Cherry Ridge Farm Enrollment

NO FRILLS!! Thank you for your interest in the Cherry Ridge Farm Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program! You can also find information about our program on our Local Harvest listing which is http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M16788. At the bottom of this page there is a Sign Up Form. Forward to us your choice and then send us a check.

When you purchase a share in Cherry Ridge Farm CSA, once a week during our 2009 season you will receive a variety of fresh, seasonal vegetables delivered to your town. The advantages of this program are many: You will enjoy incredibly fresh produce that has been grown in an optimal, sustainable and healthy manner. We guarantee you will notice the taste difference. You will be supporting a local farm and farming practices that are sustainable for the environment. We believe you also will have fun with this program. We involve our members in the operation of the CSA, relying on members to occasionally help with harvest and transport of food from the farm to town, and most members find this to be an invaluable part of their experience. As you get to know us, the farm, and the CSA, you will gain a new level of insight about how your food is produced and where it comes from. Finally, this program may well change the way you eat, making you more mindful of seasonal food options, and stretching you to try (and fall in love with!) new vegetables that you would not have encountered otherwise.

You may be wondering, what exactly is a CSA Program? CSA programs in their purest form involve customers financing a farming operation for a season, assuming the risks and rewards of the farm’s production, and receiving a share in the harvest. There are many variations on this model. In addition to the many benefits to the customer, the important benefits for the farmer include a committed customer base and a source of working capital early in the season. Instead of spending a great deal of time marketing throughout the season, the farmer is able to sell “shares” early in the year, and then spend more time during the growing season focusing on the quality and variety of the crops.

The CSA model is wonderful for both consumers and farmers, but it is different from how you may be accustomed to purchasing your food. We have taken great care to make this program convenient and satisfying for you, while also feasible and advantageous for us as farmers. Here are the details you should know before purchasing a share.

Dates and Vacation Stops: The CSA program harvest will begin in mid May and last for 29 weeks. Your share includes 27 weeks of vegetable deliveries, which provides you with the opportunity to schedule vacation skips for two weeks due to travel, vacation, etc.

Share Size: We offer two share sizes: a full share and a half-share. We leave it up to you to decide the right size for your household. Most of our half-shares are purchased by two adults with maybe two small children, and our full-shares are sized for families with teenage children or enough to feed four adults. We do not offer quarter shares, but encourage single people or light eaters to split a half-share with a friend.

What’s in the Share? Part of the agreement is that as farmers we are able to distribute the harvest of those crops we have available. The members do not choose their weekly vegetables. Each week your share will include a variety of whatever is in season; usually 5-6 different vegetables. We do our best not to inundate you with too much of one vegetable, and aim to provide you with 4-5 meals-worth of vegetables. You may still want or need to purchase additional seasonal vegetables at the farmers’ market or other sources, and will always need to source out-of-season vegetables at the grocery store. If you communicate with us in advance, we could even add extra vegetables if you should have company and wish to buy extra items as available. The charts below approximate our seasonal variety, and give an example of what might be in your share in any one week.

May-June

May and June are a time for many cool-weather and quick-maturing crops, such as:

Asparagus, Beets, Bok Choy, Michilli (Chinese cabbage), Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Cilantro, Chives, Kale, Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Salad mix, Parsley, Snow Peas, Sugar Snap Peas, Radishes, Scallions, and Spinach. Some of these crops continue on into the summer; lettuce is usually available through most of the summer until very hot weather sets in, and certain herbs are available most of the season that you can freeze or dry for use later.

July-August

July and August bring heat-loving crops such as:

Green beans, Onions, Basil, Carrots, Swiss Chard, Beets, Summer Squash, Sweet Corn, Tomatoes, Sweet Peppers, Artichokes, Celery and Eggplant. Sometimes we begin harvesting potatoes and sweet potatoes in the summer. Also, we usually harvest a variety of melons starting in the summer. Some of these summer crops continue on into the fall and even until frost.

September-October-November

Beginning in September we return to some cooler weather greens such as:

Lettuce, and then add Salad mix, Kale, Spinach and Collards as the temperatures drop. Leeks usually come into season in the fall. Fall Broccoli is a treat, as are root crops such as Turnips (roots and greens), Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, fall Radishes, Beets (roots and greens), Celery root and Carrots.

