Trying to keep our CSA accessible and affordable is a very challenging proposition. By not raising our costs at the same level that other industries are raising theirs we have pretty much kept out prices at the same level for the last several years. This has been a tremendous burden because our production costs have tripled in many areas. Last year, we did increase the price of CSA to a level that would allow us to include delivery of shares to members but that has proven to be an "if it ain't broke don't fix it" scenario. (Who would have thought that gas prices would have spiked at $4+ per gallon right in the middle of our busiest season?) We will be going back to pick up locations for next year and have added one to the list, so now there will be three choices. In addition, we have changed the structure of our CSA to include more affordable payment options and expanded CSA overall by establishing partnership with other local farmers.
MONTHLY PAYMENT OPTION AND MONTH-TO-MONTH SHARES
For the first time ever, we are accepting monthly payments (after the initial deposit) for membership in our CSA. We have set up a PayPal account to take credit card payments (although there is a small admin fee -theirs, not ours- to use this system).
Also, we are offering a Month-to-Month Share that requires only a one month at a time commitment. There are a couple of restrictions on the Month-to-Month option. This share is not available in May and June, during strawberry season, and it is not available as a 100% organic produce share but overall is still a great CSA option.
PUTTING CHARLOTTE BACK IN THE SCHEDULE
We had not planned on having Charlotte back in the pick up rotation next year but the demand was such that we had to pay attention. For that reason, we have added the Charlotte Regional Farmer's Market back into our schedule for 2009. We will be there on Saturdays again starting in late April (CSA officially starts May 2, 2009). There will also be lots of our organic produce for sale at this market but a limited number of varieties. We are doing 2 other markets now and don't want to spread it too thinly so our farm plan includes growing some of our more major crops (okra and sweet potatoes for example) in quantities enough to accommodate all of our venues.
All of the information about these new options are published on the website at
http://www.newmoonfarmorganic.com/
