This year we are once again offering a limited number of shares or subscriptions that entitle the holders to 22 weeks (not 20 as was previously indicated) of produce through our Hope Bay Farm Box or Community Supported Agriculture program.
** We are now fully subscribed.**
We will take names of folks interested in participating in the 2012 season.
Information about our box program is provided via the **updated** Hope Bay Farm CSA FAQ v.2 sheet. Please contact us at info(at)hopebayfarm.com if you are interested in signing up.
What is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)?
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) connects local farmers with local consumers. These consumers help cover the farmer’s operating expenses in exchange for shares of produce grown or raised. Shares are usually purchased via varying types of memberships or subscriptions.
As with any business, being a member of a CSA farm involves a certain amount of risk. Bad weather and other extenuating circumstances may limit production for a particular season. The shared risk is what helps to develop the sense of community between members and their farmer or farmers. Members are able to speak directly with their farmer, receive the freshest produce, and learn how it’s made. Member relationships are also cultivated through the sharing of knowledge and experience.
With CSA, farmers and growers have an assured market. This guarantee allows more time to focus on production rather than marketing and provides a fair return on their labor. Ultimately, participation in CSA farming helps to build stable local farming operations as well as local economies.
Where does the time go… only 1 week left in the box programme. It’s been a challenging but satisfying season. I’d be lying if I said I was sad to see it drawing to a close but I will miss the focus that it brings.. that and the satisfaction of growing good food and providing it to appreciative customers.
We’re looking forward to seeing y’all next Sunday for the Havest Potluck so we can thank you more directly and give thanks for a productive and tasty season!
Full Share Box: Dragon-tongue beans; salad mix; tomatoes; Chioggia beets; 1 large bunch Napoli carrots; 1 pattipan squash; 1 Japanese cucumber; and 1 mini cucumber.
Partial Share Box: Dragon-tongue beans; small bunch Chioggia beets; tomatoes; Mokum carrots; and 1 Japanese cucumber.
Full Share Box: Dragon-tongue beans; Napoli carrots; Chioggia beets; 2 boxes of tomatoes; 1/2 a cabbage; 1 pattipan squash; and a Japanese cucumber.
Partial Share Box: 2 boxes of tomatoes; 1 Carmen sweet pepper, 1 mini cucumber; and Dragon-tongue beans.
Full Share Box: 1.5 lbs Dragon-tongue beans; salad mix; tomatoes; 1 Carmen sweet pepper; large pattipan squash; 1 Japanese cucumber; 1 mini cucumber; and 1 bulb Fish Lake garlic.
Partial Share Box: Salad mix; 1 lb. Dragon-tongue beans; 1 small box of tomatoes; 2 mini cucumbers; and 1 pattipan squash.
Full Share Box: 1 lb. Dragon-tongue beans; 1 lb. green beans; tomatoes; Carmen sweet pepper; 1 lb. German butterball potatoes; Napoli carrots; 2 Japanese cucumbers; and a mini cucumber.
Partial Share Box: 1 lb. filet beans; tomatoes; 1 Japanese cucumber; 1 mini cucumber; and 1 bulb of Fish Lake garlic.
Another full offering. Our beans – all sorts – are now coming on strong, requiring us to pick every other day. The tomatoes continue to steadily ripen…
Next week is our annual fall fair. We are going to be selling produce the morning of the fair from the greenhouses across the street from the fair grounds – kind of an open (green)house as it were. Drop by and see what we’ve been up to and where many of your tomatoes, cucumbers, and basil has been grown.
Farmer D
**NOTE: Due to the Fall Fair next week’s boxes will be ready for pickup on Monday**
Full Share: 1 lb. German butterball potatoes; white currants; 1 lb. filet beans; Italian parsley; basil; scallions; tomatoes; and 3 mini cucumbers.
Partial Share: 1 lb. green beans; radishes; basil; scallions; tomatoes; and a mini cucumbers.
Full Share: Salad mix; 1 lb. dragon-tongue beans; multi-coloured beets; radishes; scallions; tomatoes; and 2 mini cucumbers.
Full Share: Salad mix; 1/2 lb. dragon-tongue beans; scallions; cherry tomatoes; and a mini cucumber.
Hello folks! Summer appears to have finally arrived with temperatures approaching the mid 20s. With the warmth we now have tomatoes, beans and squash coming on.
This week’s boxes have some fruit – white currants from our berry patch and transparent apples from our neighbours – Welcome Bay Farm.
I expect that the currants will provide a bit of a culinary challenge. We encourage you to use the farm website/blog to share your creations/ideas/recipes with your fellow ‘share-holders.’ We’ve been a bit remiss in our use of the website to share recipes and idea. The truth is that we’re just too busy. We’ve also been too busy to organize work bees and the like here on the farm – supportive activities that are part of most CSA/box programs.
We’d still love for this to happen. As a start, let us know if you would be interested/able to help out. We always could use some help weeding and cleaning up on the farm. Weekday mornings are best – Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays – but we’re open to other times as well.
