Sweetwater Farm not only provides organic veggies to it’s members, it also serves as a valuable community resource.  Did you know that we host “healthy living”workshops each month?  This Thursday the 8th, is a “Winter Container Gardening” workshop with Willow LaMonte.  And this Saturday is our popular “Organic 101” workshop with Sweetwater founder, Rick Martinez.  Check our website for the latest workshop information and join us!

Also, be sure to make time in your busy holiday schedule to volunteer at the farm.  We need help as usual on Thursday and Sunday mornings to harvest and wash veggies for the CSA pick-up.  The more volunteers we have, the more we can harvest for the share!

We also needs folks to come out and weed!  Get a group of your friends or family and enjoy a beautiful day outdoors and help the farm.  Contact our volunteer coordinator and let us know you’re coming… Wednesday thru Sunday.

The lettuce is ready to harvest! This may seem like a late start but is actually the environmentally friendly start of its season in this region. Instead of trying to extend its growing season we have decided to grow it during its appropriate time of the year in order to avoid excessive pest damage and bolting due to warm weather. From now till the end of the season we should have lettuce in nearly every share.

New in the share this week is green bell peppers and Banana Wax Peppers. The Banana Peppers are a mild heirloom hot pepper, delicious raw, in cooked meals and makes great salsa.

Last week we finally began planting and direct seeding at our new Children’s Home farm site. Lettuce, Mustard Greens, Rainbow Chard, Spinach, Beets, Carrots, Arugula, Mizuna and Radishes are now growing in the newly prepared fields.

Come learn how your food is grown and harvested, join the Sweetwater farm crew Wednesday through Sunday starting at 8:30am. The more volunteers we have on harvest days, the larger the shares will be, and will also ensure that we do not run out of any items. We have been so busy maintaining our fields, harvesting for the CSA and starting a brand new farm that we have not had time to weed any of the crops. Come and help us weed so we can ensure the success of our crops, this is a community project, your participation is crucial. Also learn about the many edible and medicinal weeds that grow in the fields, many of which have more nutritional benefits than the crops we plant. Weeds are free, just pull them yourselves.

Thank you for supporting community agriculture, together we are creating a safe, healthy food system for our families. Peace

As a community supported farm we are inherently thankful for our many members and supporters who believe in organic, believe in sustainable, believe in community, and believe in us. It is during this time, and in solidarity with our Sweetwater community, that we find hope and peace in these difficult times.

Let us all give “thanks” to our bountiful harvest filled with a variety of colors, textures, and tastes.  Thanks to the farmers everywhere whose determination and hard work bring us this tasty, nutritious food.  And to Mother Earth for providing us the beautiful raw materials to work with.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Peaceful Greetings

This year we started the lettuce seeds later in the season in order to avoid bolting (early flowering in response to heat), and early fall aphid attacks. Right now the lettuce is growing very healthy and happy in the fields and should be ready for harvest in a couple of weeks.

This week we will continue harvesting Mizuna greens, this is a milder tasting relative of arugula. This Asian green is a great alternative to lettuce in a salad because of its crispness and mild flavor.

This week we will begin to harvest Hakurei turnips, a mild tasting crisp turnip that can be eaten raw or cooked. Enjoy both the round white roots and the greens.

Thanks to slightly cooler weather the last two months, we were able to get an early start on the spinach crop. So far it looks like this highly nutritious and antioxidant rich green will provide a bountiful yield this winter.

Enjoy the harvest

Peaceful Greetings:

We had a great first week of the harvest season, wonderful weather and lots of nice people. Thanks to all who came out to help us harvest and wash vegetables, your help is very necessary and appreciated. Every week we have many volunteer opportunities for those interested in learning how your food is grown, come out and join the farm crew.

For the farmers here at Sweetwater, the summer has been a very busy and productive time. We have been working hard preparing all the fields for the new season, making hundreds of tons of organic compost, setting up irrigation at the new farm and building the new greenhouse. We are on track to start planting the first crops next week at our new farm site at the Children’s Home. I want to give a very special thanks to Casey, Alejandro, Phil and Noel for working so hard under such extreme conditions this summer. Without their dedication we would not have been able to accomplish so much in so little time.

