Steve Jenkins' Journal

In addition to getting vegetables delivered from Homestead Creamery, I paid $35 for a share in Sausser Farms CSACo-op, which was supposed to result in 5lbs of vegetables a week for 24 weeks, and they were supposed to have a presence at the Salem Farmers Market.

They haven’t opened at the Salem Farmers Market. Their website says they plan to open in Salem in July, but I’m not holding my breath.

That means the Roanoke Farmers Market is the closest location. The first time I went there, the Sausser Farms Rep wasn’t there, so I left, ate breakfast, came back 2 hours later, and their stall was still empty. The second time I went, the rep was there; however, there was a very long line of people with Sausser Farms cards in their hands, and the only thing the rep had left was cabbage at 10:45 in the morning.

Since then Sausser Farms has reduced its Lynchburg and Roanoke hours and is now requiring customers who pick up their vegetables in Lynchburg and Roanoke to select a prepackaged box.

This week, the choices are:

• Option A = Tomatoes, Zucchini, Cucumbers/Pickle Cucumbers
• Option B = Tomatoes, Yellow Squash, Cucumbers/Pickle Cucumbers
• Option C = Okra, Zucchini and/or Yellow Squash, Cucumbers/Pickle Cucumbers

*Okra and Tomatoes are still in limited supply. We will do our best to fill all requests.

I just received an e-mail from Sausser Farms that those of us who pick up our vegetables in Roanoke are now required to pay $1 per cardboard box that the vegetables come in, but we’ll get an extra pound of vegetables. So, this is really a price increase of 53%.

I don’t need another pound of squash, zucchini, or pickling cucumbers. Can I bring my own bag, dump 5lbs of vegetables in my bag, leave the box, and skip the $1 fee?

The email has been pasted below in case the link stops working.

Please read this if you need help with the survey.

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Channel 13 has a story about people in Forest who are dissatisfied with Sausser Farms – long lines, poor produce, irregular hours… Read

We received 2 vegetable boxes from Homestead Creamery, but they only charged us for one, because the quality and selection of vegetables they received from Sausser Farms weren’t all that great.

We signed up to buy one 5lb Option A box and one 5lb Option B box each week.

Option A is supposed to be a combination of potatoes, tomatoes, onions, squash, and herbs.

Option B is supposed to be a combination of cucumbers, egg plant, greens, string/pole beans, broccoli, and zucchini.

I went to the Roanoke Farmer’s Market this morning hoping that I could pick up my vegetable share today from Sausser Farms. The Sausser Farms representative was there, but there was also a fairly long line that never seemed to move.

We were asked to fill out a survey indicating which box of vegetables we wanted by 4pm the day before we planned to pickup our vegetables and to bring it with us. I did so, but the the vegetables weren’t boxed. The Sausser Farms representative was weighing each customer’s choices, which really slowed the whole process down.

I don’t understand why we’re asked to complete a survey if they’re not planning to pack the boxes. It’s not like they aren’t able to pack the boxes, because they already provide packed boxes of vegetables to Homestead Creamery. The pre-packaged boxes would really speed up the line.

My wife wanted to eat lunch before she went to work today, so I couldn’t wait in line any longer, but the day wasn’t a total loss. I bought some sausage, bacon, and a boston butt from Sandy River Pork

Sandy River Hot Pork Sausage

Sandy River Pork's Bacon

Sandy River Pork Boston Butt

I’m not sure why, but I went ahead and filled out the Sausser Farms survey for this week. I’ll try again this Saturday. Maybe I’ll get some okra that I can use in a gumbo.

SausserFarmsRoanokeSurvey_2010-07-15

Option A box

We only received 1 Sausser Farms vegetable box from Homestead Creamery this week. It included a tomato that was already rotten on the bottom, another tomato that’s mushy, 1 zucchini that’s mushy at the top, several very hard squash, and some withered purple basil.

We signed up to buy one 5lb Option A box and one 5lb Option B box each week.

Option A is supposed to be a combination of potatoes, tomatoes, onions, squash, and herbs.

Option B is supposed to be a combination of cucumbers, egg plant, greens, string/pole beans, broccoli, and zucchini.

I received an e-mail from Sausser Farms stating that they’re harvesting potatoes, and the Roanoke and Lynchburg shares will consist of 5lbs of potatoes this week. I guess Homestead Creamery missed out on the potatoes this week.

The email’s posted below:

Hello Sausser Farms Members,

This e-mail is for those of you in the Lynchburg and Roanoke areas.

There will be no survey this week. This week we will have lots of potatoes. Our plan is to bag them in 5 pound increments and hopefully every share will be able to get 5 pounds. If you bought two shares, then we hope to be able to give you 10 pounds.

And depending if we are able to harvest any additional items this week, we will have some of them available as well. But the big thing is the potatoes, because once we start harvesting them we only have a limited time to get them to market so potatoes are our focus right now.

Hours for Friday:

Forest, Lynchburg: 10-Noon (or until supplies last) and 3-6 (or until supplies last).

Roanoke: 9-3 (or until supplies last).

Hours for Saturday

Myers & Rhodes in Lynchburg: 9-3 (or until supplies last).

Roanoke: 9-3 (or until supplies last).

SPECIAL ORDERS

If you would like to make a special order request, please call Samantha at the farm and let her know what you are looking for and which day you would like to pick them up. The number is 434-542-5957.

Pick Your Own At The Farm

We want to thank those of you who have come out to the farm to pick your own produce and to volunteer in helping us pick. It has been great to meet you and your help is very much appreciated. If anyone else wants to come out to the farm and pick their own or volunteer pick, please feel free to come any day but Sunday. You may want to call ahead just in case.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

We especially want to thank you for your continued support despite the challenges we have faced. Those of you who have been so forgiving and merciful to us, we can’t thank you enough for the grace you have extended to us. You are a light in a dark world!

And despite the challenges, the criticisms, and the threats, we will continue to plant, harvest and deliver to the best of our ability until the season is over.

Thank you,

Sausser Farms

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My purchases at the Salem Farmer's Market, Saturday, August 8, 2010

I didn’t get to the Salem Farmers Market until 1:30 today, and most of the vendors had already left for the day.

I bought corn and peppers from one vendor, potatoes from another, and tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans from another.