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Signing Up – I realize that the sign up form that I set up is outdated and I need to work on that.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 are receiving a lot of interest from new folks this year and it looks like we may fill up early.  Please contact me soon if you know you are interested in a membership this season.

Also, it would be very helpful if we could have most of our payments in by the end of March.  Things get hectic around here in April.

There has been some confusion about the monthly option.  Basically, the gist is this:  If you are going to be gone for two or more calendar months during the season, it will be cheaper to simply pay $100 per month that you will be here.  Otherwise, it makes more sense just to pay the $500 membership fee for the entire year because you get the sixth month free.  Please contact me if you have further questions.  Checks can be sent to:  John Curtis – 3201 West Adams – Macomb IL      Checks should be made out to:  Barefoot Gardens CSA

We are strongly considering adding a Saturday morning harvest option to accommodate more peoples’ schedules.  We are also considering adding making coffee and tea available to create a sort of “CSA Cafe” on Saturday mornings.  We’d like to hear your thoughts on this idea.

I have completed a list of crops for 2010 (see categories).  If you think something is missing, please let me know!

John

Herbs:

Parsley (curled and leaf)

Cilantro

Rosemary

Sage

Basil

Dill

Greek Oregano

Marjoram

French Tarragon

Celery

Flowers (for cutting)

Sunflowers

Zinnias

Rudbeckias

Snapdragons

Daisies

Lisianthus

Agrostemma

Cosmos

Tithsonia

Gomphrena

Many others

Berries – (We are just establishing some of our berry plantings. As a result we will only have limited amounts of berries available in 2010).

Blueberries

Raspberries

Strawberries

Blackberries

Vegetables

Head Lettuces

Mesclun Lettuce

Loose Leaf Lettuces

Asian Greens

Butternut and other Winter Squashes (e.g. Acorn, Potimarron)

Cucumbers

Zucchini and other Summer Squashes

Green Beans

Wax Beans

Asian Beans

Kales

Swiss Chard

Edamame

Spinach

Sweet Potatoes

Potatoes

Broccoli

Sweet Peppers

Eggplants

Tomatoes

Leeks

Scallions

Shallots

Onions

Garlic

Carrots

Beets

Parsnips

Radishes

Snap Peas

Sweet Corn

Melons

Pumpkins

Cabbages

Japanese Turnips

Rutabagas

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

]]> http://www.barefootgardens.org/?feed=rss2&p=172 0 http://www.barefootgardens.org/?p=170 http://www.barefootgardens.org/?p=170#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:53:32 +0000 John http://www.barefootgardens.org/?p=170 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.

The rain continues! I will grumble about it being so wet but at least I don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of crop standing in the field. I am afraid that is the situation that many of our corn/soybean farmers find themselves in and it doesn’t look good for them. Of course, it is impossible to drive  humongous machinery on such wet ground but perhaps even more troubling for them is the fact that their crops have not been able to dry out. It is critical that corn and soybeans dry out considerably before they are harvested so that they don’t rot/mold in storage. That drying has not occurred this year and as it gets later in the year it becomes increasingly likely that it won’t before true winter comes. It’s a dramatic situation. Most grain farmers are in a great deal of debt to landlords as well as the fertilizer, pesticide and seed companies. These weather conditions are creating real hardship for all of them and may prove truly catastrophic for many. And more rain is in the forecast………

On a more positive note:

We have some beautiful greens available this week. There are a couple of large patches of lettuce that have finally matured to cutting size. We’ll have some spinach available as well- although not as much as I expected. I have lost two of the spinach beds altogether by allowing them to be over-harvested before they were well established; one more lesson for this year.

Late fall is when the members of the mustard family really excel. These include: the kales, the Asian Greens, radishes, turnips and Brussel Sprouts. Mustards really like the cool weather and the cold seems to bring out the best flavors in them.

In any case, today you will be able to cut a spectacular mix of mesclun-sized salad ingredients as well as radishes, turnips, Swiss Chard, Kale, Leeks, Italian Parsley and celery.

Be warned that we have some very soggy conditions out there today. It will be muddy. I’ll be available this evening to show you around and help you harvest what you are looking for and I’ll be happy to harvest for those who don’t want to brave the elements.

Looking forward to seeing you!

So, when I checked the National Weather Service web site Saturday morning and saw the forecast for 25 degrees as an overnight low, I groaned out loud. I knew that even our cold hardy crops were in danger and going to need some protection. So, after harvesting and bringing in the winter squashes and pumpkins, I turned my attention to covering all of our cool season crops with row cover.

As I look out my window at the garden this morning, I see that what had been a green and beautiful garden just last Monday is now blackened rotting plant corpses with white shrouds hiding what green remains. Frankly, it seems as if we’ve skipped October and moved right into November.

But, don’t despair yet! We still have some good things for you this evening.

Available Tonight

Liberty Apples – The kids and I harvested these from the big apple tree by the swing set at our Bellingham Road place on Friday afternoon. They are flawed but delicious.

Storage Pears – These are from the 100+ year old trees on my grandparents farm. They will ripen in storage.

Pumpkins – We have a limited number of these available on a first come first serve basis (one per share). The four giant pumpkins are also available (but hard to move!).

