| 30 July 2009
Don't Miss Out!
There is still time to register for the 2010 Farm2Fork Fresh CSA season. To register for your weekly harvest basket now, go to the Sign Up tab and complete form. We will send you a confirmation within a few days. Any questions on partial perioods call Howard Solganik at 937 830-2350.
Just as important as what we do is how we do it.
Fresh, healthy local food is just around the corner, so it's time to order your 2010 "harvest box" from FARM2FORK FRESH CSA!
The Farm2Fork Fresh CSA will provide members with weekly boxes of fresh food for 20 weeks for $25 per week plus an annual membership fee of $35.
NEW THIS YEAR: Half-Shares: $15 per week, plus an annual membership fee.
Your membership guarantees that your CSA box will be waiting for you each week with a special selection of farm fresh items. Our boxes contain primarily vegetables and fruits, and periodically we will add locally grown herbs, flowers, and decorative gourds. We provide organic products as well as conventionally grown products, on an advancing continuum of sustainable agricultural practice. All items are locally grown throughout the Miami Valley and nearby areas of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. All items are picked to order. Boxes will be delivered to your selected location and can be picked up at the times posted. Each week you will receive: A “harvest box” of farm fresh products Our Farm2Fork Fresh CSA newsletter, which includes information on preparing and enjoying local foods, storage tips, and stories from our farmers. Don't miss the freshest, healthiest local foods, DELIVERED to a community near you.
- What is a CSA?
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CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Farm2Fork Fresh CSA is modeled after programs in which people from the community pledge to support their local farms by becoming members or shareholders of the farm.
Our CSA differs from the traditional CSA model in two key ways. This is a multi-farm program in which produce and products from about 30 core farms, micro-farms, and other producers are combined to create weekly baskets. Members of our CSA are not shareholders of any of these farms, which mean that while you are supporting local farms you do not share in the bounty or the scarcity of any particular crops. Farmers receive fair prices for their crops while members receive a good retail value in those crops delivered to a pickup point. As a member your benefits include: high-quality, locally-grown food; support for local farmers; contributions to the local economy; convenience of pick up in your community; a weekly newsletter, recipes, and usage tips.
For our network of local farmers and food producers, sales to our CSA members result in their receiving fair prices for crops, gaining some financial security and being relieved of much of the burden of marketing.
- What is The Transplant Project?
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The TransPlant Project is a not-for-profit social enterprise working to nurture a sustainable local foods ecosystem by creating new jobs for difficult-to-employ people.
Demand for sustainably and locally-grown food continues to increase as more people recognize its benefits. This demand offers an opportunity to create jobs. Through
our efforts we aim to strengthen the local economy while implementing the best sustainable green business practices.
What this looks like in action:
We specialize in new farm creation and management, continual education, and providing market access for new and existing producers. Working in conjunction with over a dozen municipalities, not-for-profits, and faith-based
organizations, we identify land, buildings, qualified
individuals, and marketing channels to make this
sustainable local foods system a reality.
The TransPlant Project identifies unused or underused land around the Miami Valley, and transforms it into high-yield, raised-bed micro-farms where specialty crops are grown using sustainable growing methods for sale to the local
market. The produce raised on these farms is grown for flavor and nutritional value, instead of to withstand long distance transport. This kind of produce is very much in demand by not only individuals, but also local restaurants, groceries, and other institutions, and the TransPlant Project is prepared to handle distribution. This system relieves new and existing farmers of the burden of marketing and
transporting their products while getting them a fair price on their crops.
The TransPlant Project’s distribution enterprise is the
Farm2Fork Fresh operation, which consists of several parts:
· A multi-farm CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)
· Farm stands
· Online Sales: our virtual farmers’ market
- What Do We Do?
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The creation and operation of a local food system is a huge undertaking, but it boils down to two basic operations: production and distribution. The TransPlant Projects has a number of enterprises to handle each operation, thereby reaching the maximum numbers of producers and consumers.
At its most basic level, a local food system is just two operations: production and distribution. But both have many variables—on the production side, there are community gardens, 5-acres-or-less small farms, larger, more-established family farms, and small orchards, nurseries, and wholesalers; on the distribution side, there are individual consumers, families, restaurants, and even large institutions like school systems and universities—all these groups have their own needs, and thus The TransPlant Project has a number of different enterprises to get each what it needs.
· Farm2Fork Fresh CSA: The TransPlant Project’s major
distribution outlet is currently the Farm2Fork Fresh CSA.
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture,
which traditionally
means community members buy a “share” of a farm’s produce in advance and receive a share of the farm’s output throughout the season.
