January 2023
Dear FARMily! First, I want to say a BIG THANK YOU!!! to all of our amazing members who have made this first week of "Open Enrollment" such a success! We have sold so many registrations that we only have less than 70 memberships left for Spring and less than 100 for Summer. Don't miss out...but first, read on because there's a lot to talk about!
Can you believe that we are almost to February already!? Boy, how the time absolutely flies by
in a blink of the eye! Well, that's ok for us because we have taken advantage of every waking moment of our January to make it the best 2023 we have ever had!
That's right, this is our 9th CSA season and as the farm stands today, the farm has never been this ready and prepared for the year!! Last year we had a nursery failure killing
nearly all of our plants which made us have to completely start over. We also went into February with about 25% open growing areas and weeds GALORE! This year we will enter February 100% planted, 100% weeded and 100% cleaned and prepared for 2023!
In addition to that, which would be enough!, so far this January, I (Yosef) got a brand new office, the Administration team got a new office makeover, the Microgreen Center received a new floor, the barn got cleaned, fencing got repaired, our sheds have gotten cleaned, the connex's and the tool sheds organized, the new indoor-market got built, the Nursery got converted back and is filling up...and that's just the infrastructure!
The management team has also been putting it in high-gear too! From planning our event calendar of 70 events to doing seed inventories, product ordering and managing schedules, getting our 2023 Farmer's Market vendors managed and events planned, launching our Spring & Summer registrations, finances and more!
So much has been done so far this year, and we are so prepared for this season that I believe, with all my heart, that it is going to be a very special year. Perhaps , G-d willing, one of the best we've ever had, and I couldn't be more grateful for my team and all of our volunteers and community members who have pulled together to get this year off to an amazing start!
HERE'S TO A WONDERFUL START TO 2023!
WE L❤️VE OUR COMMUNITY!
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Weekly Update Video w/ Yosef
There's a lot to talk about this week in the weekly update from Yosef. Feel free to skip to the parts in the video you prefer:
0:01 - Intro
0:24 - Thank You!
3:05 - Over 70 Events are planned for 2023!!
3:46 - CSA Dates. Be ready! Coming up!
4:03 - Preseason Meeting, JANUARY 30TH @ 6PM!
5:04 - Indoor, Heated Farmer's Market!
6:49 - Outro
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Ahavah Community Upcoming Schedule
👉February 3rd @ 11am: FAMILY FRIENDLY! Ahavah Community INDOOR Winter Market
👉February 3rd @ 11am: KIDS CLASS! All tied up with Bar UC!
👉February 5th @ 11am: JEWISH HOLIDAY! Celebrate & Learn about the Jewish Holiday of Tu B'Shvat (⭐Registration is required for this free event - please email manager@ahavahfarm.com)
👉February 10th @ 11am: FAMILY FRIENDLY! Ahavah Community INDOOR Winter Market
👉February 10th @ 11am: KIDS ACTIVITY! Painting with Tess!
👉February 17th @ 11am: FAMILY FRIENDLY! Ahavah Community INDOOR Winter Market
👉February 17th @ 11am: KIDS ACTIVITY! Story Time and Activity!
👉February 19th @ 9:30am: FAMILY FRIENDLY! Open House Volunteer Day
👉February 24th @ 10am: TOUR! Winter Farm Tour.
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Preseason Meeting!
🚨ATTENTION WINTER MEMBERS! Don't miss our pre-season meeting on Monday, January 30th @ 6pm in the Ahavah Community Group on Facebook (click here to join).
If you are not currently a member of our community group we encourage you to join, however, this video will be sent out after the meeting so it will not be missed.
The meeting should last no longer than 45 minutes, although I am hoping to keep it at 30 or less. We will be covering the season details for Winter 2023 - keep an eye on your e-mail as this information will be coming to your inbox this week!
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🚨NO RAISED PRICES SINCE 2019!🚨
For 4 years in a row we have not raised prices. Even in the midst of the current skyrocketing of food prices all around us, we have felt it very difficult to us and unfair to pass this on to our members.
"Our mission is to provide health to our region, healing to our earth and love to our community by growing the purest and most environmentally responsible food available."
Whenever we make a major decision we always ensure that it follows our mission, and raising prices doesn't seem to fit our model of loving our community, especially if there are still areas where we can improve. Therefore, we have decided to NOT RAISE PRICES IN 2023! Instead of raising prices we will be focusing on changing our schedules, increasing efficiency, increasing our programming and capitalizing on areas of opportunity. Hitting our budget will be difficult, and if we need to pivot, we will let you know later down the line, but as of right now, NO RAISED PRICES🤯!!
🙏PS. This ONLY works with YOUR support. Please spread the word and help us sell-out so we can continue to maintain this as long as possible!
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Ahavah Community Market
Every Friday from 11am to 1pm starting February 3rd!
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Come Celebrate & Learn the Jewish Holidays With Ahavah Farm and Rabbi Eddie Shapiro!
We are excited about starting a new series of events with our dear friend Rabbi Eddie Shapiro. This year we are hoping to include as many of the Jewish holidays as possible. The events will be short and sweet, free and, of course, family-friendly. Tailored towards children, our events will be great for the whole family!
Our first Jewish holiday event will be Tu B'Shvat, the New Year of the Trees! We will have a kids activity and lesson and we will have some 7-species snacks! We hope to see you there!
