Soil Sisters Farm:

A Women’s Farming and Art Collective

 

a part of Living Lands Agrarian Network

 

Welcome to Our 2010 CSA Family!

 

The Dream of Two Women…

This year Willow Hein of Honey in the Heart Farm and Maisie Ganz of Living Lands Agrarian Network are partnering to bring about a new agricultural project for Nevada County. We are a women's collective devoted to creating sustainable lifestyles for ourselves, our communities and the earth. The idea arose out of a need that we saw for women to have a safe space and support system within the context of sustainable farming in order to cultivate a deeper trust in their own capabilities and skills. We are committed to cultivating good food, healthy soil, and happy people. We are still a part of the Living Lands network, continuing to grow a diversity of vegetables and flowers, and will be hosting a variety of women’s workshops and community programs. We hope to be a source of inspiration and empowerment for the women in our community and beyond. We are offering a small CSA program, and will also be at the downtown farmer’s market on Saturdays starting in June.

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What is a CSA?

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Members purchase a share of our harvest in the beginning of the season, which allows them to receive a fresh, local, organic selection of food from our farm every week for the duration of the season. The benefits to both farmer and eater are numerous – we, as farmers, receive a stable income in the spring as well as a clear sense of our market – allowing us to plan our season accordingly. Our members in turn become an intimate part of our farming community – experiencing the bounty each week, sharing in the risks of their local agriculture, watching the farm change during the summer, participating in potlucks and farm celebrations throughout the season, and benefiting from the close care we take to produce and pick the most healthy, delicious food possible.

 

When do we get to start?

With the right combination of rain, sun, soil temperatures, foresight, faith, and luck, we should begin the CSA June 1^st, 2010 and continue through to the

first week of November, at a total of 23 weeks. With the right conditions, we could start earlier or go later. We’ll be as surprised as you to see what happens!

 

How does it work?

Harvest and Pick Up of your share will be every Tuesday, starting June 1^st. Make sure we have an email address that you will be checking with some frequency, as we will be sending our weekly newsletter which will include recipes and important announcements for the week. Pick up will be between 4pm and 6pm on Tuesday, at one of the farm locations in Nevada City (specific site to be announced). We will be waiting with washed and shiny vegetables for you to take home! We do not pre-box our produce, instead allowing you to choose among the variety of the week, always with a set list, and also occasionally including “free choice” items. Please bring your own bags and a box or basket!

 

How much does a share cost? Do I have to pay in full?

 

The beauty of the CSA model, from a financial standpoint, is that it accounts for the natural fluctuations of the season and allows us to not be so money-focused, calculating the “value” of the food we pick each week. We know, and we hope you know, that the summer will be abundant, beyond abundant, with food and we will share it generously with our members, often at a “value” above that of $26. In the early spring and as the first fall frost slow down our harvest, the share will be less impressive, but still plenty to keep you happy. We all know that the food prices in the supermarket do not reflect the price to the farmer or the cost to the environment. By choosing to support a CSA, you are choosing to put all of your money in the farmers’ hands, farmers you know and trust to be taking care of the soil, saving seed, and caring for your local community. You are also getting the benefit of not only truly organic food (not the industrial-organic that has become the new standard) but truly fresh, nutritionally dense, food, picked the very day you eat it. Being a part of a CSA gives us all a deeper understanding of the seasonality of agriculture, the real value of food, and the best foundation for health there is!

 

We are offering one share size this year: The “Regular” share of last year. We feel that this is much too bland a name for such an impressive product, and so we are renaming it “The Magnificent” share

A Magnificent-Sized Share is $575 for the entire season.

$575 for 23 weeks = $25/wk

You can pay in full, or three payments. Just write us three checks for $200 (incentive to pay in full) made out to Honey in the Heart Farm (still our business name technically) dated March, April, May (or starting the series in the month you first sign up) and we will deposit them each month.

We are also offering a flower share this season! Bouquets will be ready for pickup along with the vegetable share on Tuesdays. This will be a shorter season (10 weeks in the summer) at $10 per week = $100 total. We will be growing a variety of stunning flowers, including zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, and much more! We will also occasionally be offering eggs from our happy chickens, sauerkraut, milk and dairy products, pickles, and other farmer-made delights at pick-up, which you may purchase when available.

 

Great! How do I sign up?

Send us an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the header “Attention CSA”. Fill out the CSA registration form (on our website www.livinglandsagrariannetwork.org), save the document under “Your Name – CSA registration 2009” and send us an email with the document attached. When we confirm your email, we will ask you to send in your form (please print it so we have a hard copy for our records) and check (made out to Honey in the Heart Farm) to P.O. Box 2066, Nevada City, 95959 and your space will be saved.

We are sorry if we fill up before you have a chance to sign up, but we will be at farmer’s market on Saturday, will be offering to do local flowers for events this summer (tell your friends who are getting married!), will be continuing to host our wildly popular “soup nights” to raise money for various agricultural non-profits and our “young-farmer” internship program, are always open to willing volunteers, and encourage you to join us at our Thursday night potlucks, open to everyone in the community. If you are interested in being on our email list, in order to receive a weekly update of events at the farm as well as a newsletter, it would be my pleasure to put you on. Our vision of a food community is inclusive and dynamic, we can find a way to get you involved, just ask! You can always request to be taken off the list, though I doubt you will be able to resist our witty writing skills, drool-inducing recipes, and barn-dancin’ announcements.

 

We are looking forward to meeting you and sharing in the bounty!