Farm Happenings at Village Acres Farm
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Farm Happenings for October 29, 2019: Please Read

Posted on October 25th, 2019 by Debra Brubaker

Welcome to the start of our Fall/Winter CSA season! We are truly fortunate to have such an amazing group of members who stick with us through the seasons of the year as well as the "seasons" of our family farm.  We are pleased to be in a position to offer a Fall CSA season!  The weather in Central PA in 2019 was much more conducive to vegetable farming than last year and we have good food to share, so thanks for joining!  We look forward to seeing your all on a more regular basis over the next months.  

As you all are now aware, we are experimenting with a CSA management program Harvie to offer a customizable share for all of you.  The founder (and staff) of Harvie are a valuable persons in sustainable farm community. They have worked hard over the years to develop tech resources that meet needs of small CSA farm like ours and they know the challenges of farmers in balancing the needs of production with administration and marketing in a changing food system.  We appreciate the services they provid. With the new system, you as members will find yourselves interacting more with their support team for answers to questions that arise, but please know that we as your farmers also want to make sure to be in communication with you all as our members!  Please don't hesitate to contact us directly with questions or concerns!

I'm sure there will be a learning curve for your and I as we start the new season.  In planning for the first share and building the options behind the scene, it became evident to me that for you as the customers to have the best experience possible, it is critical that you all take the time to set your preferences within Harvie at the beginning (and modify throughout the season if necessary) and take advantage of the ability to swap products in advance of each delivery. My goal, as the farmer is to give you all as much control over what comes to you each week.  This means that each delivery I will list pretty much all product available from our coolers and high tunnels (and periodically some specialty items). Harvie, using algorithms informed by your preferences, will build a suggested share for you and let you know what that share looks like.  At this point you can review what Harvie designed for you and make swaps as you desire (and our inventory allows). There is a lot of flexibility.  Please Note: With the diversity of types of the same crop we grow, you may find that Harvie's default box for you may include too much of one category of crop you really like but maybe don't need 10 lbs of in a given week.  For example, if you state that you are a fan of salad greens and kale, and we list 3 types of mixes, and 3 types of kale, you may have a share built by Harvie that includes far more greens than is realistic for you to eat in a timely manner. So please review the suggested share by and make changes to that share by making swaps so we pack you a share that both meets your needs and excites you each distribution! The deadline for swaps will be 10 AM the Monday before delivery!

 

So go ahead and take a look at what is scheduled to come your way and swap out as you like.  We look forwarded to hearing your feedback on the process.  Wishing you all a great weekend.  See you next Tuesday!