Buy Local Food In Kitsap

Marilyn Holt, Paul Gregory, Nikki Johanson

At this month’s KCAA meeting, veteran Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmers Marilyn Holt of Abundantly Green and Nikki Johanson of Pheasant Fields provided a wealth of information for anyone interested in starting a CSA. And there were plenty of tips available for those who are farming for their own consumption or selling in a farmers market.

Johanson emphasized two “V” points in her advice to those considering starting a CSA:

- Vend at a farmers market – sell your products here and get to know other farmers who are willing to share some of their farming experiences with you.   You’ll also get a feel for pricing, supply and product demand.

-Volunteer to work on an established CSA farm – here you’ll get a feel for the amount of time you will need to spend, the work and expenditures as well as the income involved, and some of the problems that can surface in running a CSA. Most CSA farmers are more than willing to share their information with other farmers.

Holt and Johanson made some other points during their presentations.  People really need to be educated in the benefits of eating local food.  And many are unaware of the vitamin and mineral richness of some of the lesser known greens.  Recipes explaining these benefits and providing tasty uses of these greens are a good idea.

“I publish recipes that use currently available produce every week my CSA is in operation,” says Holt.  “It seems to be very popular with my subscribers.”

Both Holt and Johanson are high on farmers markets, both for selling and as a pick-up point for CSA customers if they are unable to get to the farm.  It’s also a place to recruit new CSA customers.

Develop a relationship with your potential and existing customers says Johanson. If you have other activities during the year such as a corn maze, holiday activities, etc., keep them informed during the off-CSA season.  Keep your contact list up to date and send out notices as soon as you can  about your upcoming season.

Holt and others say they can’t emphasize the importance of trying to fill your CSA subscriptions as early as possible. Advertise in local papers, put up a good web site with on-line subscription capability, develop a good brochure or flyer and put them where they can be accessed easily in such places as libraries. Early subscription gives you a better idea of how much working capital you will have for your growing season.

“Plant an abundance, variety, and things that will be ready to harvest at different times throughout the CSA subscription period,” says Johanson. “You never know what’s going to happen in a growing season.”

She adds that a farmer does his best if he gives good value in return for that money the consumer has spent.  Farmers agreed that this was a tough year because of the long, wet, cold spring and the large amount of rain in August.

That’s when you need to become innovative say seasoned CSA farmers – develop relationships with other farmers who offer different produce or perhaps meat, wine, flowers and other items that can be traded.

“You should feel a real responsibility to meet that commitment to offer the best that you can to your community subscriber,” says Johanson.

Some CSA farmers, such as the newly minted CSA, Handsown Homegrown, offer ad-ons that you can purchase to go with your weekly CSA share.  A small north end farm, Handsown Homegrown offered some of the finest heirloom tomatoes around at last season’s Poulsbo Farmers Market.

Another important point Holt says to consider is how much land you want to buy or lease, how big a labor force you want to manage and how much refrigerated space you will have.  The latter is very important when it comes to picking fresh crops in  warmer weather.

“A CSA farmer must be willing to work long hard hours during the season – one night Nikki and I were picking corn by the headlights of the car,” chuckled Holt.

CSA web resources – contain on-line articles, reference to books, etc.:

-WSU Extension site at:  http://smallfarms.wsu.edu/marketing_CSA.php and

-USDA lists many articles that can be read on-line at their site http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csafarmer.shtml

-“Community Supported Agriculture:  An Introduction to CSA”  describes a CSA but also lists many excellent articles and books at:  http://www.biodynamics.com/csa.html

CSA farms represented at KCAA meeting who are available for share subscription in 2009:

Gregory Farms – (360) 692-0528

Pheasant Field Farms – (360) 697-6224

Abundantly Green – (360) 692-2504

Handsown Homegrown – (360) 598-4711

Soon we will be compiling a list of peninsusla farms offering CSA shares in 2009. Check back often!