CSA update

Hello Herbal Turtle 2013 Shareholders!


Thank you so much for your support this season. As a society we are becoming less and less connected with our food. We have entrusted our agricultural system to larger corporations who place less emphasis on health and sustainability and more and more emphasis on profits. We don’t need GMOs to feed the world. We need to RE-teach the world to feed itself. Why should we trust companies driven only by profits with our food and our health? We believe that more small farms feeding the people in their communities are part of the solution. By choosing to support a small family farm you are helping to take our food system back! Thank you! We are honored to be growing your food this year.

As we’re sure you have noticed this spring has been a little hesitant to introduce us to summer! It has been a challenge and like everyone else, we are a little further behind than we would like to be at this time of year. The good news is that we have taken advantage of every window of good planting weather given to us and are pretty much caught up with our planting schedule. So far we have only suffered one casualty and would like to give honorable mention to the Bok Choy. They were good seedlings but got root-bound in the trays and as a result the majority have now bolted. They will be missed but we will have another succession later in the season. Everything else is looking great! While a cool, wet spring can pose a few challenges for planting, we would rather have the moisture in the soil going into a hot summer. This time last year we were way ahead planting but the warm, dry spring led us right into a summer drought. So while we may be a little behind, we’re still grateful for the rain! A realistic timeframe for our first box is the 3rd week of June.

We will continue to publish weekly newsletters which will include farm news, box contents, and recipes for you to try. In an effort to save paper we will post the newsletters on our blog at www.herbalturtlefarms.com but not in a hardcopy form. The blog will be updated every Wednesday. If you don’t have internet access please let us know.

Winona members, your pick-up site will remain at Bluff Country Coop in the produce section. We will have boxes there by Noon on Wednesdays and you can pick them up anytime between Noon and Close (8pm). Please keep in mind that the sooner you can get your box the better as things may start to wilt if left out too long.

Rochester Members, your pick-up site will now be at the People’s Food Coop instead of the Farmer’s Market. The market was a great site but did pose a few challenges. The new site will give members a greater window of time to pick up boxes and will not be affected by poor weather. Boxes can be picked up on Saturdays any time between 8am and 9pm. Again, please keep in mind that the sooner you can pick up your box the better as things may start to wilt if left out too long.

La Crosse Members, pick-up will be at the Riverside Corporate Wellness Office (RSCII Building, 2nd Floor - above River Rocks) Thursdays between 10:30 am and 4:00 pm. After 4pm the boxes will be placed outside the office in the hallway. We do have an alternate drop site in La Crescent so if you know that you will consistently be later than 4:00 to pick up your box let us know and we can arrange to have you go to the other site.

Trempealeau Members, your drop site is still TBA. The Simota’s were hosting the site last year but Katie Simota moved to Madison :(. If anyone is interested in hosting a drop site please let us know and we can work something out. We will call all Trempealeau members and let you know where to pick up your first box.

Please remember to return your boxes each week! The wax boxes are expensive so we only order what we need each year. It can cause a lot of problems if we don’t get them back each week! Your name will be listed on your box along with a color coding system that lets us know which add-ons you are supposed to get so make sure you don’t peel off the colored stickers :).

If for some reason you are not able to pick up your box please let us know ahead of time and we can make other arrangements. Any boxes left over at the pick-up sites will most likely be taken and eaten by employees of the pick-up sites! We cannot guarantee that your box will be there if you forget to pick it up. Again, please call us if you will not be able to pick up your box for any reason and we will try to make other arrangements.

If there are any issues or you have any questions please contact us directly. The businesses that allow us to use their space for pick-up have no other involvement with our farm and will not be able to help you. We love hearing from our members so feel free to reach out!

Thanks again for choosing to be a part of our farm! If you would like to volunteer to help with a project on the farm or just come and see where your food is grown please let us know. We would love to have you out! Looking forward to a GREAT season! Our contact info is listed below for your records…



Your Farmers,

Bryan and Katelyn

Herbal Turtle Farms


Bryan Crigler

507.450.5877

bryan@herbalturtlefarms.com


Katelyn Foerster

507.313.5085

kate@herbalturtlefarms.com