Brad

New Sign.
Grow our tomato plants!
The farm store is fun!

New Farm Sign:  You’ll be seeing a new design at the farm.  Brad re-designed the sign for the farm—or actually designed a sign so we’d have one to put out on the highway.  And as long as he was at it, he used the new design for new business cards.

Tomato Plants are available in 6-packs and individual 4 inch pots.  Since February we've been growing tomato plants for you & the farm. They are ready for transplant--in "EZ-Walls."  See the separate "Day-Star Farm Tomato Varieties and Growing Tips.  Water walls around each plant are the number one secret to planting tomatoes before frost, and actually for helping them thrive & grow well until the nights are 50 degrees and above. We offer "EZ-Walls" water walls--order or get them in the store.  Click here for more info on tomato plant varieties and growing tips: Tomatoes

The Store:  More and more folks have been coming out to our Farm Stand at the farm.  It's been lots of fun to see everyone who's come out, and people get to see where their produce comes from.  We give tours of the greenhouse and gardens--just ask.  Each week, it seems, we're adding more items.  And...the spinach is fantastic!  We just added tomato plants to the inventory, as well as tomato water walls.  Don’t forget to try the grass-fed beef.  Click on the blue links below to take you to the page.

This week's offerings include (but not limited to):

Produce:  All of our produce is grown following organic standards as outlined by CNG.

Tomato, Basil, and Spearmint Plants for your garden
Spring Salad Mix
“Just Lettuce” Mix
Head Lettuce
Spinach Wraps
Cut Spinach
Kale
Rainbow Chard
Cilantro
More…

Bakery:  Brad's Granola (Regular "Roasted Seed & Nut")

Grass-Fed Beef:  Roasts, Steaks, Soup Bones, Liver…

Off Farm: 

Popcorn-Multicolored, Organic
Sesame Seeds, Organic
Redman’s Real Salt
Corn Starch, Organic

Garden Supplies:  Frost Blanket/Row Cover $1.30/ft x 12 ft wide; Tomato Water Walls

Store Hours:  Friday afternoons from 4:00 until 6:00 at the farm.

Ordering: Yes, please order if you can--it helps us know what to harvest, and it reserves your items.  We'll have your order ready for you for pick up during store hours, or delivery.  Just visit our website, and go to the Farm Stand drop-down tab.  Place your order and pay when you pick it up.  You can even order BEFORE you get our weeky farm e-mail.  
 
Deliveries:  We're also going to cut back on home deliveries because of the number of customers we're getting.  If you just can't get out to the farm to pick up your items, then we can deliver (about 5 - 6:30 p.m. Fridays)  but we'll have to add a $1.50 delivery charge.  You can save on this by going together with others and combining your orders.  We will deliver for FREE for orders over $15.  Otherwise, just take a moment and drive out to the country.  If you want delivery, you must select it, as an item, when you're placing your order.  Just look for the antique trucks.

Location:  If you don't know where our farm is, we're actually still in the city limits of Holbrook.  We're the first place on the right after Jim Gray's Rock Shop on HWY 180 driving east.  Or as someone pointed out, our drive is at the 7th telephone pole after the corner.  You can see our 2-story adobe style house to the south side of the highway.  Just turn in the drive and come to the red outbuilding by the white storage unit.

Thanks for supporting local agriculture!  --Brad & Hannah

Please visit our website at www.Day-StarFarm.com.

 The farm store is fun!  Bread of Life residents help out.

The Store:  More and more folks have been coming out to our Farm Stand at the farm.  It's been lots of fun to see everyone who's come out, and people get to see where their produce comes from.  We give tours of the greenhouse and gardens--just ask.  Each week, it seems, we're adding more items.  And...the spinach is fantastic!  We just added tomato plants to the inventory, as well as tomato water walls.

Bread of Life:  BOL sent out a car load of resident volunteers to help with onion planting.  This is a big job and we really appreciated the help.  DSF has been donating much of our surplus produce to BOL since we opened, and it's great to also share some hands-on training with the workers who came out.

This week's offerings include (but not limited to):

Produce:  All of our produce is grown following organic standards as outlined by CNG.

Tomato Plants for your garden
Spring Salad Mix
“Just Lettuce” Mix
Head Lettuce
Spinach Wraps
Cut Spinach
Kale
Rainbow Chard
Cilantro
More…

Bakery:  Brad's Granola (Regular "Roasted Seed & Nut")

Off Farm: 

Popcorn-Multicolored, Organic
Sesame Seeds, Organic
Redman’s Real Salt
Corn Starch, Organic

Garden Supplies:  Frost Blanket/Row Cover $1.30/ft x 12 ft wide; Tomato Water Walls

Store Hours:  Friday afternoons from 4:00 until 6:00

Deliveries:  We're also going to cut back on home deliveries because of the number of customers we're getting.  If you just can't get out to the farm to pick up your items, then we can deliver (about 5 - 6:30 p.m. Fridays)  but we'll have to add a $1.50 delivery charge.  You can save on this by going together with others and combining your orders.  We will deliver for FREE for orders over $15.  Otherwise, just take a moment and drive out to the country.  If you want delivery, you must select it, as an item, when you're placing your order.  Just look for the antique trucks.

