Welcome to the Great River CSA!

2012 is our 4th year!! We've learned a lot and want to thank our members for joining us in building this community relationship and to welcome new members on this journey.

We are getting ready for the 2012 summer season and have started to offer Veggie, Chicken and Egg Shares. We will offer Thanksgiving Turkeys shares at a later date. So, keep your eyes and ears open! Please contact me at: kate@greatrivercsa.org and let me know that you want to be on our mailing list.


What is Great River CSA?

Great River CSA is made up of three family farms: Terripin Farm, Feiner Gardens, and Grassy Hill Farm.

Terripin Farms is a family farm operated by Jessica and Brad Whiston. Jess and Brad started farming in 2006 with a push tiller. They currently grow on twelve acres, three of which are in cover crops. They provide the vegetables and some fruit. This year they moved to the farm!!

Feiner Gardens is operated by Kate and Jim Daniels. They cultivate a variety of naturally grown herbs and garlic. They purchased a green house which fell due to snow weight in the January 2011 snow storm. They got a new one and it is finally got it up. Jim planted some grapes and bought 5 alpacas and a llama. As the gardens develop, they hope to provide a wide variety of variety of heirloom herbs, vegetables, fruit, flowers, and specialty crops such as hops.

Grassy Hill Farm is operated by the Hochstetlers: Miriam, Jacob and their children. They are offering chickens, eggs, and turkeys for our Great River CSA. They completed the switch to 100% organic and non-GMO feed which they grow themselves on the farm.


How does the CSA work?

Members purchase a share in advance and then receive a basket of fresh, local, and in season produce, meat or eggs throughout the season. Our summer season usually runs from June through September. We also offer Thanksgiving Turkey Shares (common and Heritage) the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and Winter Shares of chickens and eggs from December to May. Our current members will have 1st choice on the share options.


Summer shares (June 6th through October 3rd)

What can I expect in my basket?

For the summer chicken share, every other week we offer approximately 3.5 pound chickens, plucked, quickly frozen, and packaged in a plastic bag with the giblets, heart, and liver inside the chicken. You may order as many as you like on the offered dates.

For the summer egg share, every other week we offered 2 dozen fresh brown eggs of various sizes.

For the vegetable share, each week you can expect a wide variety of in-season, delicious, fresh vegetables and herbs. One full share will contain enough to feed a family of 4 each week. The half share will contain enought to feed 2 people.

Where will I pick up my basket?

We have two pick-up locations for summer shares:

On-site pick-up - Wednesday evenings between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at Feiner Gardens (6426 Church Hills Road, Quincy, IL – call or email us for directions). While there, you are invited to walk around the gardens and the pond and pick up “extras” when they are available.

In-town delivery - Wednesday afternoons between 4:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. at the side entrance of the Unitarian Universalist Church (1479 Hampshire Street).

You are always welcome to come to the farm on Wednesdays between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. to pick up extras or feed the alpacas and llama.


How much does it cost?

Summer Egg Share: $54.00 for 18 dozen eggs ($3 per dozen); 2 dozen eggs delivered every 2 weeks. (The delivery dates are: June 1st, 15th and 29th, July 13th, and 27th, August 10th and 24th, September 7th and 21st.)

Summer Chicken Share: $8.75 per chicken available every 2 weeks. Delivery dates are the same as the egg shares.

Vegetable shares: A full share is $450. This provides enough produce for a family of 4 or two hungry vegetarian over the 18 week season. A 1/2 share option costs $340.

2011 Winter Egg Share: $36.00 for 12 dozen eggs ($3 per dozen); 2 dozen eggs once a month. (The delivery dates are: December 14, 2011, January 11, 2012, February 8, March 7, April 4, and May 2.)

2011 Winter Chicken Share: $99.00 for 12 chickens ($8.25 per chicken); 2 chickens once a month. Delivery dates are the same as the egg shares.


How many shares are available?

Membership enrollment is accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.


When does the summer season start and end in 2012?

The summer share pick-up day is every Wednesday, from June 6th through October 3rd, 2011. The 4th of July falls on a Wednesday, so we will have the pick-up on Tuesday, July 3rd.

Pick-up for the egg shares are every other week, starting June 6th, 2012. The dates are as follows:

June 6th
June 20th
July 3rd
July 18th
August 1st
August 15th
August 29th
September 12th
September 26th.

Thanksgiving Turkey Shares

For the Thanksgiving turkey share, one fresh turkey ready for pick-up just in time for thanksgiving. Available at: 6426 Church Hills Road on Tuesday, November 2oth from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. We will send out an email regarding cost. We are looking at a per pound share with small, medium and large options.

