The Community Farm Kitchen

 

Life in the CFK


1. How many meals do I get per week?
2. How many people can one share feed?
3. How does the food vary through the season?
4.How long will it take to turn what I get from you into something my family can sit down to? Are there any special skills involved?
5. Do I have to do volunteer hours?
6. What if we go on vacation and miss a pick up?
7. I’ve never even heard of some of these vegetables. Will you provide serving suggestions for these unusual foods?

  1. How many meals do I get per week?

The number of meals per week will vary through the season. Most weeks there will be approximately four different dishes and a green salad, but each of these dishes consists of more than one serving. In the early summer the quantity of food (and therefore portion numbers) is quite small, but it increases through the season. You can review the shares and menus from 2007 by visiting our Weekly Menu Blog and looking at last year’s entries.
How far the food goes also depends on how many people there are in your family and how much they like to eat, but a full share happily feeds a family of three or four.
Our experience has been that with the Community Farm, once the season really gets going, you don't need to buy any other produce for half a year at least. You will still need to buy things like meat (if you eat it), pasta, bread, and rice, etc. to accompany your vegetables, but with the Community Farm Kitchen providing much of the necessary additional ingredients to turn raw produce into a meal, I think you'll find yourself with lower grocery bills and very good food.

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  2.How many people can one share feed?

As a general rule of thumb one share is probably right for a family of four. It depends on how much each person eats. I know a family of five (two adults and three high school- and college-aged children) who buy only half a share at the Community Farm of Ann Arbor and find it to be quite enough. At the same time, I know a family of three (two adults and one kindergartener) who buy two shares and confess to buying extra kale at the Farmer’s Market because they don’t get enough from the farm. These are extremes. It really depends how much you base your weekly diet on farm food.
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  3. How does the food vary through the season?

At the beginning of the season, that is, in early June, there will not be that much food. It will primarily be things like lettuce and spinach and peas and green onions. Then the season begins to pick up. Towards the end of June, there will be strawberries. Then we start getting more and more, with the dark green leaves kicking in and carrots and broccoli. By mid- to late July you will probably have more than you can eat in a single week, what with tomatoes (lots of them!) and zucchini and peppers and eggplants and sweet corn and basil bursting out all over the place. That's when the CFK will come in handy as I will process and preserve the surplus food so you can keep it to eat later. The bounteous harvest continues until frost, around mid September or sometimes as late as early October. Then the amount of food will drop off a bit, but you'll still be getting the dark green leaves and broccoli, cabbage, oriental greens, and cauliflower, and you'll begin to get pumpkins and root vegetables like turnips and rutabagas. The final harvest comes in mid-November, and it's a big one. You get everything that's left in the fields: Brussels sprouts, winter squash, root vegetables, leeks. To get a sense of how much produce you will get and when you'll get it, please look at Produce Estimates. If you page down you can see a chart that shows when crops come in the season. And of course, all of this is dependent on the weather and other harvest vagaries. Last year, for example, there was a cucumber blight and we didn't get any cucumbers. However, the Community Farm plants extremely diverse crops, so a bad year for one thing is bound to be a good year for something else. So, you risk there being no cucumbers, but you also risk there being 50 lbs of tomatoes!
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  4. How long will it take to turn what I get from you into something my family can sit down to? Are there any special skills involved?

This will vary according to the dish. Many dishes will be ready to be reheated and enjoyed. There will probably also be a lot of dishes like stir-fried vegetables and tomato sauce where all you’ll have to do is cook some rice (for stir fry) or spaghetti (for tomato sauce) and pour the vegetables on top. Some vegetables will be ready to be included in a dish you make yourself. Every dish will come with detailed instructions and serving suggestions.
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  5.Do I have to do volunteer hours?

As a member of the Community Farm of Ann Arbor, as part of your membership fee you may choose to do 15 hours of work for the farm in lieu of a certain part of the cost of membership. The choice is yours.

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  6. What if we go on vacation and miss a pick up?

If notified in advance we can store most of your vegetables until you get back. Just let us know when you’re going to be gone.
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  7. I've never even heard of some of these vegetables. Will you provide serving suggestions for these unusual foods?

Each dish we send home comes in a package well-labeled with ingredients, storage information, and serving suggestions.
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Food


1. Can you accommodate dietary restrictions and picky eaters?
2. Do you take special orders?
3. Exactly how much food will I be getting?
4. Can we get any of our vegetables uncooked, just as raw ingredients or frozen for later use?
5. What if I or my family doesn’t like one of your recipes? Are you open to suggestions?
6. Do I have to be a vegetarian to be a part of the Community Farm Kitchen?
7. Do any of the Community Farm Kitchen meals contain meat?
8. Where do you get the ingredients that don’t come from the Community Farm of Ann Arbor?

  1. Can you accommodate dietary restrictions and picky eaters

The CFK is willing to do our best to accommodate any dietary needs you can teach us about, from vegan to “no cilantro” and everything in between!
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  2. Do you take special orders?

Not really. Menus are planned week-to-week, so if you’d like to request a particular dish some week, we can probably make it happen within the parameters of the vegetables available. I’m also happy to use any favorite recipes you think other Community Farm Kitchen members would enjoy. However I can’t do special orders outside of the weekly schedule of pick ups and I may not be able to make dishes that require a lot of additional ingredients for budget reasons.
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  3.Exactly how much food will I be getting?

