In these unprecedented times, we are buoyed by both the incredible words and actions of support from all of you as well as the increased interest in local food.
While we know we have the much easier and safer job producing and delivering food from a small regenerative farm compared to all of the healthcare workers and even grocery store staff, we are feeling the impact of the increased demand, the need to shift farm schedules/practices to keep staff distanced and the new jobs of packing and delivering orders. Like you, we miss our self-serve farmstand, but are also so glad that we took steps to close the farmstand as early as we did to do our part to protect everyone.
We are limiting the number of days we are packing orders. This should help us keep our seeding, production & processing on schedule, simultaneously updating our crop plan to match these circumstances. It will also limit how often we need to be in and out of our walk-in and ensure all the farmers get needed rest.
We appreciate your patience and understanding at this time. Our small farm is doing its best to keep producing nutritious food for us all.
Availability
Even in normal years, late March and April always require the most creativity and flexibility for eating from local farms as we get to the end of our storage vegetables and wait for the flush from the fields. Canned and frozen items play their biggest role in these months.
Due to the surge in demand and it being late March, we have limited remaining storage vegetables. Keeping our commitment to fulfill our pre-paid, existing Farmshare members is our first priority so items with more limited supply will not be available for retail shoppers.
Fortunately, we HAVE put away a lovely array of frozen meats, bone broth, pestos, soups, canned goods and some frozen veggies for healthy, nutritious eating.
What you can do: Dig deep into your own freezer and take advantage of what is plentiful to be flexible and creative. Enjoy your carrots pickled, broccoli in soup, and remember how lovely bone broth is with some spices from your cupboard.
New Ordering & Shopping How-Tos
Everything is evolving, so here is the plan for this week, March 24-31.
Logistics for Food Pick-Ups
How to Place your order
We will update the check out sheet weekly on our website, in addition to the “What’s available” part of the website so you know what we have. To order:
- Type up your order in text of email, feel free to use any descriptive terms for sizes, etc; OR Fill in a check out sheet and email it;
- Email orders to: orders@eatstayfarm.com with requested pick-up location and time and we will confirm.
- Feel free to send your order in at any point, but minimally 4 hours before delivery time.
What you can do: Clarify if you will take a substitution of something similar or would prefer to go without and try something new & plentiful.
How to Pay for your Farm Food
- Members: nothing changes, you are on account & we will send your monthly statement
- Retail Shoppers: We prefer to send you an invoice via Square to pay via credit card but we can also send you the total so you can leave a check when you pick-up your order
- If you are interested in become a farmshare member, information from 2019 is on our website. We, like all small farms, could always use additional customers. We have had a rolling admission policy since our beginning 11 years ago, and that will continue, but some items for new members may be limited until our 2020 production is rolling, as our storage veg production in 2019 did not anticipate a major surge in March 2020.
Pick-Up options March 25-31
- Northfield: This week we will drop Thursday 3/26 4:30-5 pm and Tuesday 3/31 4:30-5 pm at the Common. We will try to put boxes out on the picnic table or the back of our truck for pick up.
- Montpelier: 3/27 Friday 11:00 AM location TBD.
- On Farm: Thurs 3/26 4:30-6 pm; Friday 3/27 2-6 pm & Tuesday 3/31 4:30 -6 pm (On farm pick-up does require good clearance due to mud season)
We are grateful to be in community with you, learning and striving for wellness and well-being. All of these changes and challenges will take some patience and resilience on the part of us all. Best wishes to us all to take care of ourselves and our community.
Other Resources and Ways to Support Local Farms
#1 – Be kind and patient, all are scrambling to provide as much local, healthy food as possible in these new circumstances, while ensuring we can continue to do that for the months and years ahead.
#2 – Another of many great resources for local food is Roots Farm Market (owned by the Bear Roots Farm team). They have been scrambling to get an online order store open and are pulling from larger farms.
#3 -Check out the resources from our farm support organizations like NOFA-VT and Vermont Agency of Agriculture, including this op-ed from Secretary Anson Tebbets