KY CSA farms share news, photos of season By Brett Wolff, Extension Specialist, Center for Crop Diversification We talk a lot about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) dur- ing the sign-up period (winter and early spring), but late summer and early fall may be the very best time to be a CSA member. If you’re not familiar with CSA, it is a subscription or ‘share’ based service where customers pay at the beginning of the season and then receive a weekly ‘share’ of products through the season. In addition to helping farmers ac- cess capital early in the season when they need it, it also invites the customer to share in the risk and reward of seasonal growing and eating. We asked as many CSA farms as we could from across the Com- monwealth to provide a recent weekly ‘share’ picture. We also asked them to summarize their season (so far) in just one sen- tence. If this kind of program appeals to you, some of these farms offer fall or even winter CSA shares. Others will be tak- ing new members in the win- ter and late spring. Contact the farms directly for questions about their share options. See Pages 2 and 3 for more photos and quotes, and the digital supplement here. What’s inside Free post-harvest workshop ... 4 Grant opportunities ............ 5 Coming up August 30 - Post-Harvest Handling Workshop, 6:30- 8 p.m. EDT, at the Letcher County Extension Office, Whitesburg, KY. For more information, see Page 4. Sept. 6 - Maximizing High Tunnel Production field day, 9 a.m.-noon EDT, Good Thymes Organic Farm, Williamsburg, KY. Organic Association of Kentucky (OAK) field day. For details, click here. Sept. 18 - Organic Hemp Production and Research Field Day, 1-3:30 p.m. at KY State University’s Harold R. Benson Research and Dem- onstration Farm, Frankfort. OAK field day. Click here for details. Sept. 22 - Mountain Fest Field Day, UK Robinson Cen- ter, Jackson, KY. For more information, visit https:// rcars.ca.uky.edu/event/ mountain-fest-field-day. August 2018 Brett Wolff, Editor Christy Cassady, Editor/Designer Educational programs of Kentucky Cooperative Extension serve all people regardless of economic or social status and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, marital status, genetic information, age, veteran status, or physical or mental disability. University of Kentucky, Kentucky State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Kentucky Counties, Cooperating. Struttin Rooster Farm photo “This year has been a wonderful learn- ing experience where we’ve met some awesome people and had a great time serving our customers!” Struttin Rooster Farm (Morgantown, KY) www.facebook.com/StruttinRoosterFarm/ Cooperave Extension Service University of Kentucky Department of Horculture N-318 Agricultural Science Center Lexington KY 40546-0091 (859) 257-1477 Fax: (859) 257-2859 extension.ca.uky.edu
Transcript
KY CSA farms share news, photos of seasonBy Brett Wolff, Extension Specialist, Center for Crop Diversification
We talk a lot about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) dur-ing the sign-up period (winter and early spring), but late summer and early fall may be the very best time to be a CSA member. If you’re not familiar with CSA, it is a subscription or ‘share’ based service where customers pay at the beginning of the season and then receive a weekly ‘share’ of products through the season. In addition to helping farmers ac-cess capital early in the season when they need it, it also invites the customer to share in the risk and reward of seasonal growing and eating.
We asked as many CSA farms as we could from across the Com-monwealth to provide a recent weekly ‘share’ picture. We also asked them to summarize their season (so far) in just one sen-tence. If this kind of program appeals to you, some of these farms offer fall or even winter CSA shares. Others will be tak-ing new members in the win-ter and late spring. Contact the farms directly for questions about their share options. See Pages 2 and 3 for more photos and quotes, and the digital supplement here.
Coming upAugust 30 - Post-Harvest Handling Workshop, 6:30-8 p.m. EDT, at the Letcher County Extension Office, Whitesburg, KY. For more information, see Page 4.
Sept. 6 - Maximizing High Tunnel Production field day, 9 a.m.-noon EDT, Good Thymes Organic Farm, Williamsburg, KY. Organic Association of Kentucky (OAK) field day. For details, click here.
Sept. 18 - Organic Hemp Production and Research Field Day, 1-3:30 p.m. at KY State University’s Harold R. Benson Research and Dem-onstration Farm, Frankfort. OAK field day. Click here for details.
