TRANQUIL RIDGE FARM
LOCAL FOODS... NATURALLY GROWN

 CSA STORE IS OPEN UNTIL TUESDAY 9 AM

ORDER VEGGIES HERE:

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/store/384

ORDER MEAT AND EGGS HERE:
http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/store/383

MAKE SURE THAT YOU RECEIVE A CONFIRMATION EMAIL AFTER YOU PLACE YOUR ORDER!!

To pay your balance online:

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/members/updatemembership

If you haven't signed up for the 2012 season, here is the link to help you get started:

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/members

VEGGIES THIS WEEK
Salad mix          Spinach
Fresh Kale         Baby Carrots
Bunched beets   Strawberries
Turnips             Radishes
Leeks               Green Onion
Arugula             Spicy Asian Greens
COMING SOON...
Zuchini            Cucumbers
Head Lettuce    Kohlrabi
Basil               Cilantro

Farm News: 
What a great time of year, long days and warm night's are really helping everything grow well this spring. So far we have been able to stay ahead of the weed's this spring. Some new cultivating tools on our old Allis Chalmer's cultivating tractor has really made an impact this spring. Cucumber beetles are already causing havoc among our greenhouse planting. So far a mixture of kaolin clay has helped deter them from fatal damage to the plants. This does not kill or control the beetles, but gives them a "pins and needles" type of feel when they land on the plants. So far they have found other things to feast on. Strawberries are still producing fairly well, we hope for a couple more weeks of harvest. Now that we are in to harvest we can see somewhere around a 40% loss from those cold mornings 4 weeks back. Still a nice crop with great flavor!
One more week of full tilt planting and we will be about caught up with the main summer planting. I feel like we are already searching for space for successive plantings. Thankfully we will be putting all of our winter squash and pumpking plantings up on the Rossville farm this year. Looks like about 4 acres worth this year. We are down to about 15 acres here at the Crawfordsville farm, so that will really free up some space.
ROSSVILLE FARM:
Lots of questions and excitement for the Rossville farm project we have under way. So here is a quick update on the progress. The house has been gutted down to the original studs in most of the downstairs. New walls are up and old one's removed. We are finally ready for the rebuilding part, the new electric and plumbing are next along with the exterior porches. Our new well was drilled last week, we found an excellent source of water. 180 gallons per minute at 102 feet deep, that is a lot of water and we are thankfull!! The yard has been seeded and is growing well, 30 acres of pasture and clover cover crop was planted a couple weeks ago as well. Over all great progress!!

CSA news:

Carmel market begin's this weekend, so Indy pick ups will be available there and no longer at Great Harvest for the rest of the summer. Our computer went down early last week, we are working on setting up a new one right now. In the meantime market purchases that you may have made in the last two weeks have not been put on yet, we will have this accomplished by the end of the week.   

Enjoy the week!

 Nate, Emily & Jensen

TRANQUIL RIDGE FARM
LOCAL FOODS... NATURALLY GROWN

 CSA STORE IS OPEN UNTIL TUESDAY 9 AM

ORDER VEGGIES HERE:

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/store/384

ORDER MEAT AND EGGS HERE:
http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/store/383

MAKE SURE THAT YOU RECEIVE A CONFIRMATION EMAIL AFTER YOU PLACE YOUR ORDER!!

To pay your balance online:

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/members/updatemembership

If you haven't signed up for the 2012 season, here is the link to help you get started:

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/members

Farm News:

Thanks to all who came to the Lafayette Farmer's Market on Saturday.  We had a fantastic opening day!  It felt so good for me to be there as I spent all of last year's season vending at the Carmel Farmer's market.  It was nice to spend the day as a family doing what we love!  Jensen spent the morning eating strawberries and popcorn.  If I knew that's all it takes to keep him occupied, I would have introduced the combination a long time ago! 

The rain we received last week was enough to keep the ground pretty soggy for several days.  The plants and weeds both needed it!  This will definetely be a week of weeding and cultivating.  There was a tornado touchdown about 4 miles south of the farm and we experienced about 1 minute of pea sized hail.  We were very fortunate not to have any damage but it was enough to make us very uneasy.