Butternut Squashes – As many as you think you can use.

Lincoln Leeks – These are the light green ones. All parts can be used in soup stocks

Sweet Potatoes – These must be dug today!

Asian Greens -

Baby Lettuces -

Radishes -

Swiss Chard and more

This evening we have a couple of groups coming out. There is a student group from Monmouth College that will be out to look at the place and learn about CSAs in general.

Macomb’s Food Initiative Group will be out to meet at 6:30. Among other topics they will be discussing the porential formation of a coop store in downtown Macomb that would carry local and organic foods. We welcome your participation in that meeting.

Don’t forget that CSA time is between 5:00 p.m. and dark (6:40 ish). See you this evening and dress warmly!

Other news:

• As I write this, Allenhouse Plumbing is putting the finishing touches on a new water line to the garden. This brings me some peace of mind as the weather starts to get hot and the garden begins to need more water.

• I’ve finally caught up with my planting schedule. However, most of our crops are going to be later than usual. Warm season crops such as tomatoes, beans, zucs and cukes are likely to be three or four weeks yet before we can begin to harvest them and I just planted the last of the potato crop (extremely late).

• Harvestables next week include: Head lettuce, mesclun lettuce, radishes, tiny salad turnips, Swiss Chard, Red Russian Kale, Sugar Snap Peas (just beginning), parsley, cilantro, spinach, chives and probably a couple of other things that I’m forgetting.

• These rains the past couple of days were welcome. These extended cool days of spring help our spring crops (lettuce, spinach etc.) last but are delaying the development of the warmer season crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers and green beans.

• If you eat microwave popcorn I urge you to stop or at least stop feeding it to your children. I heard a truly disturbing account on NPR about the chemicals used to keep the popcorn bags from absorbing the oil and the harmful effects of these chemicals (especially when super heated). I’d be glad to give you a demo on how to make popcorn the old fashioned way if you’ve forgotten or don’t know how.

• Dan Murphy has offered to give a chef’s demonstration at our place this coming Monday the 8th at 7:00 at our place. He is going to show us how to make some vinaigrettes and some different ways that we can use the spring greens.

• We are hosting our annual Summer Solstice gathering at our place on Saturday, June 20th. Please save the date! We’ll have more details coming out soon.

• Directions: Follow West Adams (the street that runs in front of Sherman Hall) out of town (West) past the Georgetown subdivision. Our place is the very first place on the left after you cross the Lamoine River. Right after you cross the bridge you will take a left at the first graveled entrance (we’ll try to remember to have it marked). You will be parking on the gentle hillside to the East (towards town) of our house. Please do not park in the driveway.

• What to Bring – I recommend bringing the following: quart and gallon sized ziploc-type bags, a knife or garden scissors for cutting salad and a safe insect repellant. We’ll have some of these items available for your use and our large salad spinner on hand as well.

• Thursdays – Our plan for the season includes having some members come out on Thursday mornings instead of Monday evenings. However, I am still teaching through the month of May, so we won’t do Thursday pick-your-own until June. I would like to get a list of names of people who would like to be included in the Thursday group. So, please let me know if you think you are going to prefer that option.

• Children – Children are always welcome, of course. However, our set up at the new place has the potential to be a little more hazardous. My prime concern is the two barn buildings. They are going to be wonderful places for fun and adventure I am sure. However, I still haven’t had time to clean them out completely and to check thoroughly to make sure they are (relatively) safe. For now, I would ask that you help us keep the kids out of the barns or just go ahead explore the barns with them.

• Another potential hazard for very young children is a small lilly pond next to the house. I’ve considered filling it in, but haven’t had the heart to do it. If you have toddling youngsters, please make yourselves familiar with it. I’ll try to have some sort of barrier up by Monday.

• At our new site we have two plants that you and your children will want to be able to recognize. Poison Ivy and Stinging Nettles are abundant along the marginal areas. The stinging nettles produce a burning, bumpy rash that goes away after a few minutes. Poison Ivy can produce an oozy rash that lasts for weeks if you are highly allergic (as I am). In any case, the best prevention is to learn what they look like. Neither of these plants should be a problem if your children stay in the mowed areas.

• Mosquitoes, gnats and ticks are an issue this time of year. I recommend that you not use DEET based repellents on your children’s skin. If you do use a bug repellent with DEET, I suggest that you put it on your children’s clothing and shoes (for ticks). Unfortunately, ticks are a real hazard in the spring. I suggest making CSA night bath night for your children (and for yourselves). Before bathing, check your children carefully for ticks. It is also a good precaution to take their clothes and put them in your washing machine right away. For the record, I haven’t seen as many ticks here as at the Bellingham Road place.

• Potatoes – I would like to invite the kids to help me plant some potatoes this coming Monday (it looks as if it will finally be dry enough!). If you have any potatoes sprouting in your kitchen/pantry bring those along.

• Garden Help – I am going to need some help this coming Saturday (the ninth) between 1:00 and 4:00 to get our place ready for people. I have some difficult perennial weeding and mulching that I need help with as well as some work on the driveway entrance, the barn doors, the porch and much more. If you are interested and able please join us, but please don’t feel obligated in any way.

Karen and I are looking forward to seeing you all!