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The Distribution Managers:
Volunteering at Maysies Farm CSA

by Carol Revak

Many members of Maysie's Farm CSA support the farm on the 'basic' level — by purchasing a share and picking up their produce each week. But there is a small group of dedicated folks who take the concept of 'community support' to another level by volunteering their time on a regular basis to help out at the farm. These folks are the 14 Distribution Managers, or DMs. They are shareholders like the rest of you, but they also stay at the farm an extra hour or two to volunteer their services on pickup days.

Distribution Managers wear many hats. Certainly, they are responsible for keeping the food trays stocked, greeting members, and keeping the pickup area clean. But there are intangible responsibilities as well: recipe and food preparation advisor, lost toy finder, child care specialist, 'bunch size' estimator, public relations specialist...and of course the all-important role of 'official stick thrower' for Bennie and Bessie!

In today's world where the daily pace is so hectic, everyone seems to have many more things on their plate than they can possibly get done. Finding time to volunteer can be low on the priority list. Yet these 14 folks have made a concerted effort to volunteer at the farm on a regular basis. Why do they do it? "To me, the best thing about being involved is knowing that I'm helping to keep the farm in the hands of a farmer," says Wednesday DM Steve Hacker. "Having grown up in a place that was farmland and is now suburb, I know that once the farms are gone they are gone forever. It's hard to keep a farm going and it truly does take cooperation from many people. Hopefully my small contribution will help Sam keep this thing going for a long time."

Volunteering at Maysies is a family affair for many of the DMs. Husband and wife Jack and Peggy Williams share a shift on Wednesdays. Carol Revak alternates a Friday shift with parents Ed and Dorothy Dickol. And Michele Kornegay (Wednesday DM), Patti Donoghue (Monday DM) and Laura Richman (Monday DM) all bring their children along with them to help out.
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"Being a DM is great. I don't spend that much longer at the farm than I would (for picking up my share) anyway, and it is nice chatting with people and even getting some preparation tips," says Laura. "I also enjoy picking vegetables with the kids and like knowing that they are learning something about how and where our food is grown."

Patti agrees. "This is my first year as a DM. I like the experience because I get to learn a lot more about the farm. I get to help out and I get to know some of the other members... My kids have been cooperative and I think it makes them feel more ownership in taking care of the farm. I like everything about the CSA experience. I appreciate getting organically grown food for my family at a reasonable price. I take pride in supporting a local farm and keeping the land involved as relatively open space. I am glad my kids can see where their food comes from and how much work goes into producing it. And, I just love being on a farm once a week!"

"This is our first year at Maysie's and our first year as DMs," says Peggy Williams. "We both fully believe in the CSA concept and wanted to do our part in keeping small farms in Chester County. And, of course, we wanted to buy and eat quality, fresh, local food. We are enjoying helping out as DMs, meeting and sharing with other shareholders. The food has been wonderful. Last night, we made a light pasta sauce with olive oil and fresh garlic and basil from the farm. Yum!"

Sharing recipes with other members and learning more about fresh produce is a recurring theme with almost all of the DMs. "On the weeks where we just come in and pick up our produce, the experience is more like shopping at a Farmer's Market — we come in, get our things, and leave," says Dorothy Dickol. "But on the alternating weeks when we serve as DMs, the experience is really enhanced. We get a chance to meet the other members, and feel like we are part of a community. I've gotten some great recipes from other members."

Some members take the concepts from Maysie's and bring them back to utilize in other areas of their life. Mary Ann Wittle has helped at Maysie's as a DM for the last 2 years. As a result of attending the Workshop for Teachers, Mary Ann was inspired to start a garden at Lionville Elementary School where she works.Ê Mary Ann reports, "The [Lionville] garden has been a fun thing to do even though it keeps me really busy.Ê There are now 44 families signed up to help keep our garden going this summer!"

This is the first year Judy Cseh has been a shareholder at Maysie's. Like the other DMs, she loves the freshness of the produce and the opportunity that being a DM gives her to meet other members. "Meeting the people is delightful!" she says. And — members beware! Judy has a unique way of passing the time while volunteering — she reports that she is mentally visualizing a screenplay utilizing various shareholders as cast members. She has fun picking out the various actors and actresses who will "play" the variety of people she meets at the farm!

Community involvement — farm preservation — fresh produce — great recipes — educational opportunities —interesting screenplays! There are many reasons for being a DM at Maysie's! We are very, very grateful for all of the help and support that our DM volunteers give to make the farm experience an enjoyable one for all the shareholders. Our thanks to all of the following:

Monday

Patti Donoghue
Beatrice Semo
Laura Richman

Wednesday

Judy Cseh
Michele Kornegay
Steve Hacker
Jack & Peggy Williams
Denise Madden
Mary Ann Wittle

Friday

Carol Revak
Ed & Dorothy Dickol
Phoebe Breskman

If you would like to add to your shareholder experience by volunteering as a DM, we would love to have you join us! We always can use more support and — due to summer vacation and school schedules — we will need some additional assistance for the remainder of the season. No experience is necessary!

For more information, please contact DM Manager Carol Revak at crevak@comcast.net or call at 610-942-2204.


