A CSA is Community Supported Agriculture.  It is an economic model that creates a direct link between a farm and its supporters.  Basically each supporter buys a share of the farm before the season begins.  This allows the farmers to purchase seeds, supplies, and to work on the infrastructure to grow the farm.  The farmers design a crop plan to provide a certain value of fresh, seasonal vegetables for every week of the season and arrange for the shareholders to pick up their share once a week. 

• Why a CSA? 

A CSA allows farmers to focus on growing great crops.  CSA shareholders can develop a relationship with the land and the farmers who raise their food.  You can be assured that we use no pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers and your food dollars are sure to stay within the local economy.  You will be able to feel good about helping a small farm sustain itself and feeding your family truly fresh and vibrant vegetables.

• Who should join a CSA? 

The produce provided will be seasonal and varied,  including vegetables that you may have never tried before.  Members should thrive on variety and take inspiration from the beauty and freshness of the selection in their share each week.  The farmers at White Barn Farm love to eat and cook and will give you ideas for using the veggies.  If you don't think you can use a whole share or if you are a family of picky eaters, probably shopping at the local farmer's market or our Roadside Stand is a better choice for you.  However, many skeptical CSA members have found themselves and especially their kids turned onto new vegetables or even just fresh versions of the familiar grocery store versions. At White Barn Farm CSA we are hoping to match your expectations with the experience to develop a band of happy customers.

• How do I prepare to be a CSA member? 

If you are game for eating with the seasons, get ready for some delicious results.  You should be prepared to be cutting up more veggies - you are sure to appreciate a great knife and large cutting board.  A salad spinner is terrific for washing your lettuces and greens and keeping in your fridge ready to throw together in a salad or sneak into a BLT.  You will probably find yourself dining out less since you have such good food at home already - your wallet and waistline are sure to thank you.  Eating more vegetarian entrees is also likely; fresh produce lends itself so easily to a quick pasta or stir-fry.  We encourage you to be realistic with your time and energy, but we feel confident that preparing our produce will be a joyful and rewarding experience you will consider time well-spent.

 ***To request we add you to the waiting list, please email us at: info@whitebarnfarm.org

Don't Despair - You can still come pick out whatever you want at our

Roadside Stand:

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 3 pm - 7 pm   &   Saturday Morning 10 am - 2 pm 

June to October

The 2011 Growing Season has come to a close at White Barn Farm.

We look forward to seeing you next Spring!!!

PARKING: Pull right into our parking area in the field. Please observe our enter and exit signs and be careful pulling off and on of busy 1A!

PACKAGING: Bring your own bags, boxes, crates, baskets,  etc.

PAYMENT: We can accept cash and checks. 

LOCATION: We are right on 1A, across from the farm,

between Wampum Corner and Wrentham Center

What's for Sale? We will have a wide array of seasonal vegetables we grow here at White Barn Farm. The blog about what was in this week's CSA share should give a good idea of what's happening in our fields. We also grow flowers and make bouquets. We will have eggs from Brambly Farms, coffee roasted by Sheldonville Roasters and honey from Franklin Honey, too!  Every Friday Jordan Brothers Seafood will be selling locally caught seafood. Every other Saturday, Floyd will be down from Burnshirt Valley Farm to sell his own pastured pork (and chickens when they're ready), plus he'll bring grass-fed beef, from his neighbor at Caledonia Farm.

POISON IVY: BEWARE! If you're allergic - keep a lookout for poison ivy popping through the grass and especially growing on the trees. Especially parents of scrambling children and wearers of strappy sandals . . . . 

Please return your waxed box to the pick-up site each week. We have a big blue lobster crate for them to be placed in. Please don't rip any of the flaps trying to flatten your box. Watch this charmingly boring video for instructions on unfolding your box without destroying it. If you forget one week, just bring it the next time!

• How do I know which pick-up day I am assigned?

• What if my preferred pick-up day is not available? 

•  What if I forget to pick-up my share?

We have decided not to complicate our distribution system by offering half shares.  You are welcome to find someone who wants to split your share with you, but we ask that you deal with the logistics at your own site, and remind you that our shares are not designed to be split (you may need to actually use a knife to divide a cabbage, for example). One simple way to split a share is to alternate pick-up weeks, but beware certain items appear only once.  

•  What if there is something in my share I know I won't use?

