You can now sign up for your 2015 Stone’s Throw Farm CSA Shares online! Fill out our new online sign-up form and then send or drop off your payment to us at 1420 Jefferson Street, Duluth, MN 55805. To take advantage of our “early-bird” discount, send full payment by March 10, 2015. This also is the date by which we stop holding 2015 shares for our returning farm members. In other words, we’re holding a spot for our 2014 farm members until March 10; after that, it’s first-come, first-served for all. New members can sign up before March 10, too. Use the same form, please. 
We know that 2015 is the year of the potato in Duluth; what else will the season bring? Sign up and find out! If you have any questions about our CSA shares, please feel free to contact me. Thanks.
Posts Tagged ‘CSA’
Sign-Up for Stone’s Throw Farm CSA Shares Online
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Community Supported Agriculture, CSA, how CSA works on January 28, 2015|
Bean Time
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged compost, CSA, kids, pastured pigs, weather on August 26, 2014|
It’s that time of year at Stone’s Throw Farm: farm members are getting a lot of green beans in their CSA shares, and some are starting to come out to pick their own beans for preserving. My nephews were here visiting my parents again recently, and Franklin (almost 6) helped me pick beans one day. All he needed was a “measuring stick bean” to help him determine if each bean was big enough to pick. Apparently he told my dad that next year, he’ll be able to pick all of the beans for me. In the meantime, I’m thankful that one of our farm members is a massage therapist!
Most of my time is spent picking cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, and so forth; my mom helps with picking and does a whole lot of weighing and bagging on harvest days (thanks, Mom). My dad takes care of the pigs and the field work so the show can go on.
The recent rains really got some veggies going, and today’s sun should agree with most everything. Too much of a good thing can be a downer, though; Sunday night we got over 2 inches of rain at the farm, and didn’t need a drop of it! The pigs are probably happy that they have a regular pond in their pen now, so that part is positive. They’re getting more damaged produce now (I know the beets in the second video look good from a distance, but trust me . . .), which they also enjoy.
Summer Solstice, without the summer
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged CSA, tomatoes, weather on June 22, 2014|
As usual, I’ve not quite finished transplanting the “hot crops” — tomatoes, peppers, squash, corn, melons, cukes, eggplant — and it’s time to start CSA share distributions. All that’s left is transplanting the eggplant into the hoophouse; I couldn’t do that until the peppers were out of the way. We have some sweet corn to transplant, too, but other than lettuce and some Brassicas, we’re getting close to done with transplanting!
I know I shouldn’t take photos on dreary days, but that seems to be when I have time to do so. I did get a few pics of our tomato plants before heavy winds and rain turned them into some pretty sad-looking specimens. It seems like every year, no matter when I transplant the tomatoes, there’s a big storm shortly thereafter. This year’s field tomato plants were not spared a rude introduction to the open air, but I’m hopeful that they’ll prove to be as resilient as the tomatoes have been every other year.
The hoophouse tomatoes are putting on some healthy new growth, the onions look pretty good, and everything else is perking along, albeit slower than I’d like. I’m thankful we had a few sunny days last week in which we got a lot done. Maybe now that it’s officially summer, there’ll be more sun?!?
On Saturday, I treated the piggies to some stale nuts my mom found in her cupboard — I think they like ’em. The pigs kept chewing on videographer Elden’s boots (they might like shoes and boots almost as much as nuts), so I kept trying to distract them while focusing on not getting my hands bitten off. (There probably should be one of those “Do not try this at home” warnings on this video.) I should also note that yes, I was wearing my winter hat on June 20, because that’s how cold the wind was in the fields here.
Onto the Stove, Into the Salad: Where do all the veggies go?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged community, Community Supported Agriculture, CSA, donations, Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Association, recipes on November 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Behold a beautiful autumn salad made up almost entirely of vegetables included in our final Stone’s Throw Farm summer share box of the season, way back in mid-October. Salad artist: friend and farm member Alisa DeRider. Looks good enough to eat!
