Genuine Faux Farm
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Genuine Faux Farm |
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Who, or what, is the Genuine Faux Farm? The Genuine Faux Farm is a small, family owned produce farm located near Tripoli, Iowa. Rob and Tammy Faux are the proprietors and primary laborers on the farm. We have long enjoyed gardening and seek to use sustainable methods of nurturing green and growing things. We sell our produce through our CSA program (see below), by selling direct to local entities or via farmers market when we have excess. We start tomato, pepper and eggplant plants and sell many heirloom varieties to interested parties. We may add broccoli and other plants to this list in 2010. We also raise meat chickens, turkeys, ducks and maintain a small flock of laying hens. We sell a couple of batches of meat chickens during the summer and sell fresh eggs by agreement. We added turkeys to the farm in 2006 and ducks in 2009. We also facilitate cooperative buys of pork, bison and beef as opportunity arises. What do you sell? What are your products? Here is a list of what we do that may interest you:
CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a general term that encompasses various approaches that reconnect people with the land and the food that they eat. The term 'CSA' is often used interchangeably with subscription farming, even though some CSA approaches do not use subscriptions at all. Regardless of the type, CSA's link those who wish to acquire fresh produce with a local producer who becomes, in a way, the personal farmer for the customer. In the subscription model, CSA members buy a share of the farming operation which entitles them to a variety of produce every week during the growing season. The customer receives freshly picked, locally grown food from someone they know and can talk to. The customer is provided information on how the farm operates and they can consume the food knowing how the food was produced. The farmer receives the benefit of some up front capital and information that allows them to better plan to meet the needs of the share holders. Further, share holders take on some of the risk of the growing season. They also agree to abide by the whims of the growing season and receive produce as it ripens. If you wish to visit other sites regarding the CSA concept, check our links page. What is the growing season for GFF? We typically start short season crops (lettuce, radish, spinach, peas) in early April. That means there could be CSA deliveries of smaller amounts in late May at the earliest. Amounts delivered progressively increase as other crops come in. We expect that we will be able to continue delivering root crops and late crops through part of October. Our first delivery was June 7 in both 2005 and 2006. We have pushed the first delivery back to the 2nd (or 3rd) week of June as we have discovered we have a stronger growing season in the fall. As a result, we often go through the entire month of October. We have delivered no fewer than 19 weeks of produce since our first year in 2005 and we continue to work on options for season expansion.
How do I get my weekly share of produce? Visit our CSA Primer and you can learn more! Currently we have drop off points in Waverly, Tripoli (at the farm) and Cedar Falls. We do not have plans to add any drop off location at this time. Visit our CSA Primer and you can learn more! Please visit this page to see what you need to do to sign up. Why do you ask for prepayment at the beginning of the season? Early signup provides us with a solid idea regarding the volume of produce necessary to serve all subscribers throughout the season. We do our best to plan our gardens so that everyone will get a reasonable share of produce regardless of each particular season's idiosyncrasies. We cannot do this unless we have a good idea as to how many people are participating. And, of course, we have a number of 'up front' costs that we need help covering (seeds, seed starting supplies, equipment repair, etc). In essence, we are asking you to invest in us and make us your personal farmers. In return for the security your pre-purchase gives us, you acquire a responsive grower of your produce. That said, please contact us if you are unable to pay up front, we will be pleased to work with you. Why do you like to have things sent via US Postal Service? Rob is a collector of stamps and postal history - so he has a vested interest in having payments, surveys and other items sent via the mail. He respectfully requests that you send any pre-stamped items GFF provides back to him via the mail service to further his collecting interests. If you have envelopes with stamps on them, he will happily take them off your hands! Also, if there are others who would like to start or discuss this hobby, please contact him! May I split a share with someone else? Many people may find it more economical to split a large (or small) share with another family. We encourage this approach, but ask that you understand that you will be responsible for splitting the produce equitably. We also ask that you give us information for all parties splitting the share. This helps us to recognize members when they produce. We also like to include everyone in invitations to group events. We see some other advantages in splitting a share. First, you may be able to distribute vegetables that people like or don't like to mutual satisfaction. Second, if one family or the other will be gone on vacation, there is still someone benefiting from the delivery. And, third, it's just nice to share! Wait! What kind of produce will I be getting? Every share will get a similar distribution of produce currently ripening at our farm. That just might mean that some of the produce you get will not be your favorite food, or it may be new to you. We intend to help you in a couple of ways. We will try to provide you with some recipes or ideas for processing things you receive. Visit our CSA Primer and you can learn more! Our large share delivery on August 2, 2005 contained the following: 1 1/4 lbs green beans, 1 broccoli head, 1.5 lbs potatoes, 1 large summer squash, 1 large cucumber, 3 jalapeno peppers, 2-3 bell peppers, 2 lbs onions, garlic head, 1.5 lbs tomatoes, 1 large german beer radish, and (as a bonus) we included 4 types of basil and some oregano. Our small share delivery on the same date included: 3/4 lbs green beans, 3/4 lbs potatoes, 2 jalapeno peppers, 1-2 bell peppers, 1 lb onions, 1 lb tomatoes, 1 summer squash, 1 cucumber, 2 small german beer radishes and some bonus spices. As an aside, let us assure you that Rob is a picky eater. At one point in his life he would only eat beans, peas, corn, potatoes and limas for his vegetables. Since he and Tammy have been producing fresh garden food, he has added broccoli, cauliflower, squash, melons, beets, tomatoes, peppers, spinach, eggplant, and pea pods to that list. So, if you want to encourage someone to try some healthier foods - here's how you do it!