Sept. 22 - Mountain Fest Field Day, UK Robinson Cen-ter, Jackson, KY. For more information, visit https://rcars.ca.uky.edu/event/mountain-fest-field-day.
August 2018Brett Wolff, EditorChristy Cassady, Editor/Designer
Educational programs of Kentucky Cooperative Extension serve all people regardless of economicor social status and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, creed,religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, maritalstatus, genetic information, age, veteran status, or physical or mental disability. University of Kentucky,Kentucky State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Kentucky Counties, Cooperating.
Struttin Rooster Farm photo
“This year has been a wonderful learn-ing experience where we’ve met some awesome people and had a great time serving our customers!” Struttin Rooster Farm (Morgantown, KY)www.facebook.com/StruttinRoosterFarm/
Cooperative Extension Service University of KentuckyDepartment of HorticultureN-318 Agricultural Science CenterLexington KY 40546-0091(859) 257-1477Fax: (859) 257-2859extension.ca.uky.edu
“This season has given us a run for our money, with snow in April, HEAT in June, but it’s turned out to be bountiful.”S & L Farms (Cynthiana, Kentucky)www.facebook.com/S-L-Farms-245833028858343/
“Our customers are really enjoying being able to custom-ize their farm share each week — almost as easy as shopping on Amazon.”
“The season has provided some growing challenges — especially with that early heat wave — but overall, it’s been great!”North Farm KY (Lexington, KY)w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m /northfarmky/northfarmlex.wordpress.com/
S & L Farms photo
Teal Tractor CSA photo
“Steady temps, timely rain, and no storm damage - we have had a successful weekly share harvest for the 2018 season.”Teal Tractor CSA (Lexington, KY)
“This is arguably the toughest spring season for market farmers in our lifetimes, but we stayed with it long enough to reach a very bountiful harvest this summer, rolling out some new improvements for our CSA members, and they tell us they really appreciate the option to get more of what the family likes, and they appreciate the investments we’ve made to improve their CSA experience.”Elmwood Stock Farm (Georgetown, KY) www.facebook.com/ElmwoodStockFarm/www.elmwoodstockfarm.com/
Elmwood Stock Farm photo
“The weather this year has thrown us multiple curveballs: early hot spring and numerous summer rains have stressed crops. The beauty of the CSA model is when one crop suffers, usually another thrives.”University of Kentucky CSA (Lexington, KY)
“Been an adventurous season!”Barbour’s Farms, LLC (Canmer, KY)www.facebook.com/BarboursFarmllc/www.barbourfarmllc.com/
“This season has been a fairly normal year with some good and some bad.”Wurth Farms (Paducah, KY)www.facebook.com/wurthfarms/www.wurthfarms.net/
Wurth Farms photo
“It’s been just a little bit hot and a little bit dry, but the bugs aren’t too bad, so that is nice.”Rains & Sun Hilltop Farm (Independence, KY)
“It’s been a year of weather extremes, with cold early on, then extreme heat, and now record rainfall, but the crops are hearty and we’ve managed to do our best and put out a high variety of items every week.”
Rootbound Farm (Crestwood, KY)
Rains & Sun Hilltop Farm photo
www.facebook.com/RainsandSun/www.rainsandsun.com/
Barbour’s Farms, LLC photo
“The growing season has been a particularly challenging one right out of the gate: the ground not completely drying out until late spring, the unrelenting heat on spring green/cole crops, but we’ve been able to financially weather these challenges with a solid and well-served CSA membership.” Think Little CSA (Scottsville, KY)
End of summer brings warmer and wetter than average weatherBy Joshua Knight, Senior Extension Associate,HorticultureThe forecasts predict a high likelihood of warmer and wetter than average weather for the first half of September, and that trend is expected to contin-ue throughout the month. The trend of “warmer and wetter than average” has been consistent throughout the summer, but precipitation patterns may change as we move into the fall.