It’s been a pretty challenging year for us – what with the weather and all. Farming – while one of the greatest jobs – is also one of the most challenging. One of the biggest challenges that we face – particularly around this time of year – is burnout. Working long hours – often alone – can get to you after awhile, especially if make the mistake of figuring out how much you are making per hour. For a small operation like ours, we just don’t produce enough to be able to take on additional staff.
Which is a long-winded way of saying we would welcome any additional help :).
Enjoy the fruits and veg of our labours!
Farmer D
Full Share Box: Salad mix; braising greens; white currants; transparent apples (from Welcome Bay Farm); 3 mini cucumbers; dragon-tongue beans; kincho scallions; zucchini; and carrots.
Full Share Box: Salad mix; braising greens; white currants; transparent apples (from Welcome Bay Farm); and a long-English cucumber.
Having the boxes ready for Sunday pickup worked well for us last week. We’re hoping that it worked for you as we continue it this week and for the remaining weeks.
One of the major challenges that we are dealing with this summer (besides the weather, weeds, and limited growing area) is labour – actually or our inability to support very much of it. At this time we are unable to grow enough to support the staffing compliment we need. So to deal with this, we are trying to become more efficient. One area that sucks quite a bit of our time is harvesting. By pairing our box harvest with the market harvest we basically eliminate a an extra harvest period and now can apply that saved time to other important tasks.
This week’s offerings feature tomatoes (they’re here!) and the first of our summer potatoes – the Lindzer an early-maturing, waxy potato most popular for boiling or making salads.
Full Share Box: Salad greens; Hakurei turnips; Lindzer deleketess potatoes; cherry tomatoes; 'eatible' flowers; carrots; and a long-English cucumber.
Partial Share Box: Carrots; Lindzer deleketess potatoes; tomatoes; and 2 mini cucumbers.
“Hi folks! Due to an unanticipated commitment this coming week’s boxes will be ready on Sunday July 24th (unless you hear otherwise). I hope this isn’t too much of an inconvenience. You’re welcome to pick them up at the usual time on Monday.”
It turns out the meeting was cancelled so we took the opportunity to take some time out and went and saw the new Harry Potter film in Sidney as a family!
Here’s this what’s on the menu this week. A bit more variety as the warm weather crops (slowly) come on.
Full Share Box: Salad greens; chard; lacinato kale; Hakurei turnips; summer squash; 3 mini cucs; basil; 'eatible' flowers and carrots.
Partial Share Box: Salad greens; Hakurei turnips; 1 baby summer squash; a long-English cuc; and carrots.
Another busy week filled with haying, harvest, weeding, delivering, fixing… The list of things that need immediate attention never seems to end.
Another full box this week. We’ve been absent from the weekend market for the past two weeks to ensure we have enough goodies for your boxes. We can’t seem to grow enough to satisfy the local market. A good problem to have!
More about how this challenge might be tackled in future posts…
Farmer D
Full Share: Salad mix; scallions; French breakfast radishes; carrots; small bunch Hakurei turnips; big bunch of basil; 2 mini cucumbers; and 1 long English cucumber.
Partial Share: Salad mix; carrots; small bunch Hakurei turnips; small bunch of basil; and 1 mini cucumber.
Hi folks! In order to get a basket of berries into your box this week we’re asking that you pick up your boxes a few days earlier (tomorrow – Saturday). The berries just won’t hold until Monday. Please let me know ASAP if this presents a problem. We’ve just picked the berries and they will last in the cellar likely until Sunday but after that there’s no guarantees.
Farmer D
Full Share Box: Strawberries; small bunch of carrots; salad mix; 2 small bunches of Hakurei turnips; rainbow chard; and a long English cucumber.
Partial Share Box: Strawberries; small bunch of carrots; small bag of salad mix; 1 small bunch of Hakurei turnips; and 2 mini cucumbers.
Posted 2 weeks late – but better late than never!
Full Share Box: Salad mix; French breakfast radishes; large bunch of Hakurei turnips; lacinato kale; garlic scapes; new potatoes; and two long English cucumbers.
Partial Share Box: New potatoes, French breakfast radishes; rainbow chard; small bundle of garlic scapes; and a long English cucumber.
Happy Summer! Now only if we could have summer temperatures… No worries, thanks to the polyhouses we are able to provide some summer crops ahead of schedule.
This week we have a number of new items: curly garlic scapes and long english cucumbers. We still have a store of new potatoes and of course, our ever-present salad greens. As the weather warms (we hope) we should be bringing you other new and delicious items.
Take care and eat well,
Farmer D
Full Share Box: Salad greens; new potatoes; rainbow chard; minicor carrots; garlic scapes; Genovese basil; and 1 tasty green cucumber.
Partial Share Box: Salad greens; new potatoes; garlic scapes; and 2 tasty green cucumbers.