So here is a little bit about what’s growing in the fields right now. The green beans are ready a little early this year and are delicious, expect them in the share for the next month or so. Green beans are a fairly easy crop to grow but a very tedious one to harvest, so please come out and help us pick, the more hands we have to pick, the more beans that will be in the share.

Sunburst Patty Pan is a type of summer squash, we trialed it last season with much success so have decided to make it a part of the share. Those of you who tasted it last season had many good things to say, also the plants grow very well in our soil and provide very high yields.

We are growing two kinds of cucumber that have proven over the seasons to grow very well here. One is the typical slicing cucumber, a hybrid variety called General Lee. The other is Suyo Long Asian Cucumber which is considered a ‘burpless’ cucumber. Very fresh taste, they are tender even when they get past one pound.

Another new variety that we added this season is the Pink Beauty radish, this heirloom variety grows very quickly and gets large without splitting. Expect to see it throughout the season with Sweetwater’s old favorite varieties like Easter Egg and French Breakfast radishes.

Hope everyone enjoys the shares this season.

To me, it seems as though the summer has flown by.  But ask one of our hardworking farmers about their summer, and they’ll tell  you it was one of the longest.  Thankfully, all of their hard work is about to pay off.

This week they’ll watch the CSA members stroll down the walkway and into the barn with bags in hand and smiles on their faces.  They’ll pick up the very first of this seasons harvest – winter and summer squash, radish, cucumber, and greens.  Each member will show in their own way their appreciation for the thoughtful work that has gone into growing the best local organic veggies around.  And the farmers will hear that magical word that reminds them time and again why they chose this labor of love.  The word that CSA members all over the country long to to tell their farmers face to face… “thanks”.

We’ll see you all very soon.

Sweetwater’s season starts the first week of November and this week we sold the final remaining shares to renewing members.  Today the Sweetwater community celebrates the start of our season with our Planter’s Ball starting at 6:00 pm.  We hope you’ll join us in this annual tradition.  It’s a casual, fun, family-friendly evening.  Be sure to bring your favorite dish to share for the potluck dinner.  The farmers and volunteers are out in the fields harvesting some veggies for the meal.  Whole Foods is generously donating rolls and desserts arriving later today.  Uncle Matt’s has donated some orange juice and lemonade.  And St Somewhere Brewery (from Tarpon Springs) will be bringing one of their new beers Lectio Divina (a cross between a Belgian dubbel and a Saison) and will also have their “more approachable” Vierge.  (Yummmmmmm!)  Gift certificates from local businesses will be raffled off throughout the evening. Rob Irie will play for us and we’ll be dancing into the night by the campfire.

Click here for more info and event parking info….

On Monday we are also going to celebrate the first national “Food Day”.  If you shop at Whole Foods this Monday anytime from 9 am – 9 pm, 5% of the proceeds will go to Sweetwater!  We’ll have a table set up at the store from 10-4, so come and say “hi”.

Then Monday night we’re going to the TUFF Food Day event, a community celebration of local food and showing of the movie “Urban Roots“.   From 6:00 to 9:00 pm at the Roosevelt (15th Street in Ybor).  Get your tickets here. Sweetwater will have a table set up for the event.

**Next week we’ll be sending out the CSA share pick-up schedule and instructions.**

Busy busy bees… see you all soon!

This season will be an especially interesting and challenging one for Sweetwater.  With the addition of our new farm at The Children’s Home, we will be growing food and harvesting from three distinctly different locations.  With the cut-back in the number of memberships we are offering this season, we have also had to cut back on the number of farmers we can afford to grow the food.

