This year, Homestead Creamery is working with Good Food For Good People to supply us with local vegetables and fruit. As promised, the first delivery of vegetables was this week. The items that were delivered looked and tasted good.
Vegetable Delivery 31 May 2011
Terri Davis contracted with Sausser farms to sell vegetables to Homestead Creamery, but she wasn’t paid and took the Saussers to court.
The court date was June 28th, and Paul and Samantha Sausser didn’t even show up. The judge ordered the Saussers to pay over $5,000.
Paul Sausser said they didn’t go to court because they don’t believe in suing. According to Paul Sausser, if you sue someone, you’ll go to hell.
As usual, Paul Sausser had an excuse for not honoring his contract. He claimed that Homestead Creamery hadn’t paid him all they promised to pay; therefore, he couldn’t pay his contractor.
I have 2 questions for Paul Sausser. Do you also go to hell if you swindle 6,000 people out of $210,000 (stealing)? Do you go to hell if you make promises you know you can’t keep (false promises)?
The article also states that the Saussers plan to close “a bunch” of their stands for the next 3 weeks. They’re planning to let the most recent crop grow, and hopefully, they’ll have enough vegetables to supply the stands when they reopen.
What happened to all of the potatoes? What grows well in the August heat?
The article also mentioned a CSA near the Saussers and listed the produce they supplied to their shareholders this week.
The Lynchburg News & Advance has the story.
Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
I received an [e-mail](http://hosted.marketingcenter.intuit.com/18111/57aa937490/5401107/f7179a3de3/) from Sausser Farms stating that they’re harvesting potatoes, and the Roanoke and Lynchburg shares will consist of 5lbs of potatoes this week. I guess Homestead Creamery missed out on the potatoes this week.
The email’s posted below:
Hello Sausser Farms Members,
This e-mail is for those of you in the Lynchburg and Roanoke areas.
There will be no survey this week. This week we will have lots of potatoes. Our plan is to bag them in 5 pound increments and hopefully every share will be able to get 5 pounds. If you bought two shares, then we hope to be able to give you 10 pounds.
And depending if we are able to harvest any additional items this week, we will have some of them available as well. But the big thing is the potatoes, because once we start harvesting them we only have a limited time to get them to market so potatoes are our focus right now.
Hours for Friday:
Forest, Lynchburg: 10-Noon (or until supplies last) and 3-6 (or until supplies last).
Roanoke: 9-3 (or until supplies last).
Hours for Saturday
Myers & Rhodes in Lynchburg: 9-3 (or until supplies last).
Roanoke: 9-3 (or until supplies last).
SPECIAL ORDERS
If you would like to make a special order request, please call Samantha at the farm and let her know what you are looking for and which day you would like to pick them up. The number is 434-542-5957.
Pick Your Own At The Farm
We want to thank those of you who have come out to the farm to pick your own produce and to volunteer in helping us pick. It has been great to meet you and your help is very much appreciated. If anyone else wants to come out to the farm and pick their own or volunteer pick, please feel free to come any day but Sunday. You may want to call ahead just in case.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
We especially want to thank you for your continued support despite the challenges we have faced. Those of you who have been so forgiving and merciful to us, we can’t thank you enough for the grace you have extended to us. You are a light in a dark world!
And despite the challenges, the criticisms, and the threats, we will continue to plant, harvest and deliver to the best of our ability until the season is over.
Thank you,
Sausser Farms
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Sausser Farms
9175 Patrick Henry Hwy
Phenix, Virginia 23959
One of the Sausser Farms tomatoes we received from Homestead Creamery that looked okay, but actually wasn’t.
The End of the Tomato
the inside
Option A box
We only received 1 Sausser Farms vegetable box from Homestead Creamery this week. It included a tomato that was already rotten on the bottom, another tomato that’s mushy, 1 zucchini that’s mushy at the top, several very hard squash, and some withered purple basil.
We signed up to buy one 5lb Option A box and one 5lb Option B box each week.
Option A is supposed to be a combination of potatoes, tomatoes, onions, squash, and herbs.
Option B is supposed to be a combination of cucumbers, egg plant, greens, string/pole beans, broccoli, and zucchini.
When signing up for the Sausser Farms Co-op, I was told that I’d get 12 ears of corn each week during corn season. Homestead Creamery stated that their vegetables would include 12 ears with each share box, too.
There was a notice on the [Sausser Farms website](http://www.sausserfarms.com “Sausser Farms”) stating that we won’t get any corn this year because the corn crop died due to the heat and the lack of rain.
The corn is toast! The high heat and lack of rain have put an end to the corn. We had to plow under 15 acres of corn. While we use drip irrigation on just about all of our other produce, we don’t with the corn. We are extremly dissapointed about losing all that corn.
