CSA's advantages for consumers
The advantages for the consumer is a two way relationship to the producer of their food. When we get ready for a market we have to tailor our produce to what the average consumer enjoys. Nonetheless we have found that many people like their veggies at different stages of maturity.
Some people enjoy corn when the kernels aren't yet milky, others enjoy a starchier late picked corn. Some like their tomatoes so ripe that they can't be left on the counter, others prefer something that can sit around a while before being eaten. Some people love small zucchini to roast up in omelettes whereas others want larger specimens for baking.
By ordering a share we can easily record the way YOU like things and do our best to customize our deliveries as such.
Lastly, we enjoy providing you with the freshest possible vegetables and our deliveries are made either to your door or workplace in the Tatamagouche and Truro area or to the Grainery in Halifax on every Thursday from the end of June until the end of October. This schedule allows for us to harvest and clean everything and get it to you often within twenty four hours of being picked!
CSA's advantages for producers
The advantage for the producer is that we waste less. Often a producer has a difficult time determining what the turnout at a local farmer's market will be. The weather and people's schedules often dictate demand and it is impossible for us to control either variable.
By agreeing to an order system in advance it ensures that we don't waste time and resources on a crop that will end up in the compost pile. This makes our farm more efficient and of course more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
We like to keep a dialogue open with the people who enjoy our produce. This allows us to gain a better insight into the way that people want things grown, as well as explaining the rationale behind our agronomic choices.
We at Vista Bella Farm are concerned about the state of our soils and the sustainability of our agricultural systems in the modern world. From a lack of economic incentive for sustainable farming practices, to a lack of basic research information in relation to crop fertility and to the increasing internationalization of pricing we see that the problems are many. We too bring inputs from off the farm, and all agriculture does impact the soil no matter how one goes about it. However...
We are continuously decreasing our farm inputs by planting green manures, developing effective crop rotations, and of course by putting in a little elbow grease instead of using herbicides. We do not use any synthetic insecticides, herbicides, fungicides etc. in the production of our market vegetables, we also do not use organic pesticides such as rotenone and pyrethroids, we rely on barriers and biological controls for pest suppression.
We make an effort to maximize our efficiency by applying sugar chelated foliar micronutrients to maximize the impacts of soil applied fertilizers. These nutrients also enhance's the plants own defense systems, and keeps plants disease free and growing strong.
We are strong believers in sustainable cropping methods and our carbon footprint is always a top priority. We are decreasing our cropping area but increasing densities in order to use less fuel, as well as keeping more land in pasture. We are a new farm and therefore we have a great deal of work to do towards achieving our ultimate production goals. We have plans to add livestock at some point in order to begin using composts and manures for providing nutrients and for organic matter retention.
We currently use synthetic fertilizers. We chose to not use "organic" phosphorous fertilizers such as Rock Phosphate on ethical grounds as we believe shipping is the priority with fertilizers and our phosphorous fertilizers are distilled from Rock Phosphate (Making them lighter to ship). In terms of Potassium inputs we are using Sulfur Potash of Magnesium which is organically certifiable. Our nitrogen source is currently synthetic though its use is reduced due to our nitrogen rich plowdowns.
We strongly believe in monitoring our soil organic matter, and liming our soils. Lime doesn't just keep off microbial pests, it also makes nutrients more available to plants being grown in most Nova Scotian (Acidic) soils. To get more from your fertilizer lime is your ticket. Fertilizers are all mined by heavy diesel equipment so we want to get every drop out of them that we can. Lastly organic matter binds soil together giving it nice "tilth" which means workability. It imparts the fluffy characteristics to the soil and it also holds many nutrients in place keeping them from leeching away from the plants. Organic matter addition through using composts, and manures as well as proper crop rotation, mulch use, and green manures are just a few of the strategies we are undertaking to ensure that we treat this land with the stewardship it deserves.