Are you a fierce advocate of organic (or “better than organic”), pasturing, free-ranging, growing practices?

Do you educate everyone around you about the benefits of eating LOCAL and ORGANIC, and proving FAIR PAY for honest labor and its products?

Do you enjoy sharing knowledge, experiments, and the highs and lows of the Adventure of Farming?

Do you hunger to have a deeper relationship with those who enjoy the fruits of your hard labor?

Are you ready to join a community of like-minded folks who stand ready to support you in your path to food excellence?

Then membership in the Kansas City CSA Coalition might be for you! We are now accepting applications for farmer members for the 2012 season.  We have lots of great projects in the works for this year, expanding our reach to the public and helping our farmers deepen their connection with each other and the community.  If you’re interested in applying, please download the Application, fill it in, and return it to Season Burnett.  And, of course, please let Season know if you have any questions about the Application or membership in general.

We look forward to welcoming you into the KCCSAC family!

This week’s offerings include: Arugula, Broccoli, Broccoli Raab, Chinese Cabbage, Eggplant, Kale, Cut Looseleaf Lettuce Mix, Microgreens, Mizuna, Mustard Greens, small Onions, Pac Choi, Pea shoots, Sweet Pepper mix (bell, banana, etc), Bell Peppers, Hot Peppers, Potatoes, Salad Mix (lettuce and greens), Saute Mix (kale, mustard greens, arugula etc), Butternut Squash, small Spaghetti Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Tatsoi, Cherry Tomatoes, Green Tomatoes, and Ripe/Ripening Tomatoes.

Orders must be received by Wednesday evening.  To get a copy of the order form, email Ami and Jim at jaaaz@embarqmail.com.  

You can also call them: (H) 816-690-7161 | (C) 816-694-4432.

One of our new member farms is Barham Cattle Co., in Kearney, MO.  The Barhams are new members of KCCSAC this year, although their farm has been in the family for 100 years.  Besides grass-fed Angus beef, they offer pastured chicken and eggs via their partnership with Windhaven Farms — a great supplement to their shares!  Barham’s CSA distributions begin in November, so check them out and sign up for your share today!

Due to overwhelming demand, Schenker Family Farms will be continuing their CSA through the winter, as well.  They’ve got very detailed offerings –including beef, pork, and lamb — and delivery all over the metro, so check out their listing page and contact them to sign up!

Parker Farms Natural Meats‘ year-round CSA offers beef, pork, lamb, and chicken products.  The Parkers accept new members all the time, so check out their listing page for share details.  The Parkers are also taking deposit for Thanksgiving turkeys, so contact them today for a gorgeous, organically-grown bird for your table — you can also find them on Fridays at Badseed Farmers’ Market in the Crossroads, so drop by and say “hi”!

Our conclusions are that Bigg Blue Farm is a legitimate vegetable farm and was growing a diverse variety of crops at least through the summer. The original allegations were raised too late in the season to provide conclusive evidence of an intent to mislead. However, in the course of the investigation, we did determine, through Stan Biggs’ own account, that Bigg Blue Farm did distribute peaches that were not organically grown in its community supported agriculture (CSA) shares. This latter activity violated the spirit, if not the letter, of the KCFC’s farmer pledge and the KCCSAC’s standards.

As a result, the KCFC and KCCSAC are placing Bigg Blue Farm on probation and will be monitoring their growing practices more closely. We will consider ending the probation if Bigg Blue Farm addresses the outstanding issues and agrees to return to full compliance.

Allegations against producer members of both organizations are rare. KCFC and KCCSAC producer members take great pride in providing Kansas City local, healthy and sustainable food. They also work hard to develop open, honest communication between themselves and their customers. Although the Kansas City food Circle and the Kansas City CSA Coalition are not regulatory bodies, they work hard to enhance that trusted relationship. Consumers should contact both organizations with any questions about how to eat locally and organically. A list of helpful questions consumers can ask farmers to learn more about where their food comes from and how it is grown is available on the Kansas City Food Circle website (www.kcfoodcircle.org) or by e-mailing coordinators@kcfoodcircle.org.