Our hens are finally laying a sufficient amount of eggs!  They got a later start than we were anticipating.  The price of a dozen eggs at this time is $4.50. You might notice a price increase as the summer progresses due to and increase in feed cost.  Last year at this time we were paying $600 per ton; this year the price dramatically increased to $855 per ton. 

CSA news:

CSA members please pay attention to which pickup site you are selecting when checking out.  We are NOT delivering to Great Harvest Bread throughout the summer (this will not be an option as you proceed to checkout).  There are two delivery locations in West Lafayette: Calvary Baptist Church and a residential location in The Orchard subdivision.  I have changed the titles of the pickup locations slightly to avoid confusion.   

Enjoy the week!

Emily, Nate, & Jensen

TRANQUIL RIDGE FARM
LOCAL FOODS... NATURALLY GROWN

 CSA STORE IS OPEN UNTIL TUESDAY 9 AM

ORDER VEGGIES HERE:

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/store/384

ORDER MEAT AND EGGS HERE:
http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/store/383

MAKE SURE THAT YOU RECEIVE A CONFIRMATION EMAIL AFTER YOU PLACE YOUR ORDER!!

To pay your balance online:

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/members/updatemembership

If you haven't signed up for the 2012 season, here is the link to help you get started:

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/members

CSA NEWS:

I mentioned last week the Lafayette Farmer's Market will start this coming Saturday, May 5th.  Our booth will be in its usual spot in front of the Knickerbocker Saloon.  

CSA deliveries for the Lafayette area will be changing slightly this week; please take note: 

**The Lafayette market will serve as the delivery site from now through October.  We will NOT be delivering at Great Harvest Bread Lafayette through the summer.  Calvary Baptist Church located at 310 Kalberer Road, West Lafayette will serve as our WL delivery site from now through October.**  

We've been paying extra attention to our fragile strawberry plants for the past few weeks; covering and uncovering depending on the temperature.   We have been able to pick quite a few pounds so far, but not enough to make available for online orders this week.  We will have some at market this Saturday if you'd like to come down and pick some up; we will manually add them to your account.  We will have them available for online order next week.

Speaking of manually adding product to your account...the advantage of picking up your share at the market is that you can continue to shop if there is something that you forgot to order earlier in the week.  We will always be glad to add it to your account for you. 

We decided to keep the signup for CSA memberships open through the month of May.  This will give our Indianapolis customers who purchase from us at the Eli Lilly market a chance to sign up (and anyone else for that matter!).  There will not be an extra discount/bonus given however since the deadline for that was April 1st. 

FARM NEWS:

We are happy to annouce that our produce will now be available at Nature's Pharm in Lafayette.  We are frequent shoppers there and are excited to be able to offer our produce to the rest of the community! Nature's Pharm is located on SR 38 in the Kmart shopping center. 

We have also established a relationship with La Scala restaurant and have started supplying them with our lettuce mix and hopefully more of our produce as the year progresses.  La Scala is committed to serving as much local food as we are committed to producing it!!  The restaurant is located downtown on Main St. across from the courthouse. 

The rain sure did bounce around us all day yesterday!  Nate was able to do some cultivating before it gets too soggy this coming week. 

Enjoy your week!

Emily, Nate & Jensen

TRANQUIL RIDGE FARM

COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE (CSA)

What CSA means to us: 

CSA farms started popping up on the East coast in the mid 80's. The goal is to provide a direct link from the farms that grow our food to the people who eat the food. When consumers make a commitment to a particular farm, they are supporting an entire farm, not just buying the food. In today's world of large scale production, cheap food and government subsidy, it is hard to know how to support the food we believe in. Purchasing direct from a farm you can see, feel, and touch is the best food security that we can provide our families. When small farms have a direct, financial commitment from consumers who want their product, much of the marketing problems can be eliminated. We can now be free to concentrate on what we do best: grow wholesome, clean, nutritious food. When we have the capital available in the off season, we are able to purchase inputs such as seed, soil ammendments, and equipment at discounted rates. Capital is available to hire in labor, fuel and packaging supplies.

In short, your commitment to our farm makes our farm possible.

How is our CSA different?

