Ever wanted your family to eat more vegetables? Sign up for a fall FarmShare. Without a doubt, my family eats more veggies when I'm getting weekly veggies from a local farmer. Rattle's Garden will be starting their FarmShare in a couple weeks. You can pick up in Vilonia ($150) or Little Rock ($165).
I can't remember when I started getting a FarmShare with Tara, but I've been nothing but pleased for years. There is a difference between grocery store veggies and fresh from the field veggies. Most notably you will notice the vibrant colors in local, organic veggies but also they stay fresh longer.
The following is from Rattle's Garden website.
What is Farmshare?
Our Farmshare is the foundation of how we sell vegetables from our farm. It is a subscription agreement in which a family buys a share of what our farm produces during the heart of our growing season. Twice a year we open this up to families wishing to join our farm community and enjoy really delicious organic food.
Why a Farmshare?
For us, it truly is about community. While we are grateful to be part of a large local food movement through the Little Rock markets we also want to share our vegetables and flowers with our rural neighbors. The commitment our Farmshare customers make by forming this membership allows us to do this.
For you, we hope it is because you too want to be part of our community. We hope that it is because you want to know where your food is coming from, who is growing it and how it is being grown. We know that it is because you want the freshest, healthiest, tastiest vegetables available to you.
What is our Agreement?
By becoming a member you agree to take the time to stop by our farm or the Little Rock pick-up point at the designated times for six weeks to receive a basket of organic vegetables we have grown and harvested at the peak of maturity to be enjoyed by your family. In return, we agree to work our tails off growing you a variety of organic, fresh vegetables that have been selected based simply on how fantastic they taste.
What scrumptious vegetables are being grown at Rattle’s Garden?
This is the second year we will be offering a fall Farmshare. While we have been selling vegetables at market since 2008, this is our fourth year growing a fall garden. We’ve learned a lot about growing in the fall over the last three seasons and I’m finally confident enough to offer this program but I do want everyone to go into this with their eyes open and know that we are going to do our best to put together great baskets this fall but we are always at the mercy of Mother Nature. Our crop plan for the fall includes four different varieties of summer squash, green beans, purple hull peas, cabbage, broccoli, kale, spinach, lettuce, swiss chard, radishes, red and yellow beets and carrots as well as the remaining sweet peppers from the summer.
When will this subscription begin?
As with all farming, we are dependent on Mother Nature. We hope to start the Farmshare the third week in September and run for 6 consecutive weeks. If our fall temps are moderate it’s possible we will start a week earlier, it’s more likely though that we would start a week late due to extremely warm temps during August.
What are the pick-up days/times?
The Little Rock pick-up will happen at the home of Julie Majors on Monday afternoons from 4-6 pm. The address is 1600 Tarrytown, Little Rock, 72227.
The farm pick-up will happen on Wednesday afternoons from 3:30-6pm and will be held market style as it was most of this summer (you pick your produce from crates). We will offer a Thursday morning pick-up from 9-11 am on the farm for anyone who cannot make Wednesday afternoons but this pick-up will have the produce bagged ahead of time since the logistics of school are a little more difficult for us this year. I would encourage you to pick up on Wednesday afternoons if at all possible.
What if your family needs to miss a pick-up?
During the summer we offer a make-up week at the end of the season for anyone to use in case they need to miss a week. With the fall season lasting only six weeks and because it will be pushing right up into cold weather, we will not have a make-up week for this season. If you have to miss a week, we ask you to make other arrangements to have your food picked up for you. If this isn’t possible, we ask that you give us a head’s up and we can make sure your basket goes to a needy family in the area through the Spirit of Vilonia Ministries.
Do you get to pick what you want in your basket?
Not exactly…we’ll divide each week’s produce up evenly between the baskets to make sure everyone gets variety and the full value of their basket. As members you will also be given the first opportunity to purchase large amounts of successful crops outside of the Farmshare season at wholesale prices for you to freeze or preserve by canning. If freezing or canning is new to you, we can help!
What about all of those chickens in our front yard??
In the summer we have an Eggshare option to the Farmshare program. In the fall however, chickens molt and when chickens molt they stop laying eggs making the number of eggs we have available less consistent. We won’t have an Eggshare option this fall but we should still have plenty of eggs available on request. Our eggs sell for $5 a dozen and they are beautiful and taste fantastic. If you are interested in eggs simply ask when you pick up your food or send me a text to have them included in your basket. If you pick up in LR and know that you want eggs every week, send me an email and we will work something out in advance of the start of the program.
Communication…
One key to the success of our program is always communication! Occasionally I have tech problems with the farm’s Facebook page but I try to keep it up to date! I will send out a short weekly newsletter to your email address letting you know what you can expect in your basket each week. This newsletter will start coming out the first week in September to let you know how the growing season is going and when we plan to start the pick-ups. We also want to hear from you…keep us posted on which veggies you love and let us know if something isn’t working for you. We can be reached by text at 501-941-0331 or by email at rattlesgarden@yahoo.com.
How do I become a Member?
So, you are ready for the yumminess. Good.
Simply email rattlesgarden@yahoo.com for the membership agreement and mail it to us with your full payment of $150 (farm pick-up) or $165 (Little Rock pick-up).
If after August 30, please call (501-941-0331) or email (rattlesgarden@yahoo.com) to check on availability before mailing payment.
