Many of you are aware that, one week ago, our farm was hit with a hail storm that caused extensive damage to our crops. We are estimating that the crop losses amount to around $100,000, almost exclusively to peppers and tomatoes at the heart of our wholesale business. This late season income is always a critical income source in our budget, and its loss has created both short- and long-term financial issues for our farm.
We are writing to you with an update on how we plan to recover, and how you can help. After the hail storm, we immediately took to our budget spreadsheet to get a sense of the economic consequences. But after cutting out any planned discretionary expenditures, shrinking our payroll, and brainstorming ways of generating more income from crops yet this season, it became clear that we cannot make it through without financial assistance.
For this reason, we have launched a Go Fund Me campaign to raise funds to help us through this difficult time. The amount we are asking for — $50,000 — will not put us back where we expected to be prior to the hail storm, but it will allow us to continue to operate this season and enter 2021 with minimal handicaps that would hinder our viability as a business.
Click here to see our Go Fund Me campaign
We are grateful for contributions from any of you who have the means to donate. We are well aware that we live in a time when so many people are in need — from those hurt financially during this pandemic to those harmed by systematic racial oppression. We deeply appreciate you helping us getting back on our feet by donating or sharing our story with others in your life who might be able to help.
Other Fundraising Efforts
Native plant sale
We have 100+ flats of native plants in 2.5” pots that did not sell this spring, so we are planning to hold a self-serve plant sale much like the sale we held in June in the wake of the George Floyd killing. The sale will be held this weekend, August 22-23, at the farm. Suggested price will be $2/plant unless otherwise marked, and of course any additional contributions will be appreciated. If you do not have your own garden or a need for plants for yourself, consider donating plants to an organization in your community that might be interested in planting a pollinator garden. You could reach out to schools, churches, community gardens, or business in your area that might appreciate a plant donation.
“Black Monday” Hail Storm Hot Sauce
Cry Baby Craigs, a local hot sauce company that had contracted to purchase 12,000 lbs of habanero peppers from us this season, is making a hot sauce to raise funds for us. We picked and delivered to them an assortment of hot and sweet peppers that were damaged and would have otherwise been wasted. They’ve already started pickling the peppers and will make and bottle a limited release hot sauce in a month or so. They’ve committed all proceeds will come back to our farm, minus their packaging costs. Some of you may have seen mentions on the Channel 4 and Channel 5 newscasts last Tuesday. We are still working out details of when and where the hot sauce will be available, but we’ll let you know closer to the release date. Hot sauce Christmas gifts this year?!
Bulk Fall Spinach
As soon as the soil dries out enough to plant, we plan to put out a large planting of spinach with the intention of offering cases to our customers and community members for blanching and freezing. When the time comes, those of you who have interest in preserving spinach could support us by buying a case or two.
Winter Farm Share signup
We have been accepting Winter Share signups for over a month now, but haven’t yet promoted it publicly. At this time, while expected losses to some storage crops may force us to reduce the number of shares we sell, we anticipate we can continue more or less as planned. Winter shares will contain a mix of root crops, onions, potatoes, winter squash, and other storage vegetables, along with freshly harvested microgreens, spinach, and lettuce from our unheated high tunnels. Deliveries are every other week for seven deliveries. We are still working through the early stages of emergency response after the storm, but we hope to make a more public announcement within the week. Signing up for a Winter Share is another way to support us; if you have the means, paying for your share in full at signup will help us through this cash flow crunch.
Support the Local Businesses that Support Us
We partner with several local food makers who use our peppers in their hot sauces, salsas, and kimchi. They have all stepped up in the aftermath of the storm to buy as many damaged-but-usable peppers as we could pick and deliver right away. The viability of our business is tied to their success, and we encourage you to support them by buying their products. For that matter, buy local foods and support restaurants that source locally - it all trickles down to small farms like ours.
Thank you for your involvement with our farm, whether you’re a current Farm Share member, former farmers’ market customer, native plant enthusiast, or just signed up for our email list because you were curious about what we do. We are thankful for all the words of support along with financial help you can provide.
In gratitude,
Dana and Karin Jokela