It has been hot and dry, but some local farmers have had corn. Magnolia Market in Buena Vista [announced on July 2nd](http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=135337883146115&ref=ts#!/group.php?gid=110242532321363&v=wall&story_fbid=139765782702371&ref=mf “Magnolia Market”) that a local had dropped off some corn. [This week](http://blogs.roanoke.com/sosalem/2010/07/14/lots-of-fresh-produce-on-the-salem-farmers-market/), local farmers at the Salem Farmers Market have sweet corn available. Several local farmers had sweet corn available at the Roanoke Farmers market on [July 1st](http://www.facebook.com/pages/Roanoke-VA/The-Historic-City-Market/42393313870#!/video/video.php?v=898989959813&ref=mf). The Charlottesville city market has had corn since at least [June 24th](http://www.facebook.com/pages/Charlottesville-VA/Charlottesville-City-Market/90079662898). An [article in the Madison County Eagle](http://www2.madison-news.com/mce/news/local/article/mc_farmers_fight_weather/58233/#When:19:00:19Z) on July 15th said that “the corn still looks beautiful and soy beans do too.”
It sounds like Sausser Farms’ corn was planted late. If they were planning to provide us with corn each week of the corn season, shouldn’t they have staggered their plantings?
According to an [article at N.C. State](http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/plymouth/cropsci/docs/late_planted_corn.html), the period from July 1st to July 20th is most likely to be dry and hot in Virginia and North Carolina, and corn should be planted so that silking occurs at least a week after this period.
Long-term weather records show that the period from 1 July to 20 July is the most likely to experience lower rainfall amounts, higher average temperatures, and high humidity. Therefore, late-planted corn should be planted so that silking occurs at least a week after the end of this period. When using an early maturing hybrid, growers should plant from 10 June until 25 June to avoid this period and still have a reasonable harvest date. After 25 June, the reduced number of growing degree days will result in a severe delay in harvest with an increasing chance of freeze damage before the crop matures.
We received 2 vegetable boxes from Homestead Creamery, but they only charged us for one, because the quality and selection of vegetables they received from Sausser Farms weren’t all that great.
We signed up to buy one 5lb Option A box and one 5lb Option B box each week.
Option A is supposed to be a combination of potatoes, tomatoes, onions, squash, and herbs.
Option B is supposed to be a combination of cucumbers, egg plant, greens, string/pole beans, broccoli, and zucchini.
I went to the Roanoke Farmer’s Market this morning hoping that I could pick up my vegetable share today from Sausser Farms. The Sausser Farms representative was there, but there was also a fairly long line that never seemed to move.
We were asked to fill out a survey indicating which box of vegetables we wanted by 4pm the day before we planned to pickup our vegetables and to bring it with us. I did so, but the the vegetables weren’t boxed. The Sausser Farms representative was weighing each customer’s choices, which really slowed the whole process down.
I don’t understand why we’re asked to complete a survey if they’re not planning to pack the boxes. It’s not like they aren’t able to pack the boxes, because they already provide packed boxes of vegetables to Homestead Creamery. The pre-packaged boxes would really speed up the line.
My wife wanted to eat lunch before she went to work today, so I couldn’t wait in line any longer, but the day wasn’t a total loss. I bought some sausage, bacon, and a boston butt from [Sandy River Pork](http://www.sandyriverpork.com/content/pages/products.php “Sandy River Pork Website”)
Sandy River Hot Pork Sausage
Sandy River Pork's Bacon
Sandy River Pork Boston Butt
We received 2 vegetable boxes from Homestead Creamery, but they only charged us for one, because the quality and selection of vegetables they received from Sausser Farms weren’t all that great.
We signed up to buy one 5lb Option A box and one 5lb Option B box each week.
Option A is supposed to be a combination of potatoes, tomatoes, onions, squash, and herbs.
Option B is supposed to be a combination of cucumbers, egg plant, greens, string/pole beans, broccoli, and zucchini.
In addition to getting vegetables delivered from Homestead Creamery, I paid $35 for a share in Sausser Farms CSACo-op, which was supposed to result in 5lbs of vegetables a week for 24 weeks, and they were supposed to have a presence at the Salem Farmers Market.
They haven’t opened at the Salem Farmers Market. Their website says they plan to open in Salem in July, but I’m not holding my breath.
That means the Roanoke Farmers Market is the closest location. The first time I went there, the Sausser Farms Rep wasn’t there, so I left, ate breakfast, came back 2 hours later, and their stall was still empty. The second time I went, the rep was there; however, there was a very long line of people with Sausser Farms cards in their hands, and the only thing the rep had left was cabbage at 10:45 in the morning.
Since then Sausser Farms has reduced its Lynchburg and Roanoke hours and is now requiring customers who pick up their vegetables in Lynchburg and Roanoke to select a prepackaged box.
This week, the [choices](http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HLGJPSP “Sausser Farms Choices for weekend of 7/2-7/3”) are:
*Okra and Tomatoes are still in limited supply. We will do our best to fill all requests.
I just received an [e-mail](http://hosted.marketingcenter.intuit.com/18111/bb22980fe0/5401107/f7179a3de3/ “e-mail from Sausser Farms”) from Sausser Farms that those of us who pick up our vegetables in Roanoke are now required to pay $1 per cardboard box that the vegetables come in, but we’ll get an extra pound of vegetables. So, this is really a price increase of 53%.
