Answering your questions – why join Yellow Stonehouse Farm’s organic CSA

Posted on January 28, 2017 by Connie

1. CSAs connect consumers to local farmers and fresh food CSAs or Consumer Supported Agriculture, is a model for connecting consumers to local farms, originally started in nearby Great Barrington, MA in the 1980’s. CSAs offer consumers the opportunity to become shareholders in their local farm; in turn, the farm provides fresh, locally grown – and in Yellow Stonehouse Farm’s case – organic vegetables, in exchange for your membership.

2. CSAs are thrifty Yellow Stonehouse Farm’s CSA is a very good value. For about the price of dinner for two, or $33 a week, you receive a generous amount of organic produce of the highest quality, nutrition, and freshest flavor. Buying directly from the farm, instead of the grocer, skips the middleman, and gets you a better deal.

Yellow Stonehouse Farm is also an all-inclusive CSA – your membership entitles you a vegetable share plus access to the farm’s extensive cutting gardens, popular pick-your-own vegetable patches plus access to the back acreages extensive walking trails and picnic areas.

3. CSAs are healthy Joining a CSA improves your health by adding vegetable nutrition to your family’s diet on a consistent basis – plus cooking fresh vegetables eliminates many of the additives and extra ingredients of processed food. Locally grown vegetables are fresher and retain their nutrients versus produce transported thousands of miles. Organic farmers don’t use pesticides and chemical fertilizers, not to mention organic food tastes better and has more nutrients since they are grown in healthy soils.

4. CSAs are friendly Perhaps one of the best things about joining a CSA is the wonderful community you become a member of – sharing a love of food, nature, and cooking. Belonging to Yellow Stonehouse Farm’s CSA is fun! We encourage everyone to engage with the farm by picking vegetables and flowers and experiencing the beauty of nature; we have community events such as potlucks and harvest celebrations; we have members who are photographers, bird watchers, herbalists and walkers; experienced cooks and those who are just learning. You’ll get delicious recipes to prepare your vegetables and you’ll get to know your farmer’s face to face, who are happy to see you and to answer any questions you may have.

5. CSAs are green Community supported agriculture encourages non-polluting farming practices such as organic growing methods. This type of farming also minimizes food waste by producing just the amount of food members need, with minimal unused surplus – and any surplus we have is donated to charitable food pantries and kitchens. Supporting your local farm also helps to conserve the land, agricultural heritage and beautiful natural resources of a historic farming legacy in Westfield.

6. CSAs are a win-win For both CSA members and farmers! As a shareholder, members are entitled to a wide variety of nutritious, freshly picked vegetables over an extended season (June – October) at an affordable price. For the farmer, knowing how many people to grow for permits efficient planning, seed ordering and harvest scheduling. All of this helps sustain the farm as an agricultural enterprise so that future generations will also be able to enjoy fresh, locally grown food!

Farm 2017 goals & pledges

Posted on January 12, 2017 by Connie

John and I just finished the first 2017 share distribution consisting of many root vegetables plus several recipes. A Yellow Stonehouse Farm CSA member, Melissa, made my coq aux vin recipe & posted a terrific picture of the dish on our Facebook page – see picture left. We are lucky – our CSA has many supporters & involved members – which brings me to our farm goals for 2017.

The foundation of our farm goals for 2017 is gratitude – which we will express by showing gratitude and returning kindness to members and supporters. We have much to be thankful for and will keep this top of mind in 2017 – and demonstrate by doubling down on appreciation for our members! So – Melissa, thank you for making the recipe and sharing it with us.

We also are excited and thankful to the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAP) for awarding us a matching enterprise grant of $10,000 for barn repairs and improvements. Not only are they helping us repair our 1840’s timber built barn, they are providing us with technical farm planning assistance.

Food trends are important to us so we were fascinated to see 2017 being touted as “vegetable-centric” and featured by many chefs, restaurants and cookbooks. Multi-colored vegetables are a big trend, with radishes usurping kale as the new favorite and squashes becoming the new favorite staple! All reasons for us to feel rather smug as last summer we anticipated these trends by growing many radishes, lots of colored vegetables and many types of squash – which we plan to duplicate in 2017!