Tu B'Shvat Celebration
Sunday, February 5th @ 10am
FREE!
Please let us know you will be coming by e-mailing Leah at manager@ahavahfarm.com
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Did You Know?
DID YOU KNOW that "Ahavah" means "Love" in Hebrew?
As most of you know, the name of our farm, "Ahavah," means "Love," but that's the English translation. So what does "Ahavah" actually mean and why did we name our farm this?
For many of us, when we say, "Ahavah means love" (which we say a lot),
the idea that some conjure up immediately is an emotional, lovey-dovey, warm and fuzzy feeling of affection - and we get this reaction all the time: "Oh, that's so nice," we often hear, and I can immediately see in their heads that they are "feeling" the word, as opposed to "visualizing" the word and it's intended meaning.
So what is the intended meaning? The HEBREW word "Ahavah" or 'love" means "to serve, to be kind and to give." This is the literal meaning of the word for love and it is broken up in the following manner: the word "ahav" literally means "to give" while the word "ahavah" literally means "I give." Imagine for a moment that when you kissed your children goodnight, or share a moment with your spouse, or tell a friend "I love you" that what you really meant was "I give of myself to you and will sacrifice my life for yours." This is the true meaning behind what the word Ahavah means and what Ahavah Farm stands for. When we say, "Ahavah Farm" what we really mean is "Giving of Ourselves Farm" but that just doesn't have the same ring to it 🙂 .
As Jews, our family is called first and foremost to "be ahavah": givers of ourselves. To be kind, to be generous, to be uplifting and encouraging, to serve others, to make a difference in people's lives, to be stewards of our earth and to our environment. If this is our family's mission, shouldn't it be the mission of everything in our lives as well ...even this farm?
We believe that nothing is ours, not even our own bodies, our time or our money...not even this farm 🙂! We believe that the earth was lent to us by an awesome Creator and it doesn't belong to us as individuals to do with it as we please. It is not my right to mine our land destructively for resources, litter our land, waste our resources or squander our health. It is not my right to treat animals without care, love and compassion. In fact, did you know that we (Jews) are required, in the Torah (the Bible) to feed our animals before we feed ourselves? This is the level of service and responsibility we are called to and it is a message that we try to drive home to our children on a daily basis: Kindness and sacrificial love, "Ahavah," is the most important thing in life!There is a concept in Judaism called "Tikkun Olam": Repairing the world.
It's a concept that shouldn't just be for us, but for all of humanity - whether you believe in a higher power or not. It's not just about the earth itself, though this is a huge part of it. It's about repairing our communities, our environment and our souls and relationships. To not just have a "feeling" towards these things, but to live them out in action, every single day and with every decision of our lives.
So if you say that you "love" something, then you have just called yourself to action: to DO something for and about it - for to love something is to give yourself to it.
THIS is what our farm is called to. THIS is what our family is called to. THIS is what every member of our amazing farm crew and team are called to. WE are called to bring kindness, sacrifice, service and giving to our world, to our communities, to our earth and to our own bodies and health - it's the meaning and purpose of life: to serve and to love in a real and tangible way. This is the real meaning of the name "Ahavah Farm" and we are very proud of that mission and we hope you are too!
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🚨*NEW* - Updated Membership Benefit's🚨
We are SOOO excited to announce our new membership benefits for Auto-Renewal Members and for Non-Auto-Renewal Members! There is a one-time membership fee for all NEW Auto-Renewal members. (All CURRENT Auto-Renewal members will be grandfathered in indefinitely with no membership fee.)
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Applications open February 1st for 8 weeks of FREE, local vegetables from Ahavah Farm!
Ahavah Community Initiative's applications for a free SPRING CSA membership opens on February 1st and closes on March 1st. Do not miss this opportunity. All accepted applications include:
🥕Free Veggie-Share CSA Membership (8 weeks of fresh, local vegetables)
🥕Free and discounted classes
🥕Free garden plants if requested.
🥕All membership discounts.
🥕Free delivery available on request.
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🚨🏷️Updated discounts for CSA shares!🏷️🚨
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🚨Easy & Flexible Payment Plans!🚨
🥕Introducing Paypal "Pay Later" options on the website! These are no-credit check, interest-free online payment plans so you can make 4 smaller payments directly through Paypal. Ahavah Farm benefits as well by paid immediately, thereby providing the farm liquidity, while giving our members flexibility and ease of mind!
🥕We also still have FLEXIBLE and CUSTOMIZABLE offline pay plans in place if you would prefer to make payments via check. Please email us at contact@ahavahfarm.com if you would like more information on offline payment plan and to set up your payment schedule.
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🚨Got SNAP? Save 50% Off Automatically!🚨
🥕If you receive EBT (aka SNAP) you will receive 50% off of your membership automatically!
In addition, all extra veggies sold at the market or the CSA locations and also all nursery plant starts are also 50% off when paying with SNAP!
Follow these steps to purchase your SNAP membership 👉
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🚨Registration for BOTH Spring & Summer Veggie-Shares is NOW OPEN.🚨
Open enrollment is now open and there are limited shares available!
Less than 70 shares remain for the Spring season and less than 100 shares are available for Summer, so go now to www.ahavahfarm.com/csa and register before all the spots are gone!!
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