We pack our CSA shares every Thursday morning. It's a particularly gratifying sight to see all of the week's harvest--from our farm and all our partner farmers and food artisans--laid out on the tables, packed into boxes, and sent out to surrounding communities. A big change in our CSA operation this season is that we are now packing our farm shares at an off-site location, Berry Hill Farm, on the other side of town. Now that we are consistently packing nearly 200 boxes per week, we were getting pretty cramped in our washing/packing shed on the farm. Myron Metzger owns and operates Berry Hill Farm and--being the good neighbor that he is--agreed to let us use his spacious warehouse for our weekly pack. It makes a huge difference!
In addition to packing in a more suitable space, we've also implemented a new pick-and-check packing system in which every box is double-checked before it is loaded onto a delivery van. This has dramatically reduced the number of mis-packed shares while speeding up the process. We often pack at a rate of 40-50 boxes an hour! We actually learned about this style of packing from another farm that uses the Harvie platform--a great example of how members of the CSA community help each other out.
Speaking of collaboration, as our CSA program grows we are encountering more and more opportunities to work with other growers and artisans around the region. For example, not only does Myron allow us to use his space to pack our farm shares, he also grows things to put in the boxes! So as you customize your share, keep an eye out for products from Berry Hill Farm--and if you’d like to meet Myron (you definitely want to meet him!) you can visit his stand at the Fort Wayne Farmers Market that takes place at McCulloch Park every Saturday from 9am-1pm. He’s there most weeks with his dad Marvin selling produce at the northeast corner of the park. If you stop by, tell him Hawkins Farm sent you!
