How does it work?
We find good food – by growing it ourselves at New Family Farm, or by partnering with Prudent Produce to source it from other farmers growing good food. Prudent Produce delivers it to you. You eat it.
What if I go on vacation? You have the choice each week to receive a box or not. If you’ll be away, consider gifting it to a friend so they can share in the experience. Or just let us know, and the good folks at Prudent Produce will keep driving by your house for a week.
Is New Family Farm certified organic? We are not currently certified. The land that we started growing on in 2014 has been fallow for the majority of the past 30 years and we are following organic practices. In 2019 and 2020, we worked on an organic transition plan to transition 50 acres to certified organic status; in 2021 we backed off that. At this time we maintain 15 acres that uses no synthetic inputs.
Do you use chemicals on your farm? We follow organic practices. This means that we do not use any synthetic chemicals for weed control, and we sparingly use some substances approved by OMRI for pest control. The limited chemicals that we might use must dissipate quickly, and are applied in certain time windows relative to when the crop will be harvested to ensure they are perfectly safe for your family.
How long have you been farming? Tough question! My earliest memories are of the farm, and I’ve been around areas for most of my life. I started visiting CSAs in 2005, and was a member of a CSA for several years while in Sweden. I worked with two successful CSA farmers in the Solon, IA area in 2013 (ZJ Farm (now Sundog) and Wild Woods Farm), each providing good food to over 100 families in Iowa City / Cedar Rapids. 2014 was my first year at the helm, and it went really well despite all of the rain!
Are there items in your box grown by other farms, and if so, which farms? After growing all of our own produce for our CSA in 2014 and 2015, we are partnering with Prudent Produce since 2017 to try a new approach to providing you with #GoodFoodDelivered. We will grow what we can grow well, and we will source from other farmers – locally, then regionally, and nationally if we have to – to get you what you want.