Two more 2017 themes are Nourish and Nurture — realized through recipes encouraging health & wellness through food & herbalism. This is a labor of love, combining many interests and simultaneously enhancing the membership experience for the farm’s shareholders. We’re going to provide seasonal herbs as well along with information on health benefits and daily use as part of a healthy diet.

As an organic farm, we’re environmentally focused, and realize 2016’s drought was partly a result of the changing climate. In response, we have decided to become advocates for the protection of a scarce and precious resource – water. We are fortunate to have ample and accessible water – however, this can change anytime – so we’ll assert ourselves as stewards of these vulnerable resources. Westfield’s own water troubles are a red flag and we will be vigilant to protect the farm against contamination, pollution and climate impacts.

New research shows that organic farming – through crop diversity, cover cropping and low till practices – is one of the best ways agriculture can counter lack of rainfall versus monoculture’s susceptibility to drought. We will continue learning best practices to ensure our crops stay bountiful, delicious and healthy – despite droughts and other adverse conditions. And because we take our job of providing local organic food to our neighbors and members seriously, we plan to implement new ways of providing vegetables to more CSA members in 2017.

Finally, we pledge to share our farm – and the chance to relax and enjoy the lovely fields, hills and dales, smell the newly turned soil and mowed grass, watch the bees, birds & butterflies, revel in the beauty of the flowers, grasses and trees, and taste a freshly picked tomato or snap pea. We invite you to slow down and be mindful of the miracle of our planet, the farm’s place on it and how wonderfully amazing nature is.

Practicing mindfulness – being aware of your thoughts, emotions, & experiences on a moment-to-moment basis – is something you can do anywhere, but we invite you to do so here, at Yellow Stonehouse Farm.

Sharing, Storing and Preserving Food for the Winter

Posted on September 22, 2016 by Connie

Labor Day has come and gone, Summer is winding down, and winter is coming! As we indulge in the farm’s last delicious fresh organic vegetables, we also take the time to preserve and freeze vegetables to enjoy during the cold months. Items such as pesto, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, and vegetable mixes for soups and stews are just a few of our favorites and are such a treat on a snowy winter day. Thank goodness for freezers – while home canning is wonderful, it’s easier to freeze a few beans or mixed vegetables as part of the daily routine – and it’s satisfying to see the numbers of containers multiply in the freezer as the growing season ends.

Cooking delicious food is an interest many Yellow Stonehouse Farm CSA members share. At our recent farm potluck, members created dozens of deliscious dishes, while a frequent topic of conversation is what new vegetable they’ve tried or new recipe discovered. It’s such fun to trade recipes and cooking tips during the weekly pick-up hustle bustle or across the garden row while gathering quarts of cherry tomatoes and beans in the farm’s Pick-Your-Own gardens.

In earlier times, people would “cellar” produce – root vegetables and winter squashes, and other items such as garlic, onions and shallots. Many families had a special section in their basement or under the barn that was dark and below the freeze line to store large quantities of fall and winter vegetables to eat during the winter months.

Today, there is the Yellow Stonehouse Farm Winter CSA share! The farm stores vegetables for members and then distributes them from November through February. There are five distributions of root vegetables, such as beets, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, turnips, yams; winter squashes such as acorn and butternut and cold hardy vegetables such Brussel sprouts, cabbage and kale. We are particularly proud of our holiday distributions before Thanksgiving and Christmas so members have all the vegetables they need to make their favorite recipes for those special holiday meals.

If you’d like to get your own Winter CSA Share so you can enjoy our certified organic produce, we have a few remaining winter shares available. Check out our website or come see us in person – the farm market is open to the public Wednesday to Fridays from 3 – 6:30 pm & Saturday’s from 9 am – 2 pm until October 22^nd.

Why CSAs are so Great!

