Available from GFF July 16

There is all kinds of neat stuff in this week's email/blog newsletter.  We encourage you to read if you are able so you can stay up to date on a wide range of things going on with the farm and elsewhere!

Quick news (details lower in this post/email):

#1. Upcoming Schedule

#2. Crop and Poultry Report (featuring garlic!).

#3. Join us in a Pesticide Action Network Funding Match.

#4. Farmer Update

#5. Spray Season

#6. Hansen's Outlet Location

#7. New Blog Material

#8. New Delivery Method

#9. Egg Cartons

#10. 2020 Farm Credit Program

#11. Welcome to New Members

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Cedar Falls: Thursday, July 16  5:00-5:40pm Jorgensen Plaza WEST parking lot

New Delivery Method: Please maintain appropriate physical distancing.  We will place your order into a yellow tray and put it on our table.  Once we step away, place your order in your bag/box you bring.  then set the yellow tray in the 'dirty' pile next to the table.                                                  

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Available to members (order by Noon Thursday!):
    eggs - $3.50/dozen (limit 2 doz - we will try to fill 1 doz for all orders first, unless you order for two families)

   scapes - $1/bundle of 20 (last week!)

    beans $2/bag

    large "bugs bunny" carrots $3/pound

   frozen broiler chicken $3.60/pound (avg 4-5 pounds)

   summer squash - $1 ea

   zucchini - $1 ea

   oregano - $1 bunch

   garlic - $2/head

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THE GFF NEWS

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1. Upcoming Schedule

• July 16 - Cedar Falls Delivery (Jorgensen Plaza)
• July 22 - Waverly Delivery (St Andrew's and Yogi Life)
• July 30 - Cedar Falls Delivery (Jorgensen Plaza)

2. Crop & Poultry Report

The garlic came in with timely help from Sophie and Max.  The quality of the crop is fairly consistent.  We are making garlic available immediately this year rather than waiting for them to completely cure.  Any garlic you get in the next few weeks should not be treated as long-term storage or seed garlic.  They WILL store for months as is, but they won't go through a Winter very well until they cure.  So, feel free to order them if you want to use them in the next frew months.  Wait to order if you want storage into the Winter months or you want to plant some as seed garlic.

3. Pesticide Action Network Funding Match

You may recall that Rob now works for the Pesticide Action Network and if you go to their website, you will see some of my writing there.  I would like to invite you to honor us by donating to PAN to help further the work of this organization.  Our farm is among those who have provided matching funds for an online funding campaign. 

I recognize that many of you are careful about where your money goes and in determining where your giving might land.  If you have questions about PAN, I will gladly field them.  I also want to make it clear that outside of the staff at PAN and the people who receive this email or read our blog, we are not putting our name out there as one of the farms providing matching funds.  This is not about us or our farm.  We are sharing this with you because you are the people who have supported us through so many things and many of you have asked what you can do when it comes to pesticide drift problems.  We are putting some of our money where our mouth is with this match and we hope you will honor us by joining us.

Thank you for your consideration!

4. Farmer Update

The farmers are dealing with life and the issues of the world just as everyone else is - and that can be tiring and stressful.  It helped us immensely to get a little help (in a physically distanced way and with masks) from Sophie, Max and Victoria on Tuesday.  And, today, we have had some help from Brenda (sister) and Nicole (niece).  Last Friday we had a group from Green Iowa Americorps come and help us clean up a couple of areas that needed cleaning.

We are beginning to fully realize how isolated we have been this year and how much we miss having some consistent help on the farm.  Tammy and I can be excellent workers, but there is no replacing extra hands to get the work done.

5. Spray Season

We also have the normal farm stresses of trying to get it all done AND we are now entering insecticide and fungicide spray season.  We've barely exited herbicide season, so it feels like it has been ongoing.  The biggest difference is that the spray planes will soon be out in force.  You may tire of us mentioning it, but it is important that EVERYONE who witnesses off-target spray should report it to the Pesticide Bureau in Iowa.  Make note of the time, date and location as well as any additional details so you can report accurately.

