Csa & Farm Sustainability：How Registering Early Makes An Impact ｜ Ottawa Farm Fresh

Hey folks, Farmer Joe here coming at you fresh from the field. Today I want to talk to you about our early bird registration for our 2026 CSA. Farming is a long game. We're always thinking in advance, always planning ahead, and setting ourselves up for success in the future. So even though it's only October, we've already started getting the fields ready for next year. So for instance here we've got cover crops growing, we've got lots of other cover crops growing, which are plants that we plant to feed the soil, enrich the soil. We're making compost with leaves that we're getting delivered from a landscaping company this fall. And we're starting to plan, you know, so all these steps are steps we're taking in advance to make sure that you have the very best vegetables possible. Feeding the soil, nurturing the soil, creates the ideal soil micro environment for healthy, delicious, nutritious vegetables that you can taste the difference. And it really helps us to know how many CSA members we're going to have next year. So CSA, Community Sustaining Agriculture, which is a symbiotic relationship between communities and farms. So it goes both ways, right? The farm grows vegetables, grows food, has events and activities to nourish the mind, body, and soul. And the community has an engagement as well, a financial engagement, emotional engagement, you know, really in terms of supporting farms, right? It's a two-way street. And that's one of the things that I love about this model, is that we're not just shipping our vegetables off to some sort of distributor, but we actually get to know the people who eat the food that we grow. That is so important for us and we are so grateful for that and the support that you give us by signing up in advance. When you sign up in advance, it allows two things. First of all, it helps with our cash flow. Thank you, thank you, thank you. That makes a huge difference to not have to go into debt every year in order to buy the seeds, the compost, and pay the employees to get the crops planted for you. By paying up front, you help us be more financially sustainable. Secondly, it helps with predictability and planning. The margins are tight in farming. There is not a lot of profit to be had, but when we plan things well and we don't grow more than what we actually need, that's how we're able to make a living. So when you sign up in advance, you're helping the farm by allowing us to know exactly how many vegetables we need next year. Now I say exactly, but it's an art and a science, right? So there's an aspect of precision and there's an aspect of you never know what nature is going to do, right? Sure, but the more we know, the better we can plan, the less waste we have, and the more we're able to make a living sustainably off of farming. Because obviously farming needs to be sustainable for the soil and we put so much energy into that. Cover crops, compost, no-till experimentation, soil micro, you know, different types of like microbiological inoculants and compost teas and, you know, all sorts of stuff. But it also needs to be financially sustainable, and that means we need to find a way that farmers can actually make a living in the modern sense of that word from farming. And that relationship between consumers and farmers is one of the key aspects of finding that financial sustainability. So thank you all for signing up. Head on over OttawaFarmFresh.com, sign up for your early bird special. This way you lock in your 2026 CSA at 2025 prices. So every February the prices go up, but you get to have your CSA at the old price, plus you get the equivalent of a free basket in the form of a CSA gift card that you can use on any of the cool stuff in the farm store. So head on over OttawaFarmFresh.com, sign up for your CSA. Super grateful you have until November 1st to sign up for the early bird special, and that's awesome. So thank you. We look forward to feeding you for another year.