Frequently asked questions

Are shares still available? Yes.  I’ll post something here to make it clear when there aren’t.  If at all possible, I’ll post when it’s getting close – but sometimes the mail has a handful of forms, so that might not work.

How do I sign up? Print out the registration form – you’ll see a link at the top of this page.  If you have no printer, email me and I will send you a brochure.

I don’t understand what a CSA is, or how it works. Please click on the link at the left top of the page, which will have a lot of information that will answer most questions.

Do you post a list of what’s going to be in each basket? No, at least not in advance.  There are few absolutes in farming, and we have learned not to make promises which me might not be able to keep.  We grow practically everything imaginable that’s possible in this zone.  Whether it all succeeds or not is sometimes beyond our control.  For instance, weather conditions may mean that a broccoli which should take 68 days actually takes 74 to reach harvest size.  However, we do think that in this, our second year, we’ll be better at posting a list a day or so in advance of each week’s delivery.

What size share is best for me? We strongly recommend the full share, which is a better value for you.  Split with a friend or neighbor (alternate weeks or divide each week’s share) if you think it will be too much.

Can I spread out payments throughout the season? No.  The basic premise of a CSA is that we, the farmers, receive our income early in the season to cover our operating costs, and you, the member, receive a weekly share of the harvest.  If you’d prefer to spend your money on a weekly basis, we recommend our producer’s-only farmers market, Farmers on the Square, in Carlisle every Wednesday beginning in mid May.

When is the final payment due? April 30.

What’s the first week of delivery?  I’ve seen conflicting dates. The first delivery is May 17.  I goofed, and some papers went out with a start date of May 20.  We will email everyone a few days before the first delivery with a reminder.

Why is Cool Beans better than other CSAs? It isn’t.  We know all the CSA farmers around here, and we are honored to be among them.  There are differences in price, although they’re all fair for the quantity provided.  Some might have fewer items but larger quantities of each thing than we do – we tend toward more different things, but smaller amounts.  There are different delivery dates and pickup options.  But as far as we can see, all the local CSAs are run by hardworking farmers who are deeply committed to growing fresh, safe food.  Look over the others before you make your decision – we’d love to have you in Cool Beans, but only if it feels right for you!

Not real beans – Cool Beans.  Most days, Finian the Dog and I do a happy dance at the mailbox, as new registration forms arrive.  If you’re certain you’re joining but holding off on writing the check, please send in your form and at least a partial payment if you want to hold on to your place.

We do have things sprouting, though.  There’s several kinds of onions and all of the early cole crops, like cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage, and also kale, collards, mustard, and Asian greens, already underway.  This is a shot of the nursery in Katie’s basement, where the baby plants can be warmed than in the outdoor greenhouse – this is actually the second wave, as the first 20 flats have already moved to the greenhouse.  What you can’t see is that because of the flooding right now, there’s several inches of water on the floor!

baby onions and cole crops

and a closeup of some “pink lettucey frilled mustard’, which is not, at the moment, looking either pink or lettucey, but all good things take time.  This will add a little color and kick to the early salad greens.  We have a great selection of lettuces this year, all possible colors and degrees of crunchiness and leaf shapes.  It’s a far cry from the obligatory side salad of my childhood – a wedge of tasteless iceberg with gloppy neon orange dressing.

Time for Finian and me to check the mailbox and see if we have any new Beans!

Yes, we still have some Cool Beans shares available.  If possible we’ll post a note when it gets down to the wire, but memberships tend to arrive in clumps, so no guarantees!

All pickups are on Tuesdays for 2011.  For locations, please click on the links at the top of the page, which have more information.

Things are already underway for Cool Beans 2011.  We’ve been attending conferences and seminars, building hoophouses, ordering and sorting seeds, repairing equipment, and designing garden beds.  Tens of thousands of baby onions are growing under lights in Katie’s basement, and the first round of cole crops – broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, collard, kale, Asian greens – were just seeded over the weekend and will be popping up soon.  Next weekend, it’s time to start all the eggplants, and when they ‘hatch’, the onions will move to the outdoor greenhouse to make room.  About a week after that, we should be ready to put the first seeds into soil!