Currently conditions in the pacific are consistent with the “ENSO-neutral” designation (neither El Niño or La Niña), but atmospheric monitoring by the Climate Prediction Center calls for a 60% chance of developing a weak El Niño in fall, rising to 70% for winter 2018-2019. The primary effect of this pattern is the location of the jet stream that crosses the continental U.S., with an El Niño jet stream being more persistent and “straighter” from west to east, with generally milder weather and less precipitation across the upper Midwest and to the north of Kentucky, with increased precipitation to the east and south of Kentucky.
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From Grow Appalachia
A free Post-Harvest Handling Workshop will be held on Thursday, August 30th, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. EDT at the Letcher County Extension Office in Whitesburg, KY. The workshop will cover safety and quality control for fruit and vegetable grow-ers. The workshop will cover:• Techniques for harvesting produce.• Considerations for harvesting different types of produce for maximum quality, shelf life and customer satisfaction. Root crops + Fruiting crops + Leafy Greens• How to store and transport your produce.
Free Post-Harvest Handling Workshop offered this week• Food safety considerations.• Licenses and certifications you need for products. Presenters will be Matt Wilson and Chris McKen-zie of Grow Appalachia, in partnership with Letcher County Extension. Fruit and vegetable growers who are currently selling or wish to sell at farmers markets, restaurants, roadside stands, or local institutions such as schools and hospitals are encouraged to attend.The Letcher County Extension Office is located at 478 Extension Drive in Whitesburg.The workshop is funded by the Kentucky Agri-culture Development Fund (KADF), which is managed by the Governor’s Office of Ag Policy.
Thanks for reading!If you know someone who would enjoy our news-letter, or you’re not subscribed yet yourself, visit www.uky.edu/ccd/newsletter and click “Sub-scribe Now.” Or call Brett Wolff at 859-218-4384, or Christy Cassady at 859-257-1477. Stay up to date with the Center on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CenterforCropDiversification/
Christy Cassady, Extension Specialist
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Resource updates from the CCDThree more Center for Crop Diversification crop profiles have been updated - Highbush Blueber-ries (CCD-CP-9), Pawpaw (CCD-CP-14), and Field-grown Tomatoes (CCD-CP-98). Check back next month for additional updates, and be sure to visit our website at www.uky.edu/CCD/.
Don’t miss these grantsFrom KCARDKentucky St. University Small-Scale Farm GrantDeadline: October 1 and December 1, 2018Funding: Up to $5,000 for farmers and $15,000 for agriculture groups benefiting multiple farmersEligible Entities: Kentucky farmers and Kentucky agriculture groups including farmers marketsLink: http://kysu.edu/academics/cafsss/research-extension/small-scale-farm-grant-program/ Overview: The application is simple to complete, and the funds can be used to purchase needed equipment related to the proposed project. Applicants must be adding value to their prod-uct, be an organic farmer, live in a food inse-cure area, and/or be an aquatic farmer. Farmers markets are often eligible.
Southern SARE Producer GrantDeadline: Expected to open early September, applications will be due November 16, 2018Funding: $10,000 for an individual & $15,000 for farmer groups. No match required!Eligible Entities: Farmers or farmer organizationsLink: Click here Overview: These grants support projects that help solve problems and use the results to help others facing the same challenges in areas such as research, marketing and education. Funds can be used for labor, materials, supplies, sampling, travel, field days and outreach expenses.
Southern SARE On-Farm Research GrantDeadline: Expected to open early September, applications will be due November 16, 2018Funding: Up to $15,000 for up to two years of research. No match required.Eligible Entities: Ag professionals, Extension professionals, university researchers, NRCS, and other non-government organizations.Link: Click hereOverview: Designed for ag professionals to conduct on-farm research projects that investi-gate sustainable agriculture practices. Projects require collaboration with at least one farmer. Funds can be used for labor, materials, supplies, sampling, travel, field days and outreach expenses.
Dr. Rachel Rudolph, UK Extension Vegetable Specialist, and Senior Extension Associate Josh-ua Knight have created a new website to help Kentucky commercial vegetable growers. The website, titled Vegetable Crops Extension & Research, is intended to provide growers with current production resources. The website also has information on upcoming events around the state related to vegetable production. New infor-mation and events will be added often. View the website at https://vegcrops.ca.uky.edu/.
Vegetable Crops Extension & Research website launched