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A nonprofit, the Kansas City Food Circle has connected local eaters with local, organic, free-range food for over 20 years through events, education and public information. Please contact Dave Lawrence at 973-620-8427 for more information or visit us at www.kcfoodcircle.org.

The Kansas City CSA Coalition is a nonprofit organization that promotes Community Supported Agriculture initiatives in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Please contact Season Burnett at 876-237-8634 or csac.kc@gmail.com for more information, or visit us at www.kc-csac.org.

IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF Biggs Blue Farms’ CSA, please feel free to email us at csac.kc@gmail.com with questions and so we can contact you directly.

Thank you for your patience.

I’m very much looking forward to the movie’s release; maybe we should get together and have a watch party!

NEW ROOTS FOR REFUGEES

Juniper Gardens Training Farm and Community Gardens
Cultivate Kansas City & Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas
N. 1st Street & Richmond Avenue, Kansas City, KS 66101
Cathy Bylinowski and Rachel Bonar, (913) 602-1181, cathyb@kccua.org

This Training Farm and Community Garden serves resettled refugees in the New Roots for Refugees program (co-sponsored by Catholic Charities of N.E. KCK) and residents of Juniper Gardens Apartment Complex, a public housing facility of the Housing Authority of KCK. The gardeners and farmers raise vegetables, herbs, and cut flowers on land reclaimed from demolished apartments. Organic fertilizer and soil amendment are added every year to improve soil fertility. Vegetables familiar to Americans, as well as unique varieties from the farmers’ home countries, are sold and enjoyed by customers at 8 markets across Metro area, including KCK Green Market at Juniper Gardens.

Activities: Live music by New Roots for Refugees farmers, Cooking demonstrations by farmers. Open Sunday.

Directions: From I-70 East, take exit 423, look for signs for 3rd Street. Follow 3rd Street north .9 miles to Richmond Avenue, turn right and look for the farm on your left. Look for tour parking signs.

Gibbs Road Community Farm & Burns’ Bee Farm

Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture
4223 Gibbs Road, Kansas City, KS 66106
913-831-2444, info@kccua.org, www.kccua.org

The Gibbs Road Community Farm sits on two acres in Kansas City, Kansas, growing food, farmers and community. It’s the home of Cultivate Kansas City (formerly known as the Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture.) Each year the farmers harvest some 25,000 pounds of certified organic produce for market and CSA. Come see how tomatoes grown in the high tunnel out-perform the field tomatoes. Check out the farm’s no-till beds, raised beds and traditional tilled beds. Ask to see the non-stop production plan. Talk with an apprentice and find out why it’s never quiet at this farm…the interstate highway at its western border is only half the story at this bustling center for urban food production!

Activities: Live music Saturday and Sunday by Good Sam Club BBQ band (10:30-1PM) Cooking demonstration by Whole Foods, Bee colony observation with Bob Burns Honey, Children’s tent. Open Saturday & Sunday.

Directions: Take the Shawnee Drive exit off I-635, go east to 42nd, and turn left. Parkon 42nd where the signs say Farm Tour Parking. Then walk ¼ m. north on 42nd to the farm’s north entrance.

Representing the Kansas side of the State line are a couple of our past member farms: Blue Door Farm, Huns Garden, and Root Deep Urban Farm.  From the UFGT’s website:

Blue Door Farm

Laura Christensen
3830 N. 55th Street, Kansas City, KS 66104
(816) 805-0362, christensen.

Laura Christensen has been farming for 5 years on her small, organic vegetable farm in Kansas City, KS.  She grows on about an acre of land, which includes a high tunnel and greenhouse (new this year!).  She leases the land, which is located on a former family vegetable farm that includes a great old barn, a few bee hives and a very vocal donkey.  You can find her produce at the Saturday farmers market in Brookside or through a CSA share.

