Community Supported Agriculture Past and Future.
Greetings CSA Members!
With the close of this calendar year we are marking the start of 28 years of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA shares) at Featherstone Farm. In agriculture- as in so many things in life- the only real constant is change. Which is why we have always valued steady, dedicated CSA members like yourselves, who have stayed with us through thick and then. Thank you!!
As some of you may remember from my writing this spring, 2023 was the first season of a multi-year effort to (re)prioritize the CSA program at Featherstone Farm. Elements of this re-boot included
(a) re-introduction of a number of unusual crops and re-diversifying the summer CSA program; more of this in future years
(b) construction of a second 7800 square foot high tunnel for crop production 12 months of the year; again, more coming in the (near?) future, all of it focused around CSA crops
(c) our first ever Spring CSA box pilot (also a super high priority for us in 2024 and beyond) and
(d) new focus on CSA newsletters and communications, from the pilot “Jack’s Kitchen Journal” to the hard copy newsletter you are reading right now.
(e) inclusion of more “buy in” crops from other farms and orchards in our area, and more pilot “crops” in boxes like cold pressed juice and honey
We hope and expect that the impact of this re-boot will be only more noticeable and impactful over time. All of us at Featherstone Farm are dedicated to making the program stronger than ever for the next quarter century!
In my last newsletter I wrote about a Shabbat dinner that Jenni and I were lucky enough to be invited to at the home of 27 year CSA members Steve and Barb Nagel. This got me thinking about the other two families that I know of, that have been members of the program since Day 1 (and all of the people who have been members 10-20 years… you know who you are!!). So I will take just a moment to acknowledge and thank these families, who very happily remain in our lives outside of the farm as well.
In the early days of Featherstone Farm I had to work several off-farm jobs (including seasonal farmwork and farm construction winters in CA). Maybe it was the summer of 1996 that I was on a framing crew that built a new house for a young couple… Ken and Kathie Geiger. We met and talked at the jobsite often. Ken was the first person who introduced me to the idea of 350 ppm of atmospheric carbon as a climate change tipping point; the Geigers owned the first Prius I ever saw (Jenni and I have now owned 4!). One day Kathie asked me what I wanted to do long term. I didn’t hesitate to reply “start and run an organic farm!” A year later Ken and Kathie joined the first ever CSA season, and they have been members ever since!
In the very early days of Featherstone Farm Jenni and I attended the Winona farmer’s market, and distributed CSA shares there on Wednesdays. One of our very earliest customers there was Ned Kirk, himself a recent Winona transplant (moving here to teach piano at St. Mary’s University). Ned and I struck up a friendship around our shared love of music, camping and of course fresh produce. When the Minnesota Beethoven Festival got started shortly thereafter and Ned became its artistic and managing director, our periodic visits for coffee became more frequent(!). And Ned’s feedback on the CSA program itself has been critical; it was quite possibly a conversation with Ned that ultimately convinced me “go back” to more diverse crops in summer boxes recently.
I see Ken and Kathie and Ned- as well as Steve and Barb Nagel and other long term CSA members- around Winona often. Their ongoing friendships are a source of huge joy and inspiration to me. But they are just a few of the many of you who have been members for 10, 15 even 20 seasons, who I am not mentioning here and/ or am less familiar with (my apologies!). ALL of you are the bedrock of Featherstone Farm’s existence.
At the passing of another calendar year, I think it is more than fitting to acknowledge and to THANK all of you for your ogoing membership and relationship with us at Featherstone Farm. It sounds a bit cliché after I’ve written it 100 times before, but it is true now as ever: we could not do what we do at FF without you!
All of us at Featherstone Farm wish you a Prospero Ano Nuevo!
Gratefully- Jack