Monday, June 21, 2010

S.O.S. Update

Things are finally starting to dry up. With your help, and some help from Mother Nature, we’ve weeded more than 20 beds, saved more than 10,000 plants, and will finally be able to plant seeds for future harvest. In addition to those who generously donated your time in the past weeks, we’ve received countless emails of kindness, support and understanding. Those of you who know us well know that this decision did not come easily, nor did we take it lightly. A million thanks would not be enough.

And now for the best news we could possibly bring you: We will resume all deliveries this week, under the normal schedule. For bi-weekly members that may have missed their first week due to the farm conditions, we’ll make it up–we promise. We have beets, swiss chard and rat tail radish pods that are ready to be harvested, and summer squash and beans are close behind.

And finally, for those of you who are new to Wayward Seed and new to CSA in general, we especially appreciate your patience. Please know that nothing about the last few weeks is typical of any harvest season. We, too, are adjusting to the unexpected nature of it all. The majority of our members have been with us for several seasons, and as we’re sure they can confirm, the volume of food increases as the weeks go by. Just wait until fall arrives!

If you are still interested in volunteering, please watch the blog (Emmy Says), A Well Fed Seed, Twitter or Facebook for our current needs. For the time being, we’ll post our needs for volunteers in the morning hours, on a needed basis. For those who are unavailable at the present moment and want to volunteer, don’t worry, we plan to implement a regular volunteer schedule within a few weeks.

Again, we thank you! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call or email.

Friday, June 18, 2010

S.O.S. Update

We can not thank you enough for the outpouring of support and encouragement over the last few days. It's remarkable the difference just a day or two can make. Whether you've joined us on the farm, or simply called or emailed, it means a lot to know that you understand and support our decision to suspend your vegetable shares.

As of today, with the help of more than thirty volunteers, the sun, the wind, and finally the cooperation of Mother Nature, our fields are turning around. While we're not out of the woods yet, we've made a significant impact on the weeds, and therefore, your vegetables. There are portions of the field that remain under water and will therefore be tilled under and replanted. Once the portions of the field are tilled, we will replant for a full fall harvest.

Because of each of you, the tide has turned and our fields are recovering. Thank you again for making the difference.

For the weekend, we will welcome volunteers on Saturday from 9AM to 3PM. Please stay tuned for more updates and details of the situation. We will plan another update at the end of day on Sunday, or Monday morning.

We'll be working on the farm at Oakvale Farmstead. The address is:

1285 State Route 29
London, Ohio 43140

If you're coming from the city, the easiest route is Interstate 70 West, towards Dayton. Exit Route 29. Turn RIGHT off exit, onto Route 29, towards Mechanicsburg. Pass through the stop light at US 42 and travel about two miles. Just past Lafayette Plain City Road, the driveway will be on the LEFT, before the barns. Turn LEFT into driveway and drive around to park in front of the barn (you should see plenty of cars). If you see the Oakvale Farmstead Cheese sign turn around you've gone too far.

Wear boots, hats, gloves, sunscreen... Be prepared for the elements. To keep you hydrated, we'll have plenty of water on hand.

If you have any questions before arriving or need help with directions, please call Adam at (614) 226-8548. If you need anything else, not pertaining to volunteering, please call me at either number listed below.

With gratitude,

Jaime Moore
Wayward Seed Farm
14950 Fladt Road
Marysville, Ohio 43040

Office: 937.644.0786
Cell: 614.327.0102

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

If you're hoping to volunteer....

Dear Members,

Your support is overwhelming and encouraging. We could not possibly thank you enough.

Here’s the plan…

We’ll be working on the farm at Oakvale Farmstead. The address is:

1285 State Route 29
London, Ohio 43140

If you’re coming from the city, the easiest route is Interstate 70 West, towards Dayton. Exit Route 29. Turn RIGHT off exit, onto Route 29, towards Mechanicsburg. Pass through the stop light at US 42 and travel about two miles. Just past Lafayette Plain City Road, the driveway will be on the LEFT, before the barns. Turn LEFT into driveway and drive around to park in front of the barn (you should see plenty of cars). If you see the Oakvale Farmhouse Cheese sign, turn around you’ve gone too far.

Our staff will be in the fields from 9AM to 8PM on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Any help you can provide is appreciated and you’re welcome to join us at any time during the day, for as long, or as little, as you’d like.

Wear boots, hats, sunscreen…be prepared for the elements. To keep you hydrated, we’ll have plenty of water on hand.

If you have any questions before arriving or need help with directions, please call Adam at (614) 327-0102. Otherwise just come on out!

With gratitude,

Jaime Moore
Wayward Seed Farm
14950 Fladt Road
Marysville, Ohio 43040

Office: 937.644.0786
Cell: 614.327.0102

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

S.O.S. (Save Our Shares)

We are so sorry to come to you with such unfortunate news. As members of a CSA program, you share in both the risk and the reward of a local farm. Fortunately for both our farm and our members, we've been blessed with abundance and reward, and experienced very little risk. This season, however, has not been as kind as seasons' past. For the first time in the history of our CSA program, we need to suspend the delivery of vegetable shares.

As you all know, we have been dealing with wet fields and small floods for the past several weeks. The rain we've received over the last few days--especially last night--has taken the fields from muck to flood. Over the last two weeks, in total, the farm has received more than 20 inches of rain. We are now in a standing water situation that is, at the very least, delaying the crops and at the worst, threatening their existence.

Not only is the water a source of concern, but also the sudden invasion of vast amounts of weeds. Because we are a farm that refuses to use pesticides, we often harvest the vegetables through the weeds. While the pervasiveness of weeds is often a joke among those of us in the fields, the continuous rain has given the weeds the upper hand and they are now a second major threat to the crops. We are furiously hand weeding the fields in every hour of light we have--and we need your help. If you are able to offer any amount of your time, at any time this week, to help us clear the fields we would be so grateful. Please call Jaime at (937) 644-0786 or (614) 327-0102 if you are ready and willing to help.

So what does this mean to our shareholders? These fields are yours as much as they are ours, and it's our promise to you that we will do everything possible to get vegetable shares up and running as quickly as we can. Quality and service are of the utmost importance to us, and we will work tirelessly until we are able to once again resume delivery of vegetables to our members. We would rather suspend shares in the short term than give you anything that does not meet our standards of cleanliness and quality. We will still be delivering fruit, milk and coffee shares this week, so please continue to pick up those shares as usual. We are taking this situation day by day, but for the week of June 15th (today) through Monday, June 21st, we will not be able to deliver vegetable shares. If you are a vegetable-only member, there is no need to pick up this week at your location, unless you'd like to speak with us personally. If so, we'll be there.

This current situation in no way means that the entire season's harvest is at risk. At worst, we are hoping this is simply a very short term scenario that will turn around with the sun and dryness we so desperately need. We appreciate your patience and understanding in this difficult situation, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this might cause. We will be sharing this information and updates online as well as via email. We will always email you, and we will also offer updates via our blog A Well Fed Seed, Twitter and Facebook. Stay tuned--we will share some pictures of the farm as well as a volunteer schedule very soon.

With gratitude,

Jaime Moore & Adam Welly