GFF CSA Farm Share Options 2017

We have offered vegetable farm shares (CSA) since 2005 and we will be offering meat poultry shares for the first time in 2017.  The sign up season for 2017 is open now!  We would be honored to be your personal farmers for the growing season.

Why should Rob and Tammy Faux of the Genuine Faux Farm be your personal farmers?

• Experienced - our farm and CSA has been in operation since 2005 and we actively seek to improve how our farm performs each and every year.

  

  Sign up! I, the Sandman, have spoken.

• Responsive - you will see at least one of your farmers at every delivery and we are happy to converse with you about things you would like to see happen with your share and on the farm.
• Reliable - we grow a wide range of crops and varieties to provide our own version of crop insurance on your behalf.
• Responsible - we work to keep all three legs of our sustainable farm strong.  We strive to work with nature and we are active in the community - all while maintaining a reasonable bottom line.
• Accountable - we have maintained organic certification for our vegetable production since 2007 and we are pleased to answer any questions you might have about how we grow.
• Traceable - 95% of the produce you will receive is grown on our farm Northwest of Tripoli, Iowa.  The remaining 5% is clearly labeled so you know who grows your food.  Jeff Sage grows beets, carrots and heirloom sweet potatoes for our program.
• Flexible - there are now many ways you can participate.  Take a look and see what fits you best.
• A Good Buy - in all years except 2012, we have provided our share holders with produce value that exceeds the share price by 20 to 40 percent.

Veggie CSA Options for 2017

Traditional 20 Share
Comfortable with how things have been?  Well, this is the schedule we've maintained since the our CSA program's inception in 2005.  Twenty deliveries of delicious goodies from June through October.  If you see no reason to change what has been a good thing so far - here it is!
Deliveries 4 through 23 on the calendar
Price: $400

Traveler 20 Share
So, you are traveling this Summer and you think that means you can't get our veggies?  Think again!  We will have 20 deliveries of veggies split between the early and late season, but no deliveries for this share from mid June to mid-August.  Not only can you be some of the first people in the area with fresh veggies, you can partake of the bounty at the end of the season.  Who wouldn't want fresh produce for Thanksgiving and Christmas?
Deliveries 1 - 6 and 15-28 on the calendar
Price: $500

Whole Enchilada Share
You get a nice price and you get ALL the CSA Veggie deliveries we will offer from April to December.  You won't have to worry about signing up for an extended season - you just come and get the delicious veggies for all 28 deliveries.  Your best value is here.
Deliveries 1 through 28 on the calendar
Price: $600

Alternating Week Share
Proof that the farmers do listen!  Some of our members reported difficulty getting through all of the goodies before the next week's delivery.  The alternating week share is a viable option if you are worried about having too much, but you really do want some delicious, certified organic produce.
Deliveries 14 deliveries (you will be assigned odd or even delivery numbers)
Price: $350

My Garden is Dead! Share
So, you garden.  Fantastic!  But, do you feel its loss once you get to October?  Let us get that Fall produce to you for 8 deliveries this Fall into the Winter!  You can get some fresh greens, root crops and much more after your garden has decided it has finished for the year.  You might even get a few peppers and tomatoes if you talk to us nicely!  If you're missing produce in the Spring as well, see if the Traveler 20 fits you.
Deliveries 21 - 28 on the calendar
Price: $250

Group Share
This is intended for an office/group that might like to dip their toes into the CSA idea.  There will be 16 deliveries that will match up with our highest production weeks.  Each share will have less vegetable variety and more duplication in anticipation that there will be multiple family units receiving the share.
Deliveries 16 dates TBA
Price: $800

Poultry CSA Options for 2017
We have raised broiler chickens and turkeys on our farm since 2006 and we are finding that people would like the convenience of purchasing a single bird at a time rather than buying several at one time.  We hope you find this to be a reasonable response to that request.

