I really want to take some time to wind down from an overwhelming 2010 work schedule but it's almost time to start ordering seeds for next summer and it takes a while to go through all those seed catalogues.
My summer Wednesdays vegetable deliveries were scattered all over Chicago because so many customers begged to be included so I was delivering to the Hyde Park Art Center, workshop, the Hideout, Angel Food, and, until the Andersonville Farmers Market started in late June - three more private deliveries on the north side. That's a lot of wear and tear on my little Honda Civic (stuffed with 25 CSA boxes AND market tent/tables/displays/veggies). Parking a little car like that isn't always a problem if I can find a spot, but it's a sport coupe and getting boxes in and out of that back seat meant a lot of careful packing! Unlike Peapod or other vegetable deliveries, I'm also growing, harvesting, washing, and packing all the veggies in those boxes - and because of a limited operating budget - without staff.
That means I'm planning a more streamlined summer of 2011 and will concentrate on delivering to the Hyde Park Art Center for my "Full Season" offering that runs for 22 weeks on Wednesdays from June 8 to October 26 ($25/week = $550). That option is limited to 10 offers so that I can fill them with a good mix of seasonal veggies, herbs, and (hopefully) fruit. I know everyone wants fruit in their CSA boxes but they're so difficult to grow unless that's *all* your farm does. They're also the most labor-intensive to pick and most are so highly perishable I have to be creative in finding a way to get them to Chicago without looking worse for wear.
The growing season in Michigan really kicks in by September and runs until the first frost (@October 15?). I've been able to keep a lot of the late autumn veggies growing past the frost until mid-November with row covers - that includes kales, collards, mustard greens, peas, radishes, beets, and the like. So I've decided that the "Summer Bounty" for 2011 will be more autumnal: September 7-October 26 ($200).
Questions? Send them to videnovichfarms [at] gmail dot com.
