This is a special week! For some bi-weekly farm share members, this is your last delivery of this season. This has been our longest growing season ever, and Kaden and I are celebrating the goals we set all the way back in January. This season has been challenging on a number of different fronts, but all of you have been so great! Our pick ups have gone smoothly 99% of the time, and all of our pick up locations are loving having our farm share members pop in once a week! This week's happening will be a little different, as I want to make sure to thank everyone who made this farm share season possible.
Medina Market
Kaden and I both love Medina Market! It's been a convenient, chill pick up location on the north side of Monroe for several years now. Several members have said they like the food truck outside, as well as some of the Latin groceries inside! Jennessy Medina and her Mama are the owners. Jennessy lived next to us in Monroe, and has supported our farm since we sold veggies off our front porch during Covid. I'm really so grateful for this pick up spot and for our farm share members who pick up here!
The Good Daze
The Good Daze was the first retail customer for our jams! Hartley and her staff go the extra mile for our farm share members every single week! I think this is one of our most unique pick up locations! The Good Daze doesn't focus on food, but instead has a lot of cool vintage finds and gift ideas. I think this location is only possible due to the character of Hartley. She is such an advocate for other young, small business owners. You know, we are all in this together!
Tonore's Wine Cellar
This pick up location at the legendary Tonore's Wine Cellar was such a big deal for our farm! We needed a convenient, garden district area pick up location, and Tonore's is perfect! Kaden and I have been shopping there since we turned 21, dadgum, we love some craft beer. We really got to know Russell through selling chanterelle mushrooms back in 2019. Since then, both he and Charles have been big supporters of our farm. They have a whole shelf dedicated to our jams. They have an awesome walk-in cooler to keep your veggies crisp, and the best selection of craft beverages in town!
Smith Family Farm Store-Bossier City
We have known Smith Family Farm since 2016, when we started going to the Ruston Farmers Market. They recently opened a new farm store where they sell their beef, pork, and lamb along with other local goods and prepared meals. We are so grateful for them hosting a pick up location in Bossier City. We have a lot of interest from folks there, and we hit our goal of signing up 10 farm share members for our first season! A lot of y'all are our family and friends, and I just wanted to say THANK YOU for believing in us and becoming members!
Dean of Flowers-Farmerville, LA
Allan Futch is such a talented and artistic florist, that it makes me so honored for him to host a farm share pick up! This is one of our original pick up locations. Allan has been a family friend for more than a decade! I love that we have such a convenient spot right in the middle of town for our Union Parish farm fans!
3 Board Farm Pick Up-Downsville, LA
I hope all of you have enjoyed the eggs in the farm shares this season! All of them were produced by the Underwood family in Downsville. They are a multi-species regenerative farm in our home parish, practically our neighbors! We started working more closely this year with them and have collaborated on a few holiday boxes, as well as been part of their monthly farm store. Kaden and I have been so fortunate to get to know them over the past year. We started out as a ranch, so we know and respect all of their hard work. I am really optimistic that we can work with 3 Board Farm and that years from now we will be really shaking up the local food scene in North Louisiana!
El Dorado, AR - MAD Market
Did you ever think that sending a local farm a message on Facebook could help them make $10,000? Well, I didn't think it was possible until I met Jennifer from El Dorado!!!!! I love enthusiastic farm fans, and Jennifer was fired up about Current Farms from the time she discovered our page and website. She sent me a message asking if we would offer farm shares in El Dorado. I was a little hesitant at first, but her energy made me understand this meant a lot to her. After she became a farm share member, her friends started joining! A few weeks after her first delivery, Jennifer asked if we would be interested in coming to the Farmer's Market on Saturday at the Murphy Arts District. I had seen that same day that the market was looking for more veg vendors, so Tuna and I rolled the dice. That market came at just the right time, helping us sell a lot of the extra produce we had at the time. Through Jennifer, we also met Chef Lilli! So Jennifer, if you made it this far in the Farm Happening, THANK YOU for putting some faith and encouragement into our farm! Kaden and I are so honored to feed you and your family!
Home Delivery
I think our home delivery service is one of the most important parts of our business plan. Our goal has always been to grow the highest quality food, and then make that food easily accessible to people in our community. In 2015, right before I started growing a lot of my own food, I was going to the farmers market a lot. I also spent hours each week in the kitchen, cooking with whole foods. If there had been a local farm offering deliveries, perhaps I would have not become a farmer. Now that we are farming full time, offering home delivery is a service we are happy to provide, because I now know how much energy it takes to juggle work, family, and make time during all of that to cook healthy food. So a big shout out to all of our home delivery farm share members. A lot of folks on home delivery have been members for 5-8 seasons, since we first started Harvie in Spring of 2021.
Franny and Dad
Our Mom aka Franny, handles all of the Union Parish, West Monroe, Lincoln Parish, and Bossier City pick ups every Friday. That's such a big job, but that's just the tip of the iceberg of all that she does for Kaden and I. She is our liaison to the CPA, depositor of checks, lunch-time chef, and the list could go on. Her and Dad have supported Kaden and I our whole lives, always going the extra mile, regardless of the cost. I love both of them very much, and I'm so thankful to be able to see them 6 days out of the week, sometimes every day! I've had a lot of fun adventures in my life. I have had the opportunity to live in any part of the country, but for me, it became really apparent that I could get the most out of life through making a living that was meaningful, while getting to spend time around my family.
