_ Hi Everyone,

Happy 2012!  We hope that you and yours are well.

We want to thank you for your 2011 membership in Barefoot Gardens CSA.  Your support allows us to live out our visions of garden, landscape, friends and community.  It has been both a pleasure and an honor to garden for you.  Thank you too for your own willingness to take a measure of responsibility to identify, harvest, wash and prepare your own foods for yourselves, family and friends.  We know very well that being part of a CSA is a real time commitment.

The main purpose of this letter is to look ahead at our 2012 season and to share some thoughts about the future of Barefoot Gardens.  2012 marks our 10th CSA season (!) and it has us thinking about what the future might hold.   Below, we will share some ideas about how Barefoot Gardens might continue to evolve. 

First off, you should know that the basics (prices, length of the season, harvest times) for the 2012 season will be the same as they were in 2011.  The price for the full 8 month season (May through December) is $700 for couples/families and $350 for singles.  The price for the main season is (May through September) is $450 for couples/families and $225 for singles.  You can also sign up by the month for $100 for couples/families and $50 for singles.  Please note that we offer discounted memberships for students, single parents and others who need them.  Please contact John if you would like more information or would like to contribute towards making a membership available for someone else.

This and other information is on our website (recently updated) at barefootgardens.org.  Please email John at barefootgardens2003@yahoo.com (i.e. do not reply directly to this listserv email) if you have any questions about the 2012 season. 

As is always the case this time of year, we are starting to make orders for seed, organic fertilizer and equipment. If your finances allow, please consider sending in your deposit and/or full payment at your earliest convenience.   If you are not able to do that, we understand!   We continue to be committed to working out a price and payment schedule that will work for all of our members.

The Long View - We are considering some changes for 2012 and beyond that we would like to share with you.  Starting in March, we will be offering our first gardening workshop.  The four-part workshop will take place on the second Saturdays of March, April, May and June and will run from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  The gardening workshop is a big step in our minds, moving us in the direction of becoming an educational institution in addition to being a CSA.  We expect to continue to evolve in this direction in the coming years.

Health Issues – John’s labor-intensive style of market gardening has posed several health issues over the years.  Fortunately, with the coaching of local bio-mechanic and wunderkind, Mitch Waller, he has been able to overcome most of these.  However, there is one issue that remains a concern. John continues to deal with some repetitive motion injuries that affect both of John’s arms but especially the right elbow and forearm.  Acupuncture, Epsom Salts and careful attention to movement patterns have helped a great deal, but the problems continue to get a little worse each season.   Recently, the matter came to a head when Mitch told John that he should consider another line of work if he wanted to avoid long-term health problems.  In any case, we are taking these threats to John’s health seriously and are looking for ways to reduce his physical workload and related wear on his arms. 

John is also finding that his time commitments to endeavors outside of the CSA are increasing.  A long time board member with Illinois Stewardship Alliance, John is now beginning a two-year term as board president.  This position includes additional travel to Springfield and other parts of the state.  Likewise, John is looking for ways to create time to be more involved in promoting local food, influencing local, state and national politics and to write.  The bottom line is that we have had to consider ways that we can reduce the physical and time demands of the CSA for John.  In the long term, we see this as making the CSA more sustainable, creating the possibility that it might exist another ten years and beyond. 

Interns – An obvious solution to the problems listed above is to bring in someone else to help do the work.  However, hiring someone to help out is not really an option since, even at minimum wage, that person would earn so much more per hour than John does.  We currently have two interns lined up to help out in the 2012 season and expect to have a couple more by the time the season really gets rolling.  We anticipate continuing to bring in interns in the years to come.  This not only relieves John of some of the physical work load but also ties into our mission to educate the next generation of gardeners and garden farmers.

Working with other Local Farmers – We have always made an effort to work cooperatively with other local folks who are producing good food.  Over the years, we have connected CSA members to local producers of eggs, honey, Shitake mushrooms, maple syrup, chicken, turkey, beef and pork.  However, we have never had anyone else grow any part of our vegetable crop for the CSA.  We are looking at making that change in 2012.

Many of you know Mark Greuel who is a local painter and an outstanding organic gardener.  He has a beautiful rural place just a couple of miles south of town.  In 2011, Mark scaled up his garden and tried his hand at selling some of the surplus vegetables from his place.  Not surprisingly, he was very successful. What came as a surprise, perhaps, was discovering how much he loved the work.  Mark is looking to expand his operation in 2012 and is the kind of neighbor and land steward that we should all be doing our best to support.

Mark and John are currently negotiating terms for working together in 2012.  Right now it looks like Mark will be growing the bulk of the sweet potatoes, late season potatoes, winter squash and storage onions.  Apart from saving John a lot of time and effort, this will make more space available in the gardens for other crops.  Garden space has been in especially short supply as John has prepared for fall crops the last couple years.  John also hopes to be able to include more cover crops into his garden rotation, something that has been nearly impossible because of the limited garden space.  Overall, we think that this kind of cooperative arrangement with Mark and possibly other local growers is likely to be a win-win for everyone - both in the CSA and in the community at large.

We are really excited about the 2012 season!  We have lots of improvements in mind and new things that we are going to try.  We expect it to be the best season yet!

We hope you’re well and look forward to hearing from you!   

 

 

ohn and Karen

 


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    John is a market gardener, father, teacher and community activist who has a passion for gardening and creating edible landscapes.

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