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 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 other plants and sell many heirloom varieties to interested parties. We sell these plants at farmers' market, direct to consumer or via local outlets. We do not ship plants. 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. 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. In short, this is a built in insurance program for the farmer. This is important since there are no reasonable insurance programs for growers of our type. If you wish to visit other sites regarding the CSA concept, check our links page. What is the growing season for GFF? Our growing season has expanded over the years. the "normal" regular season begins with onion, leek and spice transplants in February. Deliveries of our regular season CSA usually end the last week of October. We have learned to expand our harvest into December and are looking to expand harvest forward into April.
How do I get my weekly share of produce? We have three pick up locations each week during the regular season. We have one pick up location for the extended seasons. The regular season uses a 'bulk' or 'menu' style distribution. Labels will indicate how much of each thing you may take. Extended season will be more of a 'box' style of delivery, where the produce is already divided up among subscribers. 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 new drop off locations at this time. Deliveries occur on Monday at the farm, Tuesday at the Waverly Farmers' Market and Thursday at Roots in Cedar Falls. Visit our CSA Primer and you can learn more! The first step is usually to contact us and see if an opening is available. 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. Yet another reason for pre-season payment is the likelihood that we will not have the time to handle billing once the growing season really gets going. The only time we have significant chunks of time to do this is before the growing season really gets going. 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 standard) 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 arrive. 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! We also try to maintain recipe pages and share information in our weekly CSA emails. 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 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 since 2007 and have been awarded certification each year. All fields completed their transition years by 2009. So, all produce coming from our farm is certified organic! So, the short answer is "yes." What if I forget to pickup my share? First, we ask that you remember to call us if it is the day of distribution and you think you will be late. Call - don't assume we will drive away. If we know you are on the way, we'll slow ourselves down and be there when you arrive! We'd rather you got your produce than leave it with us. 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. We participated in a study in 2006 that indicated CSA's (including ours) provide a higher dollar value of produce for the same amount if you purchased from a grocery store. And, this comparison was with non-organic, non-local produce. 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 when we are able. 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 a majority of those who have joined the CSA (both past and present members). How many shares are available each year? We would like to subscribe 120 shares in 2011. There were 59 in 2008, 42 in 2007 and we had an 85% return rate of customers from 2006. Evidence from prior years indicates to us that we might be able to sustain 180-200 members with our production capacity. However, we do not wish to overcommit, so we will remain conservative in our estimates. 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 a 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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| 2/09/11 updated | most photos copyright by L.E.Bartel
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