We’ve purchased jute bags for this year’s shares, and will be retiring the mismatched assortment of milk crates.  Easier for you, and easier to pack in the truck.  We also found some reusable net bags that we’ll be using for greens, to cut down on plastic use.

After two months of (relative) down time, we’re ready to get back to work!  Later this week, we’ll be sending out confirmation letters to everyone who’s already enrolled as a Cool Bean for this season.  We’re happy to see so many returning members, and looking forward to meeting our new Beans!

(If you’re here for the first time and need an overview of the CSA, please check the top of the page for links to our basic information.)

Your farmers are hard at work, even though the ground is frozen and there’s snow cover.  January is our time to plan, to look back sadly at mistakes, to read, to mend tools, to attend workshops and conferences, to renew our energy, to get the recipe files ready (note:  first recipe is posted now, using winter vegetables).  For the older of your two farmers, it includes trips to the physical therapist to discuss ways in which we might make certain parts work a little better this coming season.  And it’s time to order seeds.

We’ve set this up so I handle the seed orders, since I’m ordering in quantity anyway for the greenhouse plants I will sell in spring.  I buy the seeds, Judi pays for the fuel to operate the tractors in the larger plots at the farm in Duncannon.  It evens out, but it also means I can indulge in seed-buying without guilt.

I thought this might be the year I exercised a little restraint in ordering seeds.  I thought, maybe, I’d hold back a bit, limit our choices.   Maybe we only really need one color of carrot.  Maybe we didn’t need to order all the things I’d never heard of before, never grown, just to see what they’re like.  Maybe we shouldn’t take a chance on trying to grow certain long-season crops.  Maybe this would be the year to be, well, a little bit realistic.

Happily, that didn’t last.  This year’s seed order is, if anything, more exuberant than last year’s, and I have no regrets.  Because, you see, farming is at its heart a joyfully messy, ridiculously optimistic process.   Not everything will come to fruition – that’s the nature of farming.  But we still believe that this year everything just might work.  That’s the nature of farmers.

Today, the seeds started to arrive.  I sort them, I shake them and listen to the seeds rattle, and  I sniff the packets.  (The Afina cutting celery, just two grams of seed, is so potent the scent is noticeable the the next room.  The dill seed smells like May.  The anise seed smells like August.)  I am conscious, as I turn each packet over in my hand, that I’m holding a miracle.  That we exist because of seeds, a couple inches of topsoil, sunlight, and rain.  It’s pretty heady stuff, this box of seeds.  It contains the raw materials we need to feed fifty families this summer.  It contains the hope that the rain will fall, the hail won’t, the bugs will be held in balance.  It represents a lot of work and sweat and frustration, too.  But there’s time to acknowledge that later.  January is all about the possibilities.

Here’s a quick overview of the plans for the meat CSA, which Judi and Tom will be operating from Yeehaw Farm, one of the two farms in the Cool Beans vegetable CSA.  They’ll have a website focusing solely on that program shortly, and at that point, we’ll simply have a link here to connect to it.  It will be too confusing to have the information for both programs here long-term.

But in the meantime, several people have asked for information, and we’re offering a discount if you sign up for both programs, so it makes sense to at least write up a brief description and give you some numbers to look at.  You can reserve your spot for the Cool Beans CSA now, and add the meat CSA after you’ve had time to look over the information, and we’ll apply the discount.  So please don’t feel the you need to rush through this.

The plan is to begin the meat CSA in January of 2011, but Tom and Judi are still wrapping up various legal aspects of this – creating an LLC for it, etc – so I’m going to hesitate just a bit and not say that the Jan 2011 start-up is one hundred percent certain.  What I’m going to do here is tell you everything that I know about their plans, and if you want to email me for more information, I’ll send you Tom’s cell phone number and email, and you can contact him directly.

The Radels are not new at this, they’ve been raising all of the meat for their extended family for generations, and Judi’s father raised animals on a commercial scale at one time. They have the experience and infrastructure to do this on a scale appropriate for a CSA.

The animals are raised as humanely as possible and are not given growth hormones or other medications which may pass through to the meat.  Their brochure will have more specifics – I don’t raise meat animals myself, and I’m not the right person to write out the exact details.  But I buy my beef and pork from them because I know that it’s the safest meat I can buy.  In fact, my grown children are getting Yeehaw Farm meat for Christmas this year!

