Jan. 18, 2010

I don’t know about you but all these political phone calls are starting to get to me. I hung up on former President Clinton six times and when Vice-President Joe Biden called I couldn’t get a word in edgewise; like he didn’t want to listen. I am expecting a call from Ronald Reagan any day now. Luckily, I can’t receive a text message or tweet due to my EMAS (Electronic Messaging Avoidance Syndrome). This email newsletter is therapy (not covered in my health plan).  I am thinking of starting a new web service; Linkedout. You sign-up, we don’t record a single thing about you, and in return we never contact you. I got the idea from my broken phone answering machine. The cost is $40 and we throw in a free membership to Coonamessett Farm which is upgradable.

 Regarding the Farm membership, we are in the final stages of preparing our mailing to you which will include the CSA sign-up. There will be a local meat option and a local cheese/prepared food option. If this works we will take the steps needed to offer a local seafood option (license issue). Wine can’t be far behind. I don’t know how many of you realize how remarkable this is compared to just two years ago. Local farmers are building the foundation for food independence at an astonishing rate. Local food may seem costly but in the long run it is cost saving; reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and corn, and greatly improving our health and that of the environment. This in turn reduces health costs which we all can agree needs to be controlled. I would have told that to Biden when he called but he wouldn’t shut up.

 Regarding costs; the Farm lost a lot of money last year due to spring weather, insect and plant disease attacks, exploding labor costs (Health again), and general economic malaise. Roxanna and I covered the deficit to keep the farm going this year because we believe in what we are trying to do; food independence or what is now called food sovereignty. From Wikipedia:  "Food sovereignty is a term coined by members of Via Campesina in 1996 to refer to a policy framework advocated by a number of farmers, peasants, pastoralists, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, women, rural youth and environmental organizations, namely the claimed "right" of peoples to define their own food, agriculture, livestock and fisheries systems, in contrast to having food largely subject to international market forces.” It is the old think global, act local.

 One of the more important concerns to each of us should be nutritional value of food. I copied this from a food independence site: “The national diet has actually been declining in nutrition for decades. It is produced in soils of dwindling fertility, and processed to the last degree, laced with food additives and a residue of crop pesticides, growth hormones, and antibiotics. If “we are what we eat,” our soaring incidence of degenerative disease should come as no surprise. What we should find particularly disturbing is the growing incidence among children of allergies, attention deficit and behavior disorders, obesity—and, most shockingly, degenerative conditions we once thought of as illnesses of age—heart disease, cancer, and adult-onset diabetes.” (Health again).

 Anyway, it is now up to you, our loyal member base. If the Farm is to survive we literally need your buy-in. The basic farm membership price at $40 is low but we are not going to raise that price because many people are suffering hard times. However, if you can afford the higher levels of membership that really helps. The CSA is important. The produce CSA prices are a good deal for the nutritional quality of the product you receive. The meat CSA prices at first glance will seem high (about $8/lb) but we are talking about grass fed free range animals, a completely different meat than what you find dominating the market (much higher Omega-3’s). The cheese/local food option will be $5 per week. It will be a local product at the wholesale price. For example, one week it may be a soft cheese spread from Westport that retails for $8.95. Another week it may be a smoked fish pate from Harwich that retails for $7.95; your CSA price, $5. Anyway, you should receive the mailing by February and I hope we get some strong support.

 One last item, we have an opening in our Research Division for a part-time scientific writer-editor. The pay is $20 an hour and you work independently at home. You need to have a background in marine fisheries biology, capability with statistics, and skilled in Excel and Word. If you are interested send an email to cfarm@capecod.net. It will be blocked; but unblocking it is a part of my EMAS therapy.

 Farmer Ron