Yokna(patawpha) Bottoms Farm

     As the 2011 Growing Season comes to a successful conclusion with our final CSA distribution the week before Thanksgiving and the Taylor Holiday Parade and Market this Saturday, the Yokna Bottoms Family would like to thank everyone without whom we wouldn’t be here now.  To all of our Shareholders, our Interns, Volunteers, Field-Hands, fellow farmers, chefs, restaurant owners, locavores, Market-goers, friends and family alike, we’d like to extend a hearty Thank You for the love and support we’ve felt during our second season of production here in Lafayette Co.

      We’re greatful for the community we’re part of, and hope to see the 2012 Growing Season develop North Mississippi’s Premiere Farmer’s Market in Oxford.  We also look forward to further serving our CSA Members in new and exciting ways as we lay the foundation for more farmland, increased production, and crops previously unavailable at a local level in Lafayette County.  With our involvement in Gaining Ground, the Sustainibility Institute of Mississippi, we hope to incorporate more sustainable practices on our own farm, and to share these concepts with our community.  Look forward to a myriad of on-farm activities as the season gets underway, including workshops on widely divergent topics ranging from Canning, Drying, and Pickling, Container Gardening, Extending the Growing Season, Local Food Economy, Secrets of the Spice Cabinet, Backyard Poultry, Home Composting, Cooking Classes, and many, many more.

     Please check back regularly as we will be updating our Website weekly with our progress preparing for spring planting throughout this winter.

     In summation, an open letter to our Food Shareholders from Farm Owner and Co-Founder Doug Davis.  Thank you all again.

Warmest Regards,

The Yokna Bottoms Family

Dear Food-Share Holder,

As we come to the end of our second CSA season, the Yokna(Patawpha) Bottoms Farm family would like to express our sincere appreciation for your involvement with and support of our farm.

As of October 31^st, we have distributed 541 points of food per full food-share this season. We distributed food Fridays in Oxford and Saturdays in Taylor 26 weeks in a row. Our level and quality of food production was at the high end of our goals and we are more encouraged than ever that local sustainable food production is a viable economic enterprise for the Oxford area. Based on our distribution and market records, we are estimating that we grew close to 35,000 pounds of food this season on less than two acres of land. All of the credit for this goes to the farmers who grew the food and brought it to distribution and market.

The daily operations of the farm began the 2011 season under the leadership of Daniel Doyle and Taylor Murchison, progressed through the summer with Taylor, and ended the season with the arrival of Montana Stovall, his partner Anne Marie Herrington and their children Indigo (2 years) and Malakai (10 weeks). Taylor is enrolling at the University of Mississippi fulltime in the spring and Montana is going to be the Farm Manager next season while Taylor will continue with the farm in a supporting role. In addition to Daniel, Taylor, and Montana, we have many farmers without who’s hard work we could not have been successful; these include our three interns (Dakota Kolb, Lauren Harrelson, and Ann Marie Schott), twenty work-share farmers from around the country and world—Sean (Ohio), Tori (Massachusetts), Vince (Iowa), Collum (Ireland), Michael (Ireland), Hali (California), Erin (California), Lou (Quebec), Thomas (France), David (Alabama), Nick (Pascagoula), Keeli (Pennsylvania), Jami (New Jersey), Alex (England), Alexe (France), Nicolas (France), Trish (Missouri), Erica (Texas), Paul (Texas), and Ron (Georgia)—and numerous volunteers and part-time farmers (See list in the forthcoming Annual Report). 

In closing, we sincerely hope that you will continue to support the farm with a purchase of a 2012 food-share and encourage anyone interested to also purchase a share. As part of our vision of creating strong communities, Yokna(Patawpha) Bottoms Farm is committed to being a transparent organization. We are preparing a 2011 Report that describes our vision, goals and organizational philosophy, provides an overview of the 2011 season, and discusses our opportunities, challenges, and needs as we move into the future. We hope to have this ready to pass out at our bonus distributions. When you receive your copy, please take a few moments to read through the report and know that we welcome any questions, comments, concerns, or recommendations you may have.

Kind Regards,

Doug Davis

Owner and Cofounder

Yokna(Patawpha) Bottoms Farm, LLC