What if we will be away for an extended period of time? We will work with you to figure out a reasonable solution if you will be gone for an extended period. It is difficult to guarantee additional produce to make up for missed time during other weeks of the season. Instead, we recommend that you find someone with whom you can share the produce during the time you are away. If all else fails, you may direct us to donate your share to a food shelter or nursing home as we are able. We do want to be responsive to your needs, so reasonable suggestions will be considered. What if we will be away for a short period of time? If you know you will be gone during your typical pickup day, then we can arrange to move your pickup date/location to one of the other options during the week. Our only concern is that we have some notice so we can plan picking and distribution accordingly. This is no small task, so we prefer that you designate someone to pickup your share if that is at all possible. We do not use chemical herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers. We strive to work with nature. As a result, we have to deal with some crop loss to pests, but we continue to research and try new things to naturally protect our crops. We have gone through the process of certification with IDALS in 2007 and 2008 and have been awarded certification each year. All fields will have completed their transition years in 2009. All produce from the farm will be certified organic beginning then! So, the short answer is "yes." What if I forget to pickup my share? We may respectfully decline to get produce to you at a different time in certain circumstances. Usually, when we have leftover produce from a distribution, it is donated to the Food Shelf or some other entity. So, in some ways, your produce IS already distributed. We know how things happen, so we often find a way to arrange to get a share to you as long as it happens very rarely. The more time we spend trying to get produce to people means we have less time to actually grow the produce and tend the crops. Most typically, we will be able to allow someone to shift to another pickup time during the week. But, again, this is not entirely a trivial task and we ask you to avoid this if at all possible. What if I am unable to pickup my share? Persons who have disabilities or persistent transportation issues should feel free to contact us and let us know that you are interested in a share. We will gladly make arrangements to support your needs in this area. Similarly, if there are family emergencies or issues where you could use a little extra support for a time, let us know. It is hard to write a check for the full amount at one time, are there payment options? We will gladly discuss payment options with you should you desire them. What happens if I find a problem with the produce? Our produce is typically picked within 24 hours of delivery, with storage crops (garlic, potatoes, etc) being the exception. We do not intentionally provide anyone with produce that is rotten or inedible. However, sometimes things happen that cannot be seen until the fruit is opened. If you discover such a problem, please let us know. There may be an issue that we need to address with a particular crop and we would appreciate the warning if something is amiss. How do your deliveries compare in value to other sources? Members of the CSA can save money by subscribing. Visit our CSA Primer and you can learn more! What is the weirdest thing you have grown? Good question. We are not actually certain of the answer. We consistently grow Speckled Roman and Black Krim tomatoes and enjoy their taste very much. They gained us a great deal of attention and many questions. Those who taste them tend to come back for more. Kohlrabi is a vegetable many people don't recognize, yet we grow it. We also tried German Beer Radish in 2005 (very large white radishes) with mixed reviews. The striped Listada de Gandia eggplant is interesting and well-liked, as were the Helios (yellow) radishes. We have grown Star of David Okra and True Lemon Cucumbers. Who knows what else we'll try? We're almost certain the most difficult variety to get people to taste is the Tasty Evergreen tomato. If you are interested, we update our varieties pages each winter. What have people liked most about owning a share? Perhaps the most common response is that people have appreciated the variety of vegetables received each week. Several deliveries have over fifteen different types of vegetables. Others have expressed satisfaction in the freshness of the produce and some feel they have eaten healthier as members of the CSA. Yet others are simply pleased to be able to support responsible farming methods and local producers. Whatever the reason cited, we have received positive responses from nearly everyone who has joined the CSA (both past and present members). How many shares are available each year? We would like to subscribe 120 shares in 2009. There were 59 in 2008, 42 in 2007 and we had an 85% return rate of customers from 2006. Evidence from other CSA's indicates that 2 people maintaining 2 acres is appropriate for a 40 share CSA (provided those 2 people work very hard). We will have 120 shares with 5 acres. For the foreseeable future, we do not anticipate expansion beyond 120 CSA members.
photo copyright R. Faux We are northwest of Tripoli, IA about 2 miles. No, this is not our only job. Tammy is an assistant professor at Wartburg college. Rob is now dedicating himself to the farm, but he does numerous other things. We appreciate your understanding as other duties occasionally will place demands upon us. However, we guarantee that once we have a contract to deliver produce to you, we will work hard to meet that agreement. So, why do you do this? Are you insane? Perhaps we are a bit unstable. Our motivations are a combination of interest in gardening with our ideals. We have a history of producing far more than we can use for ourselves and believe strongly in local production and natural gardening processes. Mix carefully with a desire to live in the country and Rob not having a full time job initially upon moving to the area and... viola'! A business is born. And... If we don't do this, who will? Please email at gff@genuinefauxfarm.com or send us mail at the Genuine Faux Farm, PO Box 121, Tripoli, IA 50676. Rob is a stamp collector and enjoys getting real mail with stamps on them! You may reach us via our cell phone at 319 610 9201. |
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| 1/09/10 updated | most photos copyright by L.E.Bartel
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