Farm Update - January 28th, 2011

Pete's Musings
We have heard from so many of you in the past two weeks. Thanks for your supportive words and for letting us know why our work is important. We are going to come out of this fire stronger, a better farm with a clearer sense of purpose.

To share members:
So many of you have been generous and have donated the remaining value of your CSA share to the farm. Others of you have asked for credit towards a future share and others have requested a refund. I know this is not a small amount of money and I appreciate the careful consideration many of you took in making the decision.

We have been overwhelmed by the fundraising efforts of the Vermont community towards rebuilding our barn. The level of support is well beyond what I would have predicted. We are accepting this money as we were underinsured and we need it to rebuild. But we have committed to "pay it forward". In 2-3 years time when we are back on stable financial ground we'll pay forward the money that has been donated to a special fund to support Vermont agriculture. We haven't figured out the specifics but the fund might support farm disaster relief, farm to school programs, or a small farm lending program. This money has been donated with such care and thought that we want it to circulate through the Vermont farm community many more times.

We hope that you will consider signing up for our June-October Good Eats Share. We will be put back together by then and expect it to be our best summer share ever. Best ~ Pete



Donate to the Rebuild the Barn Fund.




Or visit www.petesgreens.com to donate.

Or copy this link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=LGPK54ZZPQ2K4

Checks can be mailed to:
Pete's Greens Rebuild the Barn Fund
266 S. Craftsbury Rd
Crafstbury, VT 05826






Tax Deductible Donations
If you would like to make a tax deductible donation, you must give through a non profit.

Both NOFA-VT and the Center for an Agricutural Economy have established Farm Emergency Funds and are accepting donations now. Pete's Greens can apply for these funds.
ssa Jacobs)


Pete talks with WDEV's Mark Johnson
Pete and Robin McDermott talked with WDEV's Mark Johnson on Wednesday about the fire, the response from the community, and the Pete's concept of treating the communities generous donations as a loan and "paying it forward".

Listen to a podcast of the interview.


Hug Your Farmer Benefit Concert at Higher Ground Feb 3rd
*with special guests Jon Fishman and Page McConnell

Tickets go on sale today at 11:00 am!

Click here for tickets

Immediately following the fire, the good people at Select Design in Burlington and Love Tomorrow Today pow wowed with Alex at Higher Ground and folks at Healthy Living to brainstorm a fundraiser for the barn.

The resulting all-star jam session brings together Vermont's local music scene including Russ Lawton and Ray Paczkowski (Trey Anastasio Band), Bob Wagner, Clint Bierman and Peter Day (The Grift), Rich Price (The Sweet Remains), Jer Coons, Joshua Panda, Michael Clifford and Matt Hagen (Lendway), Will Evans (Barefoot Truth) and special guests Jon Fishman and Page McConnell of Phish.

Tickets are $35 in advance, $45 day of show.
100% of the proceeds from ticket sales will go to the rebuild.

Love Tomorrow Today's interview with Pete May 2010

Rich Price from Love Tomorrow Today worked hard to pull together the concert at Higher Ground. Rich met Pete back in May when LTT came to the farm for an interview. Pete talks about the farm, the greenhouses, the CSA model and making the choice to eat locally or organically.

Click here to watch

Love Tomorrow Today's mission is to bring innovative ideas together in order to inspire people to make small changes in their lives toward sustainability.



Fundraisers

The Bid for the Barn auction is going great with lots of amazing donations still coming in, including Celts tics, Benefit concert tics, Farm dinners and tours, and lots of very unique items and opportunities. The bidding ends at 10:00 am Sunday January 30th. For those of you who have your hearts set on a specific item on the auction, be sure to go to the BidfortheBarn.org website on Saturday. There will be important tips for how to plan your bidding strategy so that you are not disappointed. The Bid for the Barn folks are also adding more items today. The best way to keep up with the latest news about the auction is to “Like” Bid for the Barn on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/bidforthebarn). Check it out soon!

Gardeners Supply's Williston and Burlington stores are matching donations made at the stores toward the barn dollar for dollar, up to $2000.

Juniper Moon Farm, a wool farm and participant in the knitting, wool, yard community has gathered wool and knitting related prizes with donations made going to the barm. Pretty cool.

Applecheek Farm is hosting a dinner at their farm featuring a nearly all local menu and music on Feb 4th.

Onion River Sports is donating the proceeds from their annual Frozen Onion Bike Race, a bike race that takes place on the Nordic ski trails at the Morse Farm. The race takes place Feb 6th.

The Vermont College of Fine Arts is hosting a contra dance in their gymnasium on Feb 12th to benefit an emergency fund for organic farmers such as Pete's Greens in Craftsbury, which lost a barn to fire.

The Highland Lodge in Greensboro will host a fundraising dinner on March 5th. Pete will attend to talk about farming.

Claire's Restaurant in Hardwick will host a dinner, passing the hat, on St. Patrick's Day March 17th.

Photographer Jordan Silverman is selling some beautiful prints of the farm to raise money for the rebuild.

There are more folks putting fundraisers together and we'll keep you updated as we know about dates of events. If you are considering an event and need to coordinate with someone at the farm, please contact Melissa.

Note to Fall/Winter Members
Re: Share Credits, Refunds or Donations

If you haven't heard from me yet, I apologize. I am making it through a good number of emails each day, but between my other tasks at the farm, it's not been as fast as I would like. I should make some headway in the next few days!

If you need a refund and need it quickly, please email again so that I can get that done for you. And if you have not emailed me yet about what to do with your remaining fall/winter funds, please do.

I need to know whether you would like to donate your share funds to the rebuild, have them retained as a credit for a future share, or have them refunded. Meat shares too. I can also donate a portion/credit a portion/refund a portion. And I can split between share members.

NO need to email me again if you have already done so! (unless you need a quick refund)



Good Eats Spring Share
As much as we'd like to begin offering the Spring Share RIGHT NOW, we need to regroup and make sure we can deliver on any promises we make.

We hope to begin delivering a modified Good Eats share by mid April. We'll be sending another email about a Spring Share sign-up as soon as we are able.

Good Eats Summer Share
We expect the Summer Share to begin on June 22nd and to run the full 17 weeks til October 12th. By then our shares should have returned to their full diversity.

We are offering four share types for the Summer.
Sign Up Now!



The Localvore Share - a great mix of organic vegetables and high quality locally produced staples like cheeses, eggs, flours, grains, cooking oils and more. $748 for the 17 week period ($44/week)



The Veggie Only Share - same vegetables that Localvore members receive, but no local staples. $476 ($28/week).

Pete's Pantry Share - brings you NO vegetables, just the same local staples included in the Localvore share. This share costs $272 for 17 weeks ($16/wk)



The Meat Share brings you a MONTHLY selection of local meats. The Meat Share features our own chicken and our own pork with beef and lamb from other producers we know and love (and who are excellent stewards of their animals and their land). $199 for four deliveries, one delivery at the start of each month of the four month share period.
 


Visit our website for more details or to download a sign-up form.