Members View CSA as ‘Their Farm’ Agri-View: Crop News

Steve Young and Debra Jo Becker spend a lot of time on their hands and knees at Rare Earth Farm. Weeds are their nemesis in growing high-quality vegetables for their customers. While they take satisfaction from plucking rogue plants from among the veggies, the weeds’ revenge is aching muscles and a mighty thirst.

This “CSA” (Community Supported Agriculture) farm on the outskirts of Belgium in Ozaukee County is in its 18th season. Thirty miles from metropolitan Milwaukee, Rare Earth is dedicated to growing wholesome food for individual families by “subscription.” Funding for operating costs is acquired from membership fees prior to the start of each season. By participating, each CSA member enjoys an equal “share” of the total harvest for the season.

A “partnership” between farmer and consumer is at the heart of Rare Earth Farm. Young, founder and owner of Rare Earth Farm, and Becker, partner/co-manager, have gone beyond a business relationship with many of their returning customers to become their friends.

Their philosophy is to use methods safe for consumers, the environment and “all of us who work here.” Although not technically certified organic, they use techniques and materials commonly used by organic growers n things like soil testing, composting, cover crops, integrated pest management (IPM) and more. In the end, they deliver fresh quality produce that compares to what CSA members might harvest from their own backyard gardens n without the work.

A number of members, however, enjoy getting some dirt under their fingernails on occasion. They’re always welcome to come out to “their farm” and assist in whatever chores Young, Becker and Young’s son, Lucas, who works at Rare Earth full-time in the summers while attending UW-Milwaukee, happen to be doing at the time.

In fact, Rare Earth Farm taps into the enthusiasm some folks have to try their hand at farming by offering a “work share” program. Simply put, individuals offer their hand at farming in return for vegetables. They receive the same selection and quantities as members who buy their shares. Customers receive a wide array of vegetables, along with strawberries and melons, maple syrup and herbs.

They keep bees at the farm to help pollinate the crops. In the fall, they extract and put a share of honey in each member’s box.

Young and Becker are upfront and forthright about the commitment they expect from “work share” members. On the farm’s website (www.rareearthfarm.com), they state: “The season is long and the work at times can be hard. The work can be strenuous and mundane at times, and may go well beyond your ordinary concept of hard work.”

“Other days the work may be easy, where conditions are perfect for spending a summer day working outdoors,” they say. “Working at the farm on a good day may take you to a whole new level of appreciation for physical work. It can be relaxing and even a blissful experience to those people who can center themselves into the natural surrounding while performing the customary routines of growing and harvesting food”

“The kind of experience you’ll have working here will mainly depend on how you respond to the variable challenges and rigors of farming,” they state. Folks who stick with the program the entire season recognize it was time well spent.

The expectation is that members work 4.5 hours a week for the season to receive a box of food in return.

Young launched this farm n a CSA from the very beginning - in 1990, but continued to work full-time. Ten years ago, he quit his full-time engineering job to farm. The CSA is his sole source of income. Debra, who’s originally from Saukville, is in her second year at Rare Earth Farm, her fourth in farming in general.

This operation is 20 acres, all irrigated. It includes several greenhouses, for starting transplants and for extending the season. Early, there are tomatoes, cucumbers and pole beans inside a propane-heated greenhouse, which is later replanted with lettuce, basil and bok choy. Plants grow in the ground and are trellised.

Harvest typically begins mid-June, with 21 weekly deliveries throughout the season, which winds down in late November. CSA members receive a box filled with a variety of freshly picked, high-quality veggies n enough to suit a household of two to four for a week. Amounts and selection increase as the season progresses.

Vegetables are delivered weekly at about a dozen locations in multiple communities in predominantly Ozaukee, Milwaukee, Waukesha and Washington counties. Each member has to pick up their box on the scheduled delivery day. Many of the sites are homes of CSA members who’ve volunteered to let these farmers use their garage as a drop-off/pick-up site. Some prefer to come out to the farm itself to get theirs.

Recipes n tested at the farm - accompany each scheduled veggie delivery, to help customers utilize some of the goodies in their box with which they might not be all that familiar.

They also have an add-on “egg share.” Their laying hens are fed non-GMO grains, with no antibiotics. They have access to the outdoors where, they tell their customers, the chickens “roam and forage for their own natural foods while enjoying fresh air and sunshine.”

Community Supported Agriculture is all about connection between farmer and non-farmer. To strengthen that connection, Young and Becker schedule social events at different times during the season, so their roughly 250 members can “experience the farm” and have fun socializing with Young and Becker, who many consider to be “their farmers” as well as other members.

People like bringing their kids out “so they know food comes from the soil,” remarks Becker.