I am ready for spring.  Although it is still a while away, we are immersed in our annual planning process for the spring and summer.  It is during the winter that we make most of the decisions that govern our growing season.  Using lots of spreadsheets, we literally plan out ahead of time where and when each of our vegetables will be planted.  With close to 100 different varieties to go into five acres of land, it takes faith in the belief that spring will indeed come despite this snowy winter and consistently negative temperatures to get this significant job done.

Now is also the time that we undertake the important process of planning out who will eat most of our produce by signing up the 120 CSA members that our farm will feed in 2015.  The Community Supported Agriculture program at Ripley Farm, which consists of weekly farm shares full of our farm’s organic abundance, is critical to our farm’s financial health. 

This time of year, community members from all over the Dover-Foxcroft and Bangor regions send in their Ripley Farm membership forms with a deposit to secure their organic summer vegetables. Wait, they’re sending us money during the cold, dark winter months?!?  Our fields are under three feet of snow!

As I am making up receipts for the recent round of summer CSA payments that have come in, I am struck again by how very blessed we are to be part of a community that truly supports small organic farms like ours.  The CSA is the economic lynchpin of our farm.  Our members pay for their farm shares before our harvest season starts, providing us with money to buy seeds, prepare fields for planting, and maintain our equipment.  All before a single veggie has been eaten.  As check after check arrives in our snow-engulfed mailbox, I am continually amazed and humbled by this trust and support of our farm.

Community Supported Agriculture defines a commitment: these 120 families will support our farm in 2015 through thick and thin.  And in return we commit to feeding these families with an abundance of the very best tasting, freshest, organic vegetables grown 100% with love on our farm.  A shared appreciation for healthy food has brought us together to weather the growing season come what may.  May it be easy with abundant rainfall and sunshine or may it be full of challenges due to torrential rains, hail, wind, blight or insect, we and our CSA members are in it together, savoring the coming year’s harvests. 

I consider the financial commitment that our CSA members provide to our farm before delivery to be an act of faith.  It supports the use of organic farming practices to produce healthy food on our small farm.  It acknowledges the acceptance of circumstances beyond our control, like crazy weather events.  It embraces the joy of surprise and delight of experimenting with what’s at hand.  It celebrates eating and sharing good food with friends and family.  It says, “We love you, Ripley Farm!”

In 2009 we started farming on 1 acre of leased land.  We sold at a few farmers markets to get us started, and we’ve slowly expanded our farm since then.  This summer will be our seventh season farming as our very own Ripley Farm, and we will manage a total of 5 certified organic acres.  Your commitment to purchasing fresh local vegetables through our CSA has built our business into a sustainable farm that will be able to serve you for years to come. 

Our community’s staunch support of our farm warms my heart on this cold February day, and strengthens my own faith in the coming abundance of another spring.    –Mary Margaret