| The farm store — a wonderful community resource in 2020, tough though it was, had some silver linings. Many of us spent more time talking to friends in faraway places; we put less carbon into the atmosphere; and we even found that some people do better with remote working than they do in classrooms or offices. Well, there have been some silver linings for Simple Gifts Farm and our farm community as well. |
 People have seen the store Simple Gifts Store as a convenient and very safe place to shop. It was heartening to see the local food system demonstrate resilience in the face of crisis in global supply chains. Sales activity really spiked in the first month or two after the pandemic’s onset and then tapered as the summer approached and people felt more comfortable re-entering supermarkets. In the fall, SGF did a burst of strategic marketing that bumped sales back up. Over the year, sales activity at the farm store almost doubled and that was reassuring to our farmers. To order from Simple Gifts Farm Store online go to; https://www.simplegiftsfarmcsa.com/store/ Local people have seen the store as a convenient and very safe place to shop — especially with the on-line ordering for site pick-up. Farmer Jeremy says it was inspiring to see the extent to which the local food system demonstrated resilience in the face of crisis in global supply chains. The local food movement has long touted the value of shorter supply chains, and the pandemic certainly demonstrated those benefits. The hope is that people’s habits have changed and that the increased support for local food continues to be strong. Simple Gifts Farm has also consolidated their farm crew — no longer using farm apprentice-type labor, they have built a more permanent and more skilled workforce. With this they have been developing more sophisticated methods including no-till and low-till planting. Transplanted seedlings are dropped straight into a mulch-covered ground prepared the previous fall. The great benefit in low soil tillage is that it retains soil fertility because micro-organisms are not disturbed, and soil organic material is not lost. Farmer Dave explained that “tilling soil is like running a woodstove with the draft gate wide open: it “burns” faster”. Tilling the soil means that soil-retained carbon is lost back to the atmosphere — not the place we want to see it going these days. Low-tillage operations on the other hand retain soil carbon and also involve less soil erosion. SGF is practicing a more and more sustainable agriculture — and BTW have you tasted their carrots? They are sweeter than ever! .  |
THANK YOU ALL FOR ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE NACF continues our effort to improve the farm experience for our farm community, and we will continue to tell when and how you can help us. You can support us with a DONATION at nacfonline.org or by clicking on the “DONATE” button below DONATE FOR MORE INFORMATION please contact — Bruce Coldham at bcoldham155@comcast.net |
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