Pandemic Year Number Three! COVID Procedures for 2022

July 2020: 
Leonardo & Andrea....with Masks!

By Richard de Wilde

As we prepare for another CSA delivery season, it’s hard to believe we are in the third year of the pandemic.  We continue to navigate the pandemic, adapting as needed as we try to make the best decisions about COVID precautions for ourselves, our crew and you, our customers.  Personally, I have become comfortable wearing a mask indoors and in stores.  I anticipate having a mask handy the rest of my life!  We prefer to use the washable, reusable cloth masks and while they may not be the top-of-the-line disposable kind currently being recommended, they have worked well for us.  Thankfully they have prevented us from contracting COVID as well as avoiding colds and influenza!  We will forever continue good sanitation practices including frequent hand washing which we did before the pandemic!  

April 2021: 
Planting Strawberry plants...
with masks!

As with the last two years, we are starting another delivery season with a bit of uncertainty as to what the year will hold with respect to the pandemic.  Based on the CDC’s Community Risk Tool, the risk in all of our delivery areas is presently rated at “Low!”  While I hope the risk stays low, a new variant was recently discovered, and some are predicting another spike in COVID cases as it spreads across the country.  I guess only time will tell how this variant plays out.  Here on the farm, we have chosen to continue the COVID precautionary procedures we implemented at the start of the pandemic.  Keeping our workers safe and healthy has always been a priority.  At various times throughout the pandemic, we have also been required to follow guidelines set out in Emergency Orders specific to employers of migrant workers that have been issued by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.  While we were required to follow these procedures by law, it wasn’t really a big deal as we had already implemented 80-90% of the requirements before they issued the order!  Another emergency order went into effect on March 1, 2022, and will expire on July 28, 2022.  So, here at the farm we will continue the majority of our pandemic-related practices including wearing masks in the workplace while indoors, in vehicles, and in outside situations where it is not possible to maintain a 6-foot distance.  We will also continue to clean frequently touched surfaces daily in the workplace as well as in the housing we provide for our workers.  This includes facilities as well as all of our trucks and vehicles!  Additionally, this will be the third year that our H2A crew will quarantine upon arrival from Mexico to make sure everyone is in good health.  

With the start of our CSA deliveries only seven weeks away, we realize we need to make plans for the Pandemic-Related Procedures for CSA pick ups this year.  Before we get into the details, I want to start by extending a “Thank You” to all our members who responded to the “end of the season” survey we sent out last December.  The main focus of the survey was to gather your thoughts about pandemic related procedures as it pertains to our CSA sites.   Since we closed the survey on January 15, 2022, the pandemic has continued to be a dynamic situation with ever-changing CDC guidelines and the evolution of new variants.  We knew this would be the case when we asked the survey questions, nonetheless this information has been helpful in guiding us as we make some important decisions for the 2022 season.   Before we go on, I want to share a summary of the survey results.

• Total Responses:  664 
• 50% of respondents support continuing to implement our 2021 precautionary pick-up procedures.  Additionally, 30% favored continuing these procedures, but with modifications.  
• 74% of respondents support continuing to require masks be worn at the pick-up sites.
• 77% of respondents think we should continue to implement physical distancing at the sites including asking that only one member enter the site at a time.
• 60% of respondents support the continued use of the large plastic bags in the CSA boxes to facilitate a quick pick up at the sites.
• 77% of respondents voted to bring back the Swap box for 2022.  
• 84% of respondents would like to see more Choice items offered at sites in 2022.
• 20% of respondents want to continue bringing their own pens for the checklist.

So, what pandemic-related procedures will we be implementing at our sites this season?  Well, based on our understanding, COVID is presently diminishing, but by no means gone! In fact, it will probably be with us in one form or another forever. So it behooves all of us to continue to minimize the risk of exposure.  We understand that many of you are tired of COVID restrictions, and some are resistant to vaccinations. We realize there is a spectrum of beliefs, and we respect everyone’s personal points of view.  We also ask that each of you come to the table with a willingness to be respectful of each other as a community and offer compassion and understanding to those who may hold a belief different from your own.  We believe CSA pick-up sites are already a low-risk way to source food, but we want to continue to offer an environment where all members can feel comfortable.  We also can’t forget that we do have some individuals in our membership who are high risk based on a variety of health situations.  Respect has always been an important part of building a strong CSA community and therefore we ask that everyone please respect the precautionary measures we are requesting you follow at our CSA pick up-sites.  In my mind, it’s not too different from taking your shoes off when you visit a friend’s house, and they ask you to leave your shoes at the door.  We also now know that the risk of contracting COVID on a touch surface is not as great as was thought originally.  Rather, there is a greater chance of spreading and contracting COVID by airborne transmission.  With all this in mind, here are our thoughts for Pandemic-Related Procedures for CSA Pick Up in 2022.  

