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Beginning of the Season Newsletter - June 4, 2007

Dear 2007 Many Hands Organic Farm shareholders,

Welcome to the 2007 growing season! We were all full for the CSA, but two things have happened: I had mentioned to you before about the former inmates that have been working on the farm. Well, we'd like to hire two of them. Secondarily, the season has been almost fantastic this year and our crops are coming in really well. Therefore, we are going to expand the CSA to take 15 more shares. Originally, we were going to leave one of fields fallow this year (in large part because we were uncertain about how the farm would go this year without the important help of our son, Dan) but we will grow in our "West field" to help accommodate the extra shares that we need to sell. So, please tell anyone you know that we will be accepting 15 more shares on a first-come, first-served basis. Folks should contact us by email or phone to hold a spot for themselves and send a deposit of $50 at that time. Two payments of $225 each will be due June 21 and July 15.

Thanks for being so timely. Most of you have paid your balances by now. I will send an email version of this letter and then put another one in the mail. The mail version will have specifics for those who still owe money. And please, those of you who do have a balance, get your money in as soon as you can. If you have a hardship, let me know.

Farm Report

For various reasons, the farm is in better shape this year than it has ever been. The Spring has progressed as one would hope with the proper amount of rain and a slow raise in temperature. Our former inmates that come on Fridays help us accomplish an amazing amount of work, particularly the work that gets set aside, and gets done long after it should be finished. We are getting our hoop house management under control. We have been able to harden off all of our seedlings in our hoop house, saving us tremendous amount of time moving things in and out of the greenhouse and off the decks. Additionally, the seedlings are much healthier when they go out into the field. For your first week, I'm guessing you'll have the following items: mesclun (maybe lettuce), radishes, turnips, spinach, Swiss chard, cilantro, beet greens and oregano.

The Season Begins!

The first pickup will be in two weeks (June 18, 20 and 22). I am sorry to say that by adding those 15 new folks, we will have a different membership list. I'm guessing some of the new folks might want to join your co-ops. Please be advised. Once we have a settled list of members, we'll send everybody a hard copy.

If you use hotmail or another email service that might consider emails from the farm "spam" (our messages go out to 80 or so people), please be sure our email address is on your "accepted" list. We'll be sending out a newsletter via email almost every week, so if you don't get one, please let us know. For those shareholders without email addresses, we'll include a printed version inside your share bag. Remember, that if you are sharing your share with somebody and you'd like them to get the newsletter, please send us their name and email and we will add them to our CSA newsletter mailing list.

When setting up pick-up coops, please do the following: *(see note below)

When you get to the farm you can pull around back of the house. The barn is the last building on the left. Come in and head for the walk-in cooler. Your bag will be labeled with your name. Later in the season there will be two bags for you, placed together in the cooler and with your name on both bags. At some point, we will be adding the fruit shares. Those bags will be placed with the folks who ordered fruit with their names on them. When we add flower shares, they will be out on the table with clear instructions. We'll be giving you a heads up when flowers and fruit are added.

Please be sure to tightly close the cooler when you leave. Check for any messages on the bulletin board to the right of the cooler. Lastly, look at the blackboard on the door to the right of the cooler. That will have a list of what we picked that day and what is in your bag.

If you park in the driveway, please park on one side or the other, or down by the garage. We are often driving tractors and trucks through the back and need the middle of the driveway to stay open.

Jimbo and Pup are the two dogs. Jimbo is usually rather friendly, but not fearsome and Pup is the black lab who is a little hyper and who sometimes barks, but we are training him to be more sociable. As with all dogs it is best for you and your children to be cordial but not overly friendly until you have established a relationship with them.

We will have pigs in an electric fence enclosure, and chickens in movable pens. Feel free to go visit. Stay with your kids while here. And you are welcome to visit the pond in the hayfield too, but keep your kids in close tow. Feel free to walk in the fields too. Someone is usually out and about, but come to the house if you need something and can't find anyone handy.

Your food will be ready, all individually bagged, by 12 Noon each day. You can come anytime between 12 Noon and 8:00 PM to pick up. Please remember to make your pick up on your correct day. For no-shows, I will call you once or twice to remind you, but after that I will donate your share to someone by Noon of the second day.

If you are heading off for vacation for a week or two, or just a few days, there are a couple of things you can do. If you would like to change your pick up day (say from Monday to Friday) from time to time, just email me (preferably) or call me at least two days in advance and I will change your pick up day. If you are going away for longer, either call me to not pick for you, or ask a friend to come and pick it up for you. Sorry, we don't give people two weeks worth of food if there is a week missed.

Never hesitate to email, call or stop in with questions or comments. I hope you enjoy eating with us! - Julie

* Here's a note from Teresa Wolcott for those of you who live in Holden and are picking up on Wednesdays:

Hi Julie,

I just wanted to let you know that I am planning on making my barn available as a pick up site for Wed. share holders, living closer to Holden than to Barre, who would like to form a Co-op and hoped you'd forward this email to others.

I've already heard from 4 shareholders from last year.

The way the Co-op works is that I will organize a schedule and send it out to everyone who is interested. I re-arranged the schedule based on the initial responses I received, then sent out the schedule with a list of all the shareholders' names. After setting up the initial schedule, I will leave it up to individuals to make arrangements if they need to change a pick up day. We all took turns driving out to the farm and unloading the shares at my house in the center of Holden, with the understanding that they would be there by 5:30 pm so that the rest of the shareholders could come to pick up their food. If you cannot get to Barre and back by 5:30, I will make a note on the schedule for your turn to save others from unnecessary trips. This method worked pretty well last year and is a great way to eat local food and cut down further on green house gas emissions by car-pooling!

Thanks,
Teresa