14. April 2009 by David.

Hi all,

Let me take a few minutes out of the sun to thank you very much for joining the group this year. We’ve sold 55 harvest-shares this over the winter; that’s a group of more than 100 adults plus their children, friends and neighbours. I’m pleased to say that a few members have already stepped forward to organize or to help organize activities to help create a community atmosphere and to make the experience as rich as possible. These kinds of initiatives ensure things like a good orientation session, entertaining potlucks, educational walks and inspirational movie showings. Keep looking at the website for updates of upcoming events, and look forward to news in your inbox. Please let me know if someone you know has been excluded from the mailing list so I can add their e-mail address.

Memberships

Thank you very much to all the members who paid up their harvest-shares by April 1st. Your timeliness is greatly appreciated! Almost everyone has paid up now, which is great. If you still owe a financial contribution, please mail it in as soon as possible. I’ll be making calls this week to remind you. I did take note of a few things to make the process easier for next year:

I will be creating an electronic invoice template that I can adjust quickly and send them out to you as payment comes in. I hope this will help you send in checks for the right amount. Another problem that came up alot were checks addressed to Riverglen Farm or to Intentional Eaters. Unfortunately, we don’t have a bank account in either of those names and bank tellers give me hell whenever I try to cash in a check that isn’t specifically in my name. For now, it’s important to address all checks to my personal name. However, it’s just a matter of time until we get around to opening an (expensive) business bank account where money can move a little bit easier for both our customers and for Robin and I as business partners.

Pickups

We’ve confirmed all three of our off-farm pickup locations for the summer. Three very generous parties have offered their personal dwellings as a space for you to pickup your weekly bounties. I will send you more details, but I would like to remind you that food pickup will be every Wednesday with approximate pickup hours of 4pm to 8pm. It will be up to our hosts to fine tune these hours to suit their schedules.

I will be asking everyone to confirm their preferred pickup location in the next few weeks, and I do request that you stick with your pickup location for the entire season. I can accommodate change if you decide to switch half-way through, but I cannot swap you from week to week. Here are the locations for our pickups. Detailed addresses, times and instructions are on the way:

Centertown pickup: Lyonn and Sommerset
Wellington Village pickup: Mayfaire and Byron
Britannia pickup: Elmhurst
Riverglen Farm pickup: Davidson’s Side

Farm Visits

I want everyone visiting Riverglen Farm to feel comfortable in their surroundings and in order to do so, I am offering an orientation session. We are organizing a brief tour of the farm to introduce you to our property, our land, our creatures and our people. For your convenience there will be two timeslots for this session, because it is very important that you attend. I require everyone attend an orientation session before you go exploring the property or pickup your bounty. In other words, for the sake of safety and respect for our private residence, this orientation session is mandatory. You can expect one session to be on the Wednesday prior to the first pickup, and the other to be on a weekend sometime. I will consult with our orientation committee and give you precise times as soon as possible.

How to Contact Us

If you need to contact anyone at the farm, here are a few ways you can do it:

David’s e-mail: david.burnford@gmail.com
Robin’s e-mail: arobint@gmail.com

David’s phone: 613-720-FARM (main contact number, you can leave a message)
Farm phone: 613-721-7063 (shared with house tenants, I don’t check the messages)

Mailing address: 230 Davidson’s Side Road, Ottawa, ON, K2K 2Z4

So what happens if your cell dies with all your phone numbers, your browser deleted all your bookmarks, gmail deleted your past e-mails and you’ve thrown out your membership package?

Try the all-mighty Google search engine! We’re the first link when you type ‘Riverglen Farm’ and the second link when you type ‘biodynamic ottawa’

or try:

Farm website: www.riverglenfarm.ca
The website has phone numbers, mailing addresses, e-mail addresses, news, updates, copies of the membership forms, pictures, etc.
I could use a little help with the website, so please let me know if there is any information that you’d like to see up there, or if anything looks outdated. Since it is a blog-type website, you can post your comments right then and there if you like!

