It’s Spring!
April 13th, 2011 § 3 Comments
Hey guys, guess what? It’s spring!
I’m admittedly terrible at keeping this blog updated, but I do believe it’s time I throw in another entry. The eve of our sign up deadline for the first CSA share of the season is upon us. I must first say how excited I am for our 2011 program! It’s gonna be friggen amazing! We’ve taken very seriously the feedback we received from our members last season, and I certainly think we’ve come up with some changes that should satisfy most every preference. While you can’t pick each item you’ll receive in your share each week (sorry, kids, that’s still up to me), I have thought alot about how I can make everyone happy. This year our half share will offer more basic and recognizable items…staple items is what I hear them referred to most often. Half shareholders will get plenty of green lettuce, yellow onions, red tomatoes, and orange carrots this year. Full shareholders are in for the produce surprises of their lives. We’ll be delivering some unusual and heirloom varieties of all kinds of veggies in our full shares this season. If you purchase a full share, you might also be pleasantly surprised with some local organic fruit from time to time.
We’ve teamed up with our Buying Club Coordinator, Rick Shirk this season to make sure all of our shareholders have access to every kind of food one might need for a week of cooking. Look on our online store for all kinds of grass fed meat and poultry, raw and antibiotic free dairy items, pastured eggs, organic prepared items and tons and tons more. I freakin love our buying club, and order from it weekly. Before I discovered the buying club I was spending some major dough on organic food at the grocery store and I am cheap, something I consider a virtue, especially in this less than stellar economic climate. CSA is a great way to get super fresh food at a super affordable price. The buying club allows me to get everything else I need too, so I can save on gas and skip the grocery store. It’s a win-win deal, fo sho.
CSA folks can also expect a re-vamped newsletter that will include updates from both the CSA department and the buying club. Our dairy, meat and egg buyers will update us with new products they’ve found and inform our readers on the strict animal husbandry standards that all LFFC farmers adhere to. Our buyers do a great job ensuring that the animals are treated with dignity and allowed to live according to their natural tendencies, something I believe is so critical when considering the great sacrifice they [the animals] make in allowing us to feed our families.
I’m approaching my eighth month of employment with LFFC. The CSA team has been hard at work all winter promoting our CSA program and informing more people on the great food we have to offer. One of my proudest accomplishments has been to establish the LFFC Fresh Food Fund, something our farmers have wanted to do for quite some time. Contributions to the fund help to subsidize CSA shares for low income families. I truly believe that the food raised by LFFC farmers, free of chemicals and added hormones, is food that is a right, not privelage. Everyone is entitled. No one shoud see a family member suffer from the countless diseases that so much research now points to as food related. Cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity just name a few. By supporting LFFC and our mission to support local farmers, the local economy, increase fresh food access in low income neighborhoods and combat diseases that are so prevalent in our communities is a couragous act. From all of us here at LFFC, thank you to those who have chosen to do business with us and allow our cooperative to thrive. It’s true when I say we aren’t your typical business, or even your typical co-op. We’ve got bigger things to do than the same old thing everyone else is doing.
If you haven’t signed up for your 2011 CSA share, please do so! I’m looking forward to an amazing 2011 season.
Until next time!
Evan Elizabeth Miller
Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative
half shareholders will also receive other vegetables than ogreen lettuce, yellow onions, red tomatoes, and orange carrots, right?
You’ll get a good variety of staple items and an occasional unusual item! But of course, we won’t limit to just the four items listed, they were just to serve as an example!
Thanks for supporting LFFC!
As a half share holder, I’d generally agree that staples makes sense. The one exeption is heirloom tomatoes! I love red tomatoes but I really really want to enjoy the variety and hard hitting flavors that come from the heirloom varieites. It’s one of the Earth’s special pleasures that comes only from local growers. I know it’s your call, but that’s my two cents!