2020 & 2021:  
Plastic Liner Bag in the CSA Box

The Plastic Liner Bag in the Vegetable CSA Box:  While the use of the plastic bag in the CSA box has helped us facilitate a quick, in-and-out CSA pick up over the past two years, we have decided to discontinue using them for 2022.  We plan to return to our pre-pandemic method of packing the CSA vegetables directly into the CSA box.  Even without the use of the bag, we feel a quick CSA pick up is possible if each person makes a concerted effort to enter, transfer the contents of their box and exit the site.  We do ask that you do not take the entire box home with you!  We would like for each member to bring your own reusable bag, box or a cooler and transfer the contents of your box to that container to transport them home.  One of the benefits of using the plastic bag was that more of the boxes stayed at the CSA sites and were returned to the farm the following week in good condition so they could be reused.  We want to continue to minimize our waste by being able to reuse the waxed produce boxes, however we can only do that if they are clean and appropriate to hold food (i.e., no pet hair, footprints, etc.).  Additionally, we are committed to decreasing the use of plastics where we can this year and this seems like a good place to start.  

If you have a stack of the CSA box liner bags from the past two years and are looking for a way to reuse/recycle them, we do have an option we can share with you.  First, please do not return them to your CSA sites this spring as we are not able to accept them for reuse on the farm.  Rather, we suggest you donate them to Community Hunger Solutions (CHS).  This is an organization we work with locally.   (CHS) which helps us distribute excess or number 2 produce from our farm to food pantries in our area.   They have a need for those CSA bags and would love to reuse them.  If you are willing to contribute to the cost of shipping, you may send your bags directly to CHS for reuse.  Here’s how it works.  

1. Only send them clean, dry bags that are still in good condition (no rips, tears, mold, etc.) and have not been used for non-food items.
2. Fold them up neatly so they are flat and put them in a shipping box. 
3. Send them directly to CHS at the following address:

Community Hunger Solutions (CHS)

c/o Vernon Economic Development Association

1201 N Main St, #5

Viroqua, WI  54665

Masks:  We are continuing to ask that all members please wear a face mask when you go to the site to pick up your box.  It is a small, simple act that helps minimize the risk of exposure to anyone in a shared space.  The peace of mind this provides other members is a small price to pay for wearing a mask for the 5-10 minutes (or less) it will be on while you pick up your CSA box!

Swap & Choice Boxes:  We had over 75% of respondents vote to bring back both the Swap Box this year and to offer more Choice items on the side (E.g., basil, eggplant, etc.).  This is a pretty high percentage, so we have chosen to take your advice and offer a swap box as well as more choice items this year.  For those of you who may not be familiar with these terms, here’s the deal.  The Swap box is a box at the site that members can use to share any produce items from their box that they may not care for or have a use for in a given week.   If another member wants the item and has a use for it, they can take the item out of the Swap box.   Choice items are those that may be packed on the side in a given week.  If it’s an item you like, you’re welcome to take a portion home with you.  

Whether you use the Swap box or take a Choice item is up to you. If you pass on both, you will still receive more in value than you pay for over the course of the season. 

Physical Distancing: We will also continue to implement physical distancing at the sites.  This means we ask that you give any other member picking up at the same time their own personal space.  This may mean you need to move off to the side to unpack your box or wait a moment for another member to finish and exit the site.  Please be patient and courteous.

Farm Events & Camping!

2018 Strawberry Day Field Tour

While we’re not quite ready to return to our usual pre-pandemic style of hosting farm events, we do feel we can offer a safe, low-risk, fun opportunity to visit the farm this year.  We’ll have more details coming later, but we are planning on offering U-Pick Strawberry Day on Saturday, June 18 and a Pick Your Own Pumpkin Day on Sunday, September 25.  We will not be hosting a potluck and likely will not be doing wagon tours to the fields, but we will have space for you to enjoy your own picnic and will provide the option of a self-guided walking field tour.  We will also continue to offer the opportunity to camp in our valley any time of the year!  We have two lovely meadow campground areas and simply ask that you RSVP in advance.

So, that’s it in a nutshell!  We will remind you of the pandemic related procedures which will be clearly outlined in the Welcome Packet you receive in late April prior to the start of deliveries.  We consider these to be small requests and hope everyone will follow them respectfully.   If you have feedback to share with us, we welcome you to do so.  If you have other thoughts or perspectives you would like to share, we welcome your feedback and we’re happy to engage in conversation.  Now, with that behind us lets move forward and have an awesome 2022 CSA Season!

Fall Farm Update: We’re Preparing for 2021 & Need Your Input!

