Did You Know We Have Produce?

Probably the best kept secret at This Old Farm is that we market produce!  As a previous vegetarian, I could not be more excited than to have come full circle to what drove me to start farming in the first place.  It was my first organic garden that made me think of the circle of life.  It was my love for good produce that made me realize the importance of livestock and why we don’t want to shut them out of the food system.  Trying to plant that garden over 15 years ago in previous corn ground made me wonder where the top soil had gone.  It made me wonder how anything could grow.  I came to fully understand the need for chemical fertility in a soil that had been depleted.  The solution, lots of compost.  I hauled in yards and yards of horse manure in those early days.  Now, horses are nice but they certainly don’t give you much when you are too busy working the land to have time to ride.  So I started rethinking the whole way I was living.  I needed the outputs from livestock.  I needed them on the farm where I was trying to grow my produce.  Most people look at me a little odd when they realize I started raising livestock so that I could have the outputs and that I didn’t have great interest in the meat.  Then again most people look at me a bit odd most of the time.  I tend to be very possessive of my good garden compost, otherwise known as poop and straw aged to perfection.  Like life tends to do, the pendulum swung all the way to the right and I went from wanting to raise produce to having a diversified livestock operation.  But boy do I have nice soil now.  Just don’t have the time or space to raise the produce.  The joke at my place is every time we put up a new hoop structure or greenhouse it is taken up by chickens.  Some day I will have produce in one but until then, our alliance of growers have come to the rescue.  One farm can’t do it all.  This Old Farm has been working for the past three seasons to move produce from an alliance of farms to the end user.  It is only the best kept secret because it typically gets gobbled up so quickly.  As we have worked to grow our alliance of farmers, we are working to make the produce more available to even our retail customers (in the past most produce has been sold wholesale.)    Yet it is still the best kept secret because we are listing it for only the eyes of our click and shop CSA members.

Background:  Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. Typically the food consists of a box of vegetables, and frozen meats but other artisan products may be included. Most CSA’s have an upfront cost of close to $500 to support the farms early season need for capitol.   In return, CSA members receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce.  This Old Farm wants to limit the road blocks of reaching out to support local farms by offering all the benefits of a CSA without the high upfront costs.

Click and Shop CSA

This is the most convenient way we can offer you all the benefits and variety of purchasing local products.  Just $35 per year would cover the start up for each CSA member.  As a CSA member, you would have access to our CSA only discount at 10% off of all of our locally grown items with just a $30 minimum weekly order.  There is no weekly requirement for orders.  We have an extensive list of meat, produce, eggs, cheese, honey and other locally produced artisan items.  All agricultural products are source identified by farm and raised on local, sustainable, Indiana farms.  All ordering and payment will take place on line from www.shop.thisoldfarminc.com once a membership account is set up for ease and convenience.  Two This Old Farm Cooler bags are included so that they can be rotated each week for deliveries.

Last weeks produce offerings……..

Wow, what a great list of produce for this early in the season.  Thanks to our many alliance farms with a special thank you to Tranquil Ridge Farms for making it possible to get great produce.  Whether you are looking for your family or you are a wholesale buyer, call us today to see how you can support our local economy and local farmers through your purchase of locally grown produce from This Old Farm.  Call (765) 324-2161.

By Jessica Smith