I don’t need another pound of squash, zucchini, or pickling cucumbers. Can I bring my own bag, dump 5lbs of vegetables in my bag, leave the box, and skip the $1 fee?
The email has been pasted below in case the link stops working.
Please read this if you need help with the survey.
I've received some e-mails that some people are having some challenges with the survey. I don't know that would cause these issues, but I can tell you that the majority of people are able to access the survey and fill it out.
Below are some suggestions that might be helpful:
You completed the survey, but hit the Done button prior to printing. Go back in and fill out the survey again and hit Print under the File menu of your browser and then hit done.
For some reason the link is not working for you. Try the following:
Close your browser and then reopen it and try again.
Delete your Temporary Internet Files and clear your History
Try Firefox instead of Explorer or vice-versa
Type it directly into your browswer: http://www. surveymonkey. com/s/HLGJPSP (Please notice that I put a space after each period, so be sure to remove the spaces.) Or go to SurveyMonkey.com and then add /s/HLGJPSP to the Web address.
Survey Monkey is asking for a user name and password. I have not clue why it would do that. I've tried it and it doesn't ask me. Possible solutions:
Delete your Temporary Internet Files and clear your History
Delete your Temporary Internet Files and clear your History
Try Firefox instead of Explorer or vice-versa
Type it directly into your browswer: http://www. surveymonkey. com/s/HLGJPSP (Please notice that I put a space after each period, so be sure to remove the spaces.)
FYI...I was told there might be a $1.00 box deposit but along with that you will be getting 6 pounds of produce instead of 5. The fee is regardless of whether or not you give the box back at the time of pick up or not. I am sorry, I meant to mention that in the first e-mail, but forgot.
I know the Pick-Your-Share option is not ideal for many of you and filling out the survey is a pain. I wish we didn't have to do it either, but something needs to be tried so that things can improve. TRUST ME, I FEEL YOUR PAIN AND THEN SOME!
And please remember I simply do not have the ability to respond to every individual e-mail. It is not that I don't want, it is that I don't have the time.
Doing the best I can to help the Saussers and the members out,
Chris
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Sausser Farms
9175 Patrick Henry Hwy
Phenix, Virginia 23959
This week we received 2 vegetable boxes from Homestead Creamery. It’s the first week we’ve received 2, and it’s the first week that I’ve received any tomatoes, herbs, egg plant, and non-pickling cucumbers.
The only other items we’ve received so far this season are cabbage, carrots, one mess of wax beans, one beet, and lots of pickling cucumbers, squash, and zucchini. Some weeks the squash and zucchini look like they should have been picked a week or two earlier.
They purchase their vegetables from Sausser Farms, and so far, the vegetables haven’t met my or Homestead Creamery’s expectations.
We signed up to buy one 5lb Option A box and one 5lb Option B box each week.
Option A is supposed to be a combination of potatoes, tomatoes, onions, squash, and herbs.
Option B is supposed to be a combination of cucumbers, egg plant, greens, string/pole beans, broccoli, and zucchini.
More and more people across the country are being treated to something delicious as they find a burgeoning variety of fresh dairy products made in small batches on little farms and in small creameries. The taste is worth the extra money.
These operations are turning cow, goat or sheep milk into simple, straightforward foods like crème fraîche, butter, buttermilk, ice cream, puddings, custards, yogurt, yogurt-based sauces and yogurt drinks. Many of these dairies also sell unhomogenized, and in a few cases even unpasteurized, milk with an old-fashioned farmhouse flavor.
Read (New York Times)
Here in Salem, we’ve had home delivery service from Homestead Creamery for about 9 months. In addition to milk, they make their own butter and ice cream. My kids love the white and chocolate milk, and the ice cream is delicious. Our household has gone from drinking less than a gallon of milk a week to 2-3 gallons each week. I wish Homestead Creamery also made cheese and yogurt.
Franklin County’s Homestead Creamery is hoping to revive the old-time tradition of milkmen and is banking on a new generation of customers, many of whom are increasingly busy and picky about where their food comes from, to buy into their new home delivery service.
In June, the company launched the service as a trial run, targeting a handful of suburban neighborhoods with a door-to-door flier advertising campaign and dispatching one truck to make daily rounds.
It’s currently serving neighborhoods in Roanoke, Franklin and Botetourt counties and areas around Smith Mountain Lake. Homestead has collected nearly 250 customers and hopes to snag another 200 or so in early October when a second truck starts.
The second truck’s addition to the company’s delivery operation will allow Homestead Creamery to expand its service to the entire Roanoke Valley including Roanoke and the surrounding counties.
The 5-year-old company plans to add two more trucks to its delivery fleet in the spring and hopes to serve 1,500 to 1,600 customers by next fall.
Deliveries arrive once a week. Each truck needs to serve 80 – 100 customers each day and average $15 in sales per customer to be profitable.
[Read](http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/84770 “Read the Story”) (Roanoke Times)
Once they start serving our neighborhood, we’ll definitely take advantage of the service. I guess I’m showing my age when I say that I can remember to milkman making deliveries to our house when I was a kid.