We will have a take-it-or-leave-it basket at the pick-up site.  You can leave something you don't care for and perhaps pick up a treasure that someone else has left behind.

We will strive to provide a well-rounded share each week, keeping useable quantities and menu ideas in mind as we select the harvest.  When we made our crop plan we came up with the following categories to decide what should go into the box: Lettuce/Tender Salad Greens, Cooking Greens, Onion Family, Herbs, Little Roots, Staple Roots, Peas/Beans, Squash Family, Tomatoes, Peppers, and Eggplants, and Brassicas.

Lettuce/Tender Salad Greens: We are shooting for 2 heads of Lettuce a week, except during the very height of summer - 1 head.  In the spring we want to include tender salad greens like Arugula and Mustard Mix.

Cooking Greens: Most weeks you will find some variety of those magical life-giving leafy greens.  Spring and Fall could bring Spinach, Broccoli Raab, and Bok Choy. Most of the season we will rotate between different kinds of Kale and Swiss Chard. 

Onion Family: In this order: Green Garlic, Garlic Scapes, Scallions, Fresh Bunching Onions, Yellow and Red Onions, Shallots, Garlic, and Leeks.

Herbs: Basil, Cilantro, Dill, Parsley. Sometimes we consider our celery or a bunch of spicy arugula the herb of the week.

Little Roots: Crunchy Veggies for Raw Eating, mostly in the Spring. Different Varieties of Radishes, little Salad Turnips, Baby Beets, Baby Carrots. We thought of the fall veggies, Fennel, and Winter Radishes as fresh and crunchy, too (even though you might have them cooked). 

Staple Roots: Little Roots will start giving way to Staple Roots sometime in July when we start having full-sized Beets and Carrots (which you should see often from then on), then some New Potatoes, then full-grown Potatoes, Turnips, Rutabagas, Sweet Potatoes, Celery Root.

Peas/Beans: The first sign of peas should be little Pea Tendrils, then Snap Peas and Snow Peas.  Those will be gone after Spring and you will start finding Green Beans, Wax Beans, and long Pole Beans.  We also like to include a taste of Edamame (fresh soy beans).

Squash Family: Small Summer Squash & Zucchini will be first and then full-grown versions.  Then Pickling and Slicing Cucumbers.  By mid-August Melons should be rolling in - we've chosen Cantaloupes and Watermelon.  Finally, Winter Squash will begin to appear: first Acorn and Delicata, then our good-old staple, Butternut. Hopefully we will have a cheerful little Pumpkin to add at the end of the season, too.

Tomatoes, Eggplants, Peppers: Nothing means Summer more than Tomatoes! We are growing several types of Cherry Tomatoes: Sungold, Black Cherry, and Juliet (grape-type).  We could hardly hold back on the Heirloom Tomato selections: Brandywine, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Cherokee Purple, Striped German, etc.  We chose lots of "Regular" Red Tomatoes, too.  Some early, some prolific and determinate, some good for sauce, some Beefsteak types.  We'll have tender, early Asian Eggplants and then several types of Italian Eggplants (some real vegetable beauty contestants in this category). We will also have Green and Sweet Red Peppers, maybe some Yellow and Orange, too. Finally, you'll find a beautiful selection of Hot Peppers - to turn all that bounty into salsa, gazpacho, or plain old hot sauce!

Brassicas (Cabbage Family):  Napa Cabbage and Kohlrabi can be quite early. We have started attempting spring Broccoli and small Cabbages. There is a respite until Fall, when there should be an abundance of Napa, large Cabbages, Broccoli and a chance of Cauliflower.

Everything you need for a week? We do imagine you will still be making a weekly grocery shopping trip and can round out the share with anything you find lacking. 

What We're Not Growing: Corn. We have decided not to attempt Organic Sweet Corn during our first year. Same for Berries. I wish we had fruits going already; maybe next year.

The CSA begins in early June and runs until late October, for a total of 22 weeks.  We will aim to provide a value of $20-35 with each share.  We will pack your share into a box that can be quickly and conveniently toted away. This should be enough for a family of four or a couple of vegetarians.  Do take note, however, that part of the CSA model is sharing the abundances and setbacks with the farmers.  This means accepting that there may be more to offer at the height of the summer than in the first week of June and that some years are better for growing tomatoes than others.  As growers, we will do our best to grow enough diversity to offset any perceived losses.

