It’s the first farming week of the year! Welcome back to returning CSA members, and welcome to the many new folks joining our Community! We’re excited for you to get your first boxes.
After four weeks off, we’re ready to start picking, washing, packing, weeding, seeding, and all the other tasks that are needed to get our produce to your tables. The bright, sunny, dry days are quite a change from the rainy, grey, muddy conditions as we started our break. Cover crops have germinated and most fields are covered with some amount of green.
For new and returning folks alike, I wanted to share a few fun facts:
- Full Belly Farm was started in 1984 and certified organic in 1985. Meaning this year is our 41st growing season! We have many employees who have been here over 20 years. It’s a great team with a wealth of knowledge and experience.
- We have seven owners: Dru Rivers, Paul Muller, Andrew Brait, Amon Muller, Jenna Muller, Rye Muller, and Hannah Muller. Amon, Rye, and Hannah are Dru and Paul’s children, and Jenna is Amon’s wife. While the farm is not a partnership in a legal sense, the seven of them are partners in decision-making. Owner-emeritus Judith Redmond still is around the farm but is spending her time on other pursuits and occasionally writes a Beet farm update!
- We’re located in the stunningly beautiful Capay Valley, between Guinda and Rumsey. If you’ve never been, let’s change that this year! We’ll have plenty of opportunities, including (but not limited to): our annual CSA Day, one of our summer monthly Friday night Pizza Nights, a Farm Dinner, or one of our other special events. We’ll be announcing event dates within the next month or so, and CSA members hear about them first, so always make sure to read the Beet!
- We pack CSA boxes, attend farmers markets, and make deliveries 48 weeks of the year, serving the San Francisco Bay area, Sacramento/Davis areas, and areas in between. We go as far north as Ukiah and as far south as Palo Alto and Mountain View. The three farmers markets we attend are the Tuesday Berkeley Farmers Market, Thursday Marin Civic Center Market, and Saturday Palo Alto Market.
- Each CSA box you’ll get will have a mix of whatever is freshest, and we include fruit when available. Each box is packed midday the day before you receive it and we harvest as much as possible that day too.
- We have an on-site commercial, organic kitchen! Depending on the time of year, our kitchen team might be making jam, cutting up fruit to dry, stirring vats of tomato sauce, making pasta, prepping pickles, and more. We also have a stone mill for grinding grains (that we grow!) into flour and we press our own safflower for safflower oil. The only things we don’t do ourselves are making almond butter and pressing the olives for olive oil.
- We don’t just grow things you can eat! Flowers are a huge part of the farm’s income and there’s a dedicated flower team that JUST focuses on flowers. Our fresh flower season runs from April through September, and we make dried floral bouquets and wreaths in the other months.
That just scratches the surface, but it addresses some of the most common questions we’re asked. What are some questions that you have about our farm?
A few reminders:
ALWAYS check the sign-out sheet before you take a box, flowers, or anything else. It’s really frustrating and disappointing when someone arrives to find out that their items aren’t there.
Everyone has the ability to skip or donate a box if they’re going to be gone. The cutoff to let us know is two full days before your delivery date (i.e. Monday night cutoff for a Thursday box). Skipping or donating via the CSA website is easy to do, or you can email. Skipped boxes are moved to the end of your schedule, unless you request otherwise.
Thanks to the generosity of folks who have donated their boxes, last year we donated five boxes a week to the Charlotte Maxwell Clinic, a box per week to the UC Davis CA House Nourish Food Pantry, and subsidized $3000 of CSA payments for your fellow CSA members. Do consider donating, if you can.
Lastly, don’t be a stranger! If you have feedback (positive or “constructive”), a recipe to share, or a question for us, please reach out!
Elaine Swiedler, CSA Manager