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Connie

CSA or Consumer Supported Agriculture, a model for connecting consumers to local farms, originally started in nearby Great Barrington, MA in the 1980’s. CSAs invite consumers to share the risks and rewards of their local farm who in turn provides fresh, and in our case, organically grown vegetables in exchange for an upfront membership pledge & payment.

CSAs are truly a win-win arrangement for both consumers and farmers! Consumers conveniently obtain a wide variety of freshly picked vegetables over an extended season (June – October) at an affordable price, know where their produce is coming from and how it was raised; while the farmer knows how much to grow to deliver the right amount directly to her customers, while cutting out the middleman to make a reasonable profit! This allows the farm to continue being a farm – rather than becoming just another tract of houses!

Today, there are over 13,000 CSAs nationwide which has led to a resurgence of small family owned farms throughout North America, reversing a decades long trend of decreasing farm ownership. CSAs also lead as producers of more nutritious, organic and sustainably raised food, as opposed to industrially raised food lower in nutrients and laden with pesticides and insecticides.

Yellow Stonehouse Farm CSA members not only receive an abundant share of many types of vegetables (we may have over 15 different items in a share) they also get access to the farms Pick Your Own (PYO) vegetable, flower and herb gardens. This includes vegetables such as peas, cherry tomatoes, beans, flowers, and herbs such as basil and parsley! We also grow garlic, ginger, turmeric & horseradish as part of our healthy food activities.

Some CSAs provide additional benefits. At Yellow Stonehouse Farm, for example, we find that connecting families & children with the land, demonstrating how food is grown and how delicious it is when it’s really fresh, is an important part of our mission. We host school groups for on-farm learning and lead nature walks to our certified Vernal Pool and Turtle Nesting area. We also make sure our members know what to do with all the different vegetables they receive by providing weekly recipes.

We still have a few Every Other Week Shares available for most pick-up days – but the sign-up period is closing soon. Please call us or stop by the farm Tuesday through Saturday. We also are selling fresh organic Asparagus!

On Being Organic – What it takes to get USDA Certified Organic

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Connie

In the last two columns I’ve laid out the reasons why Yellow Stonehouse Farm became a USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Certified Organic Farm and CSA. This week I’m writing about what it takes to become certified! You see, being USDA Certified Organic is a lot more than just saying your farm is organic.

To become USDA certified Organic, farms have to prove they have been following organic practices for 3 years. For that entire time, we had to maintain records on everything purchased and used at the farm as evidence it was either approved by the USDA or certified organic itself (i.e. seeds, compost, fertilizers, etc.), so that our crops in turn could become a certified organic product. In order for our vegetables to be organic, our entire supply chain has to be organic. Then – to get the certification – we have to complete a series of forms and affidavits attesting that our operation conforms to USDA organic regulations and prove everything we used was organic, and finally, submit to an examination by a “Certifier”, in our case Baystate Organic Certifiers.

If you think this sounds like a paperwork nightmare, you’re right! Becoming USDA Certified Organic is a painstaking process, requiring detailed paperwork and bookkeeping on top of working to find organic suppliers, and not using chemical short cuts to increase productivity (herbicides) and eliminate pests and disease (pesticides and fungicides).

Perhaps the most exasperating component of the process is the fee to become certified! In addition to the many hours of labor required for documentation and filing (which we figure is worth around $2000.00), we also had to pay an initial certification fee of over $1000.00 and then an annual re-certification fee every year thereafter. Isn’t it ironic that the farmers using healthy and sustainable practices have to pay a fee – while those who are using pesticides, insecticides and farm without regard for sustainability, don’t have to pay anything.

Despite the cost and time, being USDA Certified Organic is something we are proud of. Our certification provides our customers confidence that the vegetables we grow meet a set of organic criteria confirmed by an outside agency. We want a farm safe for us, our workers, members and the bees, butterflies, birds and animals we share the land with. We think the USDA Organic certification process provides the assurance that our vegetables are safe and healthy – not to mention delicious.