A full share is twenty pounds of meat a month, and half share is ten.  I’ll list the breakdown for the full share, and you can divide that in half for the smaller size.  The twenty pounds would be roughly half ground meat or stew quality, and half higher-end cuts.  The projected breakdown is 12 pounds of beef, 7 of pork, and 3 of chicken per month.  The chickens may not be available in the first few months, as they can’t be raised at this time of the year, so this is something that, in the first year, would have to even out over a few months as they get started up.

“Full share” refers to the 20 pound amount, and “half” to ten; there are also twelve and six month options.  In developing this page I had to be careful not to think of a six month meat share as a “half”.  So keep in mind that the Cool Beans program has two sizes, which run for the same time period, but the meat CSA has two dimensions, size and time.

Other meats may be available (goat, organ meat, veal, other poultry) as an a la carte sort of thing periodically.  In this first year, it’s difficult to determine exactly what breakdown customers will want, and of course they have to list that breakdown so that people will be able to make informed decisions.

The meat would be frozen.  Pickup dates and times are still being tweaked, but the important thing for you to know now is that they’ve found excellent, thick styrofoam coolers that will keep meat frozen for as much as 24 hours even in hot temperatures.  Bacon will most likely be a separate item, since there is only so much per pig!  If you’re in both programs, your meat can be delivered, once a month, at the same time as your weekly vegetable pickup.

Prices – that’s what everyone really wants to know, of course! – are listed here, with a per pound breakdown. First, I’m listing prices if you’re in the Yeehaw Farm Meat CSA but not a member of Cool Beans, which provides veg and some fruit. Then, I’ll list the combined membership prices.

Meat CSA only, twelve months, full share:  $1600, or $6.70 per pound.

Meat CSA only, six months, full share: $875, or $7.30 per pound.

Meat CSA only, twelve months, half share: $925, or$7.70 per pound.

Meat CSA only, six months, half share, $500, or $8.30 per pound.

Cool Beans only, full share, 24 weeks veg, fruit and value added products, $500.

Cool Beans only, half share, 24 weeks, veg, fruit and value added products, $275.

Cool Beans Full Share plus Meat CSA for twelve months, full share:  $1,475 for the meat ($6.15 per pound) plus $450 for Cool Beans, $1925 total.

Cool Beans Full Share plus Meat CSA for six months, full share: $825 for the meat ($6.90 per pound) plus $450 for Cool Beans, or $1,275 total.

Cool Beans Full Share plus a half share of the Meat CSA for twelve months:  $875 for the meat ($7.30 per pound), plus $475 for Cool Beans, $1,350 total.

Cool Beans Full Share plus a half share of the Meat CSA for six months: $475 for the meat ($7.90 per pound) plus $475 for Cool Beans, $950 total.

Cool Beans Half Share plus Meat CS for twelve months, full share:  $1,475 for the meat ($6.15 per pound) plus $250 for Cool Beans, $1,725 total.

Cool Beans Half Share plus Meat CSA for six months, full share:  $825 for the meat ($6.90 per pound) plus $250 for Cool Beans, $1,075 total.

Cool Beans Half Share plus a half share of the Meat CSA for twelve months: $875 for the meat ($7.30 per pound) plus $260 for Cool Beans, $1135 total.

Cool Beans Half Share plus a half share of the Meat CSA for six months:  $475 for the meat ($7.90 per pound) plus $260 for Cool Beans, $735 total.

I realize that especially in a start-up year there are many other questions you might have.  Please use the link above to contact me if you have questions, and I’ll get back to you quickly with an answer or (more likely) the contact information for Tom and Judi so you can email them or speak to them directly.

Well, goodness, that was an awfully  short break!  Just planted the garlic for 2011, and it’s time to be thinking about next year’s season.

