Our Winter farm share season will draw to a close in about a month, but I think that the shares are getting better every week! The braising greens mix this week is one of the best ones we have harvested in months. It has pac choi, bok choy, Asian greens, ruby streaks mustard greens, purple kohlrabi leaves, baby Napa cabbage, and baby collard greens. I can't wait to cook a bag this weekend! Also, French breakfast radishes, baby kale and Spring mix will make their 2023 debut this week! I hope that y'all enjoyed the microgreens the past two weeks! I worked them into almost every meal we made at home this week, and I really like the flavor and texture of the current mix.
It's National CSA Week, so I thought I would share a little history of how we started our farm subscription service. We were the first farm in North Louisiana that offered CSAs, which was both a positive and a negative. In the Spring of 2019, we grew a very small garden, and started our first CSA. Customers paid upfront for the entire 8 week season and didn't have a choice of vegetables. I believe that we only had 10 or 15 spots available. In 2020, we offered our second Spring CSA, and followed up with our first Fall CSA. All of these seasons were "farmer's choice", meaning there was no customization, and if you had to skip a week, there was no refund. This is the traditional CSA model, but we found customers were not returning season to season.
I visited some of our farmer friends in New Orleans late in 2020, lamented our situation with CSA retention, and they told me about Harvie Farms. I'm really happy that we made the switch from traditional CSA to the customized farm shares using their software. Without the farm shares, I am sure that our farm would not have survived. I think that paying for each delivery the week of and being able to customize the share, or skip a week is ideal for so many of our members. From the farming and business side of the farm shares, Harvie is invaluable in helping with the logistics of pick-ups and deliveries in Ouachita, Union, and Lincoln parishes. It saves me so many hours of organizing, sending invoices, or planning delivery routes.
2022 was an incredible year for our farm shares. We were in farm share season for more than 40 weeks out of the year, and offered the most diverse selection of vegetables and fruit since we started farming. We were able to finance critically important equipment, and Kaden and I paid ourselves a living wage most weeks.
We still have a few farm share members from that first CSA season in 2019! It really is the biggest honor to have members return season to season. Spring 2023 is shaping up to be our best farm share season since we started farming! I'm still ironing out the start and finish dates, but the Spring season sign up form will be live in less than two weeks. Becoming a farm share member is the number one way to support our farm and take advantage of the healthy and unique service we provide for our community. I hope that you will consider joining!
