Dear Kimberton CSA community,
I hope this finds you well.
As you'll appreciate, we are continuing to adapt our policies and protocols at the farm as the COVID-19 situation develops. With the start of the season still eight weeks away (first pick-ups are Tuesday, 5/26, and Friday, 5/29), it would be remiss of me to guarantee anything at this time except:
We will be growing and distributing vegetables throughout the 2020 season!
Unless there is a dramatic, positive shift in the course of this pandemic, however, a few changes will be necessary.
First, we will have to temporarily abandon our market-style CSA model. To ensure the safety and well-being of our members and staff, we will have full and partial shares prepacked into boxes. Our new box share program will remain unchanged. This will limit the amount of people potentially handling your food and create a quick and easy pick up.
To accommodate the smooth operation of this change in pick-up protocol, we will also have to restrict the open pick up windows. One possibility is prearranged and limited member pick up times within the larger pick-up window, reducing on farm traffic and congestion. Another option is to move our pick-up location adjacent to the farm, somewhere that could accommodate a “drive thru” system or potentially new pick up locations further afield to reduce travel for members not in the immediate Phoenixville area. We are also discussing the option of home delivery for our members who fall within COVID-19’s more “vulnerable populations.” We will keep you updated as our discussion progress.
Another big question on everybody’s lips is what about u-pick? Well, this is a little more complicated and has more potential to ebb and flow throughout the season depending on timely government advice. At the very least, we may need to have restrictions—similarly to local grocery stores—with a one person per share on farm policy at any one time. Having prearranged u-pick time slots and time limits for members is another option to ensure a steady but safe flow of members on the farm.
Unfortunately, and regardless of which plan we move forward with, members who u-pick will have to bring their own scissors or harvest tools and packing supplies to avoid cross contamination. The shed will probably be out of bounds to members during u-pick hours and we will ask all members and staff to adhere to the current, recommended, 6ft (2m) social distancing protocol. We can provide separate staff and member hand-washing stations.
The worst-case scenario would be a temporary suspension of member u-pick. If this were to happen, we will harvest some u-pick items to include in the prepacked shares. But please bear in mind that the reason most u-pick items are in fact u-pick items is because they are time-intensive to harvest. In this scenario we would try our very best.
I realize this is a lot to take in and, although most of the information above are just deliberations between Frank, myself and Becky at the moment, we wanted to keep you in the loop and assure you that we are proactively thinking about ours, yours and everyone in our larger, collective community’s health and well-being. This truly is an unprecedented time.
We hope to maintain the traditional culture and operations of KCSA as much as possible throughout the 2020 season. As they evolve, new pandemic protocols may feel inconvenient or uncomfortable, but we ask that you work with us to ensure current and future access to the bounty of the farm. For us, this will require more administrative work, labor, and increased production costs on our already shoe string budget. We welcome the challenge! In return, we ask that you plan in advance, respect scheduled pick-up times and protocols, come prepared to u-pick with scissors and containers, and prioritize our community’s well-being.
We are all going to have to continue to be flexible and show humility as the harvest season commences. It’s an extraordinary time and although this situation really, really, really sucks and we are potentially facing our own mortality (and that of our loved ones), for the most part—and although we need to proceed with extreme caution—currently we are in a good place. You can still buy organic chocolate chip cookies in Kimberton Whole Foods, prescriptions are being filled, and I believe a stimulus relief package is being distributed.
I have a handful of good friends spread around the world. We remain in good spirits via What’s App, Zoom, email, and Facetime. Silly memes and videos are sent to liven the spirits. My mom has not failed to rally our extended family everyday by forwarding a varying degree of amusing Facebook posts. It’s the communication, the reaching out, the checking in that counts. This is a time that we will hopefully look back on and be proud of having been part of an empathetic, grateful, collective, human experience.
Oh, and a Purple Martin scout arrived on Friday!
Be safe,
Andrew