We have two pick-up days, Tuesdays and Fridays. You choose which day to sign up for and then pick up at our roadside stand 3 pm - 7 pm on your day. The stand is right across the street from the farm, on 1A (South St.) between Wrentham center and Wampum corner.

Here is the lineup as of now:

PRODUCE AND EGGS. White Barn Farm with fresh produce including potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, celery root, winter radishes, broccoli, lettuce mix, and more. We will have a limited supply of our eggs to sell and eggs from Brambly Farms in Norfolk.

CRANBERRIES. White Barn Farm has brought in gorgeous whole organic cranberries from Cranberry Hill Farm in Plymouth.

VEGGIES AND APPLES. Cook's Valley Farm from West Wrentham will have their apples and squash and more potatoes and other treats.

PRODUCE. Medway Community Farm is making their debut this year! More fresh organically produced veggies.

SEAFOOD. Jordan Brothers Seafood will have fresh fish and shellfish for some diversity in your meals leading up to the big feast :)

MEAT. Burnshirt Valley Farm. Floyd will be selling pastured pork and grass-fed beef to stock your freezer for the winter.

HONEY. Franklin Honey. Roger and Lauren, the beekeepers who have hives here at White Barn Farm, will be selling honey and wonderful bee products: hand cream, lip balm, beautiful, fragrant soaps, and more.

COFFEE. Sheldonville Roasters. Our local coffee roaster, Phil, will be selling his freshly roasted beans and fresh brewed coffee.

POTTERY. Karl Ziegler, Our young, talented potter friend from Norfolk. Many of you have probably seen his work at our HarvestWeen sale or last weekend. After each sale, he's been working hard to get more pieces ready for the next event.

DOG TREATS. 4Paws Animal Shelter. These ladies are raising funds to establish an animal shelter here. They've been baking up organic dog treats to sell.

* * * * * * * * *

We are looking forward to seeing you all! If you know someone who might be interested in the sale, please don't hesitate to pass along this email. Don't forget to bring your own bags or baskets or boxes. We can accept cash or checks.

We can take empty egg cartons, those bluish-green paper pint and quart boxes in good shape, and mason jars. Sorry, we find used twist ties and rubber bands too unreliable to reuse.

We wil not be open the Saturday after Thanksgiving, November 26th. Stay tuned for an announcement about whether we will be open for more dates in December. Let's hope so!

Thank you, as always, for your support and enthusiasm!

See you tomorrow!

Chris and Christy at White Barn Farm

Looks like tomorrow is shaping up to be another stellar Saturday: 55 degrees and sunny.  We had another great week on the farm, and we managed to fill the root cellar once again! We will be open tomorrow, Saturday November 12th, from 9-2. We will have carrots, lettuce, bags of greens, kale, broccoli, potatoes, and many other scrumptious delights.  Also Jordan brothers seafood will be at farmstand from 9-1, and Floyd from Burnshirt Valley Farm will be at the stand from 10:30-2.  So you can stock your fridges and freezers with fish, pork, beef and veggies.  And finally our good friend Karl Zieglar will be selling hand-made pottery.  Karl was at our harvest-ween festival and is great addition to our white barn family.  Last Saturday was such a success, and we hope that this can be even better.  Thanks for everyone for the support.  SEE YALL SOON!

 
with cold hands and warm hearts,

chris and christy kantlehner

P.S.  Next saturday we will be having our 3rd annual Thanksgiving blow out, due to the addition of more vendors we will be having our sale this year at the farm.  We will send an email out next week with further information.  thanks.

We are also on Twitter. Look up whitebarnfarm. Chris has an iPhone now, so get ready to be updated with photos and descriptions of our activities :)

Finally got the bountiful harvest in the root cellar for tomorrows market.  Despite the snow, and crazy weather the end of october brought us we harvested beets, carrots, kale, lettuce, potatoes, turnips, cabbage, and some other fall favorites.  We will be open from 9-1 this saturday.  Oh, by the way Jordan Brothers seafood will be at the stand to fulfill your fish friday cravings.  Cant wait to see everyone.

on another note; just in time for the end of the year, white barn farm has got an iphone, and can be followed on twitter and facebook, with up to minute harvesting hoopla.  check us out! we would love to be able to share more farm info with you. 

and a big thank you to everyone that supports the farm, with out our dedicated members/shoppers we couldn't do what we do.  you keep us going on the coldest days and the warmest days.  THANKS

with love and care

chris and christy kantlehner