Judi and I have to meet later this week to work out some details, but from an organizational standpoint, our second year is far, far ahead of last year.  Here’s what we know:  same price (500 for a full share, 275 for a half.  We are no longer offering quarter shares).  24 weeks, probably with a one-week break in August.  Pickups are moved to Tuesdays in response to many customer requests (that Friday Camp Hill traffic is pretty rough.)  We can add a Tuesday evening pickup in New Cumberland in the downtown area, after 7 pm.  If there’s enough drops to make it work at our end, we can keep the 81 and Progress, Camp Hill (19th St.) and Millerstown drops, plus the option of pickup at either the Duncannon or Dauphin farm.  If you were in last year, you’re guaranteed a spot as long as you respond by an as-yet-undetermined date in January (we’ll send out a mailing soon with that date and the other details).  We will have a limited number of new memberships available.

In mid December, both Judi and I are participating in a holiday craft and food sale on Dec. 11 at the Dauphin Community building, 202 Church St., from 10 am to 2 pm.  We’re excited about the lineup of local artists and farmers, which includes the exquisite, luxurious soaps and body products from Brushwood Farms in Halifax, which Diane makes from local goat’s milk and beeswax.  The cheesemakers from Keswick Creamery in Newburg are making a rare Harrisburg area appearance and will have their amazing soft and hard cheese made from hormone-free milk.  Elaine from Everblossom Farm is bringing gift baskets of winter vegetables, and her mom is bringing her handwoven products.  There’s a local jeweler, and Amy from Shared Earth is coming with hand knitted items.  Michelle, from Roots Cut Flowers in Carlisle, is bringing some stunning handmade wreaths.  Judi will have breads and frozen meats from Yeehaw Farm, and I will have soups, turnovers, jams, and other goodies.  We should have fresh eggs for sale, and freshly ground wheat from Judi’s farm.  You can eat lunch there and/or take food home for dinner.  It’s going to be a nice, laid back, calm oasis in the middle of the holiday frenzy, with all locally grown or produced items, and we hope you can join us there.

How is this possible?  While individual days – particularly the 95 degree humid ones, or the cold and rainy ones – might have lasted twice as long as any respectable day should, the whole season seems to have gone by quickly.

We’re packing in paper bags this week, so hopefully no one will have a rogue crate to return.

Looks like it’s a Bean theme for our last week, fittingly – you have bean sprouts and vegetarian bean soup.  We grew some of the kinds of beans in each one, but not all.  That’s an area we might develop more next year.

The UPS man approves of the bean soup, by the way.  There was certainly enough to spare a hot cup for a cold delivery guy!

You have a really awesome radish in your bag this week, sporting its own special label so you’ll know what it is.  You don’t often, even if you like them, use the word ‘awesome’ in conjunction with ‘radish’, but these deserve the accolade.  Watermelon radishes are beautiful things.  Slice them thinly crosswise and look at the beautiful colors inside.  They’re lovely in salads, but consider a thin slice a tiny plate on which you might put sliced cheese, or pesto, or proscuitto, or a little ricotta and diced peppers.  There’s some regular radishes too, and a few other goodies.

I’d planned to include next year’s brochure in this week’s delivery, but it’s rainy and miserable, and I envision soggy papers in the bottom on your basket.  We’ll mail those out right after Thanksgiving.  There is a single sheet included in today’s bag with a few of the main details, because I’ve had some emails asking questions about next year.

We’ve done an extensive post-mortem on the first season, and will be using the lessons, both good and bad, we learned this year to make next year’s Cool Beans CSA even better.  Seed orders will go out in mid-December, and the first seedlings will be started in my basement ‘winter greenhouse’ in mid January.  That’s only a few weeks away – how is this possible?

By now everyone’s received an invitation to the Harvest Party at Judi’s farm.  Judi and I come from very different backgrounds, and I think there are a few things that you need to know before you come to the party, things that are so a part of Judi’s daily life that she wouldn’t have thought of noting them in the invitation.

First, if you have a choice of vehicles, bring the one that sits higher off the ground.  There is a dirt road leading to the are where Judi’s family lives during the summer.  (It’s not an actual house, like you and I live in.  There – that’s a hint about how interesting this party is going to be.)  The dirt road has a few bumps and lumps in it.  It’s probably not the day to bring the vintage Corvette.  If you don’t have a large vehicle, don’t worry. My son’s Acura can manage it – it’s not impossible.  Just drive slowly.

