Winter is probably the most flexible time we get all year. The daily schedule is not as rigid as during the growing and selling seasons of late Spring, Summer and most of Fall. Add to that the unpredictable snows that play havoc with any attempt to schedule and it is easy to see why schedules are left more fluid than later in the year.
What this season requires is getting our sourcing set up for the coming season(s). It really is easy to go back to the same place over and over for items we don’t grow on the farm ourselves. We know when we are in Berks County/ Kutztown exactly who we buy from and we know who we don’t buy from. The same hold true when we are in Lancaster County/Leola. This will be our 4th selling season, so over that time we have developed a relationship with several farmers that we know grow the way we like things grown.
We ONLY buy or sell produce that is chemical and pesticide free. We ONLY buy or sell produce that is locally grown. We ONLY buy or sell produce that is in season and fresh. That keeps it pretty simple. If we can’t put a face to the farmer that grew it (assuming it wasn’t us) then it is highly unlikely that we will be selling it. We are thrilled at the prospect of selling from a new source this year. My cousin Becky and her family live in Coopersburg, PA (Lehigh County) and have a small farm there that they have been working for a few years. It used to belong to Becky’s parents, who have since built a smaller home on one end of the farm. Becky has free range chickens, goats, horses and other animals. She and her family grow a large garden using the growing techniques that meet our requirements to sell. She grows as organically as possible. This becomes a WIN-WIN. She gets to sell all her produce without any left over and we get the freshest of the fresh, since some of what will be sold with be picked morning of sale, rather than night before. It makes the produce 12 hours fresher, which may not seem like a lot when the other produce is less than 24 hours, but every hour makes it fresher in our minds.
This year the Americana Chickens we got last year begin to lay in earnest. We have, give or take, 25 layers. That should produce about 2 dozen eggs per day. About a dozen per week. From the looks of it, we aren’t going to have a lot to offer out at the market, as some of our regular customers are already putting ‘dibs’ in on the eggs. We have friends who don’t buy a lot of produce from us (as they garden themselves) but want eggs. We did think we would be selling our own eggs, but we shall see. Cousin Becky has chickens too. We may have to source eggs from her, if possible.
Chuck is the source finder for the seeds and plant. That used to be a pretty easy job. Get the catalogue, pick the plant or seed, order it, and wait for UPS to show up. That was then, this is now. We have gotten a whole lot more picky about what plants and seeds we use. With the growing insurgence of GMO (genetically modified organism) produce and seeds we have decided to stay away from them 100%. We will ONLY buy or sell produce that we know is NOT GMO. If a farmer or source can’t guarantee that, then we wont be carrying it.
We decided that NO GMO was not enough. We wanted to make our seeds and plants the same high quality as the produce always is. The only answer that seemed plausible was to go with heirloom seeds only (for 2011, it is ‘as much as possible’ and by 2013 with be ‘exclusively’)
We have never required any of our source farmers to be exclusively heirloom. While we don’t buy GMO, we do buy hybrids. We have bought and sold hybrids since we started 5 years ago. We will be moving toward that over the next 2 years.
The definition of heirloom is even debatable, so we are picking the one that best meets our needs and the needs of our growing number of customers that depend on us for healthy food.
Typically, heirlooms have adapted over time to whatever climate and soil they have grown in. Due to their genetics, they are often resistant to local pests, diseases, and extremes of weather. We hope to be able to find a wider variety of produce to sell and move beyond the standard varieties we currently have for sale. A wider variety will make for a more satisfying and enjoyable venture.
This is being done, now, rather than later, as we see that companies like Monsanto, ADM, Argil, and others are getting more and more of the market share with GMO and other “Frankenfoods”. We stand behind the guarantee that if we don’t know the farmer and the source, we don’t sell it. Further we now add that we will be looking at the source the farmer is using to grow the food.
Our 2011 growing and selling season promises to be the best yet. BUY LOCAL, BUY FRESH, BUY FROM US.
