We are at 50 full shares and are no longer accepting new memberships for the 2010 season. We have no one on the waiting list at this time, so please do contact us if you would like to be added or would like to be contacted next year. We also invite you to come out and visit us on a Monday night during the season.

The following is an email asking some good questions about the CSA and my answer.

Hello,

I wanted to find out more about your CSA. How much of it (if any) is organic?

How exactly do you sign up?

On average, per week, how much veggies, etc. do you actually get? (like quart size bag, etc)

Thank you!

My name is John Curtis. I am both the peasant labor and the principal proprietor of Barefoot Gardens.

You ask some very good questions that I realize need to be addressed directly on the web site. The first one I’ll address is the organic issue.

Organic: I have only used organic practices in my gardening. I have never used chemical fertilizers or chemical pesticides. I do not use gmo seed or even seeds (as far as I’m aware) that are owned (and this is getting harder) by companies that develop gmos. I should note too that I grow nearly all of my own plants and use my own homemade, compost-based organic potting mixes. When I do have to buy plants or other supplies I tend to support local businesses whenever I can. At this time, these businesses tend to offer only conventionally grown plants.

I am organic in my practices because I believe that organic is the right way and the best way to grow things, period.

Why not certified organic? I determined some years ago that the official organic label did not make sense for our operation. It was an expense that I couldn’t justify and it was a hassle that I didn’t need. For example: I work with over 300 varieties of plants each season. If I were certified, I would need to document that I had made a search for organic seed sources for every one of those varieties. I have plenty to do without adding that layer of bureaucracy.

Signing Up – I realize that the sign up form that I set up is outdated and I need to work on that. However, someone can sign up by stating their intention to do so and sending in a check.

I should note here that our operation grows principally by word of mouth. This is by design. I want to make sure that it is a good fit for the member and for us. Since I spend time with my members every week for half of the year, I like to be selective. One time I did refund someone their money for the season because I could see that this person was not going to be someone that I would want to deal with all season. A few times I have not offered renewals for similar reasons.

Vegetable amounts - This is a tricky question to answer. The short answer is that it depends entirely on the time of year. During the first week of May, depending on what the weather conditions were in April, there may only be baby greens to cut. At the end of September, when we have both cool season and warm season crops available you have a huge selection of things to harvest.

If you are accustomed to the model most CSAs follow it may be hard to understand our operation. Instead of getting a share of what is harvested each week you are sharing our gardens. It is true that certain crops are limited at certain times, e.g. at the beginning of tomato season, each share may only get one or two tomatoes in a given week. A month later though, I make sneak a box of tomatoes into the back seat of your car hoping that they will find a good home! Overall, my goal as your gardener is to grow about 25% more than you and the other members will need during each given week.

One of the reasons that our operation has evolved into a pick-your-own operation over the years is that we realized that different people want different things. There are families in the CSA that eat salad with their meals twice a day throughout the greens season. When they leave our place each week, they leave with bags stuffed with greens that they’ve cut. I love that! They are taking advantage of the bounty of in-season vegetables that we have available. Other people, of course, just want enough greens to have two or three salads during the week. Some people love the many varieties of hot peppers that we grow. However, 90% of the members of our CSA never use them. Are you a fan of fresh basil? Some people get a handful of fresh basil each week – others harvest enough basil to make and freeze pesto for the entire year. For most things, there is a real abundance at one time or another.

So, I can’t answer your question about average amounts directly because it depends so much on you. You aren’t buying an amount of something when you join our CSA. Instead, you are entering a partnership with me, your gardener, to best provide you with the vegetables, herbs, flowers and berries that you need to satisfy your needs and tastes during the growing season.

I hope this answers your questions. Feel free to contact me if you have any others.

John

We hope you are all well as we begin the New Year.

We have some initial information for the 2010 CSA season. We’ll be following up with a registration form and more information in the weeks to follow.

The 2010 Season: We are looking at another six month season, with the season running from the beginning of May through October. As in 2009, it will be pick-your-own for most items.

