Our “Goldilocks” Farm

Our “Goldilocks” Farm

Every year our CSA sells out.  And this is great for us as a small farm, that there is so much demand for our product.  But we are always disappointed that we can’t grow enough food for everyone who wants it.  Just like I am always a little disappointed when we sell out of something at the farmers market.  We could expand.  We could grow our farm and provide more CSA shares each year.  I know plenty of small farms that are bigger than us and happy and successful and leading balanced lives.

But we like the size that we are.  We have been doing two weekly markets and 125 CSA shares for the past several years.  And it feels just right.  It is a stable and sustainable level for us.  The infrastructure we have is well suited to our scale of operation.  We are in our streamlining era.  We are focused on working smarter, not harder, and maintaining our level of production with less effort.  So for now, demand for our CSA surpasses supply.

We could expand our operation to grow through the winter.  It would be better for our employees if we had more consistent year round employment.  And in fact a few years ago we tried a winter CSA.  I hated it.  I needed time in the winter to recharge and get excited for the coming year.  I struggle with this, but ultimately I think we have to do what works best for us as farmers and accept that we can’t be everything to everyone.

The solution is not for small farms to get bigger (unless they want to) but for more small farms to exist!  We hope we can be a model of a successful small farm that will help inspire others to pursue farming as a career.