Growing in 2021: Community, Scope, Impact, Access
What we’ve been up to behind the scenes on the Farm:
There is so much happening this year - new things, expanding things, growing things, a growing number of growing things… all the things! I wanted to pause and take a moment to reflect on what has already been accomplished this season.
Since last year we’ve expanded our membership by 200%. We’re serving close to 10 times the number of low income / scholarshipped members. We’ve introduced payment plans which the community clearly needed as more than 20% of our self-paying membership opted to use this new feature. These are complicated and necessary systems to make CSAs more accessible to more people and credit goes to Farm Founder Michelle for devising and pushing these projects off the dry erase board and into reality.
I want to mention Sliding Scale options separately, because we noticed an amazing pattern: The same number of people who paid over the market value nearly exactly covered those that paid under market value. I cannot express how beautiful a symmetry that is, nestled in the weeds of the back end of our business in this actively engaged community. When we made the decision to add Sliding Scale options this year, we had no idea what type of loss we might encounter if it went badly. We don’t take risks lightly so it feels extra good to see these inclusive payment pathways work for everyone involved.
But that’s not all, folks!
Save Our Seed CSA is launching this year, marking a huge actionable step towards food sovereignty in our community. The SOS CSA is a chance for the public to not only learn seed saving techniques but also to re-matriate those very seeds to the communities from which they originate. If you have been with us for a while, you’ve heard us resist the exotification and exclusive price points associated with Native First Foods in the seed production world. You’ve seen time and time again how the encroachment of sub+urban development has eradicated the physical spaces that once provided these seeds to the community. You know the history of land theft, of exclusionary policies in national and state parks, and the erasure of cultural practices and literacies through assimilation. This is that intersection made flesh in the soil, between your own fingers. We refuse to ask our indigenous elders and community organizers to BUY their stolen seeds back. So we created a Buy One Give One model for the SOS CSA and additionally are providing the bulk of seed saved to local indigenous people directly. SOS shares are still available, though limited - save your spot now at https://www.goodrainfarm.com/shop/p/save-our-seeds
Ways to Connect.
Another development on the farm this year? We have a way you can volunteer! For years we have had to politely decline offers of help due to labor laws, land access issues, and then pandemic precautions. So what is this Volunteership? PLEASE FEED US FARMERS LUNCH. As counterintuitive as it may seem, our farmers do not have access to a prep kitchen, personal food storage space, and we are just slightly too far out of the urban areas to make a quick lunch trip off farm. The days when someone forgets their packed lunch are absolutely brutal. So we decided to ask for help! If you have capacity to make lunch for a crew of 10, or if you have more money than time - order from our favorite restaurants and deliver it straight to the farm, you become a Community Hero, in our (hungry) eyes. For all those who have nurturing-food tendencies, this is your chance to shine. Check out https://www.goodrainfarm.com/farm-lunch-table for more details and THANK YOU for your generosity past, present, and future. You simply amaze us, sweet farmly!
Živjeli! / Cheers!
-Domenika
