CSA
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Self-care and Baked Goods and Produce, OH MY!
A lot has happened since I last wrote. We became an official business – A Tiny Homestead LLC. We began ordering supplies and making all the things. We vended at our first local craft fair a month after starting the business, and then a second vending opportunity two Saturdays ago. It’s been a whirlwind of activity, and learning, and excitement. All three of us also registered to be Minnesota Cottage Food Producers, which means that we can sell baked goods, dried herbs, and canned goods that we make here. We don’t have to use a commercial kitchen, nor are we subject to state inspection. This coming weekend is the start…
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Big Changes!
Spring will be arriving for real this weekend! We had blizzard conditions last Friday night, but this Saturday we are expecting highs in the 60s. That’s the first big change. The second has a bit of a story to be told. March 6th, Kyle’s almost 30 year employment with Xerox ended. He has decided to take a hiatus from the job world and focus on home. This means that we have made A Tiny Homestead into an official business (our name now has the letters LLC attached to it). Not only will we continue to offer our CSA farm shares, but we will be selling our produce and wildflower bouquets…
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CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and an update
It’s been a minute (more like almost six months) since we moved into our new home. There was much to accomplish before the snow fell. Six cords of wood to cut and split. Lilacs, apple trees and other plants to get in the ground. And a huge shopping trip to restock our pantry and freezers. (Never move food if you can help it. Eat down what you have in the house, make the move and then restock. Full freezers are heavy.) We got a new kitten, Molly, in August. And then at the very end of September, we got a puppy! Her name is Maggie and she is a mini-Australian…
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A Funny Thing Happened…
So, time really got away from us over the last few months, which may seem strange considering there weren’t a lot of outside distractions (ahem – thanks Covid). The garden at our neighbor’s house produced many pounds of produce – we ate, we shared, we donated to the local food shelf. And then a funny thing happened. It seemed like the straw that broke the camel’s back at the time but read on to see what felt like a minor tragedy turned into something fantastic! Our neighbors had been planning to build a pole barn on their property. Turns out the only feasible location for the pole barn was less…
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And So It Begins – CSA Here We Come
I mentioned in my first post that we want to start a CSA. CSA is an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture. The CSA model is a system that connects the producer and consumers within the food system more closely by allowing the consumer to subscribe to the harvest of a certain farm or group of farms. It is an alternative socioeconomic model of agriculture and food distribution that allows the producer and consumer to share the risks of farming. In other words, it’s a format that allows the consumer to invest in the production of produce and reap the rewards of that investment in food dividends. We received confirmation…
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Retirement – What’s that?
Hello! Thank you for visiting our online home. I have started a few blogs over the last ten years. One was about books and writing. The two current ones are about cooking and old-fashioned living, respectively. I also blog for Grit magazine. So, when my husband floated the idea of us running a business together, I was all ears. He has a corporate job, but his heart isn’t in it. His grand retirement plan is to buy some land and start a CSA, and rent out land to Tiny Home owners. I am all in on the idea, but we need to fund the project. To that end, I have…