Cost: The cost for the entire season will be $500 per couple/family/household or $250 for individuals. We can usually work something out if finances are an issue.

Expanded Offerings: In addition to the crops that we planted in 2009, we plan to offer an expanded list of crops in 2010. These include: sweet corn, cabbage, parsnips and several other vegetable varieties that we weren’t able to grow this past season. We are also expanding our plantings of raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries as well as the varieties of flowers available for bouquets.

A Season Extending Hoop House: We are about to take the plunge and invest in a mobile hoop house system. We are very excited about this! A hoop house will allow us to plant and ripen some summer crops (such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers) much earlier in the season and will extend those crops much later into the fall. In November, the hoop house will be moved over the cool season crops allowing a continuous harvest of those crops through much of the winter. We should note that in 2010, the full season share will not include crops harvested in the hoop house beginning in November. We hope to be able to supply the community with greens through a Local Food Cooperative storefront at that time.

Improvements: We have some other ideas for improving the CSA in 2010:

• We would like to continue to make our place more child friendly. We plan to reinforce existing swings and possibly put up new ones for the upcoming season.

• We hope to set up a bulletin board where people can post favorite recipes and ideas for how to use different vegetables and herbs.

• We plan to begin planting our fruit tree orchards this coming spring.

• We would like to bring back the newsletter in some form – either monthly or biweekly.

• We hope to have a simple wash station set up this year so that you can rinse root vegetables, wash and spin salad greens and so on.

Please share any other ideas that you might have!

Our Expenses: Although we understand that it won’t be possible for many of you, it would help us a great deal if you could send all or part of your membership fee for 2010 in the next few weeks. There are a lot of up front costs this time of year. In January, we order seeds, plants, organic soil supplements and new tools and other equipment. These annual costs, plus the investment in the mobile hoop house system (approximately $7,500) are going to make things tricky for us financially. Any amount that you can send in the next few weeks would really help us out. In the meantime, an email letting us know that you’re interested will also help us plan.

We would like to grow some this year. Please send us the names and (if possible) contact information of people who you think would be good additions to our CSA community.

We wish you well during these Persephone months. Remember that there are green and abundant seasons to come!

John and Karen

309-550-5088

3201 West Adams

Macomb IL 61455

Hi all,

We finally have the beautiful fall weather we waited all October for. We still have the regular fall lineup of greens. We also have some lovely little radishes that are ready this week.

Don’t forget to get out here before 5:30 (and after 4:00)- or you may find yourself having to pick in the dark.

I have some wonderful perennials (irises, daylilies, chives, columbine) that I would like to find homes for. Let me know if you would like some to transplant on your own place. Late fall is a wonderful time to move perennials.

Many of you are dealing with fall leaves right now. This is a time of resource collection for me – whenever I have to make a trip to town I always try to return with a truck full of leaves.

I use leaves in a number of ways that you might consider for your own gardens/plantings:

1.) Leaves make a wonderful grass suppressing mulch around perennials. I mulch very deeply with leaves in the fall and usually top it with straw so the leaves don’t blow away. A heavy leaf mulch retards weeds and simultaneously feeds the plant through the year.

2.) Being very high in the nutrients that my garden crops need, I will put up to 4 inches of leaves on top of the garden and till them in to prepare the soil for next year’s crops.

3.) I make leaf mold. Leaf mold is another name for composted leaves. To make leaf mold, simply pile all of your leaves in a corner of the yard and (if you’re ambitious) wet them down well. In a year and a half or so – you will have a wonderful, rich, soil-like product that is wonderful for fertilizing plants or making potting mixes.

4.) If I am very busy, I will simply (have Daniel) shred the leaves with the mower. This keeps the leaves from blowing much and fertilizes the lawn and the trees themselves. By late next spring, the earthworms will have pulled the leaf shreds underground.

So, as you look at all of your leaves, think ahead to the beautiful gardens you can create with them in summers yet to come.