Half Share Questions Some of you might Have? Answered Below:

Please read correspondence: This year we though about implementing new system we are still going to do this but in a hybrid type of way.

Chris,
Nice website!  The letter I received today was very well done, also.

Question about the single family half membership: pickup is every other week?  I recall some items that we only received for one week; so if I chose that option (there are only 2 of us here) there would be some items I wouldn’t get at all if the only week they were good was on the “off” week?

Please explain!

Thanks very much,
Deb Reiman

Re:
Dear Deb,

We have been going back and forth with the Half share. Would you prefer to receive a half share every week vs. a full share every other week? Let me know what you think, be honest. What one member say’s ten are thinking. I will change a.s.a.p. We are here for you! Also I am glad you liked the letter. Me and Martin spent hours packing them. Oh yeah, also the printing this year is a step up. Someone in the North Liberty Area who I can not name, traded me a Single Family Membership for more professional looking stuff for the members. He owns a printing company and had mentioned helping us out. Yippee for farm!

Any who,

Thz ChrisP.S. Mind if I post Correspondence on blog because I bet many have this question?

re:
Hi Chris –
Thanks for getting back to me.  Sure, this can go on the blog.  It might save you from having to answer a dozen emails on the same subject!

Seriously, I understand why every other week might be nice, especially if a person is making a special trip to the farm.  A stop there is basically on my way home from work, though, so a weekly trip is no problem for me. I guess receiving the half share weekly would actually be my preference because then I wouldn’t be afraid of missing the only week for green beans in a bad green bean year (for example)—plus, then I’d have access to the herbs every week, too.  Is part of the problem, though, that a half-share of an item might be too small to be a reasonable amount?  I can see that might be an occasional problem.  If you want to leave it the other way, I’m sure I can adapt —and at least try that for a year.  Or if you want to let me be the half-share-per-week test case, I’d be willing to do that!

What I really wish is that it made sense for me to buy a regular share—but since we only eat one meal per day at home, we often can’t make the best use of it.

I’m really glad to see that beets made the list this year.  I’ve never had gold beets; that will be a new adventure!

I like reading about your bartering for the printing; that arrangement makes perfect sense!  I was going to say that I am a certified copy editor and  would be more than happy to edit any of the printed materials you supply – or even web materials, for that matter—but it all came out so well this year that I doubt you need an editor!  But in case you do, I would be willing to do that for a season just for a reference and some material for my portfolio; I’m considering doing freelance copy editing after I retire from Rockwell Collins, and I’ll need something to be able to prove I know what I’m doing.  No big deal, either way, though; it will probably be awhile before I get to retire, anyway.

Thanks again for responding so quickly.  Let me know what you decide about the half-share.

Regards,Deb

re:

Dear Deb,

Thanks for your response. After further thought. We will leave it up to you and all of the other members. We can have both. Depending on each member’s individual needs. So you can pick every week half share or full share every other week. When we have our opening again this year to show everyone the crops. Remind me I will have a sign-up sheet for it. You can sign up for either option. Yeah I do a lot of bartering for some things on the farm. It works good because the farm is cash poor often. Especially when we purchase our inputs. The garden costs us about $83,000 for all of the inputs and labor to maintain for six months. That is why we also keep a retail produce store open on the weekends.

Thz Chris