We aren't sure we'll offer the heritage breed.
Heritage birds are also natural birds, not hybrid. They can naturally reproduce and don't have to be artificially inseminated. The common white broad breasted turkey was bred for its quick feed to meat conversion. From what I've been told, for this reason they often are very top heavy and become lame more easily and cannot reproduce. These birds are getting more rare and raising them helps to increase genetic diversity.

They do cost more. The poults (baby turkeys) cost about 4 times as much. They also have a lower survival rate, so not as many make it to full maturity. It takes more feed to convert to pounds on the bird and it takes about 2 months longer to raise them to maturity.


Winter Shares (December through May)

For the Winter Egg Share, once per month we offer 2 dozen farm fresh eggs. The Hochstetlers don't use any antibiotics and they grow their own feed from non-GMO corn and beans with no chemical pesticides, herbicides, nor fertilizers.

For the Winter Chicken Share, once a month we offer
two approximately 3.5 pound chickens, plucked, quickly frozen, and packaged in a plastic bag with the giblets, heart, and liver inside the chicken.
The Hochstetlers don't use any antibiotics and they grow their own feed from non-GMO corn and beans with no chemical pesticides, herbicides, nor fertilizers.

Winter Shares are available at: 6426 Church Hills Road, Quincy, IL 62305. Pick-up dates are:

February 8, 2012
March 7, 2012
April 4, 2012
May 2, 2012

How do I become a member?

For more information, contact Kate Daniels at (217)440-7608 or kate@greatrivercsa.org. Or check out the Membership Information and Membership Agreement.

It is customary for members of a CSA to pay for their shares in advance. This enables the growers to buy seed and equipment before the season begins, thus reducing the burden of up-front costs for the grower. In order to guarantee your participation in our 2011 season, the signed membership agreement and your payment must be returned to us as soon as you are ready to commit.

September 30, 2009

With our CSA season now over, Great River CSA is planning Oktoberfest this Saturday, October 3rd from 2 p.m. until the bonfire goes out at Feiner Gardens, 6426 Church Hills Road. It's our way of thanking you for becoming members of the CSA, for trusting us to grow your food, and for having faith that we will bring a plentiful basket of food each week. Your support was amazing, thanks again!

Baskets: If you are coming to the Oktoberfest you can bring your basket back to us then. If you cannot make it, please let me know and we can arrange a time and place to get the basket.

Next year: Brad, Jess and I will be getting together to discuss how the CSA will work next year: pick-up times, day, locations, price and contents. If you have any suggestions or you would like to join the discussion, please let us know. We will contact you with the details as our charter members will have the first chance to sign up. If you enjoyed your experience, please tell your friends and please review Great River CSA on http://www.localharvest.org/member/M27935. If you didn't, please tell us, so we can do better.

Oktoberfest: Please bring a dish to pass and a beverage of your choice. Jim will be making some pork and beef, we will have apple cider for the kids and roast marshmallows. You are welcome to come anytime.

Parking: We had a great response to our invitation, approximately 40 people will be here. So, we are asking that you carpool, if you can, and that you park by the pond. We just don't have enough parking up by the house and the lawn is pretty soft, so to avoid damage to the lawn, we are asking everyone to please park down by the pond where you pick up your baskets.

Location and Directions: Feiner Gardens, 6426 Church Hills Road. Go south on 48th Street passed John Wood Community College, take the 1st left onto St. Anthony Road. Follow St. Anthony Road over Highway 172, passed St. Anthony Church. Take the 1st left after the church onto Church Hills Road. You will go down a hill, up a hill and over the hill to the grassy drive on your right hand side, go through the red gate and park in the fenced in area. As you face the pond, take the path to the left up the hill and come toward the barn. We will try to have signs and maybe a car or other transportation to get to the barn where all the action is. We will definitely have a safe way back to the parking lot.

2PM Lawn Games/for kids and adults: I plan to set up Bocce Ball and Croquet. I don't know how to play Bocce ball, so it should be a fun adventure! My sister in law, Sam Lovejoy, has planned a bunch of games for the kids: Red Light/Green Light, Egg Toss, a game with balloons, etc. She is very excited about playing with the kids and enjoying time with them!

3PM Beer Demonstation: My brother, Steve Schnell, will demonstration how to make a simple ale and talk about how he grows hops on this South Minneapolis house. He made a batch which has been aging in the bottle, we will be tasting the results!

about 5 to 6 PM Dinner We will set tables up in the barn, maybe outside if the weather is nice enough. The weather "Saturday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 60. Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 42." It will get chilly, please bring coats, hats and gloves as it should get.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)