Activities: Live music by Dog Tree (10AM-1PM), cooking demonstration, carrot-feeding of donkey & horse. Open Sunday.

Directions: From I-635 N. take exit #6 to Parallel Parkway, go .2 miles. Go west onto Parallel Parkway, go .6 miles. Continue on Parallel Drive, go .3 mi. Continue on Parallel Parkway,  go .7 miles. Turn north on N. 55th Street, go 1.9 mi to 3830 N. 55^th on the left.Park in driveway or in the Little Darling Day Care parking lot just south of the farm.

Huns Garden

4730 Metropolitan Avenue, Kansas City, KS 66106
Pov Huns, (913) 961-1561
Pov and his family have been on each tour since they began in 2005, and their farm is still growing strong. If you have not yet been to their place, do yourself a favor and see how they weave a lovely tapestry of vegetables, herbs and flowers on this spacious acreage. Tulips, lilies, iris, zinnia & cosmos grace the landscape along with vegetables. Pov will talk with you about traditional Hmong ways of growing and using vegetables and herbs for health and nutrition. You just might catch his excitement for vegetables and herbs with medicinal qualities, much of which he learned from his grandmother.

Activities: Live music by Carl Prather, Clarinet & Vocals (afternoon), fresh vegetables and flower arrangements for sale, cooking demonstration. Open Sunday.

Directions: Off I-635, take the Metropolitan exit and go west .5 miles. Look for Farms & Gardens Tour signs on your right.  Park in a large construction parking lot at 4700 Metropolitan Avenue. Additional parking is available at 4710 Metropolitan Avenue.  Do NOT park on the street.

Root Deep Urban Farm

3219 E. 19th Street, Kansas City, MO 64127
Sherri Harvel, (816) 924-3532, rduf@copper.net, www.rootdeepurbanfarm.com

Root Deep Urban Farm is on the tour for the 3^rd time and every tour her garden gets lovelier.  She supplies vegetables for two markets and runs a small CSA program for a few lucky folks off a ¼ acre corner lot. Sherri has been instrumental in creating a path for others in the city to grow food where perhaps no food has grown before. She works hard and hopes hard to keep the growing going in the city. Her success in reclaiming vacant land for production of urban food has been a valuable example for others and she started it all by knocking on the neighbors’ doors and asking “How would you feel if I were to put in a vegetable garden down the street?”

Activities: Live music by June Holte & Checkered Past. Open Sunday.

Directions: From I-70, take the Exit 4/18th Street exit, go east on 18th to College, turn left on College to the intersection of 19th & College. The farm is on the corner. Park in the open corner lot or on street.

There are LOADS of other urban homesteads, community gardens, schoolyard gardens, and the like to see this weekend, so we hope you’ll take advantage of the opportunity and fine weather and see what they’re doing! For the first time, the UFGT spans both Saturday AND Sunday this year (some locations are open either day, or both; check the UFGT website to make sure), from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at any of the stops on the Tour: $8 for individuals, $16 for families, or $5/person for groups of 10 or more. Tickets are good for BOTH Saturday and Sunday.

our beloved badseeds

photo credit: Emily Akins

We received some exciting news this week at the farm. We have been chosen (and agreed) to host an Outstanding in the Field dinner.

This program travels around the country, setting up their long dinner table in a farm field, while having a celebrated local chef serve up a farm inspired meal. Our event will be held July 24 (rain or heat or shine) with chef Jonathan Justus providing the meal. For more information on Justus Drugstore, the Restaurant read this New York Times article.

The tickets are $180 per person. You get the unique experience of dining in the field and eating arguably the best local food from the area’s most celebrated chef. Along with appetizers, wine parings, a five course meal you get a chance to rub elbows with real live farmers (that’s us!).

More details at Fair Share Farm’s website.  Hope to see you there!