By Farmer Richard de Wilde

Fall Garlic Planting
photo by Katie Koranda

Fall is a very important, and somewhat challenging, time of year for us.  Not only are we dancing around the weather in an attempt to finish our fall harvest, we are also making decisions and preparing for next season.  In fact, we’re already planting crops for next year!  We are happy to report the 2021 garlic crop is planted!  We had selected the biggest and best bulbs from this summer’s harvest, over 1,000#, and last week we “cracked” it into individual cloves and planted the biggest ones which will produce bulbs of garlic that we’ll harvest next year.  The smaller cloves were planted as well, but we planted them thick and will harvest them early in the season when they produce green garlic.  Garlic is a crop we grow only for you, our CSA members, with the exception of green garlic and garlic scapes which we do also sell to distributors and retail stores.  We invest a lot of time, money and resources into a crop of garlic.  In fact, we’ve already invested about $10,000 of garlic that we saved from this year’s crop.  Is it worth it?  Absolutely—we all get to eat garlic nearly every week next year!

Garlic is not the only crop we’re investing in for next year.  Before the end of December we’ll order strawberry plants so we can put in a new strawberry field next spring.  We won’t harvest from this new planting until 2022 and 2023.  We are also planning to plant another asparagus field and will increase our rhubarb planting.  Both of these crops require two years of growth before we even think about harvesting from them.  As you can see, farming requires planning and investment!  However, with resources and a plan in place, we are very capable to execute.

Weather has been much more favorable this year than in recent years, but we are experiencing a cold fall with precipitation in the forecast.  Given the garlic is planted and the snow and rain wasn’t forecasted until Tuesday, we made sunchoke harvest and planting a priority for the first part of our week.  We are so pleased that in one long day we were able to plant 2 acres of sunchokes for next year!  I know, this is not as popular of a crop as garlic, but it’s a very valuable and important crop for our farm and we hope you will all come to appreciate it along with us as you find new ways to enjoy these tasty tubers!

Raddicchio & Lettuce, protected from cold 
under a double cover with hoops

We have lettuce, escarole and radicchio under a double cover with hoops to keep the covers from resting on the plants.  Even if we see temperatures in the mid to low twenties these crops should be well-protected.  Our hemp crop is harvested and dried.  We’re now ready to embark on the trimming phase of this project so we can send it to the processor to turn it into CBD oil which will be available for purchase in December.  Of course, we can’t forget about the Brussels sprouts which are looking quite nice this year!  We are caught up on harvest of mature cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli and Romanesco.  There are significantly more remaining in the field, so we’re hoping they make it through this cold spell and we get a few more nice warm days!

CSA Box packing line, pandemic style with
masks! June 2020

As we finish this season and look ahead to a new year, we understand there are many uncertainties we face, one of which is a burning question on our minds, “What will the demand for our CSA be in 2021?”  Early in my career I saw the wisdom in having diverse markets established, thus in addition to growing for CSA we also grow for wholesale distributors and retail stores.  Back in 2009 we were at the peak of our CSA membership and were packing 1200 boxes per week.  Unfortunately, after that peak year we started to see a gradual decline in membership which had dropped to about 650 boxes in 2019.  As these numbers dropped we increased our wholesale sales to make up the difference.  This decline in support for CSA was not isolated to our farm alone.  In fact, it caused several longstanding area farms, who did a nice job with CSA, to throw in the towel and quit growing for CSA.  At the start of this year, we had a goal of increasing our membership in 2020.  In fact, we needed to increase our membership this year in order for CSA to remain a viable and sustainable part of our business.  We knew we could not continue to run trucks that were half empty and operate at 50% efficiency while carrying a lot of fixed overhead expenses.  We committed to hang in there for one more year and were not willing to quit even when many of our peers were doing so.  We still believe CSA holds an important place in our society and were confident it was not going extinct.  Our direct connection to customers through our CSA program has been undeniably the best thing for our farm since we started back in 1993. We didn’t anticipate it would take a pandemic to build our CSA membership back up, but we’re happy we’ve been able to grow food for all of you this year!  We did not know how the pandemic would impact our CSA, but it was very clear that you, our customers, wanted to source your food from our farm and were depending on us to produce vegetables and meat for your families!

Purple Kohlrabi Field, June 2020

So as the pandemic escalated this spring, we quickly established protocols for a safe delivery and pick-up process after spending hours on Zoom calls and webinars talking with other farmers around the country.  And then the phone started ringing, the emails started flooding in, and when we were just weeks away from our first delivery we found ourselves surrounded by piles of order forms!  Our dream was coming true, but we were faced with processing the amount of orders we typically would’ve processed over a few months in the course of just a few weeks while trying to get our spring planting done, conduct annual crew training and get everything ready for our new pick up procedures.  It was a challenge to say the least, but one we are most grateful to have accomplished!