Please be aware that we are working with Mother Nature. Crop failures happen, as do unexpected bumper harvests. We promise you will get lots of wonderful food, and we encourage you to be flexible and try new things. We do calculate the value in each week’s harvest and try to balance out the season so that everyone gets more than they subscribe for. Some weeks may go over budget a bit and others may fall short. Last year’s subscribers received about $100 more than they paid for.

Sample Share For the week of July 26, 2008
Half Share	Full Share
½ lb Baby summer squash	1 lb Baby summer squash
1 bunch Beets	2 bunches Beets
1 head Lettuce	2 heads Lettuce
½ lb Beans (green)	1 lb Beans (green)
½ dozen ears Corn	1 dozen ears Corn
¾ lb Swiss Chard	1 lb Swiss Chard
2 lb Tomatoes	4 lbs Tomatoes

Transporting the Produce: Our members share the responsibility of transporting the food from the farm to a convenient “drop-off point” in their town. This means each member will be scheduled to come to the farm 1 or 2 times during the season to pick up the food for the members in their town, and deliver it to the pick-up location. (This does not apply to Rockbridge Baths/Middlebrook members who pick up their food at the farm every week.)

Working Share: We offer and encourage you to consider purchasing a working share. It is essential to the farm’s operations that a majority of members are working members, and we make only a limited number of non-working shares available. We find that the working share experience leaves customers feeling more knowledgeable about, and connected to, “their” farm and their food, and happier with their CSA experience. Working on the farm really is quite fun and you will meet lots of interesting people.

Working shareholders typically assist with the harvest and packing of crops on distribution days, and may help with other farm chores. They often come to work on the farm on the days when they are scheduled to transport food. Full share members who choose a working share commit to 24 hours of labor, while half-share members commit to 12 hours of labor during the course of a season. You may not be able to crawl around in the fields but you can maybe weigh out, wash and bag the vegetables if you have unwilling knees and joints. There are also other jobs available that do not involve physical labor, such as working on the recipe file or organizing a field day event.

Non-Working Share: For an additional cost a limited number of non-working shares are available.

Picking Up Your Vegetables: You may pick up your vegetables in Lexington at Woods Creek Grocery and Café, on Lime Kiln Road; in Staunton at Cranberry’s Grocery & Eatery on New Street; or at the farm in Rockbridge Baths on Walkers Creek Road. Please note the change in delivery days from the 2008 program.

To Sign Up: To become a member, please fill out the sign-up form and mail it, along with a $50 deposit, to member Angie Fafatas, as indicated below; OR email the form and mail your deposit separately. Please do not send money to the farm. We must have both the sign up form and your deposit to hold your subscription; it is not sufficient to send an email stating that you would like a share. We advise you to join quickly as limited space is available. Please check with us to determine if shares are still available.

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Payment: Prices, which include applicable sales tax, are listed below, and information on where to send your payment is included on the sign-up form. If you can pay the full price of your share upon sign-up, please do so. Pre-payment is important because it provides the working capital needed to purchase seed, supplies, and pay employee salaries for work that begins months in advance of the first harvest. If you cannot pay the entire amount at sign-up, you may use an installment plan for which there is a $20 service charge added.

You may print this form out and mail it to us, or you may fill it out electronically and e-mail it to us.
If filling electronically, bold / highlight your selections rather than checking boxes.

Please mail to: Cherry Ridge Farm, c/o Angie Fafatas, 108 Oakview, Lexington, VA 24450 (540-463-4875)

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Quantity	DESCRIPTION
	Full Share w/24 hours labor - ONE payment of $1281.25
	Half Share w/12 hours labor - ONE payment of $640.62
	Full Share non-working - ONE payment of $1486.25
	Half Share non-working - ONE payment of $743.13

Quantity	DESCRIPTION
	Full Share w/24 hours labor - TWO payments of $650.63
	Half Share w/12 hours labor - TWO payments of $330.31
	Full Share without labor - TWO payments of $753.13
	Half Share without labor - TWO payments of $381.57

Revised: 06/22/09