Heron Pond News! 1-22-2010
Hello Heron Pond Farmers!
Just a note to says thank you for all the great feedback about last winter share and give you some more information about those letters you should be getting by now in the mail. Not only is it always great to hear from all of you but it's nice to know when you are doing a good job. Jerry Monkman (share holder, photographer extraordinar) came out to watch us harvest the spinach fro the green house. He is working on a photo project about sustainability. The benefit to us is we get to see all his cool shots first! (done much better then the shots you get from us). So here are some photos of the harvest.
Spinach will be in at least the next two shares and may make it to more. The stuff you got last time was the best looking, the others have some spots. Greg and I are looking at better varieties because we are not going to spray spinach with even a certified organic product (give me spots on my spinach...give me back the birds and bee...please). The good news....lots of spinach to come.
The mailing we sent out has most of the information you need to register for the 2010 season. There is no due date on the form but we try to get all renewals done by the 15th of February. It is at that point that we really get going on getting new members so we like to have an idea of how many spots we have left. We also need to meet our expenses so the sooner you register the sooner we can put those funds to work for the 2010 season.
If you need to make a payment plan be sure to contact us sooner then later. We need to save your spot even if you are going on a plan. Once again, Heron Pond Farm does not believe that money should be the bar that block you access to local food. That being said we need money to run the farm but have always been able to work this out on a case by case basis.
Heron Pond Farms sponsor a share program is in the works. Last year we had four families receive free shares from Heron Pond Farm. This was done with your generous donations matched dollar for dollar by Greg and I. Last year we did this on the fly and no one got a tax deduction. This year we will partner with a non-profit so anyone donating can get a deduction. So everyone who is asking why the check box for sponsor a share is gone from the registration form will now know why. With the new system you will have to write your checks out to the non-profit, so you can use their tax id number for the deduction. When we have all these things together we will get back to you.
We need your help to get new members at all our locations, but Dover is the biggest push. It looks like the Dover pick up is coming together (unfortunately they lost three CSA's last year) but we need 30 shares to get it off the ground. Fifty shares would make it a solid CSA location. If you know anyone in the Dover, Rollinsford, Somersworth, South Berwick, Eliot, Durham, Madbury, Lee, or Barrington area looking for a CSA, this might be a good fit for them. Pass along our information to them our send us an e-mail. Lets bring local food back to Dover!
Eat Well!
Andre