CSA ideas are as different as the farms who utilize them across the country. What works for one farm and region may or may not work for another. Our goal is to not only make clean, quality food available to our local area, but also to give our supporters the options to eat those foods that they really enjoy. When you purchase a membership with our farm, give yourself the choice of what products will make up your box each week. When you make your share purchase you automatically receive 15% extra to spend with us. With our system, you place an order each week online using our E-commerce page. We then pack your box according to your order; your balance remaining is automatically shown at the end of each order.

Our shares may be used for any products we produce on our farm, as well as products from neighboring farms who have products that we may not produce. If you are interested in a small sample of the vegetables we have available throughout the season the half share may be just right for you. Or try a full share, which will give you a bigger selection of veggies for your family all summer, then add a half share to it to make a nice selection of veggies and meat.

The way we design our program allows you to spend your money when and how you like. If you are gone on vacation or can't make a pick-up, you simply do not place an order. Your money is still available to you through the end of the year's season, October 31st. There is no limit or minimum requirement of how much you spend each week, however, shares do not rollover from year to year and the money is non-refundable. 

For weekly deliveries, the online store will open on Sunday morning and close Tuesday at 9am.  We will send a reminder to place your order for the week, but it will be up to you to do so. If your order has not been received by the designated time we will assume you are not picking up for that week.

WHAT IS THE COST? IS THERE A DEADLINE?

Full share memberships are $525 for the season, which gives you $600.00 to spend with us (which is 15%).

The half share membership is $325 for the season, which gives you $375 to spend with us (which is 15%).

The 15% discount/bonus applies to those who purchase shares before February 1st.  There will be a 10% discount/bonus for those who purchase shares before March 1st.  There will not be a discount after April 1st.

FAQ's

CAN'T I JUST BY YOUR PRODUCT AT MARKET? We do participate in Farmer's Markets, and you can certainly purchase our products there, but joining a CSA is more than buying food.  It is supporting local, sustainable food production and family farms. Our products are available to CSA members first, and markets second.

ARE YOUR PRODUCTS ORGANIC?We are not currently certified organic, but we use only organic seeds, soil ammendments and pest controls.

HOW DO I SIGN UP?  It’s easy, just go to our website: www.tranquilridgefarm.com and use the "CSA Memberships" link. You may pay via Paypal or send us a check upon completion of your order.

MAY WE COME OUT TO THE FARM?  Absolutely!  We encourage you to do so. The only way we can ever really know where and how our food is raised is to see for ourselves.

Carmel Farmer's Market

Saturdays, 8:00 am - 11:30 am

THIS PICKUP SITE IS ONLY AVAILABLE MAY THROUGH SEPTEMBER .

Pick up is available at the Carmel Farmer's Market, May through September from 8:00am-11:30 am.

TRANQUIL RIDGE FARM
LOCAL FOODS... NATURALLY GROWN

 CSA STORE IS OPEN UNTIL TUESDAY 9 AM

ORDER VEGGIES HERE:

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/store/384

ORDER MEAT AND EGGS HERE:
http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/store/383

MAKE SURE THAT YOU RECEIVE A CONFIRMATION EMAIL AFTER YOU PLACE YOUR ORDER!!

To pay your balance online:

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/members/updatemembership

If you haven't signed up for the 2012 season, the deadline is APRIL 30TH.

Here is the link to help you get started:

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/members

FARM NEWS:  

We enjoyed our first market of the season yesterday in Lafayette.  It was a mini market for Earth Day; everyone could take advantage of our greens and pastured pork!  The first days of the actual market season start May 5th in Lafayette and June 2nd in Carmel.  We are looking for a second person to help out with the Carmel Farmers Market on Saturday mornings this summer.  If anyone is interested, please let us know!

As mentioned above, we will keep our CSA memberships open for one more week until April 30th.  We have had several more members trickle in this past week and we appreciate each and every one of you! 

Grilling season is upon us!  The pork we have in our freezer is amazing; we encourage you to take advantage!  I made biscuits and gravy this morning with the salt, pepper & sage breakfast sausage.  Wouldn't you know I  had some hungry boys peeking over my shoulder in excitement!  It didn't take long for tummies to get full!

Enjoy the week ahead!

