Tuesday, April 23, 2013

C.S.A. Update/Farm Update

This was emailed to all C.S.A. members so if you haven't received it please email and let me know. If you signed up past the 13th, you wouldn't have gotten it just yet.

First Blog Of The Season:


C.S.A./Farm Update 

Well...we’re back again even after last year’s drought and thrilled to be here! I want to welcome everyone who has signed up and personally thank you for your commitment to supporting local agriculture and our local economy through purchasing a C.S.A. from Bass Farms.  So far we have 80 members signed up for the 2013 season.  We still have plenty of spots available, so please tell your friends and family.  Our spots will fill up fast!  

Again this year, I’ve planned a super sweet garden! It is one of my true passions in life. The farm will be having some new veggie’s, and will also feature all the staples and favorites like tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and kale. Based on popular demand we have decided to grow more JalapeƱo peppers for the 2013 season. 

Also, an item I decided to bring to the C.S.A. menu is Gongura. This is an amazing leaf and is excellent for cooking. Originally from India, the leaf is an herb and loaded with healthful qualities.  We grew this back in 2011 and are growing it again based on all your requests.  There are also a few new items that I will leave for you to see in your shares.  

The Nature’s Harvest store is currently open from (10-6 Tuesday-Sunday).  Please stop out to see where your food will be coming from and meet our friendly and knowledgable staff.  

Don’t forget, our members receive a 30% discount on everything in the store!  Again this year, we’ll have free sample’s of our products on the weekends. Our eggs and beef will not be arriving for about another week and half.

Member Perks:

  • 30% off All Store Items (Must present membership card)
  • Access to the Herb Bed 
  • 3 Free Pumpkins per family! We don’t care about color, size or shape!
  • 10 pounds additional Canning Tomato’s for the canners out there
  • C.S.A. Membership Card/With Free Allotment of Additional Produce

About the farm:  we grow all of our veggies on raised beds and irrigate from a well, not a pond...although, we have a pond with lots of Koi in it!  Deriving from the well is a state-of-the-art irrigation system, which saved much of our produce during last year’s drought.  Each bed that has vegetables on the farm is irrigated. One of the greatest things about the farm is that we have not used any pesticides or herbicides ever. I have been farming the land for five years and it was in CRP before that for the previous fifteen years. There has not been a chemical sprayed on the veggie section in 20 years. I am extremely proud of that. We strive to grow veggie’s in a chemical free environment and have developed many techniques over the years to deal with routine growing issues in an extra large garden.

The C.S.A. is quite efficient, when you get your produce box all of the produce will be washed and bagged. The produce comes in USDA approved boxes. Feel free to bring them back to the farm so that we can recycle them. We will also use them in the fall to put decorative gourds in them when we pick them in the fall. We store all produce boxes in a 10x16 walk in commercial grade cooler and there they remain until picked up or delivered on your day. This may be at the farm or at one of our drop-points. If you need additional produce that is what your C.S.A. membership card is for. Each veggie icon on the Membership card represents a free pound of veggies. You must come to the farm to get your extra veggie’s. We don’t usually have an extra’s box at the drop-points. You can get extra veggies any day we are open and have them available.

Weather Update:

This year has been a more normal Iowa winter, so hopefully we will have more moisture then last year.The soil moisture on the veggie farm is in good condition and our pond is full of water and it has not been full in two years, so that is a good sign as well. I don’t think we will have a severe drought this year, although I have been fooled before;) Mother Nature is unpredictable.










Plant Update:

    


All of the veggie’s we plant on the farm have been “started” on the farm.  We do this to ensure no chemicals are used on the starts. We start all of our plugs indoors under lights. We seed most of the flats by hand and some with this little vacuum seeder. The garlic is also sprouting out of the plastic and this is super exciting to see as well. Last year was our first year growing garlic and I feel it turned out great. This year should be even better! So far all of the plugs are doing great. I will be tweeting picture’s soon! So far we have roughly ten thousand growing and many more to come.
C.S.A. Orientation Date: To be determined...
Welcome Letter + C.S.A. memberships will be mailed soon as well. If you do not receive your card by May 15th, please contact us at 319.895.6480 or email Chris at chris@bassfarms.org 
Looking forward to a magnificent season & seeing you soon at the Farm,
Chris Bass 

2 comments:

  1. Correction, the time the letter went out we had Roughly 110. Currently we have 135 members. Help us reach our goal of 150!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Can't wait to stop by the farm later this summer. We promise the beef is going to be great again!
    www.crystalcattle.com

    ReplyDelete

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