>Very Sad Letter Today from our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farmer Dave

>Very Sad News to report from Plato’s Harvest (our local CSA farm)  This is a letter I received today (email) from Farmer Dave to the CSA members:

Hi All. Happy Snowstorm! (again)

The lease on the land at Fuller Street was changed abruptly, unexpectedly, and unacceptably and I have decided to not renew it. I still have three acres at the Soule farm that I will be growing on for 2011.

What this means for the csa is that there is no distribution spot, and I will not be selling shares this year. I will continue to sell at the Plymouth and Cambridge farmers markets.

I have been putting this email off in the hope that I would figure something else out by now. My first impulse was to look for another piece of land to serve as a distribution spot and continue what I’ve done for the past several years. There are a couple of other local possibilities that may be available to lease, but it’s not going to happen in time for this year.

These weeks since I decided not to renew have made me see ‘the farm’ in a new light, and think hard about what it is I’m trying to accomplish, how and why. The thought of trying to maintain separate locations, with insecure tenure agreements, that I don’t own is no longer attractive. It’s hard to be able to make long-term plans, decisions and investment in land that you don’t own, or a situation that you can’t control.

So 2011 will be a year of scaled-back operations which will allow me to explore other possibilities for the future, hopefully locally, hopefully farm-related.

I sincerely appreciate the support you all have shown me. I know that we have a viable model, a desirable and valuable community resource, that I can use to make a winning pitch to the right opportunity. It’s also been a pleasure to get to know you all, some for several years now, and some quite well. Stay tuned.

dave

ps, if you know of someone with an old farm with from 10 to 100 acres of stone-free sandy loam cultivated fields, pasture, and wood lot, trustee land, conservation-restricted land, looking to sell or for long-term tenancy, send them my way :`)

pps, we will continue to have farm field days, with the first scheduled for early april for potato and onion planting, details to follow.

Blog Author’s Note**Please, Please if you know anyone with a farm as described above, will you please comment, or contact me**  Thank you, Colette