6. The Hansen's Outlet Location

We are removing Hansen's as a delivery location until construction is closer to completion.

Again, we understand that many of you preferred Hansen's because you pick up product there and/or it is closer to where you live.  We also appreciate that you are all willing to do things to make that location work.  Thank you.  However, the location will not continue to work for us (it's not about you, it's about us this time).   As construction progresses there, we will revisit adding Hansen's back on the delivery location list.  But, for the time being, expect only one delivery location at Jorgensen Plaza in Cedar Falls.

We recommend taking Main Street south to Hyacinth and entering the West parking lot.

Thank you for your understanding.

7. New blog material for you

• Are you curious about what a day of chores look like?  Here's a picture-laden post on that topic.
• Do you know what a Dickcissel is?  Well, you can find out here.
• We took a walking picture tour of the farm and then wrote about it.
• We had some bad weather go around us - so the anti-weather machine was on.
• We didn't say a word about National Pollinator Week, find out why.
• And to close the week in blogs, what is Screwy Data?

8. New Delivery Method

The prior method of placing orders into the back of vehicles worked reasonably well and we attribute that to your willingness to work with us!  thank you!

We are, however, aware of some problems with the current system:

- we are using far more single use plastic than we want to be using and we want to go back to some of the re-use practices

- our available product list will become more complex as we get deeper into the season, which makes the current model a little more difficult to pull off

So, we return to asking you to bring a re-usable bag, box, etc to put your products in.  We will use chalk to provide guidance for physical distancing.  We will put your order in a yellow tray on the table(s) and you can then remove your order and place it in your bag/box.  Once done, we will ask you to place the used tray into a pile.  We will clean these on our return from the delivery for the next use.  

9. Egg Cartons

We will be willing to receive egg cartons from you starting this week.  We will put a green tray out for you to put used cartons in for re-use.  Please nest these cartons so they take less space.   We will not use any cartons we receive until they have been 'quarantined' for a period of time.  Research has shown that the Covid-19 virus does not live long on cardboard surfaces, but we'll be safe and re-use boxes by taking the ones that have been in our supply longest first.

10. 2020 Pre-Paid Farm Credit Program

We will run the system in $50 increments.  In other words, you can purchase a minimum of $50 of farm credit at a time.  We will cap the maximum amount of credit at $200 and you can refill your farm credits at any point.

Like the CSA program, this gives you the advantage of not having to pull out money at each delivery.  Instead, we will have a ledger with tracking for your current credit balance.  This also provides us with some working capital to start the season.  Also, like the CSA program, we will give participants better pricing and opportunities than those who might prefer to 'pay as they go.'

A major difference this year is that farm credits can be used for ANY farm product the Genuine Faux Farm offers.  If you buy farm credits, you can apply them to purchasing meat chickens, vegetables, eggs or any other thing we offer this year.

We are accepting purchases of credits now and throughout the season.

11. Welcome!

If you are new to this email newsletter for the Genuine Faux Farm, we would like to welcome you.  If you are an 'old hand,' we want you to feel welcome too - but we were gently reminded that we need to introduce people a bit more to the system.

The basics are as follows:

  - we deliver once per week - alternating between Waverly and Cedar Falls locations.

  - Waverly is on Wednesdays

  - Cedar Falls is on Thursdays

  - anyone with farm credits can order from either location, you just have to arrange to get what you order.

  - to order, you only need to respond to this email - sent the day prior to the delivery.

  - a "gentle reminder" email is sent the day of the delivery.  This email confirms that we have received orders by listing those from whom we have received orders.

 - delivery instructions will be in this email each week.  Please pay attention as circumstances may require a change.

Be Well!

Rob & Tammy

Genuine Faux Farm

Tripoli, IA