As members of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm, we count on you to share in the responsibility of growing this healthy food for our families.  Every season we ask our members to volunteer at least 4 hours of their time to help us seed, plant, weed, harvest, and wash veggies.  (We offer ample opportunity for non-farming tasks as well.)  This season, with a farm staff half its normal size, we will not only be counting on those four hours but relying completely on them in order to optimize the amount of food in our weekly shares.  If it’s a cold or a rainy day and no one shows up to help us harvest on a Sunday morning – all of our members will receive smaller shares that day.  There is simply only so much one farmer can harvest.

Speaking of farmers, we are looking for 2 Farmer “Apprentices” who are able to commit 25 hours per week for the season.  There is no compensation, but we can provide housing and a share of veggies for your time and dedication.  If you are willing to work hard and have a strong desire to learn about organic farming please CONTACT US for more information.

If you’d like to get your volunteer hours in early this season, you should consider helping us at our Planter’s Ball event on Saturday, Oct 22nd.  We need daytime and evening help.  Contact our Volunteer Coordinator to sign up.

We look forward to working with you all this season!

The Farmers are covered in soil and sweat, the fields are a mix of green, brown, and yellow, and the greenhouse is full of life again.  It’s October, and the hint of cooler weather reminds us that the start of Sweetwater’s harvest “season” are just around the corner.

We have some important dates for our CSA Members and some fun events that are open to the entire Sweetwater community, so flip the page to October and tune in to our weekly emails for more detailed information.  (If you haven’t already, you can sign up to receive our weekly email updates by scrolling to the bottom of our home page and entering your email address.)

Before our “season” officially begins, we have several important dates to make note of.  First is our 9th Annual Planter’s Ball on Saturday, October 22nd.  This is one of two fundraising parties we host at the Farm.  (Planter’s Ball is our season-opening party in October, and Pesto Festo is our season-ending party in May.)  We invite all CSA members and non-members to join us in celebrating the start of another great year.  Tickets are $10 at the entrance.  Bring your favorite pot-luck dish (no meat please) and enjoy the first farm-fresh veggies of the season, delicious bread and desserts from Whole Foods, organic beer from St Somewhere Brewery, and live local music with Rob Irie.  This is a family-friendly event and a great way to meet other members of our community.  We need volunteers to help out with the event, so Contact Us if you want to get a head-start on your volunteer hours for the season.

Did you know that “Food Day” is Monday, October 24th?  Food Day seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way.  Sweetwater Farm and Whole Foods Market invite you to participate in our Food Day event by doing your grocery shopping at Whole Foods in Tampa on Monday, October 24th when 5% of the proceeds for the day will directly benefit Sweetwater Farm!  More details will come soon…

And finally, we’ve planned a New Member and Volunteer Orientation at the farm on Saturday, October 29th.  New Member orientation will be from 10-10:30; a farm tour is scheduled from 10:30-11; and Volunteer orientation will follow from 11-11:30.

We have a handful of memberships available for any returning members from last season.  (We are not accepting applications from new members at this time).  If you are a returning member and would like to sign up for this season please Contact Us right away.

Until then,

Andrea Harms

Program Director, Sweetwater Farm

Over the last 15 years, Sweetwater Organic Community Farm has provided local, seasonal vegetables direct from the farmer to our community. Sweetwater grew from humble beginnings in 1993, where one of the six CSA members recalls, “back then if you didn’t show up to harvest the veggies, then you didn’t get any!” Those were simple times in Sweetwater’s history; relatively few members, 2 acres of farmland, small shares, and a farmer looking to grow a community from the ground up.

Last season Sweetwater’s membership grew to 280 members and the Sweetwater community continued to expand our reach through the St Pete Market and our own popular Sunday Market. With many members “sharing” their share, Sweetwater was able to supply more than 500 families with our certified organic vegetables.

In addition to growing healthy food for our members, Sweetwater made it part of our Mission to educate school-age children and our community about the importance of “knowing where your food comes from” and the benefits of sustainable farming practices. Since 1995 we have partnered with local pubic and private schools, local organizations, and home-school groups to bring more than 10,000 children to our field trip program. In addition, we have hosted hundreds of workshops and special community events. And thousands of CSA members and non-members have volunteered their time with us.

