Food and Wine — St. Croix
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Buy a Share of a Certified Organic Farm Through Community Supported Agriculture
Ridge to Reef Farm at VISFI offers its second Community Supported Agriculture season for 2012, starting May 30.Buy a share in the territory’s only certified organic farm and reap the benefits of investing in local food for family and the island community.
The Virgin Islands Sustainable Farm Institute grows 100 percent organic, 100 percent GMO free, and free range using the three central ethics of permaculture:1) Take care of the earth 2) Take care of the people 3) Share resources with fairness.
Shares are limited and Ridge to Reef expects them to fill. Below are the details of what it will look like and how to become a member.
Register here:
The Dirt on the CSA
1. Registration
Anyone may now register, pay up front from the entire season and secure a spot for VISFI’s next CSA season. Pick-ups start May 30 and run for 12 weeks. Register here: http://ridgetoreef.csasignup.com/members then make a payment. All that has to be done after that is pick up the food every week at the location of one’s choosing (see site for details).
A spot will be 100 percent secured with a payment in full.
2. Return on investment ~ $360 per share*
Add on an optional bi-weekly coffee share from Puerto Rico’s sustainable fair-trade coffee farm for $90. *shipping to St. Thomas is additional
A CSA is a shared risk/benefit business model to secure local food production. There are no guarantees about what or how much a participant may receive each week. Farming is risky business, with storms, fires, or acts of God that sometimes make farming difficult. There are always losses, but thanks to VISFI’s 10 years experience of growing to the strict USDA organic standards here in the USVI, that Ridge to Farm knew how to put fine, tasty food on the table year-round.
What’s in the bag? Each week there will be a variety of our organic produce and sometimes free range eggs. The goal is to surpass the fair market price of one’s share for organic food every week. Price comparisons from prior weeks have shown VISFI’s food, while better in quality, sometimes has a lower price than that which is found in the conventional grocery stores. We have put together a tentative listing of some the items you may receive below.
Month 1:
Salad Greens -Prepackaged, ready-to-go; Spicy mesculine mix, radishes; turnips; collard greens; bananas; other select fruits (mango, passion fruit, papaya, limes, etc.); chayote; chaya; moringa; malabar spinach; peppers; eggs; basil; long beans; other beans; kale; broccoli and broccoli greens; sprouts; cucumbers
Month 2:
Same as above, plus: beets; carrots; eggplants; malabar chestnuts; thyme; dill; head lettuce; miracle fruit; asian greens
Month 3:
Same as above, plus: bunching onions; seasonal fruit like passion and carambola; sprouts; okra, cranberry hibiscus, sliced pumpkin
Where will the money go? (try asking this question at the grocery store)
-additional seed order (we have already planted during last season)
-pallet of vermiculite and perlite
-tractor maintenance, purchase of new attachment and repair of chipper
-improving chicken tractor/movable fence system, feed
-purchase of additional chickens for winter season 2013
-staff wages, additional staff member
-delivery of your food
-new bags and T-shirts for sale
-purchase pole pruner for fruit tree pruning
-new trellis materials for tomatoes, cukes
-increase irrigation capacity
-pot systems for tomatoes to try summer harvest -
-begin mushroom cultivation (hopefully available by winter 2013 -completely experimental)
-end of season party
3. How to buy a share
Final payments are due by Sunday, May27 and are first paid, first served until they run out. Shares not paid by deadline will be released to other registrants. Please let VISFI know if check is in the mail.
Pay by check: You may send a check written to “Reef to Reef Farm” to this address:
Ridge to Reef Farm
PO Box 2903
Frederiksted USVI, 00841
Pay with Paypal: Please, if you elect to pay via paypal, it is critical to follow these steps to save the CSA money on the paypal fees -very important:) VISFI will cancel payments that do not follow these steps:
1) Log in to paypal account.
2) Click on "send money"
3) Enter the full balance as reported in the order confirmation e-mail and use R2Rfarm@gmail.com as the recipient address.
4) Select the tab that says "Personal"
5) Within the personal options, select "other" as payment type.
6) Click continue, then review the order and Send Money
Shares are locked in once VISFI receive full payment.
Register here:
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