Emily, Nate & Jensen

 CSA STORE IS OPEN UNTIL TUESDAY 9 AM

ORDER VEGGIES HERE: http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/store/384

ORDER MEAT AND EGGS HERE:
http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/store/383

MAKE SURE THAT YOU RECEIVE A CONFIRMATION EMAIL AFTER YOU PLACE YOUR ORDER!!

To pay your balance online:

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/members/updatemembership

If you haven't signed up for the 2012 season, the deadline is APRIL 30TH.

Here is the link to help you get started:

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/members

Farm/CSA News:

The week I have been worried about for the last month is now behind us. We had two mornings dropping to 27 degrees and one light frost the morning after that. Even our cold hardy crops had a rough time with widespread damage throughout. From peas to beets and radishes, everything seems to have been set back a little bit. But, with a few nice days and a perfect rain after our last freeze we can finally make an assessment of the fragile strawberries. I have been concerned all spring about how fast they have been coming on; frost and freeze are not friends of berries! Thankfully I would say we only have around 10-15% loss of total yield so far. Depending on this upcoming week of weather, we may be picking the first couple of berries. We will keep you posted.

I told Emily yesterday (under my breath) that we were actually in a good place and ready for a week of rain. With all of our outdoor seeding caught up, potatoes planted and transplants on schedule I feel pretty good about were we are.  A month ago I felt like we would be behind again all spring. The weather has definitely cooperated for planting, but now the rain is needed badly!

NEW PRODUCT ADDED:

We are excited to be able to offer you local honey on the website now. We have been looking for bee hives for the last couple of years and have finally found a perfect option for us. We need several hives a year for proper pollination; with no experience with bees I have always been hesitant to just put out several hives and figure it out. We have found Bee Friendly Beekeeping, a great company out of Lebanon who is working with small farms like us to supply hives throughout the season and manage them for us. We love and use honey in everything at our house and are excited to be able to give you a source of clean, local honey. It is packaged in one pound bottles and available on the vegetable page. We should have this item available for the rest of the season!

If you feel like you are spending your credit faster than you thought, there is always the option to add money to your account  if you wish to do so.  Keep in mind your 15% or 10% discount/bonus (if you received one by paying early) will apply to the extra amount paid.

Enjoy your week!
Nate, Emily & Jensen

 CSA STORE IS OPEN UNTIL TUESDAY 9 AM

ORDER VEGGIES HERE: http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/store/384

ORDER MEAT AND EGGS HERE:
http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/store/383

MAKE SURE THAT YOU RECEIVE A CONFIRMATION EMAIL AFTER YOU PLACE YOUR ORDER!!

To pay your balance online:

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/members/updatemembership

If you haven't signed up for the 2012 season, now is the time! Here is the link to help you get started!

http://www.tranquilridgefarm.com/members

Farm/CSA News:

Happy Easter!! Hope you all are having a great day with family, as we have. This week was another great week of progress and everything has made it through the frost without any problems. Of course, all of our fragile plants are covered and we are bracing for several cold mornings this week. The berries are holding up well, and there is a chance we will be picking some by late next week.
Each year I try to plant enough potatoes to last us well into the winter. The last two years we have had enough supply for CSA members through October, but no extra for sale. We doubled our planting again for this year, which means we just planted 2000 pounds.  Potatoes usually yield 10bs for each pound of seed planted. Yes, that means we are expecting 20,000 lbs this year. Time will tell, and hopefully we will come up with a potato digger by the season's end.

You will notice some additions in the pickup locations the FIRST week of May.  Calvary Baptist Church will be our drop off site for West Lafayette; Lafayette Farmer's Market will be our pickup location for Lafayette; Great Harvest Bread CARMEL will stay the same through May 12th, then pickup location will change to the Carmel Farmer's Market thereafter.

Update on Rossville house/move:

The house is set and ready to remodel; the yard is even seeded at this point. We have been working ground up there this week as most of the land will be planted to clover and pasture mix. We will be planting about 5 acres of winter squash there as well. The renovations on the house will be slow for most of the summer. We will have subcontractors taking care of the well, septic and electric installation over the next few weeks. It is pretty exciting to see that old house in its brand new location!

Have a great week!
Emily, Nate & Jensen