The
Farm2Fork Fresh CSA is unique
in 2 key ways:
1) Farm2Fork Fresh is a multi-farm CSA, combining products from over 20 local farms to compile its harvest boxes, and
2) CSA customers are not shareholders in any of the participating farms, so they don’t accept any of the risk involved with traditional CSAs. The Farm2Fork Fresh CSA employs TransPlant Project employees (ex-offenders and other hard-to-employ persons) in harvesting, packing, and delivering healthy, affordable sustainably grown produce to locations all around the Miami Valley, including all 3 Dorothy Lane Markets. People can
learn about and sign up for the CSA at our website, www.farm2forkfresh.com. In time, members will be able to purchase specialty items to add to their harvest baskets.· Farm2ForkFresh Farmstand: At 5 of our 8 CSA
pickup locations, Farm2Fork Fresh also operates a farmstand where customers can buy produce from Farm2ForkFresh producers. We’re also working to be able to accept food stamps (EBT)!· Farm2Fork Fresh Online: The TransPlant Project
also operates the area’s only virtual farmer’s market, www.shop.farm2forkfresh.com, where farmers can list their inventory and set their own price for their products, and restaurants and institutions can shop all our farmers and producers to source their products—click, order, done! Payment is processed securely online, and pickup from the farmer and delivery to the customer is all handled by TransPlant Project employees. This makes it as easy for chefs to shop for local, sustainably grown produce as to order conventionally farmed and processed products from huge national vendors.· TransPlant MicroFarms: The Gettysburg-Gateway
MicroFarm is the first of several microfarms in the works across the Miami Valley. This joint project between The Other Place and The TransPlant Project is transforming part of the Gateway Homeless Shelter’s property into 200 high-yield raised-beds of vegetable and fruit production. Growers are residents of the shelter who are being trained in sustainable farming and Good Agricultural Practices by the TransPlant Project’s Farming Instructors, as well as in packaging, delivery and sales skills. Produce grown will be used in the Gateway kitchen as well as sold through the Farm2Fork Fresh CSA. Several other micro-farms to train and employ hard-to-employ people are in the works on formerly vacant land throughout Montgomery County.· TransPlant Labor Bank: Men and women who’ve participated in TransPlant Project sustainable growing training will be available to work on other farms and gardens during peak times of the season, or to rehab empty lots for neighborhoods who wish to begin their own community gardens. Working in conjunction with a variety of existing social service programs, we hope to maintain a job bank where we can match-make many to long-term and seasonal employment.
· Other Activities: The TransPlant Project also operates annual Halloween Pumpkin Patches, Christmas Tree/Holiday Wreath farms, and participates in Miami Valley Grown’s Local Food Week and other outreach/education activities. We have a beautiful experimental farm in
Washington Township, and we hope to have our
distribution center in Dayton up and operating soon. - Why The Transplant Project Is Right For the Miami Valley
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Massive Job Creation Potential: Unemployment in the Miami Valley is problem enough, but employment opportunities for the homeless or ex-offenders are especially difficult to find. The TransPlant Project employs and educates people who might be seen as a burden on city and county services, giving them the chance to be productive citizens with valuable skills.
The TransPlant Project Is Sustainable: Unlike many employment projects, The TransPlant Project is sustainable-- once startup costs are through, TransPlant Project enterprises will generate enough revenue to continue with minimal public assistance in the future. The incredibly high demand for local food gives the TransPlant Project great potential.
A Local Food System Keeps Local Food Dollars in the Community: Research shows that every dollar spent on local food re-circulates through the local economy an average of 8 times. A thriving local food system makes a great economic stimulus!
A Local Food System Means A Healthier Community: Local food is fresher and thus has more nutritional value than food that’s been grown to withstand travel and shipped all over the country. Local food is also usually far less processed than most food sold in supermarkets, meaning less additives, which cuts down the likelihood of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other illnesses. Also, due to the TransPlant Project’s policy of traceability of crop origins and Good Agricultural Practices, our local food is far less likely to be contaminated with E-coli or other food-borne illnesses than food from huge facilities possibly located on the other side of the world.
A Local Food System Means A Healthier Environment: Local food isn’t shipped all over the world, which cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions, but even more importantly, the kind of farming The TransPlant Project teaches, practices and promotes—sustainable farming-- doesn’t use synthetic chemicals, pesticides or herbicides in growing food. Sustainable farming creates far less pollution than conventional agriculture, which means a cleaner and healthier environment for us all to live in.
The TransPlant Project Saves Taxpayer Money: It costs over $25,000 a year to incarcerate a person, and our County currently spends fully 70% of its budget on the criminal justice system. Employment is the biggest key to lowering recidivism. If even a few dozen ex-offenders can be employed, Montgomery County will have saved itself hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.
We Can Do It Ourselves: The region has often waited in vain for some big new employer or sports franchise to somehow come in and revitalize the area, but a local food system actually offers the opportunity for the Dayton region to create new jobs, invigorate our local farms, restaurants, and other businesses, improve our local environment, and create a stronger community— and we can do now, all by ourselves, without waiting for assistance from any outside forces.