I love it when farm members send me photos or stories of what they did with their veggies — otherwise I have no idea what happens to them when they leave the farm. For example, after she got her canning tomatoes, Jane sent me a photo of her Stone’s Throw Farm tomato sauce simmering on the stove (as well as enthusiastic & encouraging notes on a regular basis — not that she’s the only one to do so!). I’m happy to receive any and all recipes that people have tried and liked, and I really appreciate it when farm members respond to questions I’ve posed in the weekly newsletter (e.g., how do you like this new variety of ___?)
Once a year, I get to see and taste what the professionals would do with some of our produce at Farmers Take the Stove. Your friendly neighborhood chefs cook up the best local foods dinner around using ingredients donated by local food producers. Some of us amateurs bring our best dishes, too. This year’s meal is coming up on Thursday, November 14, at Peace Church in Duluth. Get all the details (or contribute to the cause if you can’t make it) at lssfa.org.
CSA members are the best
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged community, Community Supported Agriculture, CSA, Duluth News Tribune, financing, Local food, local food movement, pastured pigs on June 3, 2013| 1 Comment »
As if I wasn’t already convinced that CSA members are some of the best people on this earth, the Duluth News Tribune reports today that our across-the-road neighbors, Rick and Karola Dalen at Northern Harvest Farm, got some help from their CSA members in financing the balloon payment on their farm loan.
The DNT also points out that there’s still time to join a CSA! We still have 2 shares left at Stone’s Throw Farm, and 
we’ll have info on how to order our pastured pork soon.
Time is running out before the first leafy greens of summer are delivered, but there still are openings for additional members at some of the 15 Community Supported Agriculture farms in the Northland.
Community Supported Agriculture connects farmers with eaters to form a sustainable system for local food production and consumption. Most of the farms are organic and use far fewer chemicals to produce their food. They also are local, meaning less energy is used and less pollution expended to harvest the crop and bring it to consumers.
Members benefit by having direct access to fresh local food on a regular basis. And they also may gain a connection to the land and the source of their food.
The farmers gain by having a set income, no matter what the weather or market conditions bring. Members share in the rewards of a bountiful harvest but also share in the risk of farming.” – Duluth News Tribune
Thanks to John Myers and the rest of the staff at the DNT for bringing all this to the attention of their readers, and to Rick & Karola for sharing their story.
And now, a couple more pictures of our currently-muddy piggies (they were so clean for a while! But, they do love to root in the mud). As Elden said this weekend, “When did the pigs get big?”
Time to buy fresh produce – 2013 shares on sale!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Community Supported Agriculture, CSA, CSA shares, how CSA works, local food movement, Organic farming, wildlife on March 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Recently at the farm, Elden & I noticed several signs of winged predators.
Yup, it’s that time of year again. Even though there’s still snow on the ground, it’s time to buy fresh, locally grown produce . . . it’s just not quite time to eat said produce. Sign up for your 2013 Stone’s Throw Farm CSA share now, and enjoy the fruit of our labor starting in mid-June.
Soon the farm will be bustling again. I’ll start onions from seed next weekend . . . and once the work starts, there’s no stopping!
March to one or more of these events
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged community, Community Supported Agriculture, conferences, CSA, events, health, Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Association, Local food, local food movement, school lunch on February 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Friday & Saturday, March 8 & 9: Good Food Transforming our Region Summit
About the keynote:
Dr. [David] Wallinga applies a systems lens to think about health impacts of food and how it is produced, processed, packaged and distributed in today’s global, industrialized food system.”
About the workshops:
Through the lens of food, workshops will include topics such as economic development and jobs, farmer and producer networking, food access, policy advocacy, healthy food, research and infrastructure, food hubs, and farm to school.”
Thursday, March 14: FREE CSA Open House
Stop by the Zeitgeist Arts Lobby between 5-7 pm to:
- Meet local farmers (including ME!)
- Learn about your share options
- Choose the right CSA for your family
Friday, March 22: Farmers Take the Stage
Everyone is welcome at this much-anticipated annual event. In addition to great music by great farmers, there will be a silent auction, stories, humor and more.”
This event is a benefit for the non-profit Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Association.
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