Ordering:  You can still place your order online, if you like, and we'll have it ready for you for pick up during store hours, or delivery.  This will actually help us to know how much to harvest, plus ordering will reserve your items.  Just visit our website, and go to the Farm Stand drop-down tab.  Place your order and pay when you pick it up.

Location:  If you don't know where our farm is, we're actually still in the city limits of Holbrook.  We're the first place on the right after Jim Gray's Rock Shop on HWY 180 driving east.  Or as someone pointed out, our drive is at the 7th telephone pole after the corner.  You can see our 2-story adobe style house to the south side of the highway.  Just turn in the drive and come to the red outbuilding by the white storage unit.

Thanks for supporting local agriculture!  --Brad & Hannah

Please visit our website at www.Day-StarFarm.com.

 Head em up!  Move em out!

We have a number of local grass-fed beef cuts now in our store.  Roasts, steaks, liver, soup bones, ribs, and hamburger.

We aren't trying to compete in price with the grocery store.  This is nothing like industrial beef!  It's flavorful, nutrient dense, and humanely raised on a local ranch by a local family.  

Come by our farm store on Friday's to select your beef cuts.  Open each Friday from 4:00 to 6:00 PM.

You can see more about the ranch and the beef on the ranch's website: http://www.milkyranch.com/index.html.   Cuts and prices are listed below.

 Thanks for supporting local agriculture! --Brad

 Dear friends,

Spring is finally here (and the wind.)  Many of our spring greens are ready.  Your past support of Day-Star Farm shows that you care about nutritious, organically raised, locally grown vegetables.  As you may have noticed, we've been experimenting with the best ways to get this food to you: our website, emails, and now our on-site farm store.  A number of people have come out to the farm to get produce, and to see where it comes from.  We’d like to get this spring’s tasty tender greens into your kitchen, and here’s the offer:

• ALL GARDEN SALAD & COOKING & JUICING GREENS ARE HALF-PRICE THIS WEEK—FOR ORDERS PLACED BY WEDNESDAY NIGHT (3-27-13 Midnight).
• THERE IS NO DELIVERY FEE THIS WEEK.  We’ll deliver Friday afternoon or evening; and will still have the store open 4-6 pm Friday.
• COME TO THE STORE TO PICK UP YOUR ORDER, AND YOU’LL GET HALF-OFF THE PRICE OF ANY ADDITIONAL PRODUCE YOU BUY AT THE STORE.  Even if you ordered non-produce items you get half-off produce prices if you come to the store to get your order.  Can’t make it here 4-6 pm Friday?  How about 10-12 Saturday am, for this week?  Write that note on the order and we’ll be here.  Or send a text, 241-0703.
• ORDER THROUGH THIS LINK: Produce.  IF ONLINE ORDERING ISN’T YOUR CUP OF TEA, SEND US AN E-MAIL AND TELL US HOW MUCH OF WHICH ITEMS YOU’D LIKE (first come, first served, and include when you’ll come to the store or if you prefer us to deliver to your home.  It will help you to look at items via the above link so you’ll know the items, weights, and prices ).

We really want to provide the local Holbrook-Joseph City-Snowflake community with high quality food. 

Your support including word-of-mouth sharing is so much appreciated!  --Brad & Hannah

P.S.  Below are some pics from our hoop house.

 Hi agani!

No, that's not me on the horse (I wish.)  That's Traegan Knight and his son bringing 'em in.  We have the opportunity to sell grass fed and finished beef from Milky Ranch, just up the road from us on Hwy 180.  Are you interested??

We would offer their beef for sale at our farm and in our online store.  This is prime, USDA inspected, locally raised and butchered in Snowflake.

We aren't trying to compete in price with the grocery store.  This is nothing like industrial beef!  It's flavorful, nutrient dense, and humanely raised.  You can see more on their website: http://www.milkyranch.com/index.html.  You can see the cuts and prices listed below.

Please let me know if you're interested.  We need to know that there are enough people interested in local grass fed beef before we move on this venture.

 Thanks for supporting local agriculture! --Brad

We did it!  We opened our farm "stand" last week, and thanks to everyone who came out.  It was a good feeling for us to have taken this step, and welcome customers to the farm.  It's a work in progress, but should help us with managing our time and energy.  The store will be open briefly, at first, on Friday afternoons from 4:00 until 6:00 (so long as we have produce.)  Don't expect a full blown store--at least not at first.  :-)  Stay tuned to our email announcements.

As we mentioned last week, we're going to try and focus on Holbrook and the surrounding area this year, instead of splitting our time up by selling in Show Low.  This means more produce for our community.  In addition, we will carry a few items from off the farm such as organic grains, flours, seeds, etc, for your shopping convenience.  You can help us by telling us what you'd like to see us stock.