Maysie's Farm Welcomes Andy Lyon
By Keenan Rew

As of mid-March this year, Maysie's Farm has a new farm manager, Andy Lyon. You may have seen him about the place, tools in hand and sweat on his brow. From his days growing up in north-central Pennsylvania, Andy has toiled more of his life on a farm than off; and as the manager at Maysie's he's quick to point out that he spends more of his time working than delegating. I caught up with him during a well-deserved break, to find out how and why he came to work at Maysie's Farm.

KR: Why farming, what's the interest?

AL: Well I grew up on a farm, and I like the work I guess. I didn't like working inside. Also I had an interest in food. I grew up eating homegrown food, and I realized that if I go to college and get a job, no matter what money I make, it's almost impossible to buy the type of food I want to eat. So I was motivated to farm for the quality of food more than money.

KR: Was it a vegetable farm that you grew up on?

AL: No, it was just a homestead type farm. It was never meant to be like a living, and I guess historically that's the way my family always farmed; you know, they had a job off the farm, and the farm was their source of benefits.

KR: You've been farming all your life then.

AL: Well I did go to college, and I started out going to college for engineering, but then I went to college the rest of the way for farming.

KR: So how do you find yourself here at Maysie's?

AL: Where I was farming, I was raising pasture-raised meats, beef, pork, I had some chicken for myself and I had a garden. I also had lamb. There just weren't enough customers in that area, and there really wasn't a slaughterhouse nearby. So it was really inconvenient and no room to grow, I guess. And at the time the farm was a part-time job too, so I thought I'd start looking for a job that would be full-time farming. I got a hold of Sam and Maysie's Farm through PASA, the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture.

KR: What's your job description here at the farm, then? The title is "Farm Manager," but what exactly do you do?

AL: I basically take care of all the production work, making sure that it gets done. I don't really do much of the planning, because I don't have experience with CSA (Community Supported Agriculture); you know, like when things should be planted and what varieties, even what types of vegetables to grow. Sam takes care of that. But with a year's experience, a person could do that. With getting the work done, I just assign people's jobs, train them, and do a lot of the work myself.

KR: Was it always organic farming that you were doing as you were growing up?

AL: No. My family did use fertilizers and herbicides for growing grains. But I was always interested in gardening organically, it just seemed more practical to me. It's what I always did. I didn't have any money to buy any fertilizer or herbicide!

KR: In the time you've been farming, have you developed a core philosophy of what you think farming should be, or what our food should be?

AL: I guess the main thing with the quality of food is that it should be as close to the natural diet of a plant or animal. They should be raised under the conditions that they have always lived in. That improves the quality of the food. I agree a lot with the biodynamic idea that a farm should be a complete system. Things should all be integrated, which is also sort of holistic management or sustainable management. I take things from all those different philosophies. Farming should be ecosystem management.

KR: What do you see as the major benefit of CSA?

AL: I think health would be the biggest benefit. The food is healthier than pretty much any other way you can get food, that's convenient, that I know of in this area.

KR: What is your vision here at Maysie's with regard to Community Supported Agriculture?

AL: I'd like to see more livestock, and more of the land being used that way because there is a large portion of the property that isn't used. The livestock and the vegetables could be integrated with one another, perhaps having the vegetables and the livestock being sold here at the farm. I don't know if that would develop into something more like a store, or a CSA, but there are a variety of things that could be sold here. You could have fruit and livestock together, and the vegetables, the cover crops and the livestock could all be rotated with one another.

KR: How about farming in general? Do you have any views on where it'll go, over the next ten to twenty years?

AL: Well, it's going to be more and more the farmer controlling the marketing and the skills needed to make money from farming. He'll basically be putting more labor back into it in order to make a return — that's the way farming will go. I mean financially that's the only thing that's working. For more than a generation we tried to copy the idea of how a factory works because everybody just thought that's how it should be. And it just didn't work. It'll become more of a craft, and the farmer will be better off becoming skilled and then putting a lot of labor into it as opposed to buying a lot of machinery and then working long hours to try and pay for the machinery.

KR: How much time will it take to get back to a place where people really become aware of the benefits of eating locally produced food?

AL: They say to learn something new it takes twelve years, so, if you're going to have locally produced food, people are going to have to learn to grow it. Priorities, I think, is probably the biggest thing that people have to get straight. It's my opinion. Everyone has his own priorities. I think there are a lot of people that are more concerned about money than health and happiness, and that's a problem.

KR: Can we say that you're here at Maysie's Farm because you have a conviction about providing the best life for yourself that you can, mentally, physically and food-wise?

AL: Well, yeah, those are things that I value. I think everyone wants to provide the best life for themselves that they can. They just value different things than food quality.

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From the Editor:

Maysie's Messages welcomes and encourages all submissions. The opinions expressed in Maysie's Messages do not necessarily reflect the views of Maysie's Farm Conservation Center.

Send submissions to:

newsletter@maysiesfarm.org or to
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane
Glenmoore, PA 19343

For more information about Maysie's Farm Conservation Center or Community Supported Agriculture, contact Sam Cantrell at (610) 458-8129, or at either the e-mail or postal address above.

Art Direction/Layout for the paper newsletter: Lisa Henry Lacek
Editor: Colleen Cranney
Webmaster: Amy Guskin

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