But with rapid growth and success, often comes growing pains. Sweetwater faces difficult years ahead as the economy continues to take its toll on us all. Mutually beneficial farming relationships that were created to meet growing demand and expand membership are changing this season.

One of our biggest changes this year will be our transition from our long-time relationship with the Bern’s Steakhouse farm, to our new location at the Children’s Home. For those of you who are unaware, Bern Laxer started his farm in the late ’60’s. The farm supplied vegetables for their restaurant operations. All of these years, Bern nurtured this farm creating wonderfully fertile soils. About six years ago Sweetwater began growing a portion of our produce at the Bern’s farm. We have also been managing vegetable production for Bern’s Steakhouse and Sidebern’s for several years. We are extremely grateful for the opportunity to operate at such a wonderful location. It has allowed Sweetwater to grow in every way. During our time at Bern’s, our membership has tripled. We have produced incredible crops for all of us. But now we must take that tenuous step, like moving away from the security of our beloved childhood home of many years to a new home of our own.

It is both timely and fortunate that we have secured 7 acres of land to farm through a partnership with The Children’s Home in Tampa. Our farmers and supporters have been working hard clearing the land, digging ponds, spreading compost, installing irrigation, and now – planting cover crops – so that we can prepare to grow vegetable crops this fall. This new piece of earth and the costs associated with starting a new farm are unpredictable. However we are confident that the Sweetwater community will rise to the challenges that face us.

There is an important concept woven into the CSA model that the Sweetwater community will need to remember as together we face these challenges. Inherent in the CSA model is a “shared risk and reward” agreement where CSA members do not pay by the pound for their produce (like a grocery store), but rather support Community Shared Agriculture by paying a specific price for a “share” of what the farmers grow. The concept of shared risk and reward is part of what creates a sense of community among members, and between members and farmers.

Our Children’s Home farm project has kicked into high gear so that we may begin crop production this season to make up for some of the production we will lose due to the sooner-than-expected end to our agreements with partner farms. The risk we face as farmers and as a community is that we cannot guarantee what this new land will yield in its first year. With your support, we will work hard and hope for a productive season, but we must also be prepared for a somewhat less bountiful harvest.

The Sweetwater Board of Directors and staff plan to take the following steps for the upcoming 2011-2012 season to ensure a smoother transition to our new farm, reduce the risk to existing members, and provide an opportunity for the most committed Sweetwater members to help us through this challenging (and exciting) year:

1. Sweetwater will limit the number of memberships to 200 total, effectively closing off new applications as of today and until further notice.

2. We will no longer have a St. Pete Market pick-up location. The many costs associated with this option are not feasible for our organization this year. We will reconsider the option again for next season. Any St Pete members interested in carpooling or sharing pick-up responsibilities in Tampa should get in touch with us and we will try to connect you with other St Pete members. (Please see contact info at end of this letter.)

3. We will offer a Refund Period from now until the end of August 2011 whereby any 2011-12 member applicant not willing to accept the additional risk this season may ask for a full refund of their membership. St. Pete pick-up members who do not wish to travel to Tampa for their share may also ask for a refund.

4. We will begin a Waiting List for people interested in joining Sweetwater should memberships become available during the refund period. Members will be added from our Waiting List with priority given to previous season (2010-11) members, and then “new” members on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Please Note:

If you have signed up to be a Member for the 2011-12 Season and have received a confirmation by email that your application and payment were accepted AND you wish to remain a member – there is no need to do anything.

The Sweetwater Board feels that making these immediate changes will provide us time to adjust to our new farm and use the land with respect, producing within its limits. We will continue to search for new partnerships that might supplement the produce grown by our Sweetwater farmers.

Committing to a CSA is more than just access to local produce; it involves the deliberate support of sustainable, healthy agriculture and the farmers that work so passionately to bring it to us.

