There are many things that I love about my job - the beauty of the farm, toiling with Mother Nature, watching things grow - but there is one thing that I love most about my job, and it is the random places I run into all of you.
It generally happens one of two ways. For some reason, I am at a home that I haven’t been to before (a friend of family most often), and I see a Farm Fresh To You box in the house or the newsletter on the fridge. The second way is I am walking down a street I have never walked before, and I see Farm Fresh To You boxes neatly stacked on porch waiting for their driver to pick them up. Bumping into Farm Fresh To You customers at your homes is the without a doubt the thing I love most about our work. It makes the produce we grow and the service we provide real – thank you!
It is the season to sit down with loved ones, enjoying each other and giving thanks. For many families, including my own, food makes this list. For this farmer, all of you, my most valuable customers, make this list. I am so thankful for all of you and the support you offer our farm family. You may not know how amazing you are and why I am so thankful for all of you, so here is a short list.
1. You have made a choice to trust us to feed you and your family on a routine basis. The routine part of this is huge. The routine part enables me to make a planting schedule that goes through the year and that I am confident we can sell. The routine part allows us to provide work for our farm team through the year, and it enables us to develop delivery routes that provide stable work for our driving and packing team. Your routine support of our farm (and I mean every delivery) is the backbone of our existence.
2. You are the best supporter of local produce. Every week our team finds the best local selection possible and every delivery you support that selection. When you receive a Farm Fresh To You delivery, you support, dollar for dollar, local and organic produce in a way that you could not do at a retail store, even if you tried.
3. You care about how the food system affects you AND others (even if you don’t know it!). Farm Fresh To You customers know they are getting healthy food, but they may not know they are creating healthy work environments for our family of employees and healthy places to live for the many living things that are part of our farm’s ecosystem.
The second group of people I am thankful for is our family of employees. What we are doing is pretty amazing. We have successfully created a vertically integrated food system, literally from the fields of our farm to the doorsteps of our customers. We could not do this without the talented teams of people that make every part of our food system work in harmony. These folks are of the heart and soul of our company, and I am proud be able to work with them.
