If you are on our mailing list, you should have received an e-newsletter from us last week. For those of you who aren't subscribed and may just be checking out our website, I wanted to take a moment to summarize some of the general points I made and update them according to new and developing state requirements. Farming for our community feels more pertinent than ever, and I'm amazed at the outpouring of interest and support we have received since the onset of this pandemic.
First of all, at this time, we ARE still planning to farm for the year and grow food and flowers for you. Farming is indeed considered an essential business. I am very fortunate to work from home in a rural area, and I am so very proud to possess the knowledge and skills that I do in light of all that is going on in the world. I went into 2020 with big plans for our farm, and I still intend to see them through. In fact, we already have loads of seedlings growing indoors and even some seeds in the field! If you look closely in the photograph above, you may be amazed to discover that most of those trays hold 240 soil blocks. That is a remarkable amount of food. I made some substantial financial investments in our seed-starting equipment throughout the winter, and it is resulting in our strongest seedlings ever. I look at this shelf and I see hope. I see a reminder that in time - a rather long time - this will pass. But for now, I will do my part to support my community while we are all in the thick of it.
Due to COVID-19 we are no longer allowing any on-farm pick ups for the foreseeable future. We will, however, make deliveries for a small $5 fee, up to 20 miles away from the farm. Here are our new order procedures:
We will send out an email each week as soon as we have products available. You order by phone, text, email, or our new online ordering form. We will email an invoice to confirm your order and delivery date. You send us money through Venmo (no cash or check per government recommendations). You put a cooler on your doorstep (please do a courtesy wipe-down). We will leave your products on your doorstep.
As far as the products we are going to sell, that will change from week to week. You can expect a consistent supply of greens and roots from May through October with a variety of season-specific fruits and vegetables as they become available. I expect we should have some food available by mid-April. A lot of the feedback we have received from our amazing, loyal customer base so far is that they want to buy anything and everything we will grow. I can't even describe how incredibly grateful I feel about that, as this is a tumultuous time for small businesses everywhere. Knowing we have some support is a great relief to our family. But on that note, I think the model we will try to take this year is a weekly farm box for $20 + the $5 delivery fee. This seems like the simplest way to streamline sanitation and production while we can't have any person-to-person contact. We would give you a box worth $20 or more of our products, which might include vegetables, fruits, eggs, bread, jars of preserves, or any combination of those things.
Yes, flowers will still be available this season. I think we could all use a little extra beauty these days. The same order and payment and pick-up rules will apply: no in-person exchanges at this time, but we would love to deliver. You can expect to be able to order small market-style bouquets as well as larger, more formal a la carte arrangements throughout the growing season. Mother's Day is coming and we do still plan to take orders for hand-tied gift bouquets. Stay tuned for more information next month as we see how COVID-19 continues to develop.
Please be patient as we navigate this new reality together. Again - as always but now more than ever - THANK YOU for your ongoing support. We are in this together.
With love,
Victoria