Re: Leigh: What makes a successful CSA operator?

[Leigh Hauter]

Allan,

How about ---
I have happy subscribers. And I'm happy doing what I'm doing. I feel good about my farming practices, and my subscribers do to (at least that's what they tell me). Even the people who do not renew these days tell me how much they liked the program (but as you know, as CSA is not for everyone -or even for half the people), I have a good relationship with a large core of my subscribers. They like me and I like them.

I produce a remarkable amount of wholesome food in a sustainable manner on land that most people would think was not good farmland. I feel reasonably at peace with my environment (though the ever encroaching city is a problem). With the addition of a Great Pyrenees into our family the deer have decided that it is not worth the risk involved in eating our vegetables.

The longer I do it, farm, the less stressed I am. I get 4 months off in the winter to pursue my other interests.

The people that help me farm get paid a liveable wage. More than they would get paid doing similar work. I don't feel I'm exploiting people (I did when I used interns).

In other words, I live a lifestyle that is comfortable, doing what is basically good. Without exploiting others or being exploited myself. I think you get the gist.

I'm supposed to talk about this very subject for half an hour at the future harvest conference tonight up in Hagerstown.