This time of year means lots of “computer farming” — financial planning, crop planning, supply orders, etc. Most people don’t think of spreadsheets when thinking about what farmers do, but it’s actually a huge part of what allows everything else to happen. Our 325 line crop plan, and 1.5 million large seed order, is no joke!
New VIDEO! + Community Engagement in 2021
Our Food Access initiatives succeed because of the strength of our community partnerships, and the time we invest in them.
These relationships, both locally upstate and throughout New York City, center on outreach, distribution and connection with the communities we feed.
This is in stark contrast to the majority of existing food aid in our country which separates, hides and dehumanizes those who can not afford healthy food. Typically people have no choices beyond highly processed, shelf stable foods with very little nutritional value.
Addressing our history + Rock Steady’s Take on farmer justice.
Did you know that at least 33% of farmworkers are living below the poverty line? The average hourly wage for a farmworker is $10.60, and benefits like sick leave and health insurance are extremely rare.
For farmers of color, women and LGBTQIA+ farmers, there are even more obstacles to a safe and stable workplace (many of us have firsthand experience with this) – and yes, these injustices show up on organic, sustainable farms, too.
Food access, without climate harm!
It’s all connected. It’s important to understand that when you contribute to our Food Access initiative, you’re not only feeding food insecure community members, but also supporting the sustainable farming practices behind that food.
This is unfortunately rare — the more typical set up is that “food assistance” programs source inexpensive, low-quality, highly processed, chemically treated food. Not only does this have negative impacts on the health of those receiving the food, these products can be traced back to environmentally harmful growing practices like monocropping and the use of herbicides and pesticides.
On the flip side, food that is grown with care for the planet (which requires more labor, time, and investment) is typically available only to those who can afford to pay premium prices.
Staggering statistics — and why they’re unsurprising.
“One in eight Americans reported they didn’t have enough food to eat in the past week, hitting nearly 26 million Americans, a threefold increase from the most comparable pre-pandemic figure,” according to Census Bureau survey data collected in late October and early November.
Close to home, a recent report published in the New York Times found that 1.5 million New Yorkers cannot afford food.
The pandemic continues to escalate an already devastating food crisis in this country.
2020 has amplified something we've always known to be true.
The growing season is officially over! Exhale.
We had a wonderful last few weeks as a team. One highlight was getting to spend a couple days helping out on other local farms (shout out to Rise & Root and Soul Fire). We also had lots of team meetings discussing 2021 systems improvements, coop development, crop planning, public programming and much more. Plus, we completed the final harvests for our local food access outlets, weatherized and cleaned up the farm and tackled other end of year infrastructure projects.
Season highlights! (And get your butt out to VOTE)
Tomorrow is a big day for our little farm. It will be the final harvest + pack out for the 2020 CSA, with about 200 boxes headed out on Saturday morning.
Plus, we’ve got a hard freeze coming tomorrow night, with a low of 18 degrees and snow predicted. Ouch! We have a few more orders going out to local food pantries and food access partners over the next couple weeks, so this week we’ve been trying to save as much food as possible from the fields to store in our coolers. Even hardy crops can’t withstand temps that low, so today and tomorrow will be a serious sprint.
2021 CSA is open for registration! AND, we’re making Winter Care Packages for members who join now.
The day has come! We just opened up registration for next season’s CSA, and we’re doing something fun this year:
If you sign up by October 15th, or are among the first 50 to join, (whichever comes first) —we are going to send you a sweet Rock Steady care package for the Winter!
On living and farming in rural, red-NY
As we all have witnessed over the last decade, our society has become so polarized, so fractioned, that often we can not even talk to our literal neighbors if they differ from our political views — regardless of life interests or the common bonds that living in community creates.
As a sustainable farmer in upstate NY, I have a unique view into both sides of the political spectrum.
A no-cost opportunity to support our Food Access Fund + renewable energy.
We made a music video!
It has been a rough year. Here is a little present for all the food lovers, melon lovers and joy lovers out there.
We decided to make a queer-d up farmer spoof of Harry Styles’ Watermelon Sugar, in honor of our epic watermelon harvest a couple weeks ago!
Filmed by farmers, edited by the wonderful Walter Hergt. Enjoy!
Solidarity reflections and actions
CSA last call - 10 spots left!
Why our model matters: sliding scale stats
The enthusiasm and support for local food is an encouraging trend coming out of this brutal time. Because of COVID, we’ve shifted our plans for this season to meet an increased demand for our CSA, which will hopefully balance out the significant decrease in our restaurant wholesales outlets.
Unsurprisingly, another change we’ve seen this season is an even higher percentage of folks needing financial assistance and coming in on the “lower income” end of our sliding scale - we are glad people know we are here to provide affordable access to nourishing food.
If you’re curious, here’s the current breakdown . . .
Video recording + highlights!
HUGE THANKS to all who showed up for our “Meet Your Farmers” online event on Tuesday night. We had 95 people register for the call! If you couldn’t make it live, or if you were there and want to revisit anything, you can watch the recording, linked in this post. We’re also sharing some top highlights from the call, and pics from the farm this week!
A big week! Lots to share.
Join us! Online gathering on April 14th.
Usually, this is the time of year we come out of hibernation and start attending events and posting our flyers both locally and in NYC to promote our CSA and Food Access Fund.
As we adapt to a new way of life we are gearing up for a different kind of season kick-off. We wanted to create an online space to share and connect safely. We hope you’ll check it out, join us, and please spread the word!
Spring is not canceled! Our COVID pivots so far . . .
It’s a strange time to be surrounded by so much new life and beauty – trees are budding, seeds are sprouting, anemones are blooming and tulips are getting taller.
Our greenhouse is packed with seedlings! It also happens to be snowing today, which is typical Spring here, too.
Despite several recent losses due to COVID-19, we are heartened to be able to support our community with the necessary and nourishing service of responsibly grown food. Learn more about where we’re at, and how we’re responding.
COVID-19 FAQs & updates
To our 2020 CSA members & folks considering joining: This is a quickly changing situation, so we’ll keep this post updated with the steps we’re taking in response to the coronavirus pandemic. In this post, we want to address specific protocols around what we’re doing on-farm to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and ensure food safety for our customers.
Resilience and food security — our thoughts and commitments.
There is so much uncertainty and concern right now around COVID-19, we hear it and we feel it, and here is what we know:
Everyone has a role in a global crisis. We are committed to ours, as your farmers.
We will have our hands in the soil. (We’ll wash them often!)
We will continue to sow seeds in our greenhouse, and soon in our fields.
We will grow nourishing, sustainable food with care for our land.
We will safely transport that food directly to our CSA members, friends and neighbors - and be ready to innovate and pivot creatively as needed.
We will lean into our community and ask for the support we need to fulfill these commitments.
We will take care of each other.
