Welcome!

For folks in southern Michigan, a new CSA farm (community supported agriculture) has started in 2009. It is run by several Amish families near Homer, Michigan. My husband and I met farmer Andy Stutzman at the Holt Farmers Market earlier this summer, where we signed up for half a share. After participating in a CSA near Durham, North Carolina, we were fairly familiar with how CSAs work. You pay up front early in the season to help a farm get its crops in the ground, then whenever produce is ready, you begin receiving a weekly box (we pick ours up at the Holt Farmer's Market). If it is a good week or month, your produce is glorious and bountiful. If not, you have participated in some of the risks of farming and helped a local farmer survive when things are not so great.

Because the season started off cold, produce was a bit slow at first. But now our boxes are overflowing with vegetables--and this past Saturday we took home a huge watermelon too! And meanwhile the Stutzman's very graciously invited their shareholders and friends to visit their farm on August 15. A small crowd of us, including many children, got to see where our food grows, the chickens that produce the eggs, and the horses that pull the Amish buggies. We learned how an organic farmer operates a CSA without electricity, pesticides, or fuel-driven equipment. And we were fed copious amounts of homemade donuts, freshly cut watermelon, and treated to the quiet smiles and hospitality of Andy's wife and children.

And that's only the beginning! This blog is a way for friends & supporters of the farm to communicate, post comments, ask questions, share recipes, and spread the word. Please keep it kind and family-friendly, please.

See you down on the farm,
Sarah Arthur