Summer CSA Box Contents, August 2020

We ended up more than doubling the amount of boxes we packed this year in comparison to 2019.  In fact, we’ve surpassed our highest number in history as we’ve packed over 1200 boxes most weeks of this season and will pack nearly 1500 boxes a week in November and December.  We know how to pack CSA boxes, we have over 25 years of experience doing so.  The challenge we were faced with was that we were planning and planting for about 800 boxes and quickly found ourselves committed to packing 1200!  We had a hard time turning away people who just wanted a safe option for sourcing healthy food, especially at a time in our history when healthy food is so vital!  Instead, we changed our plans at the last minute and were able to accommodate the increased CSA demand.  Dare I say, all things considered, we did quite a good job of packing some very nice boxes this year!  That is a reflection of not only farming experience, but also the effort and skill put forth by our professional, dedicated crew members who have gone above and beyond this year and for whom we are most grateful.  You, our members, have also done a good job with pick-ups!  We added quite a few new members to our CSA this year, and many of you are trying CSA for the first time ever.  We were a little nervous how things would go given the need to change our pick up process and helping so many new members figure out the system.  But honestly, we’ve had very few issues at pick up sites and everyone has been very cooperative!  So, despite the challenges, we’ve had a pretty good year and CSA continues to be our tried and true preferred market for which to grow!

Travel the world through cooking & food!
Salerno Style Italian Grilled Eggplant

As we continue to move forward, we need your input to help us plan for next year.  I have read several different reports indicating a dramatic rise in the number of consumers who are now cooking at home in comparison to pre-pandemic days.  Will these behaviors continue?  Will people continue to value organic, healthy food even as they become numb to the COVID-19 pandemic and as it fades into our memories?  Most likely it will be awhile before this pandemic fades away, and no one knows when the next pandemic may fall upon us.  We can only guess what next year will bring, but we want to ask you “Will you continue to source vegetables through our CSA?  Which shares do you plan on purchasing?  Do you have friends, neighbors, etc who may be interested in joining?”  We can do a better job and be more prepared as we start the season if we know who we’re growing for!

We expect that COVID will still be with us and we are prepared to continue the same safety protocols on our farm and at our CSA delivery sites as we’ve implemented this year.   These protocols have been a large expense for us in both additional labor as well as supplies.  However, these protocols are also what has minimized the risk for contracting the virus for all of us, both on the farm and at CSA sites, so we see no option aside from continuing them indefinitely.  Who pays for the cost of safe food?  We have promise that our Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan will be forgiven.  We also have applied for the USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program 2, but have not received any payments to date.  Our feeling is if the government comes through, then your tax dollars have covered our COVID expenses.

The bounty of summer fills the cooler!
 August 2020

What we need most is the support of our community to back us in 2021.  With your support we look forward to another good year!  In this week’s “What’s In the Box” email we’ve included a short survey that will only take you a few minutes to complete.  We would appreciate if one member from each household would complete the survey.  The purpose of the survey is to see how many of our current members are planning to continue with our CSA in 2021 and which shares you are planning to purchase.  We are not planning to make any major changes to our program or delivery season.  We are still evaluating prices and need to confirm our delivery sites, but aside from minor tweeks, you can expect a similar season as you experienced this year.  We are not looking for payment or a formal sign-up form now, just a forecasted commitment.  This information will be valuable as we continue to craft crop plans, make seed purchases and determine acreage we need to commit to CSA crops versus other land that we can use for our primary wholesale crops.  November, December and January are the months in which we lay the ground work for the 2021 season, so your input now is so very important to us!

In closing, thank you for joining us for the 2020 CSA season.  It’s been an interesting year, to say the least, but we’re thankful for your support, encouraging notes of gratitude and for the opportunity to fulfill our contribution to this world.  We hope you’ve found nourishment for your body and your soul with each delivery you’ve received.  Thank you in advance for sharing a few minutes of your time to complete the survey.  In exchange we’ll do our best to deliver bountiful boxes again in 2021!

Welcome to the 2020 Harmony Valley Farm CSA Season!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

COVID-19 Pandemic & The Harmony Valley Farm 2020 CSA Season

Spring ramps poking through the forest floor

The weeks have been passing us by at a rapid pace and we see signs of spring unfolding all around us.  The start of our CSA season is approaching in 4 short weeks and we wanted to reach out to let everyone know we are still farming!  We’re working on many things simultaneously at the farm right now, both in response to an early spring but also in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The focus of this post is to inform you about some general farm updates & information as well as provide you with our thoughts and plans for our 2020 CSA season.  Please understand this is a work in progress and we will do our best to provide further updates as we move forward.