We look forward to working with each and every one of you and hope that you will consider a renewed commitment to this community. Your volunteer help, donations, and kind words of support are deeply valued, appreciated, and critical to our future.

Please contact us using the contact form if you have any questions or need our assistance in any way.

Sincerely,

Rick Martinez

Founder and Director

Sweetwater Organic Community Farm

We have come to the end of another great season at Sweetwater.  Our Farming community continues to grow as we expand our operations this summer to our new Children’s Home Farm and our member and volunteer family grows with it.  It is during these “growth spurts” that we are reminded that it really does take a village to encourage a well-rounded and productive farm community.

If you are considering a membership in our CSA, please read through our membership information and let us know if you have any questions.  We plan to sell out sometime this summer, so don’t wait too long.  Check our chalkboard for the latest numbers and other important notes.

We’ll stay in touch over the long summer via our email newsletter which most of you will receive once or twice a month.  Our 2011-2012 season members will receive email updates as we approach the beginning of next season with important orientation and pick-up schedule information.

We have started a summer email list with names of folks willing to volunteer over the hot summer months.  If you would like to be added to this list, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator.

Enjoy your summer and we’ll look forward to seeing your smiling faces again this fall or maybe before.

Summer is here, which means our growing season at Sweetwater is almost over for now. Thank you all for supporting another season of community agriculture. We have had a great season and are grateful to each and every person involved in this sustainable community agriculture program. Much love and appreciation to all our dedicated farmers, volunteers and members. Thank you for sticking with us during rough weather (cold, heat, floods), which sometimes resulted in small shares and difficult working conditions. Also great to enjoy bountiful harvest days, fun events and beautiful weather together. I hope everyone has enjoyed the harvest and welcome any feedback.

We still have lots of food left in the fields for this last harvest week, come join us this week to help get it all out of the fields. The more folks we get out this week, the more food we will be able to salvage.

This summer we will be busy starting our new farm at the local Children’s Home. We will be having several volunteer work days on Saturdays to accomplish several projects such as building a greenhouse, raising a pole barn and burying irrigation pipe. Anyone interested can e-mail our volunteer coordinator or myself to be included in the notices.

Hope everyone has a wonderful summer, looking forward to seeing you all next season. Peace

Two more weeks left of this harvest season, and the fields continue to provide a bounty of food for our community. This week we are harvesting many root crops and lots more summer squash. Remember that the potatoes, carrots, beets and turnips all store well for a long time if left in a cool dry area. Summer squash can be stored for weeks in the crisper of your refrigerator, just make sure to store dry. We have been harvesting two really fun types of radishes lately. The ones that look like a finger are french breakfast radishes, these taste great with a little salt and lemon juice. The darker color, pointier variety is called Shuko-Yo Semi-long radish. This is a new variety we are trialing this spring, so far it has demonstrated to grow very well at our farm. Let me know if you have any comments about the taste so we can decide whether or not to grow it next season. Special thanks to all of you who have been helping us in the fields and in the wash area, your efforts and good energy is much appreciated. Peace

Can’t believe how fast this Sweetwater season has passed.  We’ve got only a couple of weeks left and much to do!  I’d like to encourage any members that have not already put in their 4 hours of volunteer time to join us in the fields on Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday mornings for harvesting and other field work.  Your participation in the Sweetwater Community is important to us in so many ways.  As we come to the end of the season our hard-working farmers look forward to a much-needed break.  Volunteers help lighten our load, ensure that we are able to harvest the maximum amount for our shares, and infuse us with a bit of energy and encouragement.

We’re on the home stretch, please join us!

First potato harvest of the season this week! The first batch will be dug up as ‘new’ potatoes since the skin hasn’t been allowed to cure. This just means they need to be eaten within a week or so. This week we will mow the top part of the plants of the remaining crop, to allow the skins to cure. These potatoes can then be stored several months in dark cool conditions.

