We have been on this journey with our CSA for many years now and have heard it all from farmers and from customers. We were always ping-ponging back and forth with all these suggestions being thrown our way - "Remember keep the CSA simple" , "We should be able to pick exactly what we want" , "Don't be a push-over" , "Why can't I have tomatoes in May?" - the list goes on. All we could think is every one has a point and all these points are vaild but are limiting in one way or another - so how the heck do we make this work? Well the answers were already right in front of us. They were in the actions we were complusively already doing behind the scences and these were the things that MATTERED to us- which was giving the customers what they needed when they needed it whenever humanly possibly to do so! 

For Olde Furrow the CSA is the BACKBONE of our farm without it we'd probably wouldn't have a farm to put it bluntly. SO WHAT if we need to be more organized - good for us! SO WHAT if we need to find more ways to communicate since everyone has different ways of doing so - good for us! SO WHAT if we need to learn to be more flexible- good for us! SO WHAT if we have to spend more time doing what we LOVE- good-for-freaking-us! 

And we HOPE IT IS GOOD FOR YOU TOO! :D

As soon as we can learn we start learning about food but more often than not we are taught what not to eat and why. Both Adam & I had that in our childhoods but for very different reasons. Adam grew up with a lot of food sensitivities which fortunately he grew out of and I grew up fearing food since my parents were compulsive dieters.

Somewhere along the way Adam was able to form a healthy relationship with his body and the food he put in it. Somewhere he learned the magic of food as health and learned the skill of listening to his body. This is something he has taught me since day one back in 2010 and it has transformed so much of my life.

Since that time a lot has started to shift in society and people are becoming more and more food conscious. At first, this was such an exciting time on the farm. Knowing that we were going to get to play a part in helping empower people in health. We are so excited to share any new information we gathered on the veggies and herbs we grew. This is what often excited us to try something new and we wanted our customers to be excited too!

This past year (2017) I hit a wall. There was SO much information flying at me I began to have that feeling of fear again. I began thinking about food as an enemy. I began losing touch with my body. I felt as though if I was feeling this surely our customers must be experiencing the same thing. So I made the choice to hold back more on these bits of information and just let the food be what the food is.

Then I bought this AMAZING cookbook "Recipes From The Herbalist Kitchen" by Brittany Wood Nickerson. Never had a read such a poetic cookbook. I'll be honest it made me cry a few time. Not because I was sad but just because it was so true. Having a healthy view on eating is so crucial. Just as important as what we eat. In her book she says "Food is only as nourishing as our body's ability to digest it" Our ability to digest is so connected to our minds that if we are sitting down eating a plain piece of kale and hating every bite of it - how much nutrition will we really be able to get from that?

Then it hit me! I need to be sharing all this wonderful information but it's how and when you share it. This is where my old pal Socrates comes into play with his test of three. Is it true information, good information and useful information? So much of what we are fed is often times no useful but shameful. No one should EVER feel shame about what they put into their bodies. Food is sacred. It the closest thing to religion we all share. It not only unites our body, mind and soul but it unities people from all over the world. It is as woven to our own identities as it is to the identities of those around us.

This has inspired us to empower YOU all to be fearless and proud eaters of nourishment. Through this nourishment you will help your body support your health and it will be delicious!

How will we do this? Mostly through our CSA, with tidbits going out on Facebook and at the market. (but of course we are an open resource so feel free to email us whenever you need help or inspiration with your nourishment) We have been creating information sheets for ALL our veggies, herbs and fruit. These sheets will share with you ways to store, process, and cook your food. It will also include useful information on ways this particular nourishment can help you support your health.

We really want to be part of creating a nurturing food system from the land, to the farmers, to you! <3

Below I have shared a piece written on Brittany Wood Nickerson website Thyme Herbal and a podcast she was on. Have a read and listen on food empowerment! 
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On Health and Healing - By Brittany Wood Nickerson
"I often notice that people take interest in their health out of fear.  Time and time again I see people who are suddenly  (or not so suddenly)  overcome by the need to “take care of themselves”– perhaps because they don’t have health insurance, or find themselves with high blood pressure or high cholesterol; perhaps because they wish to strike preemptively against the heart disease, alcoholism or breast cancer that runs in their family.  Many of these people would in fact do well to take care of themselves, and their health may very well depend on it.  However, these individuals will heal not only because of specific diet changes, or the addition of healthful herbs, but because of new relationships to their own self-care and an embraced sense of empowerment. One of the first steps toward this type of change is to embody a life-giving, positive, nurturing attitude toward ourselves and the world.  No amount of vitamins, minerals or green leafy vegetables can nourish or heal the person who lives in a state of negativity, fear, frustration or anger.  When we move away from fear-based ideas about our health — ideas of “right” and “wrong,” “should” and “shouldn’t” — we can see that health is not black and white.  We can see that, actually, health is quite complex, part of a vast web of relationships to self, lifestyle, family, community and the patterns of the earth.  This process can prove a challenging one, so amidst the challenges it is important to hold compassion for ourselves and for our process of change and self-growth.
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Health, and what makes us healthy, is as diverse as our preferences in art, film or music.  It sometimes feels easy to forget that being healthy is just that: a state of being, a subjective and personal state for each of us.  With this recognition comes the awareness that what is healthy for us will be healthy and healing for us in every aspect of our lives, and that those same acts of nourishment will build not only our health, but the health of our communities and the health of the earth.  Health is an embedded process, and to be healthy requires a connection — for many a re-connection — with our own bodies’ processes, and with natural processes outside of us.  I believe that we all possess the inherent wisdom to heal ourselves by getting to know our own rhythms, embedded as they are in the larger picture of our lives and the patterns of the earth.
People are taught to disconnect from their bodies in our culture, and to latch onto the prescribed wisdom of people they think know better than them — authority figures of all kinds.  As an herbalist and healer I see myself empowering rather than ordering the people I see, because I want to help people cultivate their own skills and connect with their own intuitive wisdom.  This view of health operates outside the paradigm of right answers and of “cures.”  Trusting this process requires a shift away from a scientific and objective idea of health, and toward viewing health as a subjective process.  Working together, we recognize that health can look many different ways; that a person’s healing path is unique, and their desire to heal, be well and live in balance with their body is their most powerful, important medicine."

