Mountain Bounty Farm

Thanks to all 211 people who responded to our survey about the 2010 season. This is an excellent response: 60% of the 2010 summer members responded! We really appreciate your help and feedback – it is how we know whether or not we are giving you what you want and it helps us figure out how to improve. I’d like to share some of the highlights from the survey. Overall satisfaction with the shares was good: 85% of respondents gave us either a 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 meant very dissatisfied and 5 meant very satisfied. No one gave us a 1 and only 5 respondents (2%) gave us a 2 on this scale. Thanks to all of you who took the time to fill out the survey and thanks especially for all the supportive comments. For those of you who are interested keep reading under “Reflections on the 2010 Summer Survey” below for a more in-depth discussion of the survey and changes we will be making in response to the survey.

Reflections on the 2010 Summer Survey

We looked very carefully at what people were unhappy with because although many things in farming are either hard to change or unpredictable (for example, how good of a tomato season we’ll have in a given year is largely under our control, unless there is sustained terrible weather like last season!), we want to work towards changing what we can to make more people happier. Here are a few patterns we saw in the responses and what we hope to do about them. Toward the end of this post, I will talk about specific veggies.

One group of respondents complained of forgetting or for some other reason missing their pickups. This is an inherent problem with all CSAs (we actually have longer hours than most).  We also have heard that other farms are having some success by asking everyone to program the pickups into their calednars or alarms on their cell phones. Maybe all that technology can work for us.

Another complaint was cost. 34% of respondents had financial concerns that might make it hard for them to sign up again and 15% thought our shares were not worth the cost. I’d like to encourage everyone to read the November 8, 2010 newletter where I shared the results of our value analysis for the shares. We found that our shares are actually worth a lot more than we are charging for them – and that doesn’t even count the other values members receive (satisfaction and health in eating fresher more nutritious locally grown food, connecting directly with the source of your food, newsletters and inspiration, etc). We are well aware of the economic pinch that is underway and understand the need to tighten up on spending. However, I remain stronger than ever in my conviction that good wholesome food from local farms should be available to everyone and a priority for everyone. There are many places people spend money (from convenience foods to fuel for not-so-necessary driving to electronics) that could be trimmed before good food gets the cut. Having said that I also want to remind everyone about our Payment Plan option in addition to our Financial Assistance Program – please donate to it if you can and please take advantage of it if you need to!

Overall there was somewhat less satisfaction and more dissatisfaction with the summer fruit share. Our crew heartily agrees with many of the criticisms that were offered. We have already implemented a new system for our winter fruit share which we believe has been very successful so far. We are gathering fruit from several farms (more local too!) to try to provide more variety. And we have taken over the packing process to work toward higher quality standards.  We have been encouraged by the quality of fruit coming from several small farms in the Newcastle area, a historic fruit growing area, that is quite close to us. This winter’s fruit has been by far the best we’ve had and we are optimistic about the upcoming summer fruit share.

Now to specific vegetables. But first I need to make a not so brief disclaimer. With the amazing diversity in people’s tastes and cooking experience we don’t expect to make everyone happy all the time! Nonetheless we put tremendous effort into growing, harvesting, washing, and delivering a diverse, interesting, beautiful, and bountiful box every week. This process relies on all of our skill, experience and hard work – and some luck. We are professionals and we have invested substantially in the best tools, infrastructure, and supplies that are available to do the best job possible. And still, farming is inherently unpredictable, and reliant on many natural factors we cannot fully control, especially the weather. And we live in a place and time where it seems like the weather is more extreme and less predictable than ever before. Please do not mistake this disclaimer for an excuse. We are largely responsible for the successes and failures of our farm. It’s just that we are not in complete control.

Back to the survey: The top vegetable that respondents wanted more of were: Tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, and corn. The top vegetables that people wanted less of were: fennel, kale, radishes, and beets. Tomatoes were no big surprise since last year was such a terrible tomato year. At the start of the season we had boldly announced in response to the previous survey that we would be giving out more tomatoes than before. And then there weren’t that many tomatoes. Our records show that we did give out bigger amounts, but it was for a shorter time. We also tried to compensate with hard work by giving out many more cherry tomatoes than usual. And thank goodness that we had just built our 2 large hoophouses because without them there would have been even less. Chances are good that this coming season will be better. We are planting tomatoes at our new warmer drier field. And we have heard the message loud and clear that people want more. Our goal will be to put 3-5lbs of tomatoes in each box during the peak season which is normally late July through late October. We are increasing the size of our lettuce plantings with a goal to put more than one head in each box.  Last season was a great year for lettuce and carrots (they were in almost every box) so there may not be that much more we can do about that. Corn is one of our favorites. Last season’s corn harvest was below average for us, because several of the plantings were late, again due to the abnormally cool summer. We are proud to grow much more corn than any of the other CSAs we know about. Many farmers do not like to grow corn because it takes up a lot of space. We plant 6-7 large plantings of corn where other CSAs in our area scarcely plant one. This gives our members a much longer time period with sweet corn since each corn planting can only be picked for at most 10 days. The worms in the ears are very difficult to control in organic sweet corn. That’s why you mostly see it with the tips cut off at the natural foods stores. We choose not to do that because it causes the ear to dry out very quickly and eating quality of the ear is not nearly as good as with our wormy ears. I encourage everyone who is challenged by the earworms to quickly cut the tips off before cooking and focus instead on the unparalleled eating experience that our sweet corn offers. In a decent year we hope to include 4-6 ears in every box during corn season which is early August through mid-October. Ordinarily corn and tomatoes are very easy crops to grow successfully and we are able to harvest and distribute them abundantly.

In regard to the other more controversial veggies (fennel, kale, radishes, beets), I’ll just say in general that we have a huge fan base for these veggies as well. We are well known for our uniquely high quality beets – which have now become our emblematic vegetable. These vegetables will probably not decrease in a major way. We know that not everyone likes them, and we hope that because we are offering such a good value with the boxes that it will be ok if not everything gets eaten. I recommend looking for new recipe ideas – and if you still don’t like a particular vegetable, I bet someone you know will!

Last season was a great year for these cool season veggies. Fennel in particular was abundant. In our family fennel is hugely popular. 6 year old Noah eats whole bulbs straight out of the fields. He likes it because of its licorice flavor and sweetness. Offer it to your kids! Try it raw sliced thinly in a salad or use it like celery in soups and sauces. You might like it!

I know I did not address all of the concerns expressed in the survey since I was focusing on trends where a number of people expressed the same thing. If you would like to discuss more specific concerns, please do not hesitate to send me an email or call.

Thanks,

John Tecklin

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