The Healing Connection Cooperative
Home

Cafe & Bakery

Distribution Services

Farmers & Producers

Internet Cafe

Cooperative

Alternative Healing

Services

What's New

FAQs

Other Links
 
What is CSA?
 
Supporting Farmer Links

 Farmer Info

Processing Kitchen

Educational
Programs

Nutritional
Bulletin Board

Volunteers

Connections Farm Shares

What You Give &
What You Get

It is simple! You purchase a Connections Farm Share in the size that meets your family’s needs. In your share, in addition to a variety of in season vegetables each week, you may choose from a long list of locally produced fruits, baked goods, eggs, honey, herbs, tea, homemade soaps, and other products from members of Connections Local Foods Market. We are currently offering ¼ shares, ½ shares, ¾ shares, or full shares.

Connections Farm Share Type

Amt

¼ Farm Share

$100.00

½ Farm Share

$200.00

¾ Farm Share

$300.00

Full Farm Share

$400.00

To supplement your Connections Farm Shares you may purchase additional items in Connections Local Foods Market for 5% off the shelf price. You may order additional goods through our pre-paid bulk purchase Additional Items Program called Add It!

 

Value Added Shares - Your share can be used to purchase products or services through any participating Connections sponsoring business partner. Includes but not limited to Connections Café & Bakery, Connections Greenhouse & Gardens, Connections Alternative Healing Center, Connections Art Center, Connections Internet Café, and Connections Community Processing Kitchen.

 

You can stop by Connections Local Foods Market to make your purchases or you can choose to have your share delivered to your door for a reasonable fee. In addition, you can opt to pick it up at one of several farm or farmers market locations along our distribution routes. Your fees can be automatically deducted from your Connections Farm Share or paid to the delivery person at time of delivery.

 

As you become more used to this way of “shopping,” you will find yourself becoming more connected to the cycles and circumstances affecting the way food grows. You may find yourself asking: How much rain have we had this week? How warm is it? To get broccoli in September, when do the seedlings need to be transplanted? What kind of equipment do farmers use to grow vegetables on a larger scale? As farmers, we are constantly asking and finding answers to these questions, and we love to talk with you about what we do.

 

We also like to hear your ideas and suggestions; we need to hear them so that we can continue to meet your needs. By the same token, we ask that you base your suggestions on a realistic view of what we do as growers. You cannot expect more of us than our resources can sustain, and we cannot demand more of your resources than you can give. In short, we promise you a fair share of what we produce, in exchange for a fair share of the financial resources you can offer.

 

By becoming a member of Connections Farm Shares, you get a season-long share of fresh, healthy vegetables, plus any additional items you choose. However, you get more than that; you have an opportunity to get to know the people who raise your food, you allow them to keep supporting themselves by raising food, and in doing so you secure your food supply. Finally, you get our commitment that, as a group of growers, we will do all we can to supply you the highest-quality, best-raised products possible.

 

In exchange for this, you give a financial or an in-kind contribution. However, you will have the opportunity to give more, as well. You might contribute a favorite recipe for our newsletter. You might donate to our Share Partners fund to enable people with fewer resources to receive Connections Shares. You might have a great idea for our annual shareholder dinner. You might just be around for a nice chat as we deliver your share some summer evening.

 

We invite you to look at our share offerings and our programs, and choose a share that fits your family’s needs. Please do not hesitate to call us if you have any questions, and we look forward to spending another growing season as your farmers.

A List of What You Can Expect from Your Connections Farm Share

Ø      A variety of products including, fresh, hand-tended vegetables each week

Ø      An educational newsletter

Ø      A website featuring nutritional information as well as a listing of current products

Ø      The opportunity to save on bulk purchases through Add It! - That is, order bulk supplies through the Additional Items programs

Ø      Delivery of your share to a place you choose for a reasonable fee

Ø      A friendly, helpful delivery person

Ø      A chance for your children to participate in our Greenhouse Programs

Ø      A warm welcome when you visit our farms

Ø      Farmers - us! - Available to answer your questions

Ø      Our best efforts in your behalf

Ø      Fair price for your shares

Ø      Our friendship

Ø      Your share can be used to purchase items from one or any of our participating local farms

The concept of Connections Farm Shares is based on the model of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), which sets out to close the gap between those folks who buy food and those who grow it. Through the CSA model, consumers and farmers develop a relationship which, in most cases exceeds a purely business agreement and develops into a friendship. Because of this relationship, a new way of business interaction is put into place. The farmers are "supported" by the consumers who are using their products and the consumers are "supported" as well through a constant, secure, and healthy stream of foods and other products directly from the farms where they are grown, raised, and produced.

What makes CSA different from other buyer/seller arrangements is the dialog between parties that is created through the intentional development of a direct relationship. Farmers and consumers are able to not only know each other, but are positioned to be able to actually talk about the issues surrounding the food being exchanged. As a result, farmers become directly aware of the needs and desires of the consumers using their products and the consumers are enlightened and sensitized to what it takes the farmers to produce their foods.

Issues of quality, quantity, availability, costs, delivery, and many others are all addressed because of intentionally creating a direct connection between farmers and consumers. As this relationship grows and strengthens, solutions are found to issues, which, in conventional systems are never discussed by the concerned parties. In conventional food systems, farmers are never consulted on a price for their goods and consumers have no information which gives them any insights as to where or how their food is grown, how it was handled prior to their purchase nor do they control what they pay for items.

Connections Farm Shares is set up to create an environment which allows farmers to make a living growing good tasting, healthy, nutritious foods for people in the communities in which they live. It is also designed to allow consumers within the communities of central Maine to purchase these locally grown foods at a fair price and have them delivered fresh from the fields where they were grown.

 

Want more Information?
Contact: President, Annette Marin  @ 207-364-1080