Buy Local Food Guide
http://www.spcottawa.on.ca/ofsc/en/buylocal/buy_local_home.htm
You can find all our contact information here, as well as for other farms and farmer’s markets in the Ottawa area

http://www.greenottawa.ca
Another website with our contact information, as well as contact for all sorts of Green business in the Ottawa area

I guess that’s all for now. I am very happy to have the group organized and well on its way to a delicious season so I can focus on other very important tasks such as building, seeding and tilling! Enjoy the warm weather and we’ll be in touch soon.

Cheers,

David

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16. March 2009 by David.

The first day of Spring is just around the corner and we are getting ready to wrap up recruiting for this season. The Intentional Eaters CSA is just about full!!! If you are interested in joining the group but have not yet mailed your application, please send me an e-mail indicating your interest so you can be placed on a waiting list. There are still a few loose ends and a little room to move, so we may be sneaking a few people in… What have you got to offer the group?

I’m very excited to meet the group this year! It’s larger than ever, with people hailing from several different neighbourhoods in Ottawa. Thank you very much to those of you who donated money over and above the harvest-share cost. Your contributions are HUGELY appreciated!

Final payments are already starting to trickle in (Thank You)  but there are still two more weeks available to those who have not settled their accounts yet. Please contact me if this time-line puts you in an uncomfortable spot… I don’t want anyone skipping on rent to pay for my veggies!

There are still a couple months before vegetables are ready for harvest. In the meantime, keep an eye out on the website for pictures as spring continues to springify! You can also look forward to a newsletter beginning in April. We’ll keep you posted with dates for our orientation meeting.

Cheers!       

Posted in News & Events, Membership | 1 Comment »

26. January 2009 by David.

Hi folks,

I’m very happy about all the enthusiasm we’ve been receiving already. Only a couple weeks into recruitment and registration forms are pouring in! Thank you for your quick response. I look forward to meeting the newcomers!

Pickup Day Has Changed to Wednesday

Please not that our pickup day has changed to Wednesday. This will allow us much more time to recover from Sunday at the market so we can provide you with a fantastic bounty of veggies every week. I sincerely apologize about this last-minute change, but it is inevitable.  We hope you can accommodate a Wednesday pickup into your schedules. Rest assured, you will appreciate the extra effort!

Downtown Pickup Location

My inbox is full of your questions,  so I can tell you are all buzzing with the same anticipation as I am. Many people are curious about a downtown pickup. We do not have a location secured yet, but it’s in the works. Since this is a community project, someone needs to step up to the plate and host a pickup location. All it takes is an out of the way location to leave boxes of vegetables for a couple hours. Get in contact with me ASAP if you’re considering the idea, and we can talk it over.

Biweekly Harvest-Shares

Many people have expressed their desire to make a smaller commitment to the group. The ideal situation is to partner with friends and split the food. However, this doesn’t always work out. We’re therefore pleased to offer biweekly introductory harvest-shares! For $300 you will receive a full-size bounty once every two weeks. This should give you plenty of time to get through the veggies before the next batch comes in.
Intentional Eaters Membership Package
09 registration updated

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11. January 2009 by David.

And finally, after much anticipation, I am glad to announce the 2009 season open! Take a look at this membership information and send it in as soon as possible to reserve a harvest-share with the Intentional Eaters. Thank you for your interest! Send an e-mail if you have any questions.

09 Intentional Eaters Registration

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25. March 2008 by David.

Greetings, Happy Equinox to all. It’s hard to believe it, but winter is on its way out and we will soon be graced by spring. I’m happy to announce that more than half the harvest-shares have sold. What’s more, we have secured a pickup location near Britannia Bay, and one in Centertown near Somerset. Only 10 spaces are left, so be swift if you want to join the community.

For those of you who have already reserved a spot, your final payment is due on April 1st. For those who are just sending in their information now, your final payment is due three weeks after receipt of your deposit.

