Big Woods Farm CSA

Projected share pick up in Minneapolis to begin Thursday, June 16th, from 5 pm to 6:30 pm; definite date and times will be posted by the end of May/beginning of June, 2011. The address is 5117-Woodlawn Blvd., which is simply an extension of 27th Ave. S. and is one block north of the previous pick up location.   Look for the green Big Woods Farm sign  in the front yard.  Please park on the street and walk around to the backyard.  If you have little ones or have difficulty with stairs, there is one parking  space in the alley.

Chicken and/or maple syrup share delivery will be available also .  Contact Rae Rusnak at L&R Poultry and Produce to find out more.

Posted under Announcements, Farm News on June 14th 2010
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Projected share pick up at Valley Natural Foods to begin on Thursday, June 16th, 2011, from 4:30 to 9:00pm.  Definite date and times will be posted by the end of May, 2011.   See the map to Valley Natural Foods for directions.

At  Valley Natural Foods, you will be picking up a pre-packed, waxed cardboard box from the produce department.  The boxes will be stacked in the produce section towards the rear of the department.  Your box will be labeled with your last name(s) and “Big Woods Farm”.

There is no need to check-in with an Coop employee – simply take your box, though if you need assistance they are glad to help.  The following week please bring back your empty, carefully broken-down box and tuck it behind the stack of that week’s full boxes or give it to a produce department employee; they will give them back to us to be used again.   Unclaimed boxes left at the end of the day will be donated to coop employees as storage overnight would be difficult.  If you know ahead of time that you will miss a pick up day and would like your share that week to be donated to the food shelf,  just let us know by the day before.

As part of Valley Natural Food’s mission to support local farms, they offer their space as a drop site for several CSA farms – we greatly appreciate this and hope you will enjoy the convenience of doing some grocery shopping there when picking up your Big Woods Farm box.

Splitting a share? Please note, if you are splitting your share that we don’t put each half in separate boxes; you will need to decide how to divide it up with your share partner.  Some folks take turns picking up the share every other week, and others like to meet either at the coop or each other’s home and divvy things up weekly.  When we pack your box we do our best to give you an even number of everything when possible, to ease splitting ( for instance, two smaller cabbages rather than one larger) or we will give you larger items (ie watermelon) two weeks in a row, as long as the garden cooperates.

Posted under Announcements, Farm News on June 11th 2010
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Share pickup at the Just Food Coop starts on Monday, June 14, 4:00-9:00 pm and Thursday June 17, 4:00-9:00 pm. See the map to the Northfield Just Food Coop for directions.

At  Just Food Coop, you will be picking up a pre-packed, waxed cardboard box from the produce department.  The boxes will be stacked in the produce section near the front door for the first few hours, or later in the evening in the walk-in cooler.  Your box will be labeled with your last name(s).

There is no need to check-in with an Coop employee – simply take your box, though if you need assistance they are glad to help.  If you come later in the evening and don’t find any boxes stacked in the produce section, find a produce employee and tell them you are here to pick up your Big Woods Farm share – they’ll get your box from the produce cooler.  The following week please bring back your empty, carefully broken-down box and tuck it behind the stack of that week’s full boxes.

As part of Just Food Coop’s mission to support local farms, they offer their space as a drop site for several CSA farms – we greatly appreciate this and hope you will enjoy the convenience of doing some grocery shopping there when picking up your Big Woods Farm box.

Splitting a share? Please note, if you are splitting your share that we don’t put each half in separate boxes; you will need to decide how to divide it up with your share partner.  Some folks take turns picking up the share every other week, and others like to meet either at the coop or each other’s home and divvy things up weekly.  When we pack your box we do our best to give you an even number of everything when possible, to ease splitting ( for instance, two smaller cabbages rather than one larger) or we will give you larger items (ie watermelon) two weeks in a row, as long as the garden cooperates.

Posted under Announcements, Farm News on June 9th 2010
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Share pickup at the farm starts on Monday, June 14, 4:00-6:30 pm. See the farm map for directions.

Upon arriving at the pickup site, sign in on the member sheet – it is helpful for David and Laurie to know when all the members have come and gone.  There may be other announcements near the sign-in sheet as well.

At your first pickup, you will receive a wooden 1/2 bushel basket which you should use to pick up your share and bring back each week (Big Woods Farm does not expect perfection – if you forget your basket one week, one will be lent to you!).

Now is when the real fun starts!  The produce will be set out much like a farmer’s market, with bulk bins of produce and signs indicating how much you should take for a share (e.g., 1 bag potatoes, a head of cauliflower, etc.).  Simply follow the directions and read the signs and you are home free.

Things to do for produce pickup at the farm:

1) Bring an assortment of plastic bags with you.  The bags separate the different items and contain the drips of water and stray bits of dirt.

2) Ask David and Laurie what’s new at the farm.  It’s a lot of fun to hear how the vegetables are doing.  They can also give you a heads up on what’s likely to be appearing next week.

3) Talk to the other farm members you see at the pickup.  If you don’t know what something is, or how to use it, ask someone!

Splitting a share?

We let you decide what works best; there are two basic ways to split a share:

1)  Take turns picking up the share every other week. This has two things going for it.  The first is that you’ll have plenty of produce during the week you pick up. The second is that you just have to pick up every other week and don’t have to make arrangements with your splitting partner.  The downside to this arrangement is that you won’t have much (if any) produce left.

2)  Pick up each week and divide the share weekly. This has the benefit of giving you some produce every week.  The downside is that you may end up with odd amounts of things – like three beets.  However, a little bartering with your partner can yield good results (“we’ll take the six beets this week, you can have the broccoli”).  If you are good friends with the person you are splitting with, this gives you a good reason to see each other weekly,  either to pick up the share together, or to split it later.

“We are splitting a share with another couple.  Do we need to pick up the entire share at once,  or     can each of us pick up our half share?” Who ever arrives first should go through the line and take the entire share.  Leave your partner’s half  in a basket (you each get a basket) under the sign-in table, with their name on a piece of scratch paper.  It’s helpful to leave them a note (i.e. “look under table!”)  on the sign-in sheet too.

Posted under Announcements, Farm News on June 9th 2010
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