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Ten Mile Creek Farm - Community Supported Agriculture

(My ToledoTalk.com post from 2007. We were members of the Shared Legacy Farms CSA from 2008 through 2012. Great food, but it became too much for the two of us. We buy produce from local farmers markets.)

Description about a September 17, 2007 Metroparks Toledo field trip titled Salsa and Sustainability :

What does Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) mean? Tour the Ten Mile Creek Farm farm with locally active CSA farmer Robin Parker and see how sustainable farming methods protect our water and soils while providing the best quality local produce. Taste the salsa, fresh picked and organic!

Ten Mile Creek Farm

(The following text is from the farm's brochures.)

Fresh Vegetables and Herbs - Farm Fresh Produce Delivered To Your Door

What is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)?

CSA is a relationship of mutual support and commitment between a local farmer and community members who pay the farmer an annual membership fee to cover production costs of the farm. In turn, members receive a weekly share of the harvest during the local growing season.

You will know your produce dollar goes directly to the people who plant, tend and harvest your food. You will be supporting responsible farming methods that protect soil resources and water quality and assure you high quality, fresh produce.

What is a share?

A "share" is usually enough to feed a family of 4 to 5. "Half shares" are also available and usually feed a family of 2 to 3. The membership fee is paid at the beginning of the season and in return you will receive a weekly delivery of in season produce, the day it is harvested. An approximate growing season runs 18-22 weeks, roughly from mid-June to the end of October. The membership fee for a half share is $250 and a full share is $330.

CSA Background

CSA began in the early 1960s in Germany, Switzerland and Japan as a response to concerns about food safety and the urbanization of agricultural lands.

• In 1965, mothers in Japan started the first CSA project, called teikei in Japanese, which translates meaning "partnership" or "cooperation." The more philosophical translation means "food with the farmer's face on it."

• CSA began in the U.S. on two east coast farms in 1986 and has grown to over 1,000 farms across the country.

You Will Receive:

• fresh, contamination free vegetables and herbs delivered to you on the day of harvest

• pay close to supermarket price for fresh produce without the hassle of driving to the supermarket

• know where your food is grown, who grows it and have the opportunity to participate in the growing process

• have the opportunity to support a viable, agriculture project, preserve local farmland and contribute to the local economy

• have the opportunity to gain knowledge of growing food and stewardship of the land

Available Produce and Projected Timetable

Vegetables
spinach - June
radishes - June
lettuce - June
kale - June
peas - June
onions - June, August
broccoli - July
beets - July, August
green/red peppers - July, August
cabbage - August, September
zucchini - July, August
green beans - July, August
cucumbers - July, August
eggplant - August
tomatoes - July, August, September
carrots - August, September
potatoes - July, August
acorn squash - September, October
pumpkins - October
popcorn - October
sweet corn [projected date not listed]

Herbs
(projected timetable for the herbs is June, July, August)
sweet basil
cilantro
chives
parsley
dill
tarragon
sage

Ten Mile Creek CSA Winter Season

An approximate growing season for the winter months runs roughly from mid-November to the end of April. The membership fee for a half share is $200 and a full share is $280. A full share is usually enough to feed a family of 4-5. A half share is usually enough to feed a family of 2-3.

The winter garden succeeds by combining the technology of climate modification with the biology of cool-season vegetables. By using two layers of protection to temper the cold weather, cool-season vegetable varieties are grown in an unheated greenhouse within cold frames.

Cool-season vegetables include:
spinach
carrot
chard
leeks
parsely
scallions
kale
mache
mustard greens
chives
endive
escarole
arugula
kohlrabi
radicchio
watercress

These plants are able to survive and grow in cold temperatures to provide members with fresh greens for the winter.

Contact

Ten Mile Creek Farm
Berkey, OH
Robin Parker - robinkay1 [at] msn [dot] com

May 14, 2006 Toledo Blade story titled Fresh food, from the farm to your table.

As one of 25 shareholders in nearby TenMile Creek Farm in Lucas County, she'll get a basket with enough to feed her family of four, including two young adult children, every week through October.

This is the second summer she'll enjoy such bounty, grown without chemicals and transported just a few miles to her home. Some of the produce she received last summer was new to her, such as various greens, but she learned how delicious they were when chopped and steamed with garlic or onions.

The McCormicks are participating in Community Supported Agriculture, a grass-roots trend that's embraced by an estimated 1,200 to 1,500 farms across the country, and many more internationally. Known as CSA, it is simply a relationship between local farmers and community members who pay the farmers an annual membership fee to cover the cost of seeds and production. Farmers plant a wide diversity of crops that will ripen from spring to late fall, and in return, members receive food harvested at peak freshness and flavor.

Robin Ford-Parker grew up on the Berkey farm that's been in her family for 150 years. She learned about community-supported farms when researching a paper for her degree in environmental sciences at Lourdes College.

She had three customers in 2004, 19 last year, and this year has 25 who collect their baskets at Toledo Botanical Garden or the farm. She charges $330 for a full share, and $250 for a half share, which is enough for two adults. She starts many plants in her small greenhouse and sows more by hand in three gardens totalling about an acre.

Ohio has 33 CSAs, Michigan has 41, and Indiana has 12, according to Wilson College's Robyn Van En Center for CSA Resources. The top three states for CSAs are New York, with 107, California, with 81, and Wisconsin and Washington, each with 63.

Related Web site: http://www.localharvest.org

Arbor Wiki

Article about Community Supported Agriculture on the Ann Arbor Wiki.