Thank you to our friends and supporters.
As the 2017 harvest season draws to a close, so, too, is Colchester Farm CSA. Over the last 15 years of operation, we have grown high-quality produce for our friends and neighbors, introducing you to fresh approaches to healthful eating. It has been our pleasure to train young farmers and to educate a new generation of consumers who appreciate the value of eating real food and who understand the relationship between food and the land. Week after week, our farm manager, Theresa Mycek, has orchestrated the planning and production of seasonal harvests, the stewardship of the land, the cultivation of our shareholder membership, and the labor it requires to bring the produce to market. We are grateful to Theresa for her years of dedicated service to the community, and to our shareholders who have consistently invested in our operations.
We know that Colchester’s closing is a blow to our friends and neighbors who have come to anticipate the first of the spinach and kale, or who plan their weekly menus around the array of offerings they find at the weekly pick-up. Happily, you will continue to see Theresa at the Chestertown Farmers Market in her new role as the farmer manager of Unity Church Hill Nursery. And two other local operations—Priapi Gardens and Oksana’s Produce Farm—are now accepting CSA memberships for 2018 season. We hope you will continue your patronage of all of our local farmers.
Taining young farmers has been an instrumental part of our mission as a nonprofit corporation, and we are honoring that commitment by directing all of our remaining assets to Future Harvest: Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture. Our gift to Future Harvest will support the Delmarva Beginner Farmer Program and will establish a Colchester Legacy Farmer of the Foodshed Award specifically for a Delmarva farmer. Theresa also has been invited to sit on Future Harvest’s Delmarva Advisory Council; in that role, she can continue to mentor local farmers who share her passion for sustainable growing practices that respect the land and contribute to a strong sense of community.
In the spirit of farmers everywhere, we express our gratitude for successful growing seasons past, and look forward to even better harvests to come.
Stay well!
The Board of Colchester Farm CSA
You don’t say why you are closing.
Thanks to Theresa, we have become deeply committed to a local and seasonal way of eating. She has provided not only a wealth of healthful foods, but also a treasure trove of knowledge. The Colchester CSA experience has been an important part of our life in Chestertown. We are so happy that Theresa will be staying in the community.
It is a sad day that our community cannot support a viable CSA. It would be good to understand the reasons for the closure (not failure) of the Colchester CSA for the benefit of future efforts.