• La Vista Spring Newsletter 4/19/12 Volume 10 Issue 2

• La Vista Winter Newsletter 2/10/12 Volume 10 Issue 1

2012 Volunteer Workdays for Summer

Saturday, 5/12 7am-11am

Tuesday, 5/15 2pm-6pm

Wednesday, 5/16 7am-1pm

Tuesday, 5/22 2pm-6pm

Tuesday, 5/29 2pm-6pm

Wednesday, 5/30 7am-1pm

Saturday, 6/2 7am-1pm

Tuesday, 6/5 2pm-6pm

Saturday, 6/9 1pm-5pm

Sunday, 6/10 7am-1 pm

Tuesday, 6/12 2pm-6pm

Tuesday, 6/19 2pm-6pm

Sunday, 7/1 7am-3pm

Saturday, 7/2 7am-3pm

Tuesday, 7/10 2pm-6pm

OUTSIDE JOBS

We are open to volunteers any day of the week.  Please contact our farmers if you would like to lend a hand: volunteer@lavistacsa.org

We also have scheduled volunteer work days, generally twice a month, with specific tasks or projects planned - like garlic planting in the fall!  Some outdoor jobs include planting, weeding, harvesting and farm maintenance - both machinery and grounds.

GREETERS

Greeters are the volunteers who staff the distribution area to ensure that the produce is stocked and to assist Shareholders when they come to pick-up their produce.  Being a Greeter is a very important role at the farm.  We rely on Greeters to keep the produce fresh and to make it look both presentable and desirable. Greeters are needed at the farm from 2-7pm on Tuesdays and Fridays during distribution hours.  We need lots of people to sign up to be Greeters during the season.  Greeter tasks include:

•     restock all produce bins fully on a regular basis
•     keep the fans circulating on the produce
•     contact the farmer if we are low on any items
•     keep produce fresh by re-soaking the towels in cold water every hour
•     spray produce with water to rehydrate
•     smile and be friendly to shareholders
•     offer assistance
•     remind shareholders to check off their names on the sign-in list
  
•     encourage shareholders to take advantage of the produce in the you-pick section
•     encourage shareholders to sign up for greeting and volunteer workdays
•     inform shareholders of important announcements
•     tidy up the share room by sweeping and wiping surfaces
•     water the planter boxes and hanging baskets if needed

INSIDE JOBS

There is an extraordinary amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to keep the farm running smoothly.  The volunteer Core Group makes major decisions regarding hiring, budgeting, membership, publicity, communications, fund-raising and Shareholder events, but many more volunteers are needed to actually do all the work involved.  If field work isn't an option for a member, making phone calls, distributing flyers, working on the annual rummage sale, grant-writing, becoming a Core Group member or a vast number of other tasks are always needing to be done.

 CORE GROUP

♦ General oversight and guidance
♦ Supervise farmer
♦ Develop and implement policies
♦ Authorize hiring personnel and expenditures

EDUCATION

♦ Arrange programs for members
♦ Cook book and recipes
♦ Research store prices of organic produce
♦ Create informative labels for produce

GARDEN BEAUTIFICATION

♦ Plan and implement garden beautification
around Distribution Center and U-Pick areas
♦ Maintain “Magpie’s Garden”

CELEBRATIONS

♦ Plan Shareholder Celebrations
♦ Help set-up before and clean-up after:
• Welcome/Orientation (May)
• Tomato Fest (August)
• Harvest Party (November)

Shareholder Maya Bradstreet preparing Russian Beet Salad, June 28, 2011

Green Spiral Tours Virtual Field Trip to the Garden, June 9, 2011

Fresh Ideas, Growing Your Own Food, April 2011

WBGZ Let's Talk with Eric and Crystal, February 16, 2011

Check out our articles in the Home Style magazine, Spring, Summer and Fall 2011

WBGZ Let's Talk with Eric and Crystal, February 22, 2012

Earth Worms with Jean Ponzi at KDHX, February 13, 2012

Danette

by Danette Watt

Joining a Community Supported Agriculture-model farm means more than getting your hands on fresh, locally grown vegetables for 27 weeks. Membership in a CSA brings with it a sense of community, a feeling of reconnecting with the land and an opportunity for respite from the busyness of our lives.

When you become a member of a CSA, you agree to support the farmer in his or her endeavors while accepting both the rewards and the risks of the growing season. Without a doubt, in good years there is an abundance of produce. One August week in 2009, La Vista provided each shareholder with 35 tomatoes bursting with the sweet taste of summer. We gathered quarts of green beans from the U-Pick field and brought home bouquets of cut wildflowers.

In the less bountiful years we can be satisfied knowing that whatever we receive has been produced using sustainable growing methods without traveling hundreds of miles to reach us.

But there are benefits to being a member of La Vista that go beyond receiving luscious organic vegetables every week. Fostering a sense of community is equally important. We mark the passing of each growing season by our shareholder gatherings: The Welcome and Orientation in May; the occasional barbecue in June; the August Tomato Fest with its tomato-themed games and recipe contest; and the Harvest Party that signals the closing of the season in November. Each is designed to bring members together, sharing food and fellowship in a celebration of what the land has to offer us.

