog come of little slimy egg, why not a chicken from an abnormally small egg? If only everyone could have such imaginations; a sense of hope and knowing that with just a little loving care and warmth, anything can grow, including their dreams to reality. It is they, our children, our future, who have inspired and taught us how to build our dream of farming and sharing great food into being. We farm for them. 

As we head into the calm coldness of winter, a time for family and reflection, planning, and dreaming, I wanted to share some of our reflections. 

We farm, not just for today, but for tomorrow. For the health of the soil we till to continue providing sustenance, not just for our bodies, but the whole ecosystem; we choose organic practices, not as a mere business model, but as a labor of love and understanding for the circle of life. 

We choose to be a CSA farm for the future as well. CSA's provide money for future returns, a secure deposit on your season of local food. Peering further into the future, however, the CSA model will enable us to to create a symbiotic ASC, or Agriculture Supported Community. By inviting neighbors to be members of our farm, we are inviting you to be part of a community. While people have differing reasons for choosing to eat healthy by way of CSA rather than farmer's markets, or grocery stores, the majority see it as a way of building a stronger local economy, a buffer from the national and global economy at large. Prepaying for your share allows a unique opportunity to avoid the stresses of ever increasing food prices.

 However we realize that many factors deter people from choosing a CSA, the most prevalent being selection and up front price. These are two factors we considered when building our CSA plans. We have decided to offer a build your own box option at a couple of our pick up sites, so that members can choose the produce that their family likes best, and less food is wasted. Also we are willing to work out payment arrangements for folks who want to join our CSA, but it is not financially feasible to pay everything up front. While this doesn't allow people to get the early full payment discount, they can disperse their food bill over the growing season as their budgets allow. We are also working on getting set up to accept EBT payments which we feel is an important step in making healthy food available to everyone. With these harsh economic times, and increasing food and health care costs, and something like 1/4 of the U.S. population on some sort of public assistance, and many more on the brink of needing it, being flexible and keeping local is very important for the the success of any small business.  While many have told us that it is counterproductive to offer payment options for a CSA, which is supposed to be money in our bank to start the season, I see it as a way to disperse income throughout the season in a manageable way, and allow us to market to a previously unmarketable demographic.  While last year Grindstone Farm worked with CSA-CNY to develop a "subsidized" share offering,we hope that offering payment options will offset the need to subsidize shares. We haven't given up on this idea however, and if you'd like to donate to CSA-CNY to help offset the cost of a share for low income families, please go to their website- www.csacny.org Donations are tax deductible, and can give folks a chance to eat healthy in our many local food desserts.

So as we reflect and plan, anxiously awaiting spring, we look to the future with hope, as more and more CSA's appear on the market, and more and more new farmers are going organic, and the national rhetoric for healthy food is increasing despite the push from every direction to further industrialize our food system. By choosing to support a CSA, you are voting with your wallet, saying that clean food is a human right, and it's being eroded by our present food system of GMO's and deadly chemicals. We feel it is not just a right, but an obligation to future generations. The more people choose to support local organic farms, the less we are part of the destruction of our delicate ecosystems. The less we are dependent upon fossil fuels, expensive, sometimes harmful medicines, and  large corporate food giants who abuse human rights across the globe. The more connected we are to the Earth, and our fellow humans.  The more freedom we have to choose to know where our food is coming from, the more empowered we become to make further conscious choices in our daily lives that will affect future generations. The choices we make now can be our grandchildren's blessing or bane. 

I think about this farm and all it's seen since it was built in the late 1800's. Looking around at all the former farms that are now something else just in my lifetime, it is a miracle that it still stands, intact, as if untouched by industrial "progress". Sitting along I81 where former farms are now Walmarts and gas stations, it contains 89 of the original deed of 109 acres. The farm records that we were lucky enough to acquire with the property indicate that it has been a farm since the land was settled and cleared. The house and barn constructed from tree cleared for grazing and planting. There is a bit of nostalgia in our timber framed barn, and the  plans to restore it to original beauty and functionality. The past meets the future with us in between.  Growing on acreage up the road at Grindstone Farm, named after the creek that runs through it, we are doing our small part to protect our watershed, as it runs through both farms. 

Freedom Rains Farm was founded with a vision of a sustainable community. One in which we no longer have to fight for clean water, clean food, clean air. One which we are proud to pass onto future generations. One which knows no boarders. One in which the only rule is "love, and do what you love" While we know many want to become more independent, and we encourage folks to grow gardens, we know that people's passions and talents lie in different places, so let us do what we love so you can do what you love. 

We grow for our members. We farm for the future.