04/15/2025
Eggs all summer!
Greetings Star Grass customers.
Please note, our web address has changed slightly. Going forward please use stargrassfarm.square.site
I never quite know how much to share with you all about the happenings around the farm. Way back when I used to write a weekly newsletter for the CSA farm that I managed, I always felt a little uneasy sharing a full accounting of the machinations of the farm. Mostly because there is always something going awry on most farms in a given week of the year and since we all get enough bad news already, why add to the pile?? However, some of the unease comes from not really knowing how much people want to know about how the sausage is made, so to speak. Sometimes though, an insurmountable problem arises and I feel it is important to share. When our well became unusable, this was indeed bad news for us and created a problem for the farm that impacted every aspect of what we do, both immediately and for the long term. Since this affects us, it also may have some impact on you. You probably know already that growing food for our tables is a water intensive endeavor. And since most of you purchase your water from a utility, you may also understand that purchasing water from a rural utility makes the cost of growing that food too high for our farm. In short, what this means is Star Grass Farm will need to pivot away from producing food that requires large amounts of supplemental water. Unfortunately, that means we won't be producing many or most of the vegetable and fruit crops you've come to expect from us. Our famers market stand this year will again be at the Ames Main Street Farmers Market, although we will mostly just have eggs for sale along with the occasional veggie crops. We will still produce some crops like tomatoes using our high tunnels, but will need to focus on crops that require much less water and re-think what our farm could look like going forward. The good news is that producing eggs does not require lots and lots of water, so that part of our business will persist and will also need to grow. We'll focus on continuing to produce "some of the best damn eggs in the state" by feeding high quality feed and consistently moving our flocks on to greener pastures. We have tried to produce not just good, but really great eggs for you and your family and we hope you notice the difference.
This year, we'll have three different options for you to purchase a share of our eggs. Over the winter we billed customers half of the share cost at the time of purchase and the other half at the mid point of the season. It worked great because it provided a way for us to help gauge our seasonal demand while also allowing for some flexibility if a customer's needs changed or if we'd have had something interrupt our production. We'll do the same for the upcoming Egg Share season with half due by April 27th, 2025 and the other half billed July 20th, 2025.
Your 3 options for Egg Share this year are:
- Purchase a Market Egg Share (24 dozen) for $175 and receive one dozen of our farm fresh pastured eggs each week at the Ames Main Street Farmers Market, from Saturday May 3rd, 2025, to Saturday October 11th, 2025. No need to worry about eggs selling out before you get to market. Your share will be there to pick up whenever you get to the market. Purchase multiple shares if you would like more than one dozen per week.
Of course, customers that would rather get eggs as needed, but want to ensure they are at the market when they get there, can always order online for pick up at the market.
- Employees of Iowa DHHS can purchase a Lucas Egg Share for $190 and will receive two dozen eggs every other week, delivered to the Lucas building Tuesdays from May 6th, 2025 to October 7th, 2025.
- All customers will be able to purchase a Home Delivery Egg Share for $215.00. Home Delivery Egg Share (24 dozen) customers will receive two dozen eggs every other week, delivered Tuesdays from May 6th, 2025 to October 7th, 2025.
As always....
All customers can always order 5 dozen or more eggs as needed for home delivery any time through the website. Remember, orders of 5 dozen or more include delivery at no extra charge!
If you'd like to purchase two or more dozen at a time and don't mind picking up from the farm, reach out via text or email and we'll arrange a time for you to pick up.
Many thanks to you!!
Order shares anytime between now and April 27th!!!
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