Farm Message for July 25, 2009

STAR HOLLOW FARM NEWS

For the week preceding Saturday, July 25^th, 2009

General news & info

Hello all!

Produce: Either new or back on the list this week are:

• Berries, Melons & Fruit: Blackberries (very limited), cantaloupes, nectarines, elephant heart plums (also limited).

• Greens: Young chard, lacinato kale, cress, red leaf lettuce, cabbage.

• Vegetables: white corn, purple carrots, Walla Walla sweet onions, purple bell peppers, leeks, Yukon Gold potatoes, mixed basil.

• Other items: Goat cheese (garlic / dill flavored chevre, ash log, demi-sec)

• ON SALE: garlic scapes, rhubarb.

Open-farm invitation: You should have received a separate email yesterday with all the details for the August 1 and 2 open farm. We'll post a rides-offered and rides-needed sheet at the truck in Adams Morgan. Check the blog (http://starhollowfarmcsa.blogspot.com/) or the list at the truck in Adams Morgan this Saturday. Please RSVP if you're coming, as we'd like to have some idea how many to plan for.

ORGANIC—To be or not to be, that is our question: Last week we mentioned the late blight occurring in the area, affecting both tomatoes and potatoes. We've sprayed twice now and it sort of looks like we're holding it off a bit, but I can see that we've got it. Its spread is proceeding slowly, probably because it's been quite dry and that is not conducive. Penn State also issued a warning last week that two different kinds of diseases were on the spread on cucurbits (cucumbers, squash, pumpkins) in Pennsylvania. Our largest acreage is in potatoes, second largest in winter squash, and tomatoes are one of our biggest dollar value crops, though smaller in acreage. Should be an interesting year.

It's 5:30 Wednesday morning as I write this, and I'm anxious to get a bite of breakfast and out to work, but I want to bounce a few thoughts off you, as my mind has been working overtime lately on several interrelated issues, both of which sort of cut to the core of who we think we are here and what we're trying to do on the farm. Both of these have sort of been pushed upon us by the current disease outbreaks, but are worth delving into even beyond that. Undoubtedly this will end up a rambling, drawn out discussion, so I won't be offended if you stop here!

Executive summary: We at Star Hollow Farm are pondering whether we will continue to be certified organic next year, and are not even sure about whether or not to use only organic materials in the future, especially if we risk major losses such as could be the outcome of the current disease outbreaks. We need to stay in business to be a “good” farm. We don't intend to turn our backs on the principles that led us to do this for a living in the first place. Would you continue to support us by buying our produce and being part of our CSA even if we weren't organic?

The first issue is organic certification. We have been a certified organic farm since Day One here on the farm, which goes back to our first year in 1992. For most of that time, if anyone asked me what I did, I'd say I'm an organic vegetable farmer. About 1995 or so I was one of the founding members of Pennsylvania Certified Organic, our in-state certifier, in response to the lack of a local certifier. I also trained to be an organic inspector, and did inspect a dozen or so farms one season. Then organic got big, the government got involved, it got complicated, it got expensive, and over the last year or two we've begun to wonder what it means anymore.

I drive by the largest organic farm on the East Coast—a former member of our Co-op—and see hundreds of acres of crops, with a tractor and sprayer and huge clouds of spray rising up, the driver safely wearing a moon suit and respirator, just like conventional farms in CA (but I'm sure the farmer is spraying only organically approved materials).

The dividing line between what organic farmers can spray and what they can't was somewhat arbitrarily defined to be “of natural origin” or “occurring naturally in nature” OKAY, “synthetic” NO. That was a line drawn that seemed enforceable and logical in one sense. On the other hand, there are naturals that are more dangerous to farmers and the environment than some synthetics, and there are naturals that have now been distilled 500 or a thousand times, to improve effectiveness, but how do we know that they are any safer than any synthetic, as they have never existed in nature at those concentrations before their development in the last year or two. I'm amazed at the number of Organic materials on the market now, compared with five years ago. My first thought is “Great” but there is this question of “Are they really any better?” in the back of my head.

Along with the growth of organics, certification has become much more complicated, for the farmer and the certifier. Thus paperwork has increased, as has the fee. We pay about three times as much now as ten years ago. If we were a large farm, we'd just have the secretary deal with the paperwork and pay the fee, knowing that we'd come out ahead, since we had large quantities to sell for the organic premium. There's no secretary here—just Randy at his desk instead of out farming—and the quantities are not so large that it is covering the increased cost.

And the organic premium... (which is presumably why the Big Guys got interested in organic). Well, with the economy the way it is, I think our organic prices are really hurting our sales, at least in Adams Morgan. Our Co-op, which is where we used to get about half our produce, has its prices so high that I've had to start shifting my purchases to other farmers I know that aren't organic, just so that I can offer produce at prices that don't seem ridiculous. That's why the CSA boxes have less than half organic produce in them anymore. How else can I give 8 kinds of produce for $15-17?

On another front, now that organic produce is plentiful, the (not organic) stand next to us in Adams Morgan regularly has organic produce that they've bought at the terminal market in Jessup, MD for cheap the night before—just a few steps away from our local organic produce—and available for prices way below what I need to charge to be even worth trying to grow it. It seems a good thing that people can get organic for a good price right there in Adams Morgan, but how can I bother to grow it locally if I can't sell it for a profit? It seems to just be another commodity now.

I could go on, but I think I'll leave it there for this week. It's a complicated issue. I guess the bottom line for us is: If we did what we think we needed to do to keep this all going for us and you, would you continue to support us, even if we weren't organic?

CSA-Specific News

Planned CSA produce for this week:

This week the plan is for Romano beans, red potatoes, sweet corn, scallions, garlic scapes, cantaloupe, peppermint and peaches. Enjoy!

Adams Morgan CSA volunteers. Thanks to Tyler and Phil for their help handing out orders last weekend!

Thanks for your support!

Randy, Chris and all at Star Hollow Farm