Give Me the Smaller Birds Share
Twenty deliveries that will occur roughly every other week (you will receive a schedule once you sign up).  Each delivery, for 19 deliveries, each share holder will receive a broiler chicken that falls on the smaller side (typically 4 to 5 pounds).  For the 20th delivery, each share receives two stewing hens, perfect for pressure cooking, crock-potting and making broth.  In addition, each share holder receives a $25 credit towards a turkey!  That's 21 deliveries of quality poultry from our farm.
Deliveries 20 + the Great Turkey Pickup
Price: $325
Available Slots: 8

Give Me the Bigger Birds Share
Ok, you have a bigger family and you want more meat on your chickens?  Here they are.  You will get the biggest broiler chickens we have from our day-range flocks.  Sizes average 5.5 pounds, though you'll land some over 6 pounds and some just over 5. We will provide you 20 deliveries of broilers roughly every other week AND you receive $25 credit towards a turkey - tell us you want a big turkey and we'll reserve it for you.
Deliveries 20 + the Great Turkey Pickup
Price $400
Available Slots: 7 

I Want Poultry, but Not A Poultry Share
We've got you covered there as well!  We will continue to have broiler chickens and turkeys available beyond those offered here in share packages.  Broilers are processed in early July, September and early November most years.  Turkeys are processed at the end of October.  Some years, we have also had Muscovey ducks available.


Pick Up Locations
Waverly:  Waverly Farmers' Market during market season on Tuesdays, 3:30-6:00 pm.  St Andrew's Church parking lot during market off-season. 
Cedar Falls: Hansen's Outlet, outside the East side of the building on Thursdays, 4:00-6:00pm.
Tripoli: at the farm on Wednesdays.


How Do I Sign Up?
Send us an email at gff@genuinefauxfarm.com and tell us which share type you want and which delivery location you would prefer.

Want to Know More?
If you want to learn more about what a Genuine Faux Farm CSA Farm Share is, please visit our website!  Of course, we welcome any questions you may have, please send them to our email address shown above.

Broader Horizons

I have to admit that one of the things I have difficulty understanding in this world is how we seem incapable of stopping for a second and considering about how other people might think or feel about something.  Then, I wonder what it was that got me to start thinking about things like this. 

I can attribute some these tendencies to my stamp and postal history hobby.  I have to thank my Mom for giving me the colorful bits of paper to put in a little notebook with (shudder) Elmer's glue starting when I was three years old.  Philately has given me an opportunity over the years to view other cultures and viewpoints through the windows provided by their stamps and how their mail was carried.  While I did not always understand what I was seeing and I typically was more attracted to the things I understood from my own country or those that used the English language, I can still recall numerous facts, thoughts and ideas that came from viewing and handling something from any number of locations on this earth.

Over time, I have made an effort to pick up items from parts of the world for which I had less appreciation and/or understanding.  So, when I found a few Persian postal history items that were inexpensive, but interesting looking, I picked them up.  This past Winter, I took the time to research these items and put them on pages of my own design.

I was struck by the pressures brought to bear on Persia by England and Russia as each country worked to gain influence.  England, in particular, was keen to get a continuous rail line to connect interests in India with rapid transportation.  Even more interesting to me was the fact that Persia 'fought back' by providing its own funds to develop the Trans-Iranian Railway in the 1920's and 1930's.  Given the pressures by foreign powers and the sheer amount of capital being thrown around by foreign businesses, this was quite an accomplishment.

One thought that came to mind as I read more about this?  Persia/Iran is the home to a proud and self-sufficient people - characteristics many Americans would be happy to claim.

The Sudan is another area that holds some fascination for me as well.  Prior to looking at some of the stamps and postal history of the area, I could only give someone a very VERY brief accounting of knowledge regarding that area.  Now, it is still brief, but it at least shows a little effort on my part.

If you want to pick on me a little bit here, you will note that both postal history items are addressed to English speaking destinations and each clearly has some level of Western cultural influence.  To be fair, I need some sort of bridge to get even a little bit of foothold in these areas.  An item written entirely in Arabic with no markings that help me get even a start in research would have done little except frustrate me.

While I don't expect others to do what I do with postal history, I would like to encourage any parents that read this blog to consider encouraging children who have a propensity to collect things to try stamp collecting.  I learned about American history, world history, foreign languages, foreign cultures, geography and numerous other topics simply by viewing and researching the topics depicted on postage stamps.  Let me know if you have a child that might like to give it a try and I'll do what I can to help.