Another week has come and gone. So much to do and so little time! The weather seems to be improving. It’s still unseasonably cool but at least it is dry. We keep reminding ourselves that it could be much, much worse. Our hearts go out to those farmers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba whose season has but all been lost due to flooding. It’s a tough business. Not for the faint of heart. And one that requires a strong community of support. We’re so grateful for your support…
One thing about the cool weather is that it is good for greens. So there’s lots of healthy green stuff in the box this week. We just pulled the potatoes out of the polyhouse late last week so that we could (finally!) plant the tomatoes. So there will be new potatoes for the next few weeks – oh, so good lightly cooked and served with butter and a sprinkle of sea salt!
Enjoy!
Farmer D
Full Share: Salad greens; new potatoes; Hakurei turnips; rainbow chard; lacinato kale; and French breakfast radishes.
Partial Share: Salad greens; new potatoes; Hakurei turnips; and rainbow chard.
The boxes are packed and ready to be picked up. The week we have new potatoes for everyone, as well as carrots, radishes and salad mix. The weather seems to be improving. It’s definitely drier but still not very warm. No worries. We continue to pray fro better weather but feel fortunate to have the new greenhouse as a backup.
Full Share Box: Salad mix; Hakurei turnips; carrots; French breakfast radishes; new red chieftain potatoes; rainbow chard medley.
Partial Share Box: Salad mix; French breakfast radishes; carrots; and new red chieftain potatoes.
Good full boxes this week as the weather seems to be returning to seasonal normals. Lots of greens. New potatoes and Hakurei turnips also finally appearing.
New to the boxes this year are brazing greens – actually larger red and green mizuna – that can be eaten raw or cooked. Search ‘brazing greens’ on the internet for lots of creative and tasty ways to prepare them. Feel free to post the good ones to the website via the comments form.
Full Share Box: Salad mix; brazing greens; Hakurei turnips; rhubarb; French breakfast radishes; and new Red Chieftain potatoes.
Partial Share Box: Salad mix; brazing greens; French breakfast radishes; and Napoli and Minicor carrots.
Lots of fresh veggies in the box this week – eliminating the need to pad boxes with eggs (sorry!). Our poor weather troubles continue to challenge us. Apparently this is the coldest April and May since 1950. The cold and wet conditions generally don’t promote growth in most plants. They also favour our arch-nemesis – the small milky garden slug (Deoceras reticulatum), which has been a real problem for our germinating carrots, and brassicas.
Thank goodness for the big greenhouse, which is now fully planted and from which we are now tentatively harvesting basil. Without this dry, warm growing environment I’m not sure what we would be able offer later in the season. With it – barring some sort of ‘act-of-God’ – we should be able to provide a reasonable supply of warm season veggies.
Full Share Box: Salad greens; rhubarb; minicor and Napoli carrots; basil medley (Siam Queen, Genovese, and globe basil); edible flowers; French breakfast radishes; cilantro; and bay leaves.
Partial Share Box: Salad greens; minicor and Napoli carrots; chives; and French breakfast radishes.
Almost a month has past since we started this journey together. I hope you’re all still enjoying the rhubarb and eggs. If the weather would cooperate we’re hoping to bring you some other types of produce. Only time will tell…
Full Share Box: 1 doz. eggs, rhubarb, salad greens, Bionda chard, carrots, cilantro, chives, and eatible flowers.
Partial Share Box: 1/2 doz. eggs, rhubarb, salad greens, carrots, and eatible flowers.
Full Share Box: 1 doz. eggs, salad greens, rhubarb, French breakfast radishes, baby Napoli carrots, and chives.
Partial Share Box: 1/2 doz. eggs, salad greens, rhubarb, and radishes.
Another week of produce is ready and waiting for you to pick up. The weather continues to be challenging. Lots of rain and cool temperatures which is great for slugs but not for most seedlings. It’s also delayed our final soil pickup for the raised beds in our greenhouse.
Anywho, enough griping. Enjoy the grub and send a prayer skyward for better, drier weather.
Farmer D
ps. The pot of basil is to challenge your growing skills and give you something living to take care of and enjoy. Put the pot of basil on a sunny windowsill – preferably inside. Water only sparingly (too much will kill it). Pick leaves as desired to flavour dishes.
Full Share Box: Mixed greens, rhubarb, sorrel, chives, garlic bulb, 1 doz. eggs, and a pot of Genovese basil.
Partial Share Box; Salad greens, rhubarb, 1/2 doz. eggs, and a pot of Genovese Basil
Hope Bay Farm shareholder, Jenn Galliford, picking up her first box from the root cellar.
We’re back! Mother Nature hasn’t been too kind to us lately – what with this cold, wet spring. But the weather and the slugs haven’t been able to stop us from providing the first of many boxes of produce. We took time away from prepping our new digs at the greenhouse across from the Community Hall to harvest and pack your greens and veggies. They’re all safe inside your appropriately sized and shaped boxes down in the cool root cellar – ready to be picked up and eaten by you and yours!
Full Share Produce: Rhubarb; 1 dox. eggs; 3 Korean Red garlic bulbs; baby greens (Asian greens on top); sorrel; and bunches of over-wintered leeks and scallions.
Partial Share Produce: Rhubarb; 1/2 doz. eggs; baby greens (Asian greens on top); and 2 bulbs of Korean Red garlic.
