January 1, 2011- I have been reflecting on the sucesses and challenges of our farming operation over the past 8 years, and have decided that changes are needed in our produce operation.

Beginning in 2011 I am changing the focus of our produce operation to culinary herbs and a limited selection of unique vegetables. I will expand our fresh herb offerings as well as begin offering dried herbs and herbal pastes and rubs.

I will not be continuing full-line vegetable growing at Evensong Farm and will be discontinuing the CSA program. I am sorry to have to give up the Vegetable CSA because I believe our shares had the most beautiful, tasty and diverse vegetables around. I truly value the relationships that the CSA nurtured and regret having to let go of this great program. But the financial and regulatory realities of small scale vegetable growing have made my choice obvious and necessary.

I am not stopping all produce growing, just concentrating my efforts. I look forward to seeing you at my farmers market stand where I can help you add spice and zest to your market basket. Many kinds of basil, cilantro, garlic, shallots, thyme, rosemary, oregano and many, many other herbs will be back at the stand in the spring, along with some of our specialties like stinging nettle and watercress. Of course I will also have lots of eggs and meats, too! The CSA concept will continue at Evensong Farm with our new Egg and Chicken programs.

Please continue to come out to your local farmers market and support your local vegetable growers. The best way to ensure that your local farmland stays in production is to generously support the farms directly. Look for farmers markets with a VERY STRICT "Producer Only" policy. This ensures that the vegetables on display were indeed grown at the farm who brought them to market. If you are in the Metro DC area, all 11 of the markets run by Freshfarm Markets adhere to strict producer guidelines, which is why I have chosen to sell our products at markets they organize.

There are some farmers markets which allow resale of products. Sometimes this practice is fairly innocuous -- a farmer brings a neighbor's peach crop to market to sell alongside their own product -- but other times a vendor just goes to the big auction house and buys crates of stuff from who-knows-where, with who-knows-what kind of growing practices (pesticides anyone?), and puts them on a table like they grew them on their farm. With a wink and a nod, and an artfully dirty straw hat, they play their "farmer" role well. Most consumers are unaware that this is a quite common occurance at some markets. This practice hurts small, local farmers who are trying to grow honest, local, sustainable food for their communities. By allowing resellers to bring in cheap product, grown at large anonymous operations , rules such as this break a public trust in what a farmers market should be.

Do you see avocados or citrus on the farmers table?? Red Flag! Do you see watermelons in April? Red Flag!! How about tomatoes or corn in May? Red Flag!!! It is possible, but not very probable, that a local farm could harvest tomatoes that early, but you shouldn't expect to see real field grown tomatoes until early July. Shop wisely, my friends!

I hope to see all of you at the markets!!

Julie
To find out where we’re selling our produce , visit our Calendar page or contact Julie Stinar at 301.491.2224 or julie@evensong-farm.com.