CSA Share FAQ with a link to the Share Agreement

Share Agreement

Click to open.

Print the form and fill it out.

Send it with your payment to the address shown on the form.

What does CSA mean?

CSA is short for Community Supported Agriculture. Instead of selling to the grocery store and letting them store and mark up your produce, Mule Shoe Farm produce can go directly to you. To receive our produce, you become a partial owner of the farm by buying a share. We all share in this endeavor together. A CSA ensures that Mule Shoe Farm is a sustainable operation and that you can get the fresh organic produce that you need to be healthy.

How much does a share cost?

A full share is $750 for a half bushel every week from mid-April to the end of October. A half share is $400 for a quarter bushel every week from mid-April to the end of October.

What if I can't pay all at once?

That's fine. The share agreement has three different payment options available. If finances are an issue, call or email for arrangments. Mule Shoe Farm is proud to barter shares for needed goods or services.

How do I participate in the CSA?

• Pick up shares on day and time specified unless you make other arrangements. Call 615-792-9955 or email apouliot@gmail.com
• Buy your share at the beginning of the growing season. Fill out the share agreement and send in with your share amount.
• Recycle the container used to pick up your share by using it each week.

What does a share mean? What do I get?

By buying a share, you become one of the farm owners for one year. You will receive a ½ bushel of fresh organic and natural produce each week during our season. A full share is enough produce to feed a family of four for a week. Half shares are also available for couples or singles desiring fresh produce. You will be invited to attend our Summer Festival and you are welcome to visit anytime. Please call in advance to make sure we are here to show you around.

The volume in a share will vary slightly over the course of the season. The peak of the season will have more produce than the beginning or end of the growing season. The produce will vary depending on what is at its peak of freshness. This means you will not be getting tomatoes or corn in April. You can experience the connection to your food by “eating with the seasons.” You may get vegetables you haven’t tried before. Recipes can be found in Friday posts at http://www.muleshoefarm.blogspot.com/

Is Mule Shoe Farm certified as an organic producer? Does the farm grow its products organically?

Mule Shoe Farm is not USDA certified organic. We are currently building a paper trail for organic certification. We use organic production methods for our poultry and goats, as well as, our vegetables. Our animals are pasture-fed, free-roaming creatures and our vegetables are grown in organic raised beds, as organic field crops and as naturalized plants throughout our property.

Share Agreement
Click to open.
Print the form and fill it out.
Send it with your payment to the address shown on the form.

Be a Part-Time Farmer

I remember coming home from school in the spring and eating snow peas straight off the vine, munching on green peaches at the tree, picking and eating strawberries, all before I went inside to do my homework. There is nothing like the taste of fresh home grown produce. Nothing in the world. It is warm sun on your back, the flight of butterflies dancing across flowers and the gentle background buzz of bees making their rounds.

If you tasted it and become accustomed to it, then you know what I mean. But there is a great deal of effort that can go into your own garden, like weeding, pest control, planning and placemnt of crops and harvesting your produce. Not many have much time to do that anymore. When you work into the evening, the last thing you'll want to do is walk out the back door and harvest a half bushel of cucumbers or pull up great clods of weeds by the corn.

Since childhood, I have dreamed of growing my own food. As I started a family, fresh, whoelsome food became a priority. Now I have a small farm and I am offering you a partial share. I do the work, you get the produce. To be sure, if you are dying to wander around and pull weeds, I won't stop you, but I know most don't have time for that. I think local organic and frsh food is a cornerstone of healthy communities and I believe fervently in the idea that 'someone' must act now to make this dream a reality.

Over the past year, I have practiced a 'dry run' of the farm, through a drought no less and now I am ready to offer Community Supported Agriculture shares to interested folks. This is fresh, local, in season produce. Whatever we are producing: from vegetables to eggs and milk. I will post some more details later this evening and put up a link to an Agreement Form which you can print and fill out and send to me. Stay tuned...