The final check before closing the CSA box on the pack line

First of all, we believe Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has been a valuable model for consumers to source food for many years, but we believe it can also be one of the safest ways to source high quality, nutritious food with the lowest risk as we continue to navigate this pandemic.  We need to recognize that we are all part of a community, that is the “C” in CSA.  We take our role as a member of this community very seriously and ask our customers and members to do the same.  We are determined to do everything we can to keep our crew members healthy so we can keep our farm running and may continue to deliver our high quality food to as many people as possible and in the safest possible way.  We know this crisis may persist for months, thus we are doing our best to prepare for both the expected and unexpected.

Before we go any further, there are a few things we want to bring to your attention.

• CSA Capacity & Sites: The majority of our CSA Site locations are still available.  Please refer to pages 2 & 3 of our sign-up form for a full listing of CSA locations.  We are only at about 50% capacity and will continue to accept sign-ups until the trucks are full!  We encourage you to include a “1st Choice” and “2nd Choice” when selecting your delivery site.
• Welcome Packets: We will be sending pre-season welcome packets in the mail very soon for those who have already submitted their sign-ups.  We’ll let you know when they are on the way and will continue to send them to members as you sign-up.  It is very important that you open this envelope and read the contents!  We will be including important details you need to read before you pick up your first CSA box.  Please review your invoice and the site-specific information as well.  Some individuals may have been scheduled at their 2^nd Choice location.
• Volunteer Opportunities: While we are not able to offer home delivery, we do want to have resources in place to assist a member who may not be well or is in a high-risk situation and is not able to pick up their box.  If you are willing to deliver a box to another member at your site if necessary, please let us know so we may contact you as needed.  Additionally, if we find a site needs additional monitoring or a site host needs assistance, we are accepting volunteers for this need as well.  We are not certain if these needs will arise, but we’d like to be prepared if and when they do.  Please email Kelly at csa@harmonyvalleyfarm.com if you are willing to be on our volunteers list for either or both of these duties. (Volunteers must be current CSA Members)

Pandemic Response Changes to CSA Protocols:

A view of our peaceful, beautiful valley and fields

As we think through every step of the CSA delivery/pick-up process, we are aware that social distancing is a priority and minimizing points of contact are essential in order to maintain a low risk situation.

We believe we can achieve this, however everyone involved needs to be part of the process for this to work.  As we get going, we will be monitoring our systems and are prepared to make changes and modifications as needed to ensure the safest pick-ups possible.

CSA Member Responsibilities:

• Community Responsibility: We ask our members to please read and pay attention to all email updates from the farm!  It is also your responsibility to read signs at the CSA sites so you are fully informed of procedures and expectations.
• Be Well: Do not go to the CSA site if you, or a member of your household, is ill or is under quarantine for COVID-19.  Please ask a friend or family member who is well and not under quarantine to do the pickup for you.  If you do not have someone to do this, please contact us.  We are compiling a list of individuals who have volunteered to help in these situations.
• Social Distancing: Maintain a minimum of 6-foot social distancing when approaching and at the site.  We ask that only ONE member is in the pickup site at a time.
• One Person Pick-Up: Only one member per household should go to pick up the box.  We prefer that this person is an adult and if possible, it is the same person each week.  Whomever goes to the site should be fully aware of and willing to follow the protocols for a safe pick-up.
• Patience: Please be respectful and courteous of other members when you pick up your box.  There may be times when you need to wait for your turn to enter the site and/or to maintain appropriate social distancing.

CSA Pick-Up Changes & Procedures:

