Our sisters north of the border are providing some good examples of farm ingenuity.
Take Ruth Klahsen, who’s making a go out of what may be Canada’s first cheese CSA.
According to The Locavore, aka Sarah Elton of the CBC’s Here & Now, Klahsen chose the CSA route after the lease ran out on her Monforte Dairy cheese-making facility in Stratford, Ontario.
So instead of raising money for a new spot, she’s selling shares in cheese futures. Subscribers will get cheese for five years, starting in 2010 when Klahsen is up and running.
The pitch for subscriptions goes like this:
By participating, you’re helping establish a business model that should spearhead meaningful growth in micro-production, making it a more viable way of life for farmers and shepherds while providing consumers with higher quality products.
Excellent idea.
I’m surprised this is the first like this. I’ll be on the hunt for a similar operation in the U.S.
Virtual Farmgirl 
Hi Farmgirl, thanks for including Monforte in your blog. We are receiving a steady flow of subscriptions and very grateful for everyone of them. The groundswell of support is humbling. Seems people really do want to have more control over the way their food is produced. And as we believe, every one of them is an agent of change. If you’d like updates of our progress this year, send me an email maureen@monfortedairy.com, best regards, Maureen/Monforte Dairy
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Dear Farmgirl, There is a website that offers cheese from future milkings of a small herd of cows &/or goats. A variation on the futures market. http://WWW.rentmothernature.comLove your blog,Rox Weaver
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Thanks much Rox. I’ll check out the site this week.
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I've compiled a list of CSA's offering cheese throughout the US for my blog. If you want to take a look it's at http://food-worthy.com/. Any suggestions are greatly welcome! Hope this helps.
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Hi Farmgirl, thanks for including Monforte in your blog. We are receiving a steady flow of subscriptions and very grateful for everyone of them. The groundswell of support is humbling. Seems people really do want to have more control over the way their food is produced. And as we believe, every one of them is an agent of change. If you’d like updates of our progress this year, send me an email maureen@monfortedairy.com, best regards, Maureen/Monforte Dairy
LikeLike
Dear Farmgirl, There is a website that offers cheese from future milkings of a small herd of cows &/or goats. A variation on the futures market. http://WWW.rentmothernature.comLove your blog,Rox Weaver
LikeLike
Thanks much Rox. I’ll check out the site this week.
LikeLike
I've compiled a list of CSA's offering cheese throughout the US for my blog. If you want to take a look it's at http://food-worthy.com/. Any suggestions are greatly welcome! Hope this helps.
LikeLike