Your Farmers, 
Adam & Courtney

And now I must sneak some of Adam's wonderful poetry out into the world once again because to me the simplicity of what he writes is as real as the nature that is all around us and well he doesn't seem to get that so I am going to bug him to share more and more. Even if that means I have to be sneaky. Haha.

Each farm is managed differently with different end goals in mind. For Adam and I it has always been about how to do things greener but still be efficient. Every year we get closer to where we are going - it has been a lot of trail and error seeing what works and what doesn't but forward we go . Here is an overview of where we are in the process.

Seeds
We grow organic, non-gmo seed with focus on flavorful and unusual varieties. Every year more and more organic seed is available.

No Chemicals
No Chemical Pesticides, Herbicides or Fertilizers are ever used. Not only for the health of the land and its creatures but for the health of us and our customers.

Bees
We are a Bee-Friendly farm by providing our bees and wild bees with an array of pollen and nectar packed flowers as well as maintaining the absence of harmful substances. This spring Don (our bee guy) told us his hives had a 100% survival rate! 

Plastics
We limit the use of plastics by mulching with hay from our fields and planting in season to diminish the need for greenhouse plastic and row covers. Eventually we would like to rid of it completely!

Pest Management
Pest levels are managed through a mixture of companion planting, crop rotation, timing, hand removal and attracting beneficial insects. Our main nemesis are the potato beetle, cucumber beetle and flea beetle.

Weed Management
Weeds are managed through mulching, flaming and hand weeding. This part of management is the most time consuming aspect of our farm. Each year we are trying to shrink the amount of land we use but grow the size of the harvest till we reach efficiency. 

Fertilization
Fertilization comes in the form of green manure, compost teas, compost and pasturing cows. We also believe in our natural dynamic accumulators - the weeds!

Don and Adam in discussion while the chickens peck through our 4 year old compost - amazing how it all turns back into soil!

CHOICES
At the end of last year Adam & Courtney had a choice to make, on weather or not to continue the farm without Deenie's full time help. It was a scary choice for them, they LOVED farming but the work load was pretty heavy even for three full time workers and now it would just be the two of them. Not to mention they would have to take over task they had never done solo before such as running the CSA sign-up, Ordering the seeds, General Marketing - It was all terrifying, since really the fields is where they like to be. Instead of being to afraid to grow and develop their skills as young entrepreneurs they decide to continue with full force and high hopes. First thing first, we needed more financial income, so in December Courtney and Adam started working at Valley mushroom to help supplement the start up cost just in case they were awful at maintaining and obtaining CSA customers. To their surprise it all went smoothly and successfully!! The next part was organizing the markets we were going to sign up for - for years we just attended the Kentville Farmers Market but knew it was time to expand our market base. We applied to various markets and got one yes out of four applications.  Which was great, but we still needed at least one more market to reach our goal. While in the processing of establishing CSA drop off locations, we were offered our very own opportunity to run a farm market right on Bedford's main highway, 3 days a week - That's two more market days then we aimed for! So the terrifying leap of faith has been taken and the entrepreneurial spirit has taken hold! 

STARTUP
Now that the CSA & Markets had taken root it was time to plan the season and order the seeds, which all went smoothly until the anxiously long winter kept its grip on mother nature. Courtney was tittering back and forth over to start planting in her unheated greenhouse or to wait a little longer to ensure all goes well. Her original plan would be delayed if she didn't plant but it would be delayed anyways if her plants died, so she waited and low and behold the only up and running greenhouse collapsed! So there it was, the season was starting when the fields were ready and that was that. We were able to salvage both greenhouse structures and the plastic which I am so grateful for! And even though we won't be able to start deliveries June 5th but instead on June 19th, I think will live with this little set back.

Below: Don & Deenie discussing what to do with the greenhouse once we take it all apart. Ultimately we decided to put part of it back up just enough for the seeding trays that are filling up the back room in the farm house.