Rebecca Graff and Tom Ruggieri raise vegetables for a hundred-member CSA, manage a small laying flock, and operate a cottage-scale fermented food business at Fair Share Farm, 45 minutes north of Kansas City, Missouri. They’ve been farming together on family land since 2004 after meeting in the fields at Peacework Organic Farm in upstate New York.
We dig into the nitty gritty of their member-oriented CSA program, and the changes its undergone in the last couple of years as Rebecca and Tom have looked to change the farm’s economic basis and their quality of life. Tom and Rebecca share how they’ve changed their sign-up process and work requirement as their CSA goes through transitions.
We also take a hard look at their fermented foods production and how that fits in with their vision for the farm and the CSA model, as well as the efforts they’ve made to reduce the overall ecological footprint of the farm with a solar greenhouse, an electric tractor, and a vigorous cover crop and soil building effort.
We dig into the nitty gritty of their member-oriented CSA program, and the changes its undergone in the last couple of years as Rebecca and Tom have looked to change the farm’s economic basis and their quality of life. Tom and Rebecca share how they’ve changed their sign-up process and work requirement as their CSA goes through transitions.
We also take a hard look at their fermented foods production and how that fits in with their vision for the farm and the CSA model, as well as the efforts they’ve made to reduce the overall ecological footprint of the farm with a solar greenhouse, an electric tractor, and a vigorous cover crop and soil building effort.
Sponsors
Vermont Compost Company: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.
Local Food Marketplace: Providing an integrated, scalable solution for farms and food hubs to process customer orders – including online ordering, harvesting, packing, delivery, invoicing and payment processing. Manage multiple product and price lists with ease. Maximize your sales by selling multiple product pack sizes out of the same inventory. Local Food Markeplace will help you reach more customers and save time in fulfilling your customer’s orders.
Hoss Tools: Hoss Tools is the complete solution for all your market farming tools and supplies. They manufacture and carry only the highest-quality tools that are built to last a lifetime. From their time-tested Wheel Hoes, precision Garden Seeders, heavy-duty seed trays, drip irrigation and OMRI certified pest control solutions, they have you covered. FREE SHIPPING and outstanding customer service at www.hosstools.com.
Local Food Marketplace: Providing an integrated, scalable solution for farms and food hubs to process customer orders – including online ordering, harvesting, packing, delivery, invoicing and payment processing. Manage multiple product and price lists with ease. Maximize your sales by selling multiple product pack sizes out of the same inventory. Local Food Markeplace will help you reach more customers and save time in fulfilling your customer’s orders.
Hoss Tools: Hoss Tools is the complete solution for all your market farming tools and supplies. They manufacture and carry only the highest-quality tools that are built to last a lifetime. From their time-tested Wheel Hoes, precision Garden Seeders, heavy-duty seed trays, drip irrigation and OMRI certified pest control solutions, they have you covered. FREE SHIPPING and outstanding customer service at www.hosstools.com.
Quotes from the Show
[Tom] Our soils are very workable, but it's nice to have a little bit of cushion on the farm finances to also have some value added products coming out of our farm as well, so that we're not just relying on one revenue stream to provide for us going into the future.
Show Links
Tom mentioned Fair Share’s webpage about carbon sequestration on the farm.
Transcript
The transcript for this episode is brought to you byEarth Tools, offering the most complete selection of walk-behind farming equipment and high-quality garden tools in North America. And by Osborne Quality Seeds, a dedicated partner for growers. Visitosborneseed.com for high quality seed, industry-leading customer service, and fast order fulfillment. Additional funding for transcripts provided byNorth Central SARE, providing grants and education to advance innovations in Sustainable Agriculture.
