Garden of Eat'n 2011 is getting underway.

This contains news about the CSA: Garden of Eat’n and the changes in Rothe Homestead Farm.

From this year on, Rothe Homestead Farm will be the Broadleaf Tobacco operation and Rothe Partnership will be the CSA.

We will begin another year of our CSA Garden of Eat’n with the same pickup days of Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Pickup times will remain noon until 8:00 pm each pickup day.

The application for the 2011 season is downloadable from the upper right column. Please keep this cover letter to help you know the procedures for the CSA season. You may copy both this and the application for anyone you know that may be interested in joining this year.

The half shares will remain at $175.00 and the full shares at $325.00. Two 10 gal Rubbermaid type bins will be needed to switch out each week for your share. (Larger bins are difficult for us to set up for you and hard for you to handle each week. If you had a bin larger than the 10 gal bins you may find that we switch them out for 2 other bins which you may use during the CSA year and then return to us at the end of the season. Your name will be taped to the ends of the bins for ease in setting up on shelves and for you to quickly find the ones that are yours.

We expect that the first of the deliveries will occur in June weather permitting but as usual an email alert will come before so that you know when to drop off your bins if you took them home last year at the end of the season. For new members you will find that the bins will be purchased and paid for by the farm for your use and will expect that you return them to us at the end of the year. We are doing this because different sizes make for difficult spacing issues in the area where you will pick up your shares.

Due to a potato blight last year we will not grow them this year. We do plan to have lots of wonderful vegetables for you and welcome your recipes that we would share with the other members of the CSA. We will have a Visit the Farm Day before the season starts so that you can visit with us and make sure you know where and when you will pick up your veggies.

Please print clearly when you fill out the applications as I will use the information on the application to set up your email notification of delivery start, changes or additional news you need to know. As always any questions can be directed to my email address: stitcher44@comcast.net.

If there are more than one person listed on the application and the person needs to have the information please make sure that persons name and email address is also listed.

We hope that you all will return one bin when you pick up the next one. If you forgot it we will try to have a replacement for you but we will only have a limited supply. So if you are taking turns picking up someone else’s bin you are responsible to make sure you have their replacement too.

If we have a storm with lightning Ed will do the very best to have your bin ready for you by noon. Many times he is able to set it up the night before. Please remember that in an open field no one wants to be where lightning can strike them and he may have to wait set up the bins.

We cannot take the time to sort out any vegetable you may not want so you may set it off to the side or share it with a neighbor.

If you are unable to pick up your bin on the designated day it will be there the next day. After that your bin will be emptied and set aside for the next pick up scheduled. A friend may pick up for you if you cannot do so but please instruct them of how the procedure works so that they do not pick up any bin but the one that has your name on it.

We are excited to offer the CSA to you again this year and look forward to sharing our veggies, Diesel ( our farm pup) and our special attention when you need us!


The Rothe Farmily

Ed Jr, Farm Manager, Gene Rothe, Farm Mechanic,
Ed Sr and Jane, Farm Stand, and Chris and Jean, CSA; Diesel; Farm Pup