GFF Photo of the Year Winners

We are announcing the winners just a little later than we planned, but as we noted in the prior blog post, the farmer (and writer of the blog) was under the weather for a time there.  But, a quick look at some great pictures can always help.

The second round of voting completed and we had a clear winner this time around.

2016 GFF Photo of the Year

Title is "If Only Every Evening Were Like This." We can almost feel the soft night time air as we look at this one. This is probably one of favorite angles for photo ops on the farm because we get all kinds of nice sunsets with this foreground. There's a reason we put in the flower planting there.

Other Category Winners

"And All That Chive" It's so much different than all of the other flower pictures we tend to take. Almost feel like I could pluck one and chew on the stem.

"Tree Trunk Art by Mother Nature" This old oak was hit by lightning several years ago The split provides a dividing line for the types of moss on the trunk, except for that little splash of yellow on the left. 

Title is "Got Your Goat." Now, can you find the goats? NO, this is NOT on the farm. Can you imagine how hard it would be to park Durnik the 1940's Ford tractor on that incline. He does not have a parking brake.

And this is how we do a "Farmer Selfie." For all of the introverts out there or those who are 'camera phobic' this is the solution if you have people asking you to take a picture to show you were somewhere. Primary requirement? Sunshine at the correct angle and a surface to show off the shadow.

A big thank you to all who participated in the voting.  It makes it a bit more fun for us when we get some interaction.

Recovery

Sandman - looking a bit like the farmer's been feeling lately.

There are many reasons why posts might not show up on a blog.  Perhaps those that write for it just don't have anything to say.  It's been known to happen.  Maybe those who write the blog are too busy to get to it.  This too, has occurred on this blog.

But, what happens when the farmer catches a nasty virus and is unable to collect needed zzz's?  Well, one thing is that the blog gets neglected.

Well, here's to getting over whatever has ailed me.

CSA SIGNUP SEASON IS HERE!

The really difficult part about all of this is that Rob has been unable to do the work he wanted to do to recruit CSA members.  So, we've got to push now.  Please note the page link at the top right or click on this link right here!  That page includes descriptions of all of our 2017 share options.  We have plenty of openings right now.  Please join us for a new season of quality produce.

The Sun in Sunflowers

One of the things we aren't always so good at doing is getting sunflowers into the ground on our farm.  I would say that we manage to put them in on average of 2 out of every 3 seasons.  That's still pretty good, but I really feel their absence on those years when we don't put them in.

Lemon Queen

Sunflowers can be a challenge since they do take up a fair amount of space by nature of their height.  If you want to crop anything nearby, you have to consider the shading that's going to happen as these plants grow.  Not only that, but these can (and do) get knocked over by the wind.  If you've never had to fight your way through downed or leaning sunflowers to get to another crop, then you don't understand.  If you have, then you know why you have to choose the location wisely.  You also need to consider the allelopathic qualities of most sunflowers.  These plants tend to suppress seed germination in a radius around the stem's base. 

On the other hand, there's this.

Sunflowers do establish pretty easily from seed.  They do provide a windbreak and they can provide late afternoon shade for crops that would like to have a little less sun during the hottest months (such as lettuce).

Autumn Beauty

We've found that sunflowers work well with sweet corn.  But, since we're not doing much with sweet corn anymore, that natural fit isn't there for us anymore.  Winter squash and pumpkins don't mind vining up to sunflowers and may even try to climb them.  If you want to try and keep squash 'walled in' you can do a heavy planting of sunflowers on the edge of the field and most of the vines will run up to the sunflowers and either try to climb them or run parallel to the row.  There's always a few that will sneak out, of course.

Arikara

What we like most about them?  Well, we like the way they look - adding color that you can see from a distance.  But, we also like the natural food for habitat the flowers provide.  Birds get a nice treat through the late Fall and Winter from these.  And, yes, humans like the seed too.

So, here's to a year where we find the niches on our farm for the sunflower!