La Vista expects shareholders to volunteer three hours a month to support the farmer, whether that is through office work, fieldwork, publicity efforts or other ways that make use of their talents. When shareholders actively participate in ways that are meaningful to us, we have the satisfaction of knowing we contributed directly in growing some of the food we eat. We also gain a sense of being part of something larger than ourselves as we provide nutritious food for members of the garden as well as the surrounding community. One of La Vista’s missions is to offer a percentage of our shares to low-income members in the area as well as to share excess produce with the local food pantry. Doing so brings the fight against hunger to a local level.

As society has become increasingly urbanized and fast-paced, there’s been a corresponding increase in our disconnection with nature. Recent studies show that even small-scale contact with the natural world – gardens, tree-lined streets, pocket parks – provides mental, physical and spiritual benefits, including feeling less stress and restored mental clarity. For some shareholders, supporting the farmer means nothing less than helping with the weekly sowing, weeding and harvesting. There is joy in digging into sun-warmed earth, sowing seeds that will eventually yield a bountiful harvest

Located on private property, La Vista offers shareholders a break from the frenetic activities of our lives, the to-do lists that never seem to end. Once we enter its gate and drive down the lane, we get into a completely different state of mind. We automatically reduce our speed and turn down the radio. Picking vegetables in the field with the soft buzz of insects and birds’ songs in the background is almost an act of meditation as our mind quiets and we search for just the right-sized okra pod hiding among the stalks or a sweet cherry tomato nestled among the vines.

As each season comes to an end, we look back on the harvest we reaped over the months even as we look forward to the benefits La Vista will bring us in the coming year – the tangible as well as the intangible.

Spring Greens are curremtly in season!

• A Full Share costs $550 and provides a weekly share for 27 weeks (mid May to mid November). 
• An Alternate Share costs $300 and provides a share every other week. 

Share pick-up is at the Farm in Godfrey, IL.  For an additional $25 delivery fee, shareholders may pick-up their share at Garden Heights in Richmond Heights, MO on Saturday morning between 7am - 9am.

Download a shareholder membership application for the 2012 season:

Application with Farm pick-up

Application with Garden Heights pick up

Already a member?

DOWNLOAD A RENEWAL APPLICATION.

 Renewal Application with Farm pick-up

 Renewal APPLICATION with Garden Heights pick-up

• provides farmers with direct outlets for farm products and ensures fair compensation
• encourages proper land stewardship by supporting farmers in transition toward low or no chemical inputs
• strengthens local economies by keeping food dollars in local communities
• directly links producers with consumers allowing people to have a personal connection with their food and the land on which it was produced
• makes nutritious, affordable, wholesome foods accessible and widely available to community members.

There are many kinds of CSA. All include payment in advance at an agreed upon price. In some, members of the community purchase a "share" of the anticipated harvest, while in others they sign up for a predetermined amount of produce over the course of the season. In most cases, this commitment implies a willingness to share with the farmer both the bounty from the land and at least some of the risks involved with production.

In return for fair and guaranteed compensation, consumers receive a variety of freshly picked, (usually organic) vegetables grown and distributed in an economically viable and ecologically responsible manner. Some farms also offer fruit, herbs, flowers and other products. In this way, farmers and members become partners in the production, distribution and consumption of locally grown food.

One fact also to consider, organic food produced with local communities is not the same as organic food transported over long distances. When members obtain food from local farmers, environmental costs associated with the transport, processing and distribution of organic food and the consumption of fossil fuels are significantly reduced. Considering that the organic food available to members was produced locally rather than transported over long distances, the cost to the environment is significantly less.

from the Robyn Van En Center for CSA Resources

Chef shares are designed for restaurants that wish to work with the finest local ingredients to compliment the culinary artisan skills of their chefs. At La Vista, we possess the same ambition and desire to please our shareholders as chef's possess to wow their patrons. We are on a parallel mission to provide incredibly fresh produce with outstanding flavors.

Chef Shares include 4 boxes of fresh produce each week for 27 weeks.  The boxes include a wide variety of seasonal produce which is meant to be incorporated into your Specials Menu each weekend.  The rich, earthy flavors of farm fresh produced harvested within days, sometimes even hours of its arrival to you enhances the flavors of any culinary creation. Our produce can be highlighted in any dish. Imagine a continuous supply of flavors that will sharpen your spontaneous creativity by using produce at the height of their essence in the peak of their season. Our produce is grown without pesticides and our seeds are GMO free.  

Please your clientele as they enjoy crisp, butter head lettuce, nutty baby squash, beautiful squash blossoms, sun ripened heirloom tomatoes, tangy spicy greens, dainty edible flowers, aromatic herbs, and German hard neck garlic with the highest oil content this side of the Mississippi.

•  Cost of a Chef Share is $2200.00  This includes 4 boxes of fresh produce each week for 27 weeks.  6 monthly payments of $365.00 per month may also be arranged.
  

There are 3 options for receiving your produce

• Option 1 (Free of Charge)

You pick up at the La Vista Farm each week on one of our designated pick up days (either Tuesday or Friday between 2pm and 7pm))

• Option 2 (Free of charge)

You come each Saturday Morning to our drop off location at Garden Heights Nursery in Richmond Heights between 7am and 9am to pick up your produce, using your own boxes or bags for transport.

• Option 3 ($200.00 delivery fee)

We will deliver your boxes each Saturday morning between 10am and 12 noon. You will leave our empty boxes from the previous week in a dry place for us to collect each week.

Please send email inquiries to crystal@lavistacsa.org

4350 Levis Lane, Godfrey, IL 62035

Click here for directions to the farm.