07/18/2026
This is very well said. We thank you and hope you stay. Give us time to catch up.
๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ. ๐๐จ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ค ๐๐จ๐ฎ.
If you've traveled the produce aisles of the grocery store lately, you've probably left with severe intestinal discomfort.
Or at least, that's the risk they tell us.
Sounds like it's all been tracked to iceberg lettuce out of Mexico.
That means that, as a certified organic* operation that practices GAP (Good Agricultural Practices), we're suddenly the pretty girl with a full dance card. A front-row seat at a sold-out show. Ice cold lemonade on a hot dayโฆ You get the idea.
"Must be nice," folks say.
Not so fast.
At this point, the phone is ringing off the hook, we're staring down bare shelves, our crew is exhausted, and frankly, farmer Michael's a bit pi**ed.
Why?
Give him a minute to explain.
When the produce literally gets the poops and all those shoppers flood into our store, we clog the pipes, as it were.
And suddenly, there's nothing left for our loyal regulars.
Every week, we have customersโmany of them CSA members who pay us in advanceโwho show up for our fresh, delicious produce. Based on what you bought last week, last month, and last year, we make our seeding, planting, and harvest decisions.
Lettuce takes 50 days to grow.
We can only fit three plantings of cantaloupes a year, and they take 75 days.
Potato planting decisions are made in December.
Farming requires us to predict the futureโand we predict it based on history.
And if you were to come shop the store right nowโas I write this at 3:25 on a Saturday afternoonโthe shelves are a bit bare.
It's too hot to harvest, and we're simply sold out of many of the crops we planned to sell this weekend.
We can't call the warehouse and order another pallet of lettuce for Monday.
When it's gone, it's gone.
There isn't a button somewhere in the greenhouse that says:
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐
๐๐๐.
So here's what this whole mess shows us:
๐๐จ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ง'๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ณ๐จ๐ง ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฆ๐.
We can't double production because demand doubled overnight. The lettuce you'll eat in August was decided in June. The potatoes you'll buy this summer were decided last December. And because healthy soil=healthy plants=healthy bodies, the actual story starts several years before when we start transitioning the land to organic with cover crops, rock dusts, and microbes. We canโt pull acres of ground that is healthy and ready to plant out of a magicians hat!
๐๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐จ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐ข๐ฅ๐, ๐ญ๐จ๐จ.
We love talking about buying local as the answer to a fragile national food system. And it is part of the answer.
But let's not kid ourselves. The local food system isn't sitting around with 50% extra capacity waiting for a national recall. Farmers aren't planting acres of vegetables they don't think they can sell. We can't afford to.
A truly resilient local food system takes more farms, more farmers, more farmland. More greenhouses, coolers, wash-and-pack space, distribution. Our own store has needed to expand for the last year, and we're working in that direction - but buildings take 18-24 months to design, permit, and build. And they aren't making any more land.
All of that infrastructure takes years.
๐๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ง'๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฆ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ฒ.
You build it before the emergency. When the grocery store shelves are full. When lettuce from Mexico is cheap. When buying local isn't urgent or trendy or driven by fear.
Every time someone signs up for a CSA, shops at a farm market, or chooses a local head of lettuce when there are 12 cheaper ones at the grocery store, they're helping a farmer decide what to plant next year.
That's how capacity gets built. Slowly. A seed at a time.
๐๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ซ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ซ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ฆ.
This is probably the part Michael is most pi**ed about.
We planted for the people who shop with us week after week. We planned our harvests for the CSA members who committed to us months ago.
The Moms who shop every tuesday for the week to ensure their kids aren't getting a dose of pesticides with every serving of veggies. The cancer fighters who give us weekly updates of how they are feeling. The gluten sensitive and free who know they can trust that we tell them what's in every bite.
So when hundreds of new customers suddenly show up and clean us out, the people who supported us all along are the ones staring at bare shelves.
That's not a win for us.
If you're a regular: thank you. We planted for you, we harvest for you, and weโre working our hardest to grow for you.
๐๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ'๐ซ๐ ๐ง๐๐ฐ ๐ก๐๐ซ๐: ๐ฐ๐๐ฅ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐.
We're glad the headlines brought you our way. But don't make this a one-outbreak stand. And the rapidly emptying shelves, and lines at the checkout are us working our hardest to deal with the increased demand. Let us catch up!
Real food security isn't panic-buying lettuce during a recall - it's a relationship with a farm.
Get on our email list. Come back on a quiet Wednesday morning. Better yet, look at a CSA share for next season. That advance commitment is exactly what lets us plant enough for you.
Because we want to grow more food. We want to feed more families. We want to hire and train more farmers. We want more people buying from farms in their own communities.
But that happens when enough people consistently support local agriculture that farmers have the confidence to plant another acre, build another greenhouse, hire another employee, or bring another piece of farmland into production.
So yes, we're sold out.
But that's not really the goal.
The goal is a local food system strong enough that when something goes wrong somewhere else, there's enough capacity here at home to pick up the slack.
We're not there yet.
But we can get there.
The best time to invest in a local food system was 50 days ago.
The second best time is today.
And donโt worry, weโll be back Tuesday with more food!
As always, weโre at 572 Central Ave, Carlisle, OH 45005
open Tuesday-Friday 10-6, Saturday 9 to 5
*while we are certified organic, not all our crops or products are certified organic, please check labels as you shop!
