Greetings CSA members,
Although
I announced my pending resignation a few weeks ago, I have been given
special dispensation to return to CSA correspondence duty for one very
special message. I am thrilled
to announce that Appleton CSA will be reducing its membership from 650
to 550 for the 2017 growing season and will no longer be utilizing the
acreage at Moraine farm for Appleton’s CSA program. This decision
required months of consideration and approval at
the highest levels of the Trustees. We will be fallowing fields at
Moraine (seeding cover crops to build soil nutrients, prevent weeds and
prevent erosion) while Ag Program staff plan for the future of that
farm, separate from Appleton.
Although
on its face the move back to 550 might appear to be a return to the way
things were run in 2014, this is actually a much more significant
decision. Since its inception
in 2002, Appleton has been growing steadily. The Appleton CSA became a
model both within the Trustees and within the larger community of what a
CSA could be and the impact that it could have. Moving back to 550
members marks a turning point for us: a shift
from expansion to consolidation.
I
once asked my first farming mentor “When will you be done growing the
business?” My assumption was that reaching a state of stasis would lead
to stability within the business. He
responded that “If you aren’t growing then you’re shrinking.” At the
time I took his answer at face value although I found the implications
disappointing. Acquiring more land to work, engaging more customers and
generating more revenue are ways to grow larger
but, as a farm, we can choose instead to grow stronger. We can focus on
strengthening our relationships with our customer and business
partners. We can build up our infrastructure. We can focus on improving
our land and our growing practices. This is, I believe,
the direction that Appleton is moving in with the decision to
consolidate at 550 CSA members.
I
wanted to make this announcement many times over the last several
months to illustrate a frequent point in my blog posts over that time
period: that the CSA is responsive and
responsible to its membership and that it is moving in the right
direction. But as I said, it took months to come to this decision and
required a chain of conversation through several levels of management.
Everything
in farming takes time, attention, and care. Obviously it also takes
seeds, water, healthy soil biomes, etc., etc., but those things tend to
have less metaphorical significance
within the purpose of this message. Appleton Farms CSA is now receiving
the attention and care it needs. Given a little time we will grow
stronger and more resilient. We are on track to flourish.
