Welcome to the Genuine Faux Farm Blog

The 2014 CSA season is approaching.  This often means we will have a new group of people who will need to be oriented to some of the resources we offer.  Among those resources is this blog.  Of course, some of you might feel that this isn't so much a resource as a place to get into your farmers' heads a bit.  It's up to each of you to decide if that is a good or bad thing.

First, we'd like you to note the "Follow by Email" entry area just under the Sunflower on the right.  We highly recommend that you do this if you like what you see here.  You will receive an email ONLY when a new post is made on this blog and it will provide a direct link to the story so you can view it.  We have tried other ways to get the word out, but this have proven to be the most reliable.

So - without further ado, we'll give you a quick tour of the blog:

News of the Farm
First and foremost, we try to use this blog to keep you up to date with things going on at the farm - or things that have some relationship to the farm.  Sometimes, this takes the form of an actual 'newsletter.'  Other times, we simply throw a few things out there as we think of them.  We try to take digital pictures of what is going on and will do a "Picture This" type blog post about once a month.  Once in a while, we get pretty creative with how we tell you what's up.

Our April Newsletter post is pretty typical of one of our 'full out' attempts at a newsletter. And, our March Picture This posting gives you an idea of what that sort of post is like.  And, if you want to see what a typical farm report that happens because we know something needs to be on the blog looks like - here's one for April.

A Bit of Entertainment?
We suppose that you may have a different definition of entertainment.  But, we do try to tell a few stories, show a few more pictures and lighten the mood once in a while.  In all of these cases, we're hoping it gives you insight as to who your farmers are.  But, sometimes, these posts are just as important to us to remind us of good things and to help improve our own attitudes when things are difficult.

Some examples that you may find enjoyable are linked below, but if you want to see how silly it might get, I recommend looking at the post that highlights our Best Humorous posts and lines for 2013.  If this doesn't get you wondering about how much you want to be connected with us, we don't know what will!

GFF Faux Real Stories give you some of our real life stories that we enjoy telling and hope you will enjoy reading.
Some of the animals on our farm will also contribute to the blog.  Harold, the rooster, recently shared his thoughts on Barnyard Management.   The Chicken Decoding Special Forces may make an appearance once in a while when they make a discovery.  And, our friendly feline friends will deign to regale us periodically.

We don't resort to this very often, but once in a while we get the feeling that we could all use some humor and we'll share a few cartoons that made us laugh.  And, every April 1st (or 2nd) we simply can't help ourselves.

Sharing Farm Data
We believe that it is important to provide food that is traceable (to the grower) and we also believe that the consumer should be given the opportunity to learn HOW the grower raises the food.  So, we will use our website and our blog to share information.  Sometimes, we admit, we share the information as much for ourselves as for you.  Why?  Well, reading our blog gives us that sense of history that is sometimes needed when we are faced with a new (or seemingly new) challenge.  In a way, it becomes a little bit of a farm diary at times.

We shared a final crop report for 2013 in hopes that new members (and returning members) might get an idea of what we are capable of growing and what we intend on growing.  For example, you might not see fennel on the list, so you can probably conclude that we don't grow it.  On the other hand, you might see something that happened to be a crop failure in 2013, but is on our grow list.  So, at least you know we INTEND to grow that thing.

Commentary on Agriculture, etc
Sometimes we get on our soapbox.  We do take education seriously and it is a part of our farm's mission.  Sometimes, we try to educate, other times we want to share an opinion.

We shared our own definition of Sustainable Agriculture recently and felt it was important enough that we gave it a page on our website as well.  Other times, it isn't quite so carefully planned out and refined.  But, most of the time, they fall somewhere between them with this piece on egg pricing and local poultry production. 

Pictures Are Worth 1000 Words
Digital cameras were a wonderful invention.  It encourages us to go out and record things.  Sometimes we get some really nice pictures (in fact, if you visit that post, we will still take votes for best picture).  Other times, they are decent reference.  And, sometimes we just get the feeling everyone needs something to take their minds off of Winter.

It's About Good Food
Hey, we're a farm that grows food.  So, some of it has to be about that, right?  Recently, we talked a bit about being a 'picky' eater and how we've addressed that issue in our own lives.  We're guessing there are many others out there who had a similar short list of vegetables as Rob did.  And, we aren't above telling you about vegetables that are in our future to get you to drool a little.  We'll even periodically give recipes or other advice.  There are a few posts dedicated to that here, but often they get embedded in emails, in other posts or are placed on our website.

It's About Farm Events
We try to keep you up to date on special events.  Many of these events could entice you to participate!  This year is our Ten Year Tenure Farm Anniversary, so there might be more of this sort of thing than usual.  We try to give a quick promotion or description of each event before it happens and sometimes after it occurs.

It's About the Variety
We are motivated to grow lots of different vegetable varieties and many different vegetable crops.  We share our results and opinions about what we grow.  We are happy to solicit feedback and respond.  In fact, we include as much data as we have time to provide on our website.  But, as you'll note, the website links back to certain blog posts that highlight our vegetables varieties of the year.

It's About More...
It's about telling our story.
It's about sharing resources we build.
It's about looking back.
It's about looking forward.
It's about trying to make positive changes.
It's about adjusting to difficulties.
...and having a little fun once in a while.