• Newsletters: We will not be providing print copies of the newsletters at the sites until the need for pandemic-related precautions change.  Newsletters will be available online and links to both our newsletters as well as additional content on our blog will be included in the “What’s In the Box” email you receive the day before your delivery.
• “Swap” Box: We will not be offering a “Swap” box at the start of the season.  We may choose to add this later when it is appropriate to do so.
• “Choice” Items: Any choice items we offer will be portioned individually as much as possible.  Remember, it’s always your choice if you want to add these items to your share. 
• Checklist: We will continue to use our checklist system, and ask each member to bring your own pen when you come to pick up your box.  It is important that you consult the checklist prior to selecting your box.  Find your name (or your share partner’s name) on the list.  Carefully put a checkmark next to your name so we know you’ve taken your box.  If you do this carefully, you should not even need to touch the paper, table or clip board.  If you do not see your name on the checklist, we have not delivered a box for you.  You need to exit the site and give us a call so we can help troubleshoot the situation.  If we’ve made an error we’d like the opportunity to correct it as quickly as possible.
• The CSA Box: We are still in the process of determining the lowest-risk packaging solution that is also cost-effective and manageable.  We will be testing both options here at the farm to ensure they are not only low-risk at the pick-up site, but will also preserve the quality of the vegetables.  Regardless of the box we choose to use, we will be adding a plastic liner bag to the box this year.  
• Take the Top Box: All boxes will be packed with the same contents.  Please take the top box and do your best to only touch the box you are taking. 
• Do Not Sort or Repack Your Vegetables At the Site: We ask that you sort and repack your vegetables at your home, not at your site.  We hope to facilitate a quick and speedy pick-up and limit the surfaces both your hands and your vegetables touch.  If you follow our guidelines, your vegetables will remain in the plastic bag until you remove them in your home.  
• Sharing Households: We ask that sharing households do not split shares or leave partial shares at the pick-up site during the pandemic.  Please make arrangements for one person to pick up the share and split the contents away from the site.
• The Plastic Liner Bag: We encourage you to reuse this bag in your home if you feel comfortable doing so.  One way to repurpose it is to use it as a liner for a small trash can.  This bag holds a low risk as a potential source of contamination and has only been touched by a farm employee on the packing line who will be wearing gloves and you, the end user. 
• Site Management: We are working with site hosts to eliminate as many potential surfaces members need to touch when entering and exiting sites.  We do need to also be sensitive to security issues at both our residential and business locations, so it will be up to the discretion of each site host as to what is feasible to do at their site.  For sites with a large garage door that may be left open during site hours, you may just walk right in without touching any surface.  Many sites have outer gates/fences that need to be opened and closed as well as a service door entry.  If and when possible, we are asking that these entry points be propped open during site hours to eliminate the need to touch these surfaces.  If a door is open at your site when you arrive, please leave it open when you leave.  We are still working through these details and will do our best to communicate changes and procedures to you as we refine the processes.
• Wash & Sanitize Your Hands Before & After Pick-up: Please do your part to ensure you are washing your hands before you go to pick up your box.  If you are able to use hand sanitizer once you arrive at the site but before you enter, that is also appreciated.  While we are trying to source hand sanitizer, it is in very short supply and we are not certain we will be able to provide it at all sites.  If we are able to source hand sanitizer, we will allocate it to any site that may have doors that members need to open before entering.
• Bring Your Own Gloves….Or a Clean Pair of Socks!  If you’d like to create a barrier between your hands and any surfaces at the pick-up site, we will not object.  You may use a CLEAN pair of cotton gloves or even winter gloves if that is all you have.  If you don’t have gloves, a clean pair of socks could also suffice!  Make sure your gloves/socks are clean and you have not used them elsewhere or for any other purpose.  Put them on just before you enter the site.  Remove them once you have exited and take them with you so you may launder them.

The CSA Delivery Team:

We will be providing additional training to our delivery team prior to the start of deliveries.  We will do our best to provide precautionary measures to protect their health and well-being while they are executing deliveries.  We will also be implementing additional measures to ensure proper handling of your CSA shares.  We are still working out all of these delivery details, however we are prepared to provide a sufficient supply of disposable gloves, a portable handwashing station on the truck, hand sanitizer and masks for our delivery crew.  Additionally, we are prepared to provide supplies needed to clean and sanitize any table surface, door knobs, etc that may be needed to facilitate CSA pick-up.  If you have additional questions about this process, we’re happy to share these details with you as we continue to develop our protocols.

How & Where You Can Source Our Vegetables in April:

We know our customers are anxious to start enjoying some of our spring offerings such as overwintered spinach and ramps.  We are doing our first spinach harvests this week and anticipate ramps will be ready to start harvesting as early as next week.  We are evaluating the possibility of offering some pre-season special offers, however we do not have the logistics in place for this at present.  In the interim, we will start supplying our vegetables through some of our regional distributors and food co-ops in the Twin Cities, MN area as well as Madison & Viroqua, WI.   If/when we are able to move forward with a pre-season special offer, we will share this information with you by email.  If you would like to receive email updates from our farm, please email csa@harmonyvalleyfarm.com.
  
In closing, we thank you for your support of our farm and for your patience as our plans unfold.  We will do our best to keep you nourished this season.

Thank You for Your Input! 2019 Season Survey Results

By Gwen Anderson

First CSA Box of 2019 Season

Our 2019 End of the Season Survey wrapped up on January 4th this year, and we have spent the last few months compiling, reviewing, and considering all of the information we gathered from the responses.  First off, we would like to once again thank everyone who took the time to participate in the survey!  Your feedback helps us make business decisions and improvements so we can better serve our members.  To show our appreciation, we wanted to take the time to share some of the feedback and information we received from you!

We put a lot of thought into the types of questions we ask on our surveys to garner the best information to help us improve in ways that are important to our members.  If you were one of the 528 people who took our survey, you may have noticed quite a few questions about our newsletters.  We invest a lot of time in creating newsletter content and this is one of our primary means of connecting with members every week during the season.  We feel the newsletters are important, and we have had members express this to us in the past as well, but it is hard for us to gauge the value of these types of correspondences without further feedback.  Are we hitting the target and giving our members useful information, or are we just shooting in the dark?

