Let’s talk about the size of the Share…
After networking with other CSA operators, I came to realize that our Full Share was a MONSTER!…our Half Share was equivalent to their Full Share—
So here is the story of THE MONSTER SHARE:
It was The Farmer and The Farmer’s Wife’s first year with the CSA. They made plans based on 50 Full Shares…but then, after a short time of selling shares they realized they were scaring people away with the size (and cost) of their Full Share, so they created the Half Share—which quickly caught on and balanced out to more than half of their Shares sold. At the end of their season they had sold 58 Shares (Full and Half-but only equivalent to 38 FULLs) which was PHENOMENAL!!
They discussed adjusting their planting plans from 50 Full Shares to 40 Full Shares, but The Farmer said this is the first year, we don’t know how accurate the yields and planting information from the Maine CSA is…leave it be. The Farmer’s Wife said she had no clue how to adjust the spreadsheet without reconstructing it—–so they let it be.
We did not mean to create a monster—better to error long our first year than to come up short, we thought.
A head’s up in making your decision on Share Size for this year…Think of what you had last year and consider about 5-10#’s less each week. If all conditions are identical…weather, water, wind, insect infestations…which is highly unlikely in ag…then let the 5#-10# rule help you evaluate whether a Full Share, Half Share, or Mini-Share is the way to go.
Keep those CSA Agreements coming! Reminder–EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT APPLIES TO HALF AND FULL SHARES IF PAID BEFORE MARCH 4TH!
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