We Want to Make it Work for You
We are approaching the last quarter of our full season. We have been thrilled with the crops this year, and we hope you have had a splendid experience as a shareholder.
You have hopefully been following my weekly columns of Farm News this season. If so, you know there has been a recent sea change in the Community Supported Agriculture movement throughout the country. You may have read my column that states this is our first year of 26 years as a CSA farm in which we have experienced a drop in the number of shareholders. This development has caused me to consider our current shareholder community in an even more appreciative light.
As a shareholder, you have been preparing meals from your box this season. You know our farm a bit; perhaps you know it well. Maybe you have visited our farm and picked some flowers or beans from our U-Pick garden. You may have socialized with fellow shareholders on a Farm Field Day and observed our sprawl of fertile fields during a hayride. Maybe you or your kids have visited the farm for a program hosted by the Angelic Organics Learning Center.
Whether you have visited the farm or not, you are aware of the seasonality of our shares, the care with which the crops are harvested and the boxes are packed, and the variety and fullness of our boxes.
Given that you already have a relationship with Angelic Organics, I’m much more partial to having you remain a shareholder next year than I am to finding a new shareholder to replace you. New shareholders are sometimes not suited to our program; they might not understand its seasonal aspect; and some simply don’t cherish having a single farm as the primary source of their vegetables and herbs–a farm to hold in their heart–such as I have highlighted in my story Farm Monogamy.
I’ll add that we have already prepared many of our fields for growing in 2017. I realize this is a risk, because we can no longer be confident in our predictions for share sales. However, if we are going to be growing on these fields next year, these fields have to already be prepared with compost applications and tillage by now (which they are.) These forward practices derive from a long range vision, from an ideal of continuity, with rotations flowing from fields to future fields.
A Dare
By belonging to our Community Supported Agriculture farm, you accepted a dare. With your share payment, you dared to trust Angelic Organics with your money, dared to trust that we would deliver a fair measure of vegetables and herbs to you on a regular basis. Year after year, I feel that Angelic Organics has warranted this trust. This year, in the spirit of that trust, we have achieved our utmost in supplying you with the most fabulous, bountiful, fresh vegetables and herbs in our 26 years as a CSA.
A Different Dare
You dared to trust the farm; now I’ll dare to make an unusual offer. I notice you haven’t signed up for a 2017 CSA share. I would rather have you back next year than find a new shareholder to take your place. I am daring to offer you your choice of discount on your 2017 CSA share.
Projected Prices for 2017 Shares
Full 20 Week Vegetable Share $740
Half 10 Week (every-other-week) Vegetable Share $400
4 Week Extended Season Vegetable Share $120
2 Week Extended Season Vegetable Share $60
10 Week (every-other-week) Fruit Share $500
2 Week Extended Season Fruit Share $100
Home Delivery $10 per delivery (currently $8 per delivery)
Your Discount is Up to You
Choose the discount below which best matches your ability to pay, your personal relationship to the farm, your support of organics, your enthusiasm for the CSA model, your love of our produce. You decide the discount that best suits you in the context of your relationship to your farm and also to your budget.
Log in to your membership, select your 2017 share options and other preferences, enter the coupon code of your choosing from below, and pay with PayPal (you can use a credit or debit card through PayPal even if you don’t have a PayPal account).
20% discount: use coupon code 2017ANG20
15% discount: use coupon code 2017ANG15
12% discount: use coupon code 2017ANG12
10% discount: use coupon code 2017ANG10
8% discount: use coupon code 2017ANG8
6% discount: use coupon code 2017ANG6
5% discount: use coupon code 2017ANG5
4% discount: use coupon code 2017ANG4
3% discount: use coupon code 2017ANG3
2% discount: use coupon code 2017ANG2
1% discount: use coupon code 2017ANG1
With a 20% discount, this offer can provide savings of $292 if you choose a 20 week share with 4 week extended season and a 10 week fruit share with 2 week extended season. Regular cost for these shares would be $1460; your cost will be $1168. If you choose home delivery, your savings for these 24 weeks of deliveries will be $38.40. Regular cost of home delivery would be $192; your cost will be $153.60.
If everyone chooses the biggest discount, it will make it more difficult for the farm to flourish. Remember, the farm needs to repair and upgrade equipment, maintain and upgrade buildings, buy seed, pay labor, pay taxes, buy fuel, maintain the grounds, pay for utilities, distribution, organic certification, insurance. The farm also needs to count on having 2017 shareholders. And the farm wants for people who have less ability to pay, to pay according to their budget.
For your consideration of our farm’s budget, we hope the average discount chosen will be in the 10% to 12% range. We anticipate (and hope) that those who have more financial resources will choose the smaller discounts, offsetting the higher discounts which will be chosen by others.
A Few Notes about 2017 Shares
* This offer is only valid for current shareholders.
* Flex shares will no longer be available in 2017. Instead, log in to your membership and schedule vacation holds.
* Home delivery will no longer be available on Fridays in 2017.
Deadline of Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Because I am not sure just how this offer will go, I am hedging my dare with a deadline of Tuesday, September 20.
Let’s give this model a try, and see where it lands. We’d love to grow your vegetables and herbs next year.
Warmly,
Farmer John