What did we find out?  Yes, people are reading the newsletters!  98% of our members said they read the "What’s in the Box" newsletter at least half the time, with over 77% reading it every week!  Over 66% of our members are regularly reading the "Weed ‘Em and Reap" newsletter as well.  We received a lot of positive feedback about our newsletters, and it made us feel like we are indeed doing the right thing with them!  Last season, due to feedback from a previous survey, we tried something new and printed two newsletters.  There is a lot of information we want to share with you, and a single sheet of paper had been too limiting.  Previously, we adopted a blog format in order to provide more information for our members, and put “teaser” articles in our printed newsletters to encourage people to visit our blog for the remainder of the article.  We received some feedback from members that this type of printed newsletter was irritating; they wanted the entire article without being directed elsewhere.  So, we decided to split the newsletter into two portions.  The "What’s in the Box" newsletter would contain the vegetable feature, recipes and the box contents for that week.  The "Weed ‘Em and Reap" newsletter would be the place for articles about other important topics including farm updates, news reviews, employee highlights, or whatever other information we feel is important to share with our members.  This change means there are two folders with newsletters at your pickup site, one with the "What’s In The Box" newsletter, and one with the "Weed ‘Em and Reap" newsletter.  It was clear from our last survey that there are still many people who are unaware of the change we made to the printed newsletters.  We are planning to continue to do the two newsletter format this year for those of you who prefer the paper copies; and as always, the information will still be linked in our email communications and posted on our blog as well.

Hon Tsai Tai & Shiitake Potstickers

Recipes continue to be the most valued resource we provide for you, and the request for more recipes topped out the list of suggestions for improving our newsletters.  The "Cooking with the Box" segment we offer on our blog was started in 2017 as a means to address this request and features recipes and suggestions for every item in the box!  We do our best to provide you with as many recipes as we can each week, with a little something for various levels of cooking experience.  Nearly 82% of our members said they read the "Cooking with the Box" segment, and over 69% said they regularly use the suggestions found therein.  If the "Cooking with the Box" segment still leaves you craving more recipes, check out our Facebook group!  There are always great posts about what people are cooking up with their boxes, including recipe links.  Sometimes, we even borrow the recipes shared in the Facebook group and use them in the "Cooking with the Box" segment!

Additional feedback we received for improving our newsletters included providing more vegetable storage information.  We were also asked to provide an earlier “best guess” or a "What’s in the Next Box" section to give you an idea of what might be included in the current week’s box as well as the next week’s box.  We are currently brainstorming on how we can improve our communications to include more of this valuable information.

CSA Box from June 2019

As your CSA farm, we strive to provide you with as much information as possible to ensure that your CSA experience is both positive and successful.  By asking what resources you may have been struggling to find last season, we were able to identify additional resources to call attention to or create.  Vegetable storage information showed up often in this question as well.  There were also a great deal of requests for more information on how to preserve, freeze or dry vegetable for later use.  As of now, we have a list of vegetable storage suggestions in the back of our current CSA calendars and include this information in our weekly vegetable features.  We will continue to include storage suggestions in our calendars each year.  Due to your feedback, we realize that we need to have the information available in more locations that are easier to reference.  We will do our best to provide this information more consistently in our newsletters each week, and we are looking into how to get the information available on our website.

Fresh Ginger

“What do our CSA members want in their boxes?” is always a fun question to ask on a survey, and it is one we ask ourselves each year when we do our planning in the winter.  This year, we took the guesswork out and decided to ask our members directly.  The answer? Ginger!  And in one very emphatic case it was GINGER GINGER GINGER GINGER GINGER GINGER PLEASE BRING BACK THE GINGER!!!!!  Lemongrass was a not-too-distant second.  We hear you, and would love to grow these items for our CSA boxes this year.  For the sake of transparency, the seed for ginger and lemongrass has been challenging to source this year.  We are still trying to secure enough seed to plant in order to provide these highly requested crops, and are hopeful that we will be successful.  Ginger is grown in our cold frame greenhouse, so we had to take a few years off from growing it in order to rotate crops in this space just like we do in the field.  We’re looking forward to growing both ginger and lemongrass again this year!

Egyptian Spinach

The next three runners up were globe artichokes, Egyptian spinach and purple Napa cabbage.  The silver lining is that we will for sure be growing Egyptian spinach and purple Napa cabbage this season!  Our plan is to harvest the Egyptian spinach for summer boxes, and to have the purple Napa cabbage available in the fall.  We’ve grown Egyptian spinach before, and used it for a delicious soup we are excited to try again.  Purple Napa cabbage is a new variety and we are anxious to try it out!