Deliveries.  We're also going to cut back on home deliveries because of the number of customers we're getting.  If you just can't get out to the farm to pick up your items, then we can deliver (about 5 - 6:30 p.m. Fridays)  but we'll have to add a $5.00 delivery charge.  You can save on this by going together with others and combining your orders.  We will deliver for FREE for orders over $25.  Otherwise, just take a moment and drive out to the country.  If you want delivery, you must select it, as an item, when you're placing your order.  Just look for the antique trucks.

 Orders.  You can still place your order online, if you like, and we'll have it ready for you for pick up during store hours, or delivery.  This will actually help us to know how much to harvest, plus ordering will reserve your items.  Just visit our website, and go to the Farm Stand drop-down tab.  Place your order and pay when you pick it up.

Produce this week:  A variety of salad mixes and greens.

And from the DSF Natural Bakery:  Brad's Granola (Regular "Roasted Seed & Nut")

From the Farm Pantry:  Check out our listings for organic sugar, sesame seeds, Real Salt, and more at below health food store prices.

Garden Supplies:  We're now offering frost blankets, or row cover, for your home garden.

Store Hours: 4:00-6:00 PM Fridays.  Home deliveries are late Friday afternoons-early evening. Please visit our website at www.Day-StarFarm.com.  

Thanks for supporting local agriculture! --Brad and Hannah

Dear Gardeners & Hopeful Gardeners,

Just a reminder that these great classes begin tomorrow--Saturday--at the Navajo County Complex. This is a great opportunity for the Holbrook area! Usually these are all in Snowflake or Show Low. In addition, only $10 each instead of $25. Attend one class or all. All levels of gardeners welcome.

Don't be put off by the word "master."  This is a great opportunity for all of us to learn more about gardening and taking care of our yards.  It will be taught by Jan Mathus, who I know, and I'm sure you will like her as an instructor.  She is a warm hearted individual who currently teaches Botany at a high school in Hopi Land.  Follow this link to see the flyer and learn more about the classes.

http://sfc.smallfarmcentral.com/dynamic_content/uploadfiles/1547/2013%20Gardening%20Workshop.pdf

So if you're at all interested, please take advantage of this rare opportunity in Holbrook to learn more about gardening.

Yours in gardening,

Brad

Hannah and I are making plans for our 2013 growing season and you can help.  We're trying to decide on crops to grow and marketing methods that our customers will most appreciate.  We're hoping to concentrate more on the Holbrook area this year.  Our goal would be to sell all of our produce locally.  I mean locally!  Please forward this email to your friends that are interested in healthy eating, with a personal note of encouragement.  

Please take a few moments and fill out our online questionnaire at 

http://www.day-starfarm.com/form/farm-product-survey

We want to balance convenience for our customers and efficiency for us.  We're looking at opening an on-Farm store, and offereing CSA-type deliveries.  Go to our FAQs on CSAs for more information on what these are:  http://www.day-starfarm.com/csa-faqs

You can learn more about our farm at www.Day-StarFarm.com. (Our online store is currently still closed for the winter.)

Thanks for your help and for supporting local agriculture!  --Brad

What is a CSA?

The USDA defines a CSA as: "Community supported agriculture (CSA) is a direct-to-consumer marketing arrangement that permits household consumers to purchase advance shares of a farm’s production in return for regular (usually weekly) deliveries during the growing season. CSA operations have experienced a dramatic rise in popularity in the United States during the past several years, expanding from an estimated 60 operations in 1990 to approximately 3,600 operations as of mid-2010."

A CSA is like a subscription program for items produced by a local farm and made available to the community.  In brief, you agree to buy a “box” of produce each week from the farm.  Sometimes you can choose what’s in the box, but often times you must accept what the farm has to offer that week.  CSAs are a good way to experiment with different kinds of foods which you may not be familiar with.

Go to the following links for more information on CSAs: Video   Local Harvest    USDA 

Does Day-Star Farm have a CSA?

We are currently evaluating what options, if any, we will offer for 2013.  Please feel free to comment.

Why are CSAs important?

CSAs are important for farms because they allow the farm to plan for a specified number of individuals.  We order seed and natural soil amendments which are expensive.  We have to pay our staff.  Advance payments help us meet these expenses before the produce is actually ready to sell.  Since you have prepaid for your subscription, then you don't have to worry about paying for your deliveries each time.

You can also look at it, if you want, as a gym membership.  People join fitness programs and pay money toward a membership.  This in turn helps to encourage them to exercise so they don't waste their money.  Joining a CSA ensures that you have a steady stream of fresh, naturally grown produce coming into your home on a regular basis--thus helping you and your family to "eat your veggies."

You and your family are supporting local agriculture, and getting good nutrient dense produce.  We depend on you for your support, and you can depend on us!

Make sure your CSA is real.

Not all boxed deliveries are actually CSAs.  Some are businesses that redistribute wholesale produce.   Think about the term “Community Supported Agriculture.”  It’s community members supporting local farmers.  If it comes from far away, it’s not local.  Ask before you buy. 

Day Star Farm in Holbrook, Arizona is a local organic farm. Visit the rest of our site to learn more!