This varies from week to week, from season to season, and from year to year. The farm season starts slowly in the spring, but in the high summer you get far more food than you could eat in a single week. Your freezer will slowly fill with food you are saving to eat later. Think of what a treat summer vegetables will be in December! You may find yourself eating zucchini at Thanksgiving. That said, however, you probably won’t get enough food to eat only farm food for a whole year out of only one share. Additionally, it’s impossible to predict exactly how much of any one crop you’ll get since the weather and similar factors play a big role in determining yield. You can see a list of approximately how much of each vegetable you’ll get by visiting Produce Estimates.
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  4. Can we get any of our vegetables uncooked, just as raw ingredients or frozen for later use?

Most weeks the menu will include some portion of your share as raw vegetables or frozen for later use. If you’re interested in something specific, please let us know.
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  5. What if I or my family doesn’t like one of your recipes? Are you open to suggestions?

Certainly. We encourage feedback throughout the season.
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  6. Do I have to be a vegetarian to be a part of the Community Farm Kitchen?

No, but none of the Community Farm Kitchen meals will contain meat. However, you can always add your own meat to a meal or eat as much meat as you like at other times.
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  7. Do any of the Community Farm Kitchen meals contain meat?

No, but many of the dishes we make will be appropriate to serve with meat or to have meat added to them. For example, our tomato sauce will be meat-free, but if you add a little sausage meat to the tomato sauce when you warm it up, you can have tomato sauce with meat in it on your spaghetti or lasagna.
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  8. Where do you get the ingredients that don?t come from the Community Farm of Ann Arbor?

To the extent possible, we will purchase the additional ingredients from the most sustainable and environmentally conscious sources available. We shop primarily at the People’s Food Co-op in Ann Arbor and endeavor to obtain natural and local ingredients so that every part of your Community Farm Kitchen meal is consistent with the goals of the Community Farm Kitchen.
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Organizational Structure


1. What is the relationship between the Community Farm Kitchen and the Community Farm of Ann Arbor?
2. Can I be a member of the Community Farm Kitchen and not be a member of the Community Farm of Ann Arbor? Can you cook the vegetables I get from a different CSA in the area?
3. Why is the Community Farm Kitchen so expensive?
4. Can I buy a half share of the Community Farm Kitchen?

  1. What is the relationship between the Community Farm Kitchen and the Community Farm of Ann Arbor?

The Community Farm Kitchen is a service provided to members of the Community Farm of Ann Arbor for an additional fee.
The Community Farm of Ann Arbor, its farmers, and its members have provided much love and support and advice to the Community Farm Kitchen, but the organizations are separate financially. Thus, when you join the Community Farm Kitchen you are also joining the Community Farm of Ann Arbor and write two checks--one to each organization.
Community Farm Kitchen members are members of the Community Farm of Ann Arbor and are therefore entitled to attend membership meetings, visit the farm, participate in farm festivals, etc. Community Farm Kitchen members do NOT pick up their vegetables from the farm; we do that for them. You’ll pick up from us prepared and preserved food that we make for you.
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  2. Can I be a member of the Community Farm Kitchen and not be a member of the Community Farm of Ann Arbor? Can you cook the vegetables I get from a different CSA in the area?

No, because the food that the Community Farm Kitchen prepares comes from the Community Farm of Ann Arbor, and if you’re not a member, you won’t have a share for us to cook.
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  3. Why is the Community Farm Kitchen so expensive?

As the Community Farm’s webpage says, “If you’re not used to seeing your produce bills for the year in one lump sum, this may seem like a lot. But if you buy these amounts of biodynamic produce, you would spend more than this”. This would be true if you bought this amount of pre-cooked dinners from the frozen food section of Whole Foods or somewhere like that. The cost of being a member of the Community Farm of Ann Arbor and also of being a member of the Community Farm Kitchen are directly related to how much it costs to produce this food. No one involved is making a profit. The price of being a member of the Community Farm Kitchen is based on how much the additional ingredients and labor and rent cost.
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  4. Can I buy a half share of the Community Farm Kitchen?

Certainly. Visit How to Join for more information on share options.
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Background


1. What is Biodynamic agriculture?
2. What does it mean to be a part of a CSA like the Community Farm of Ann Arbor?
3. Who are you?
4. How did the Community Farm Kitchen start?

  1. What is Biodynamic agriculture?

Biodynamic agriculture is based on the work of Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner. It "seeks to work with the life-giving forces of nature". Biodynamic agriculture uses no chemical fertilizers or pesticides but instead endeavors to make the farm into a self-sustaining ecosystem. For more information, visit the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association's website.
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  2. What does it mean to be a part of a CSA like the Community Farm of Ann Arbor?

Being a member of a CSA means you join the farmers in the risks they take each season. You risk its being a bad year for cucumbers and getting none; you risk it being a great year for kale and getting 15 pounds. You become part of a community and get to enjoy the benefits of being connected to people and to the earth. You learn more about the rhythm of the seasons here in Michigan.
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  3. Who are you?

My name is Mary Wessel Walker. My family was a member of the Community Farm of Ann Arbor when I was growing up, so I grew up with the Farm and its food. I have been an apprentice at the farm for three seasons. I worked in dining services while I was in college and in the kitchen at Pendle Hill, a Quaker community near Philadelphia. I’m planning to hire co-workers with lots of kitchen experience as well.
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  4. How did the Community Farm Kitchen start?

The Community Farm Kitchen started as a Very Good Idea generated among Community Farm apprentices while picking leeks one balmy day at the end of October. I decided to pick it up and run with it, seeing it as something that could really help address some of the food concerns people have these days. 2007 will be our first summer, so I hope you?ll join us in this adventure.
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If you have a question which is not covered here, email me and let me know!