Nourishing Bites | Stacking Benefits Part I
A Delicious Partnership | Chef Miguel, April, and Brad at Farm to Heart CSA pickup
Each week at CSA pickup, I get to learn from and share the company of so many wonderful people in our community, including: budding young chefs, grandmothers, sisters, dads, and teenage sons to name a few. This built in “feedback loop” of our Community Supported Agriculture program is so crucially important to the success of our farm. CSA pickup gives us farmers a chance to hear how our work is directly impacting those we serve, in real time. Even when I am bone-tired— weary from long summer days of hard work— I still find delight in this learning opportunity. Learning new creative ways to cook, responding to farming questions, and especially hearing stories that resonate with my own experience is so good for the soul. The particular details are always different, but the feelings behind the stories many have shared are often universal. These ever-evolving connections keep me rooted and motivated to keep growing.
One particular connection I am especially grateful is growing strong is that of our friend Chef Miguel Sosa, the owner of Elements Restaurant, with our Farm to Heart project.
This season, Miguel is joining us at the Fruit Valley CSA pickup. He generously shares his passion for cooking with all of us including creative ideas for good meals, and how to eliminate food waste by using every part of the CSA share. And it is not just Miguel teaching us; the inspiration flows both ways. With him present, CSA members seem to be more apt to ask questions, and teach each other and us too.
In past essays, I’ve written about my love for stacking benefits- the idea that at the farm, labor can be a scarce resource so I am always looking from a management perspective as to what changes I can make or what systems I can set up or what infrastructure needs to be in place so that one change can result in at least two but hopefully many more benefits. I seek to leverage one point in the system to maximize the benefit for all parts of the system.
Miguel’s presence at our CSA pickup does just that.
For starters, Miguel has been challenged to source local food for his restaurant Elements. In the past year, many farmers have stopped selling to restaurants because COVID took such a toll on revenues. So one wonderful thing about this partnership is that we at April Joy Farm are donating two CSA shares a week to Miguel. By providing him access to our produce, he can source ingredients for his restaurant, and by volunteering his time, our Farm to Heart community gains access to his incredible wealth of culinary knowledge.
In addition, because he is bilingual, all our families can really get their questions answered and connect with our CSA program more completely. This helps improve our CSA retention rate, while providing a fantastic role model for kids, some of whom have never met a real chef before!
But the benefits don’t end there. Because of a generous donor, surplus produce from our farm is also being distributed through our Farm to Heart CSA pickup site.
Each week, we bring a variety of extra items to our CSA pickup for distribution. We set them out on a special table with labels. Families are able to choose anything off the surplus table they can use. Miguel encourages families to try these new foods. This helps speed the rate of adoption of unfamiliar produce for our families-- which in turn helps make our farm more viable in the long run. The more our families learn to eat and enjoy the types of produce that grow well in our soil and for our farm system, the more successful we become.
Our thoughtful donor placed no cumbersome rules on us farmers. The only requirements are that we farmers get paid a fair market rate, the produce is distributed through our Fruit Valley partnership, and the funds are to be used to reduce on-farm food surplus so it does not become food waste. This trust and flexibility helps us make the most of this precious gift. That extra three pounds of salad mix we harvested? The two small bags of itty-bitty beets great for roasting? The six heads of cabbage? The quarter pound of pea shoots? The twelve pounds of juicing carrots? No longer are these composted or left in the field. No longer do we farmers feel discouraged by the loss of income. We now have a flexible distribution channel, in which the changing availability and quantity of items is not a barrier to overcome, but in fact a valuable element that fuels our success.
We all intuitively know how nice it is to have a variety of fresh produce that isn’t always the same, week in and week out. And thanks to Miguel’s presence, we now have the capacity to overcome language and knowledge barriers to make sure families are encouraged, excited, and well equipped to use the new, different and ever-changing seasonal produce available. That in and of itself fuels a reduction in food waste.
Can you see how these benefits keep stacking right up?
It’s such a thrill to watch the subtle shifts in habits over the season. One week we sent a bunch of collard greens home with a family. The next week, their oldest daughter showed us a picture of the dinner she made with them. And the next week? They picked collards as one of the items for their CSA share. That may seem like a small thing to you… but that’s indicative of a major shift to me.
Access + knowledge + choice: all these benefits add up to a lot of nourishing JOY. ~AJ
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Many of you have asked about contributing to our Farm to Heart Initiative. Contributions are gratefully accepted, 100% of the funds are used to provide CSA shares. Checks can be sent to April Joy Farm PO Box 973 Ridgefield, WA. 98642. (Please write Farm to Heart Initiative on the subject line.) You can also contribute online.
Sharing the Harvest | Surplus AJF produce ready to inspire and nourish our community.