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Waltham Fields Community Farm
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CSA NEWSLETTER - Preseason 2016
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Dear Shareholder,
Welcome to the CSA at Waltham Fields Community Farm! We are really looking forward to meeting new friends and catching up with old next week. Throughout this unpredictable spring weather, Anna, Janelle, Naomi, Dan and Erinn have been hard at work planting, weeding, and tending to the crops to bring you the best produce possible! With the CSA, Weed Crew and Field Crew all starting one after the other, we're excited for our farm family to grow exponentially over these next couple of weeks.
Please read on for information about CSA pickups beginning next week, important shareholder information, and our retail farm stand.
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CSA PICKUPS BEGIN NEXT WEEK!
Wednesdays, 2:00-6:30 PM (starts June 8th)
Thursdays, 2:00-6:30 PM (starts June 9th)
Saturdays, 9 AM-2 PM (starts June 11th)*
*To accommodate 4th of July travel plans, pickups will be on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday during the week of June 26th. There will be no CSA distribution on Saturday, July 2nd.
20 WEEK SHARES -COME ONCE EACH WEEK ON ANY OF THE ABOVE DAYS
10 WEEK SHARES - COME ONCE EVERY OTHER WEEK ON ANY OF THE ABOVE DAYS.
-If you are an ODD WEEK shareholder, see you next week for WEEK 1.
-If you are an EVEN WEEK shareholder, we will see you June 15 for WEEK 2. Please check your email for the special 10 WEEK SHARE instructions to verify if you are an even or odd shareholder.
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MEET YOUR FARM STAFF AND TOUR THE FARM!
During the first week of pick-ups, we'd love for you to join us for an orientation and tour. We don't require new shareholders to come to an orientation but you'll be much more well prepared for your first pick up if you are able to participate. This is a chance to chat with your farmer, meet other farm staff members, find out how the CSA and Pick-Your-Own works, walk around the fields to see what's growing and learn about non-profit work. You don't have to do the tour on the same day as you pick up. Come to either one of these that suits your schedule!
ORIENTATION OPTIONS:
Wednesday, June 8 at 5:30pm
Saturday, June 11 at 10:00am
WHERE TO MEET: At the Distribution Barn of Waltham Fields Community Farm, 240 Beaver Street, Waltham. The Barn is located behind the red brick UMass building (we lease land and office space from UMass).
BRING: Friends, children, well-behaved pets on leashes, questions, and sturdy shoes to walk around the farm.
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IMPORTANT SHAREHOLDER INFORMATION
What's in the Share
Each week, we'll send out a CSA newsletter on Tuesday letting you know our best guess for what will be in share, both in the barn and pick-your-own crops. All shareholders need to check in with us in the Distribution Barn before picking up their share.
Our first shares will start out smaller and grow with the season. Choice will be more limited in these earlier weeks but you will start to see more later in the month as the crops really get growing. We'll send out your first official CSA newsletter next Tuesday with a crop list and more information for you, so watch your email inbox!
If it's your first time picking up a CSA share with Waltham Fields, we strongly encourage you to join us for one of the orientation tours listed in the section above. If you can't make it to any of the dates or times, let us know when you check in and we'll help guide you through your first pick up. Also, please feel free to ask us questions anytime. We're here to help you!
Bring Your Own Bags or a Box
Please remember to bring your own bags or a box to the farm to pick up your CSA share! We strongly encourage the use of reusable bags/boxes for all vegetables on the farm. If you forget your bags or want some really great ones, we have reusable Waltham Fields Tote Bags for sale in the barn for $4, with proceeds supporting our food assistance and education programs.
Pick-Your-Own Crops
All shareholders are welcome to pick-your-own anytime during daylight hours. 10 week shareholders may PYO at anytime during their assigned week and may not switch weeks. Stop by the PYO station for a list of what's available, how much to take, and a map of where to find it in the fields. Please respect the quantity limits so that there is enough for everyone! When you head out into the fields, a sign will help you to know which rows are ready for picking and will also include harvest tips.
There will be two weeks at the end of the 20-week season when vegetable shareholders are given access to our annual flowers for picking. If you have a 10 week share, you will have 1 week of access to the flower fields, during your assigned week. If you're a flower lover though and haven't purchased a flower share yet, we still have some left. Flower shares offer 10 weeks of picking two bouquets per week for $100. Click here to learn more about flower share purchase. If You Need to Miss a Pick Up If you can't pick up a share one week, we are not able to allow you to double up on another week. But you can send friends or neighbors to get your veggies on any week you can't make it yourself. Have them check in under the last name of the primary shareholder for your share. You don't need to let us know they're coming. They will just check in under your name at the CSA barn. 10 WEEKS SHARES cannot switch weeks. You must stick to your assigned even or odd weeks. If no one picks up your share, the veggies will be included with our weekly donations to hunger relief organizations.
Balances Due
All fees are due by June 1st, including share balances and maintaining current membership with our non-profit organization. If you're not sure if you still owe money for your CSA share or membership, check your email for a notice from our Bookkeeper and Office Coordinator, Kamelia Aly. Please get your outstanding balance payments to us in advance of the first pick ups next week. Credit card payments are no longer accepted for share payments. Please send in or drop off your check made out to WFCF.
For Those Splitting a Share If you are splitting a share, please remember that you need to pick up the whole share at one time each week. It is NOT acceptable for one partner to come at one time and pick up half of the share and another to get the other half later. You'll need to coordinate with your share partner to figure out how to divide the share up, either by taking alternate weeks, meeting up at the farm to pick up the share together, etc.
Dogs on the Farm
Dogs are welcome on the farm but are not allowed in the CSA barn or in the vegetable fields per health department regulations. Dogs must be leashed and owners must clean up after them.
Share Pick Up Questions
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RETAIL PRODUCTS FOR SALE - OUR FARM STAND
In addition to picking up the produce coming to you in your share, you'll have the opportunity to buy additional farm products and locally made items (such as eggs, cheese, meat, fruit, maple syrup & cold drinks), farm merchandise (t-shirts, totes, perpetual calendars, etc.). All of our retail products are available for sale to the public.
For our own produce offerings, we prioritize giving shareholders a good return on their investment and meeting our food assistance goals (20% of what we grow - which should amount to $80,000 of produce for low-income households this year). Early in the season, we usually do not have enough crops to sell to the public. Later in the season, if production is going well, we hope to offer a range of vegetables in abundance to the public during our weekly CSA distribution hours.
Cash, check, and credit cards are all accepted for retail items. Our Distribution Coordinator, Lauren Trotogott, looks forward to featuring products in her What's In the Barn column in each week's CSA newsletter.
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Waltham Fields Community Farm Staff
Year-Round Staff:
Seasonal Staff:
Assistant Grower: Janelle Plummer
Greenhouse Production Supervisor: Namoi Shea
Equipment Supervisor: Dan Roberts
Field Crew: Heidi Blake, Allison Ostrowski,
Weed Crew: Annie Carter, Jenny Grossman, Jack Spiva, Rebekah Waller
Learning Garden Educators: Autumn Cutting, Alannah Glickman, Jack Leng
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