By Andrea Yoder
Welcome to the 2020 CSA Season! We are happy to be kicking off another year
of seasonal eating and are grateful for the opportunity to grow food for you
and your family this year. We have a lot
of new members joining our farm for the first time this year. We also have many
members who are completely new to CSA.
So before we go any further we want to introduce ourselves to you along
with some of the things you can expect, places to go for resources, etc.
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| Richard de Wilde, HVF Founding Farmer |
I am Andrea Yoder.
I have been at Harmony Valley Farm (HVF) since 2007 and am one of the
co-owners. I am both a professional chef
and a farmer and fill a variety of roles on the farm. You can read more about me in this article published on our blog in 2019. Richard de Wilde is our farm founder and has
been growing organic vegetables since the early 70’s. He’s considered by many to be a pioneer of
organic farming in the Midwest. You can
read more about Richard in this article we published on our blog last year. Richard’s vision is that Harmony Valley Farm
will continue to be a leader in organic farming in the Midwest well into the
future. In order to fulfill that vision,
Richard restructured the farm into an LLC over ten years ago to create a
structure for farm succession and to provide opportunity for longtime employees
to become farm owners. Last year he
invited Rafael Morales Peralta to become an owner as well. Rafael will be sharing his story in a few
weeks so you can get to know more about him and his role on our farm.
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| Cover photo of our 2020-21 CSA Calendar |
Vegetable farming is very labor intensive and we could
not do what we do without our hardworking crew members. During the peak of our season we employ about
50 people. While we may not meet the
common definition of a family farm, we believe that in many ways we are a
“Family Farm.” When you work closely
with the same individuals day after day, year after year, you really have an
opportunity to get to know them quite well!
Many of our crew members have been working with us 10-15 years or
more! They are a great group of people
with a wide range of skills, talents and unique personalities. Every year we create a “CSA Calendar &
Resource Guide” for our members. The
theme of this year’s calendar is “The Faces of Harmony Valley Farm.” This week everyone will receive a calendar in
your box and we’ll have them at our pickup sites in the weeks to come. Please take a little time to review this
calendar as it will help you get to know our farm a little better AND it’s
packed full of useful information that will help to guide you through the season.
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| The Nash Family on their annual visit to the farm! |
When you signed up for CSA, you may not have fully
realized what you were signing up for because CSA is more than just a box of
vegetables. For those who are joining
our farm for the first time this year, we want to let you know you are in for
an adventure! You may have signed up for
our CSA because you were looking for a safe way to get food in the midst of the
pandemic. You will definitely get a box
of food with each delivery. What you may
not have realized is that you just embarked on an experience that has the
potential to change your life and positively impact your future in ways you may
never have imagined. Many of our
longtime CSA members are a testament to the positive impact participating in
our CSA has had on their lives. CSA has
helped them achieve health and longevity and it’s contributed to raising many
healthy, intelligent, beautiful children.
CSA is connection, both with the people and the place your food is
grown. With this connection comes
transparency. We are real people and you
can actually talk to us, ask us questions, have dialog so you can learn more
about how your food is being grown. Of
course our primary goal is to provide you with the highest quality, most
nutritious vegetables we can grow. Our
health is our greatest asset and so we take this job very seriously. Of course in order to reap the benefits of
nutrition, you have to eat the vegetables!
So, we also feel it is very important that we provide you with resources
and support to help you make the most out of your purchase! Every week we share information including
recipes, storage information and farm updates with you in our weekly emails,
blog posts, newsletters and on social media.
We’re here to help you have the best experience possible!
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| Picture of box contents from September 2019 |
We try to balance the contents of our boxes over the
course of the season, providing a strong base of “staple” vegetables along with
some more unusual vegetable to push you outside your comfort zone where you can
be exposed to items you may not be familiar with. Seasonal eating also means yielding to Mother
Nature. The season and weather patterns
directly impact what is available throughout the season. This means we have to adjust our eating, meal
planning and recipes to match what’s available.
Sometimes this means we need to make substitutions in recipes or wait to
make a recipe until the ingredients are in season. We encourage you to use your resources each
week to learn more about the vegetables in your box as well as how to use and
prepare them. Don’t get
overwhelmed. Yes, you may have a
learning curve and a period of adjustment.
Many members tell us it takes three full years of CSA to fully make the
transition to “Eating out of the box.”
Yes, from time to time something may get pushed to the back of the
refrigerator and go to waste. Compost
it, return it to the earth and move on with the goal of making improvements
each week so you can fully utilize your box contents. Along the way I’ll try to give you quick and
easy tips for streamlining food prep. If
you invest a little time each week washing and prepping your vegetables, meal
prep can be quick and easy and eventually you’ll switch into autopilot.
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HVF co-owner Rafael Morales Peralta
helping children dig carrots at our 2019 Harvest Party |
At some point once this pandemic has moved on, we will
once again open our farm to you as well!
We invite you to come and visit so we can show you our farm and you can
spend some time in nature! You see, this
is part of the whole CSA experience. CSA
is not just food for your body, but also food for your soul. Connections to people and places will help
expand the meaning of sourcing vegetables beyond a purchasing transaction and
this is where your food will take on a greater level of meaning.
We’ve always believed the CSA model has some inherent
qualities that have allowed it to stand the test of time and, in a time of
uncertainty in our world where other parts of the food system are struggling,
CSA is something we can all turn back to.
We focus a lot on the agriculture, or food, aspect of CSA, but I think
it’s important we don’t forget how important the “C” for community is as
well. So, welcome to our community. We’re happy you’re here and we hope you enjoy
your experience with us this year!
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