Second, we will have tours of the farm, and stepping in something you don’t normally step in is nearly unavoidable.  If you’ve always wanted an excuse to buy a nice pair of Muck Boots (it’s a brand), this is your lucky day.  Otherwise, bring some footwear you can hose off, or possibly an extra pair for the drive home – just be prepared!

Third, it’s a working farm, not a farm as might be pictured in Martha Stewart’s magazine.  It it not childproof.  There is farm machinery, a large deep pond, and many ways in which an unsupervised child could injure himself.  Please be prepared to keep a close eye on your toddlers, and speak to your older children about respecting the farm.

Fourth, there’s a lot of animals.  The big guys are all fenced in, but there’s some big, goofy, friendly dogs that will be loping around.  That’s always something I like to know ahead of time!  Now, some of the other animals – specifically, my two lady goats, who are currently in a pasture on Judi’s farm on an extended date with the appropriately named “Lucky”, may be vigorously engaged in the sort of activity that makes future generations of goats possible.  This is not a deliberately planned entertainment for the farm tour, it’s just part of life on the farm!  Judi’s young children may offer very matter-of-fact commentary on the process.  Figured I ought to mention it now so you can practice keeping a straight face.

The fields in which we’ve grown your vegetables are mostly mowed or planted with winter cover crops now, so you won’t get to wander through fields of meticulously weeded plants.   Which, honestly, is just as well, since we weren’t all that meticulous.  Next year we’ll do something in midsummer so you can see things in progress.  Judi’s dad had some health problems this summer and that changed our original plans a bit.

Dress for the weather – we’ll be under a roof but it’s an open air pavilion.  There’s a restroom.  There’s a bit of a walk from the parking area, but a few cars can be accommodated close to the pavilion – let us know, if we haven’t already spoken to you about it, if you’re bringing someone who cannot walk a few hundred yards comfortably.  If you’re bringing something in a crockpot, there’s electricity (solar powered, of course!) and there’s also fridges in the party area.  No need to bring chairs.  We love dogs, but it’s not a good idea to bring yours – too many farm animals.

We’ll have info – a sneak preview just for our Beans, as we’re not advertising yet – about signing up for next year’s Cool Beans CSA and also the meat CSA that Judi and Tom will be running, if you’re interested.  We’ll be offering a great deal on membership in both CSA’s.

We’re providing meat and drink, including two kinds of beer brewed specifically for the Cool Beans party.  The brewmaster will be arriving late for an informal discussion of the brewing process, as he hopes to get to the Jon Stewart rally briefly that morning in D.C.  Please bring a dish to share, but don’t worry about it being the pinnacle of organic wholesome perfection.  No pressure.  Seriously.  I guarantee if you stop at the store for chips and dip on the way to the party because you’re too busy to cook, it will be eaten.

Any other questions?  Feel feel to shoot me an email at katie@komta.com.

Yes, just in time for cold weather.  Nothing says fall like a nice icy cold watermelon, and I’ve got to warn you, these are big ones.  Next year, maybe we can hurry them up with a plastic hoop cover.  You can freeze watermelon chunks, and you can mix watermelon juice with lemonade, or……well, I’d suggest gifting your neighbors with a huge hunk of melon.  Or have a party.

Speaking of which, the CSA fall harvest party is set up for Saturday October 30, from 1-4, at the Radel’s farm.  Farm tours, hayrides, a bluegrass band, and good food!  I think we’ll print up directions and include them with next week’s delivery.

Speaking of which, deliveries continue up to and including the first week of November.  We’ve been asked about winter options, once the 25 scheduled weeks run out.  We don’t have a plan yet.  We intend to have one.  We’re just, honestly, too tired to figure it out right now.  We know we won’t have a weekly delivery through the winter, but we’ll do out best to make sure you can still purchase eggs, flour, and winter salad greens as they become available, and we’ll figure out something for the deliveries.

Speaking of which, nearly everyone will have a different delivery person this week.  Judi’s family is away for a few days, so my son Mike’s helping with the Thursday deliveries.  I’ll do the run to Millerstown, and if you pick up at 81 and Progress, you won’t see your farmer and Finian the puppy today – instead of Katie and old white truck, it will be a 28 year old engineer in an Acura.  Same spot, though!  I’ll do the Camp Hill delivery tomorrow, and the shares that are picked up at Stoney Creek will be there as usual.