The last batch of questions we ask on our survey were geared towards marketing.  We know, as it has been proven time and time again, that our customers are our best source of advertisement and are a wellspring of creative ideas and solutions.  By finding out what it is that you value about being part of our CSA program, we can use those values to draw in more like-minded members.  By asking what we can do to help you promote your CSA farm, we are able to create resources and promotion materials that reflect what would grab your attention, and thus the attention of the people who share similar values.  We have already heard from some members requesting the promotional materials we have available, and we are always happy to oblige!  We have several different printed material options available, and we have plenty of pictures and short messages we can send out for our members to post to social media.  If any of this sounds like something you would be interested in, please feel free to call or send us an email for more information!

Garver Feed Mill, photo from garverfeedmill.com

We want, and need, to build our membership in order to keep our CSA program sustainable, so we asked for your suggestions to help up improve our outreach.  One of the top suggestions we received was to partner with area businesses.  We are happy to announce that we are now partnering with Twin Town Fitness and Lakewinds Minnetonka in the Twin Cities.  In the Madison area, we are partnering with three new UW Health System locations, the VA Hospital, MGE and the Garver Feed Mill.  We’ve also added an additional residential site in Middleton for our Madison Thursday route!  On top of these confirmed new locations for next season, there are a few potential sites in all our CSA areas we are still looking into.  As exciting as the new sites are, we still need our current members’ help bringing in new members.  We’ve added the sites, please help us add the people!  What tools do we have at our disposal to help you bring in new members?  We offer a new member coupon, which will give the new member between $15 and $25 off their first season depending on the share they select.  This coupon also comes with a referral line, and the referring member will receive a $20 gift certificate!  Another great way to get our standard $10 referral coupon is to write your name in the referral line on sign up forms when you hand them out to neighbors, friends and family, or that stranger in the co-op line!  When they sign up, we’ll send you a coupon!

Andrea Enjoying the company of some of our CSA members
at Strawberry Day 2019

What do our members value most about being part of our CSA program?  The vegetables, of course!  The top five responses we received on this question were high quality produce, supporting local businesses, variety of produce, freshness, and being organic.  We were a little surprised that organic didn’t come in higher on the totem pole, but we were very pleased to hear how highly our quality, freshness and diversity were regarded.  Community was also a common theme we ran across in the comments of this section.  While we appreciate the positive feedback about our vegetables, what really touched our hearts was the human connections our CSA program has fostered.  We enjoyed hearing that the information we provide to you in newsletters strengthens the connection between us and how important that connection is to you.  The connections our members have made between each other were also a joy to hear about!  (Thank you to our Powderhorn site host for being “a wonderful person and a great site manager!”)  We also care a great deal about our land and the people who work on it, so it was also wonderful to hear that the care and dedication we strive for in maintaining both is something our members value as well.  Our organization and attention to detail is something we also loved hearing is appreciated.

There were many other interesting things we found out through our survey, too.  We’ve received quite a few requests for videos of all kinds: cooking demos, field work, newsletter recaps, etc.  The videos we have made in the past have been fun to do, and broadening our horizons in this form of communication is something we have a great interest in.  We are currently brainstorming how to incorporate this into our day as well as what type of content will garner the most interest from our members.  As well as videos, we received many suggestions for having a larger social media presence in general.  After carefully considering our options, we have decided to continue using Facebook and to start a Harmony Valley Farm Instagram page!  Please feel free to follow us on Instagram @harmonyvalleyfarm for more great updates from your farm.

Merchandise was another suggestion that popped up here and there.  We do currently have t-shirts available for purchase during our on-farm events, and have been thinking about what other cool things our members might like to see as well (like re-usable tote bags)!  My personal favorite suggestion was to create a hot sauce subscription program to supplement our CSA.  The Korean Chili Sauce has been a big hit, and it might be fun to try new sauces in the future.  We don’t have any immediate plans to pursue this, although it is a really hot idea.

Our website was also a subject we received lots of feedback on.  We understand the one we currently have needs improvement, which is why we are working with our friends at Leum Tech to roll out a site that has a fresh look, greater functionality and will work great with mobile devices!  Converting our information to the new site takes time, and we are currently prioritizing what needs to be on the site for launch day.  Eventually we will have features like online ordering and an integrated blog!  Our current recipe and newsletter archives are going to be available much like they are now, and we are looking for ways to make our future newsletters and recipes easier to locate and search as well.  Additionally, we will be releasing a new and improved Vegetable Gallery that will include photos, descriptions, storage information, and much more!

As our review of the 2019 End of Season Survey comes to a close, we would like to thank you one more time for the invaluable feedback you have provided.  Your support, positive feedback and creative ideas have helped in more ways than a simple newsletter and a “thank you” could ever express.  We are truly looking forward to doing an even better job at being your CSA farm next season.  See you then!

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