This season we are trying out a new variety (for sweetwater) of summer squash. It is a type of patty pan squash called Sunburst with a bright golden color. The fruits are tender at any size and can be eaten raw in a salad or for dipping, sauteed, grilled or even fried.

Great time of the year to be making herbal iced teas, mint is especially refreshing. Try using solar power to infuse your teas, just place some mint sprigs and water in a glass jar with lid and leave in the sun for a day. Strain and enjoy.

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped with our PestoFesto event this year!!!

Peace

We’ve been growing basil – nurturing it, watering it, coaxing it to grow-grow-grow!!  PestoFesto is this Saturday (the 30th) and we need our precious basil to be at it’s best.  We’ll spend Friday morning harvesting this lovely herb.  Friday evening plucking it’s leaves and inhaling it’s earthy smell.  Saturday the basil will chill in the cooler so that it’s just right for our volunteer “pesto cooking team” to make our famous Sweetwater Pesto (Rick’s recipe) for our 19th annual fundraising party – PestoFesto!  A time when we truly come together as a community and celebrate the people, the veggies, the music, the art, the place, the idea, and the time – that is Sweetwater.  It’s our favorite time of all.  Hope you will join us!

Only five more weeks left of the CSA harvest season. In May you can expect to see potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes in the share. We just tasted the first Sungold tomatoes this week and they are very sweet, we hope to have enough for the share in about a week. Hope everyone enjoyed all the Kohlrabi this season, one of my favorite Sweetwater vegetables. I enjoyed hearing everyone’s creative ways to prepare it.

The weeds continue to grow very vigorously, I’d like to make another call out to folks to come help us pull lamb’s quarter, amaranth, galansoga and sedge. You can either show up at the farm at 8:30am between Wednesday and Sunday or e-mail our Volunteer Coordinator to schedule other times.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week. Peace

This Sunday April 24th the Farm will be closed for holiday.  Sunday CSA members that would have picked up on Sunday the 24th (Full Members or Week A Half Members), should pick up their share on Thursday 4/21 or Thursday 4/28.

If you haven’t already, be sure to buy your PestoFesto tickets for our April 30th fundraising event.  We harvest basil and make pesto pasta, farm fresh salad, and have bread and desserts.  Cigar City will be bringing us some of their locally-crafted beer this year, and we’ll have wine as well.  Local favorites, The Urban Gypsies, will be playing and we’ll be dancing!  It’s almost the end of our season – please support us and celebrate with the Sweetwater community!

We have a lot to talk about this week, and a lot to be thankful for here in our Sweetwater Community!  Just this morning in the second of two hearings, our rezoning application was approved!  Thanks to the hundreds of letters and petition signatures showing support for our rezoning application before our first hearing (back in February) – the Commission voted in favor of approving our application.  We did it!  This is what “community” is all about.

Now that we know we can continue all of our important work here at the Farm, we hope you’ll join us for some of our amazing events we have planned for the remainder of the season.  Beginning this weekend with the Raw Food Fair on Saturday and Rick’s Composting 101 Workshop on Sunday.  You’ve got to come to our end of season celebration, our 19th annual PestoFesto on the 30th.  And check out our newest program – the Sweetwater Supper Club – beginning in May!  Join us as we continue to raise funds for the Farm and have a really great time doing it!!

This is also a favorite time of year for our CSA Members.  It’s time for summer squash!  We have zucchini, yellow squash and soon, patty pan squash. All are growing well with this warm weather, so expect to see more and more of these as the weeks go by. The tomato crops are also growing very well, the plants are now reaching 3 feet high and getting ready to flower. We hope to begin harvesting Sungold and Black Cherry tomatoes in a few weeks. Another crop we are looking forward to in the next few weeks is the potatoes, All-Blue, Cranberry Red and Yukon Gold.

This week is National Volunteer Appreciation Week.  Sweetwater wouldn’t be possible without the help of our many dedicated member and non-member volunteers.     In addition to event help, we also need help in the fields weeding our crops, come and join us Wednesday through Sunday starting at 8:30am.

Peace