Five simple ways to show us your support

1. Come to the "Secret Cafe" our friends are hosting this Friday. It is to be held between 6pm and 10pm and you will not be disappointed: lots of tasty food and even live music! Suggested donation of $5+. We will also have little take home treats (as supplies last) for anyone attending. Stay tuned for the location!

2. Leave us a happy note on any of our posts-- or even an email! We would LOVE to hear from you :)

3. Mark your calendars for March 4th. Our friend Lori is hosting a Hootenanny at the Waiting Room, here in Omaha! It is $5 to attend and well worth it. There will be a variety of different musicians and tasty foods from local vendors. Bring your friends and family (its kid friendly!).

4. Follow us on Facebook or on Twitter for more updates! We will be posting lots and lots of photos throughout the season, and as we start to get our plants going.

5. Sign up for a share of our CSA! Though there is still a bit of time till our registration ends, March 18th is less than a month away. Email us for more details and the member agreement today! Remember, our email address is: bigmuddyfarm@gmail.com

Thanks for your continued support,
Farmer Ali

secret cafe, partnerships, wic, gap, markets, csa, oh my!

Wow! It's a beautiful day outside. The snow is melting, the ground is thawing...it's about time for the days of the muddy boots. We're still working through a lot of details for this growing season, collecting CSA sign-ups, getting prepped to start our work in the greenhouse, and dreaming of mornings in the sunshine pullin' up weeds.  

Here are some updates from the Big Muddy Urban Farm...

• Friends of the Big Muddy Urban Farm are hosting a "Secret Cafe" on Friday, February 24th starting at 5:00pm. Come have a delicious meal and drinks served to you. On the menu: greens, bean and beer soup, potato leek soup, homemade bread by James, rabbit, and homemade pies and cupcakes for dessert. This is a fundraiser to help us buy materials for our raised beds at the 33rd and California Plot. $5.00-$10.00 suggested donation. Also, the infamous Matt Cronin (and perhaps a few other musical guests) will serenade you while you dine. Location details coming soon... but save the date!

• We had a really great meeting with Omaha Economic Development Corporation this week about a potential partnership that would truly be awesome for the Big Muddy Urban Farm. We will reveal more soon, when we can. In the meantime, check them out, they do some cool work in the neighborhood. 

• We're on our way to becoming certified to accept WIC vouchers! 

• Ali and Brent attended the GAP training, which stands for Good Agricultural Practices. This means Big Muddy Urban Farm is officially trained in GAP practices. From the UNL Extension page "Safe, locally grown produce is a important to the producers as it is to consumers. The purpose of providing Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) training is to reduce the risks of microbial contamination of fruits and vegetables. The overarching aim is to help increase safety or quality of local foods and this starts by developing a farm food safety plan that is achievable."  

• We mentioned this before, but just so everyone knows we currently have plans to sell at the Benson Farmer's Market and Gifford Park Farmer's Market this season. The GP Farmer's Market is pretty new, and we hope we can help get more vendors and customers traveling through this season. Our friends from the Minnelusa House and GP Teen Market folks also sell there. Let the countdown to Farmer's Markets begin! 

• Don't forget to request a CSA Member Agreement today. One by one our spots are getting filled. 31 days until registration for this growing season closes!

xoxo,

Caitie

We get by, with a little help from our friends

What good would life be, if not for friends? I'm not sure about you, but I am constantly made happier by my dearest friends, and their constant support for me and my crazy ideas... moving to Nebraska for instance, would have been a little less lovely had I not had the support of so many people, both family and friends alike. 


The more I think about it, I see how much this applies to our current situation with Big Muddy Urban Farm. To me, community supported agriculture (CSA) has so many implications; not only does it imply that the producers are directly tied to our customers, in our case it acknowledges the important connection between us as farmers and the continued support of our community; both in the immediate sense of our local community and in the larger sense of the greater sustainable agriculture community here in Nebraska and in the midwest. As we continue to explore the network of other growers, it seems there are more and more inspiring individuals we meet, who are willing to share their knowledge and wisdom (and resources!) with us. I feel so fortunate to be a part of a new business venture that is receiving support from many directions. 

And how exciting it is to join the ranks of others growing food in Nebraska! 

Brent, Caitie, Tyler and I will be at the Healthy Farms & Rural Advantage conference in Nebraska City this weekend, and we look forward to meeting more of our farming friends. 

Thanks for you support,

ali

p.s. speaking of support, our lovely seed garlic donations from various farming friends, have safely made it into the ground before last week's snow! They are nesting in the ground covered with a generous layer of mulch and a tarp to keep them warm in the coldest days of winter. Can't wait to see them in the spring!

Quick facts about the Big Muddy Urban Farm CSA

1.
We offer flexible payment plans. Please let us know if you'd like to work a different payment schedule out.

2.
We're only offering 20 Full Shares this season. (or the equivalent in half share)

3.
As a member you'll get a weekly newsletter with storage tips, recipes, and other quirky things written by us (maybe jokes?)

4.
We have two pick-up locations -- Benson Farmer's Market (Military and Maple) & Gifford Park Farmer's Market (33rd and California)

5.
We are interested in offering add-ons to the CSA (for an additional cost). We'd like to offer a weekly share of local/organic eggs, cheese, and/or meat. We will let you know if this becomes available!

6.
We love kids. Even more we love kids who want to eat veggies and/or learn about growing food. If you have kids and you want to come hang out with us at one of our plots for a morning or afternoon we're totally into that.

7.
Sign-up for our CSA is open now. All you have to do is shoot us an email (bigmuddyfarm@gmail.com). We'll send you a Member Agreement, you can look it over, ask us any questions, and voila! mail that form in with your deposit and we'll save your spot.