*****************************************************************************

Bonjours et joyeuse fin d’hivers a tous. Il faut se l’imaginer, mais les journees s’allongent et la neige fond. Nous allons bientot voir la verdure revenire.

Je suis content d’annoncer que plus de la moitie des parts de recoltes ont ete vendues. Il ne reste que 10 places dans le groupe. En plus nous avons eu la chance de confirmer un lieu de ceuillette pret de Britannia et un autre au centreville, pret de Somerset.

Pour ceux qui ont deja reserve leur place, le payement final est du le 1er avril. Pour donner la chance au nouveaux venus, ceux qui n’ont pas reserve leur place, le payement final est du trois semaines apres la reception du depot.

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26. February 2008 by David.

I’ve put together a simple flyer. Members are encouraged to print a couple copies and post in visible areas of your community. Your office place, favorite stores or local health-nut hangouts are great places to post the flyer. Make sure you get permission first, if it is required.

flyer

J’ai pris le temps de composer une affiche simple que vous pouvez mettre en evidence dans votre communaute. Choisissez un endroit visible et assurez vous d’avoir la permission.

Affiche

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15. February 2008 by David.

Les formulaires d’inscription en francais sont maintenant disponible!

Inscription 08 - CAMI

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8. February 2008 by David.

Hello all,

It seems our 2008 season is off to a great start! Many enthusiastic people are already hard at work to make our Intentional Eaters Community a delicious success. I can’t wait to see those little shoots of green shooting up from the ground this spring!

Working in northern Ontario this winter has really taught me to appreciate the availability of Organic food in Ottawa. Grocery stores offer basic produce and packaged foods, but organic, local or whole food are practically none-existent.

Administrative work for the farm is going full force. Registration forms are trickling in. Promotion is high on the agenda these days. Members are encouraged to post simple flyers in areas where like-minded individuals may them.

Of course, getting your friends and colleagues, and other people you see regularly on board can save you tones of printing and taping time.

Thank you and good onwards!

David

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4. January 2008 by David.

Greetings,

The holiday season is already over and many of us have returned to normal work schedules. Then again, some people’s work schedules are anything but normal! I hope this year’s festivities have been good to all of you, and that you took the time to nurture relationships with friends and family.

I thought I’d give the good food community a poke, just to see if anyone is ready to start thinking about bountiful harvests of delicious vegetables. I have completed much of the planning for 2008, and you will find a membership package attached to this message.

There are a few things worth mentioning about 2008. First of all, you’ll notice that I no longer refer to David’s CSA. In order to emphasize the idea of community, I chose a name that wasn’t my own. I feel the Intentional Eaters Community well represents the character of its members.

Second, you may not recognize the address I have indicated on the sign-up sheet. I have recently taken a position as ‘field assistant’ with Quantec Geoscience. I am leaving for Thunderbay on Thursday. For the next 7 to 10 weeks, I will be hauling geological surveying equipment through the brush and forests of the Canadian shield. This is sure to keep me good shape for the springtime, and I’ll be earning a pretty penny while I’m at it.

Therefore, I have left Andre Brisebois as my Ottawa liaison during my absence. He has taken-on the task of receiving your membership information and your deposits, and processing them appropriately. Andre is a returning member from last year, and he is a trustworthy and responsible individual. He may be able to address some of your questions, although I expect to have access to e-mail. Don’t be shy to send me a message!

Some of you may also receive a membership package through the mail. You can use that copy yourself, or give it to a friend or a colleague. Remember, the community will be that much stronger if you involve people you already interact with. You could even leave a copy of the membership package where you think curious eyes might come across it.

Once you have decided to join the community, make sure to fill out the form completely and sign the bottom. It is important that all your information is given. Send the forms, along with your deposit, to Andre as soon as possible in order to reserve your spot in the group. The deadline for receiving the second half of your payment is April 1^st, 2008.

And on that note I wish you a magnificent winter; I hope the snow returns! I will see you in the spring, with all of its splendor.

Cheers,

David

2008 membership package

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