New Tractor Arrives!

On Friday, March 18, we took delivery of the new tractor - the funding for which was raised entirely through your donations!  Thanks to everyone who donated to the tractor fund.  This tractor will allow us to step up our operational capacity as we expand our acreage and increase the size of the CSA.  It is a 1983 International Harvester Hydro 84, garage kept with original paint and low hours [1,500]  - a very rare find!  We purchased the tractor from Herr & Leaman in New Providence, PA [Lancaster County].

Farm Staff Restructures 

As most of you know, Farmer Fred left the farm last year. His wife Kristen received an excellent promotion that required moving to the Boston area and Fred also landed a nice job on a picturesque farm from all indications. Fred was a multi-talented farmer here and did many things for the farm, so we had to carefully consider how to continue on and expand without him in the picture.

Considering the needs of the farm including our expansion into the back 5 acres and the growth of the CSA we decided to add an additional managerial position. As Farm Director, I supervise both positions - neither of which replaces Fred's position, yet each was designed to address specific functions.

Dennis accepted one of the manager positions. Most of his time will be spent farming, yet his position will also focus on vehicle and equipment maintenance, upkeep of the grounds, infrastructure projects and general oversight of the facilities. I've been wanting to give this aspect more attention for several years now and Dennis is the perfect person for the job. Additionally, Dennis' tractor and implement operating skills will be heavily drawn upon in the tractor intensive months of May through September when we will often need both tractors to keep up with 15 acres of vegetables.

The other manager position was filled a few months ago by Katie Fotta, who introduced herself in the previous newsletter. Katie's job will also consist of farming work, but she will be responsible for supervising, communicating with and coordinating all those who come to the farm as anything but a full season farmer. This includes volunteers, CSA shareholders doing share duty, corporate groups, interns, WWOOFers, high schoolers doing community service projects and others. She will orient these folks to the farm and lead them on their tasks. I feel it is very important to maintain the quality and fulfilling experience we have been offering here by having an experienced farmer working right alongside those new to the farm.

Finally, my job as Farm Director continues to evolve and change. The planning and budgeting aspect has become much more complicated and sophisticated over the years, now with nearly 400 summer shares and over 100 winter shares. With this increased growth, keeping up with purchasing of everything from seeds to tractors to hoophouses has become more involved as well. I have also been looking into what it would take to develop a formal farming apprenticeship program, that would train aspiring farmers who want to grow organic produce as a career path. Finally, as you have probably heard, we continue looking into additional places to grow more organic produce to meet the demand and an ever increasing wait list.

Please Consider Supporting Us
in the Walk Against Hunger

We will be walking [and running] against hunger on Saturday, April 9. This event is organized to raise funding for food pantries, soup kitchens and other anti-hunger organizations in the Philadelphia region.  The website for the walk indicates that over 500,000 people "struggle to buy groceries for their families" in the five county region of Philadelphia.

We have our own anti-hunger program here at Pennypack Farm and the funding generated through this event will help us expand that program into a new area.  For the past few years, we have been participating in the Clark Park Farmers Market in West Philadelphia.  This area has been described as a "food desert" by the Food Trust as there are no local grocery stores offering fresh, local produce and other farm products.  The Farmers Market brings that food to this neighborhood and we accept food stamps and federal vouchers for payment there.

Many of our regular customers have asked if we could offer a CSA share at Clark Park.  Anyone who qualifies to receive food stamps would be eligible for the share.  Participants will be able to pay in increments [every 2 weeks as per food stamp regulations] with food stamps or other payment and pick up their produce weekly.

Everyone should have the opportunity to bring home fresh organic produce for their family.  Please consider supporting this important work.

Donating is easy!
1. Visit http://www.hungercoalition.org/hungerwalk/
2. Click on the big blue "make a donation" box ",
3. When prompted, search for team Pennypack Farm.
4. Choose one of our team members to support and follow the prompts - don't worry if you don't know which one of us to support-what's important is that you make a donation!

Or, simply send us a check with "walk against hunger" in the memo.