It's going to be another stormy week. We hope you can get here to get your groceries on Thursday before the bulk of the snow arrives. We'll be open both days! For those of you who lost power last week and didn't receive our email newsletter, it is here repeated again.

Despite the devastating news about the New Zealand earthquake, we are still going. My family is located many miles away in the North Island, however the shock of the disaster has left everyone very affected. It will be comforting to be with family.  

The store will be open and we might be able to squeeze in a newsletter while we are away thanks to the internet!  

CSA/Grain Shares Go on Sale this Week!

We are looking for 30 committed supporters to participate in our CSA/Grain share. We have a unique opportunity to partner with John DeRosier of With The Grain, a certified organic and bio-dynamic grain farmer, and bring local grains and beans to our community.  (See his bio below). 

We are really excited to bring this important component of food security and sustainability into Outer Aisle. We hadn't realized until this past weekend with John how crucial and important it is to act now! We hope you will respond with enthusiasm too and trust that our judgment alone will be enough of a guarantee. To demonstrate our commitment to the success of this relationship Outer Aisle is purchasing 10 shares! 

Here's how it works:

Following in the footsteps of our recent success in community financing, where we raised enough upfront capital to put solar on our store by selling "futures" and paying participants back in Outer Aisle purchases, thereby creating a win-win situation. 

The CSA/Grain Shares will cost $500. This will buy you a $200 share of grain seed and beans received in 3 increments over the next three years. The grains that would be included would be a combination of heirloom wheats, oats, barley, rye, millet, corn, lentils, peas, and dry beans in 10, 20 and 20lb increments. The other $300 share will be in Outer Aisle purchases with no time limit. This is available to existing CSA delivery customers, CSA members that shop at our store and the general public. 

Win-win-win benefits for all:

• You receive the full $500 back in food (a portion in grain over a period of time and the other in Outer Aisle purchases with no time limit)
• John receives upfront money during a time of difficulty
• Outer Aisle receives your continued commitment
• We together create a model financing system.

Multiple benefits abound:

• Pioneering a micro-loan financing model that will not only help John continue his important work, but provide a sound model for future projects/businesses.
• Establish a direct supply connection between Outer Aisle and With the Grain. We'll have his grains and beans on our shelf and other customers get the health benefits too.
• Provide a local source of hard-to-find heirloom varieties of grains and beans that are adapted to human scale  production (ie. home gardening) and adapted to our regional climate. These seeds will be used to increase local production of grains and beans on a larger scale bringing back this important crop closer to home.
• Provide a source of bulk seeds for distributing through our store and seed share events for everyone in the community to grow.
• John's extensive knowledge will bring an important educational element to our community.  

    I am a pioneering, Certified Biodynamic/Organic grower specializing in Heirloom Grains, Beans, and Seeds.  Grains, and their partner legumes ("beans"), have been the corner stone of human civilization for at least 10,000 years due to their ability to store vast amounts of sunlight in there seeds (grains are the seeds of grasses and "beans" are the cotyledons-the first "leaves" and the food source--of a new bean plant).  Securing these powerhouses of nutrition have allowed civilizations to rise and when food from these great plants are lost, civilizations have fallen.  My work is in reestablishing high quality grains as the center of our farms and communities.  While growing a grain plant is actually very simple, at this point growing grain for the community is actually quite complex because the infrastructure and knowledge has decayed so greatly. 

    Fifteen years ago I began experimenting with these plants and by about year seven into the process I realized I could grow all the grain I needed to feed myself and family.  BUT, what I really wanted to do was grow quality grains-real substance-for other people!  I wanted to support and provide this high quality food for people who are working hard to restore our planet and reconnect our local communities.  With quality food as their base, people could go out and do the necessary work to bring healing to themselves and our world.  More than ever, I believe we need high quality grains to build our inner health and yet local, organic, heirloom grains are entirely missing from our food system. 

    I have built up my farm, With The Grain to have all the essential pieces.  I have enough land (over 200 acres) to rotate soil-building cover crops and legumes. I have growing and harvesting equipment. I have a collection of post-harvest cleaning equipment. I own a licensed commercial kitchen that I am turning into a local farmers' co-op for processing farm products into food. I have grain processing equipment (stone mills, rollers, etc). I have numerous heirloom seed varieties from many different grains and beans, and I'm a certified Biodynamic and Organic grower.  The work I am doing to bring local, heirloom grains back into our farms and communities is extensive and all consuming.    In the mean time my farm has been growing to serve more people and new farmers.  

Last year, my farm suffered a significant set-back and I was not able to recover the costs of production and I am really struggling to continue moving forward.  After talking with Eric and Christine Taylor, a hopeful idea emerged where I could turn to the community for support in return for grain. Hence the CSA/Grain Shares.

Editors Note: If you aren't able to participate in the CSA/Grain Share but find you want to help in some way, small or large, you can make a difference - just contact him below. If you would like more information about his farm and how this money would be used to grow grain and build a network of other local growers, please contact him directly:  johnd@withthegrain.org.