Hello there! How's everyone doing?
Just a very quick moment to reflect on 2020 and update you on our plans for 2021 in a bit more detail.
We were, quite honestly, overwhelmed by the outpouring of folks who were on the lookout for local food last year. We did our best to change gears at the last minute in March, after we'd already started a majority of our seeds, to accommodate this interest. Conditions were not ideal for the last minute switch as there was (and continues to be) a mass seed shortage and major shipping delays for the seeds that were available. It was so stressful as we had committed so much of our seed budget in 2020 to cut flowers...yet there were no weddings to be celebrated, and everyone just wanted some damn organic produce. We were so concerned that there was a major loss to be had. That being said, were amazed at how popular our produce boxes were, and we loved that the most common feedback from customers was that they liked knowing what they were getting in the box before committing to purchase it week to week. Thanks to all of you we did not suffer the loss we had prepared ourselves for. We are deeply, deeply grateful!
Because it seems this local food momentum is continuing into 2021, we have decided to offer our produce boxes again as well as market bouquets, bread, eggs, and other seasonal treasures like jams and jellies, preserved grape leaves, and wreaths/swags. The structure will be exactly the same: as soon as we have product to move, we will email our fresh sheet to list our availability, accept orders via a Google Form until the middle of the week, sell it on a first-come/first-served basis, and list extras on social media. It was simple, low-tech, and seemed to work pretty well for both you and us! Here is what we expect to offer most weeks:
*$20 produce boxes: about 6 products, more if things are especially abundant, equaling a minimum of $20. I have crop planned for our own family plus 10-15 weekly boxes, but hope to offer more if I feel I can handle it!
*$15 market-style wrapped flower bouquets: we have raised the price on our bouquets slightly this year to properly account for the time spent designing the bouquets themselves as well as the materials needed to wrap and tie them for best shelf life.
*$5 sourdough-of-the-week: we're going to reduce our variety from week to week and tighten up a more consistent schedule (i.e. four different types of bread, one corresponding to each week of the month) in order to reduce the material cost to bake the bread. Bread was a hot commodity (THANK YOU!) so we plan to offer more of it this year.
*$3/dozen eggs: as available, as our current flock is aging out and our growing family eats a whole lot of eggs!
The biggest difference between 2020 and 2021 is that we will no longer offer direct-to-doorstep delivery. There's no reason to beat around the bush here: financially, this was a loss for us. It just isn't sustainable moving forward. However, we felt it was important last year to serve our community in this way due to everything going on and are so glad we could help out in this way. Everyone was/is having a rough go of things. We understand that coming out to the farm is inconvenient for many of our customers who live 20-30 minutes away, so we have decided to set up a pick-up pod at one of our customer's homes. We are still working out the details but anticipate that the pod will take place in the driveway of one of our B'ville regulars on a consistent night and time (i.e. Thursdays from 4-8pm) each week for no cost to our customers. This would make for a 10 minute or less drive for most of our customers, and we would only have one delivery to make each week. Win-win! Customers may also opt for weekend pick-up on the farm as well.
Thank you again SO much for your support as we try to move forward in a flexible way that works well for all of us. We have a feeling that this season is going to be such a good one! Take care and we'll see you in April.