If you would like to contact us, here is our contact information:
Nature’s Route Farm
Kent and Ruth Coates
PO Box 6354
Sackville, NB E4L 1G6
To contact us by email please fill out the comment section below and we will get back to you.
Nature’s Route Farm
Calendar – Our Events and Pick-Ups
I may be interested in a CSA.
Dear Kent,
I really enjoyed your presentation and our conversation Friday night. We would like to try doing something similar and offering it to our employees starting on a small scale.
You very kindly offered to share your spreadsheet with me which would be very helpful as we plan. Would it be something you’ld be able and willing to attach to an email?
I would be very mindful to keep it confidential.
Thank you kindly,
Tim Livingstone
Hi Kent and Ruth,
I saw you at the ACORN conference last weekend. Thanks for a great presentation. I just wanted to ask…when you hydro-cool your vegetables in the field immediately after picking, is there anything in the water , like chlorine or something similar ? I was reading something on the topic and this was suggested. I don’t like the sound of it. Do you think it would be necessary ?
Thanks a lot.
Hello Ginny,
We are not in the business of selling food with chemicals on it. Cl or NaCl will have a significant adverse affect on your produce. We always ask our customers to wash their produce before eating and do our best to keep it “safe” in the field. Mother nature seems to keep any really nasty pathogens in balance. People report our lettuce lasting for 10 days in the fridge…
I hope this helps.
Kent
Hello!
My thanks for the excellent presentation you gave my science class several weeks back!
I am looking to purchase your student package, and was hoping you could answer a question or two. Is the student package designed to feed only one student, or is it large enough to be shared by a house of 3? Additionally, is it possible to switch the pickup day as we move from the fall to winter season?
Many thanks,
Amelia
Next years availablity of more variety of vegetables looks great. I would like to continue with a half portion membership for the whole year.
Ruth and Kent, thank you for all the hard work, time and energy you are putting into your vegetables.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the fresh organic vegetables this year.
Beth
Hi,
I was just wondering if you could tell me the exact amoung of vegetables that come in a half package.
Thank you!
Kelsey
Hello Kelsey,
I can give you an estimate – the weatherman always has the last word in our line of work…
A half share is intended to make up a significant portion of a couple’s veg requirements… We will be offering more choices and more variety this year. That said, the weekly “staples” include 2lbs of potatoes (summer – 1.5lbs winter), 1.5lbs of carrots while other items could be 0.25 lbs of lettuce, 2 ears of corn, 0.5lbs of green beans, a small bunch of beets, 2 lbs of tomatoes…
Generally, you should get a couple of meals of each vegetable every week (up to 10 vegetables during peak season).
Thanks,
Kent
Hi Kent,
I am interested in a half portion for a full year again. When is the membership fee due?
Thanks,
Christine
Hi Christine, CSA membership fees are for “the year” and are due anytime throughout the year… They will be up for renewal again next spring. Our shares start in June and finish in May. Kent
Hi Kent,
I’m a student at MTA and was interested in the halfshare that you offer for students during the year. Is there still space available for me to get one for this fall? And would I be able to pay both you and the CSA once I return in the fall? Thanks!
Emily
Hi Kent,
Thanks so much for the great presentation this morning at Rotary. The talk, while sobering, was both interesting and thought-provoking. I’ve dithered for ages about getting a 1/2 membership but must finally now put my money where my thoughts and words are! What do you have left in terms of membership availability?
On a related topic: I grew up in a small town in Southern Ontario that you may be well familiar with having been to RMC…Picton in Prince Edward County. The County was really founded on the backs of farmers and commercial fishers. While Prince Edward agriculture has gone through some down times much like the rest of the country the farm-based products have remained constant and the ag community is really re-inventing itself with it’s idea of “Terroir” and Eating local. The farming coalition has even convinced many major restaurants in Toronto that County Produce is where it’s at. Each month/week? during the growing season there is a posting in the Picton Gazette “whats in season” that gives a list of vegetables during that month and what farms/markets you can find it at. You might be interested to check the “harvestin.ca” website – the website of the Prince Edward County Farm Initiative.
I guess all this to say that I’m very supportive.
Thanks again!
Trish
Hello: I’m a journalist writing a story about CSAs and would love to speak with you about this movement. Many thanks!
It is with deep heart-felt gratitude that I thank you for respecting this piece of land. Thank you for raising your children on land that is so meaningful to me. I wish for your wonderful farm to prosper forever.
Hi.
I’m interested in purchasing a half (or quarter share if possible. I live by myself) for 2010. How do I go about that. I tried your webform but it didn’t work.
Hello Daniel, Thank you very much for your interest. We will have a spot for you this season. I tried to email you but your email bounced; could you resend with your email address. I have added you to our distribution list and will let you know by email when we finalize our plan for 2010. It should be by the end of February.
We sell full and half shares and have limited flexibility to change that part of our business. That said, many people share a full or half share and we leave it with you to determine if that would work for you (we can add two addresses on our distribution list etc etc…) If you eat a lot of vegetables and are active you should polish off a half share.
We will be fixing the web form shortly, my apologies, we have removed it for now.
We will keep in touch, many thanks for looking us up.
Kent Coates
Hi Kent and Ruth,
I enjoyed your presentation at Mount Allison this past fall. I’m interested in a student share for the coming student year. Is that still possible?
Also, a friend of mine (Alex Thomas) told me that there may be two employment positions on the farm in May and June. I’m a university student and am interested in working in agriculture as a career. Perhaps we can discuss this via email?
Thanks,
Mike
We have just hired a full time employee to start in May and are going to take this year to focus on being a good employer and develop the skills of an employee who we hope will stay on as assistant manager in the long term. So, we do not anticipate needing (being able to cope with) more help this summer.
If this year goes well we plan to have some sort of apprenticeship program for 2011. You can see a job description on our website…
Thanks for the order and considering agriculture.
Kent Coates
Hi Kent and Ruth,
I teach the World Issues course at Harrison Trimble High School in Moncton. Presently we are talking about GM Foods and the impact of importing food. Would you be interested in coming into the school to do a presentation to my classes? I think they would be very interested in the local efforts being taken to stave off the impacts of this issue. Please respond to my address above.
Thanks for your time,
Christian Denton
Hello Christian,
We are interested. That said, we have to balance business (work) with other things we would like to do. Did you see the presentation I gave at UdeM yesterday?
I could do something similar – change a few slides to capture emphasis that fits with your objectives. There is a copy of a similar presentation on our website: the first link on this page: http://naturesroutefarm.ca/8-farming-a-bigger-picture/ I would add a lot more about urban agriculture and home gardens.
I would only be able to come to Moncton to give a presentation if I was doubling up with other business. I typically have a meeting in Dieppe every 3rd Wednesday of each month (in the evening) and could be available in the afternoon.
Let me know what you think.
Kent Coates
I read about your CSA services in the Dieppe Mag the city’s newsletter. Will you be providing pick-up locations closer to Moncton and Dieppe this year?
I would be interested.
Thanks
Christian
Hello Christian,
Thank you for getting in touch with us. We currently are unable to provide any Dieppe or Moncton CSA pick-ups. For 2011 we will only be doing the Sackville Farmers’ Market along with 3 CSA pick-ups in Sackville. We are just too small to do more than that. We re-evaluate our business every winter and while coming to Dieppe is not in our 5 year plan, we have not ruled it out.
Here is some more information about CSAs I know of in the Dieppe area:
William Henderson is planning on a CSA in Dieppe this summer. I know his parents and you should be able to contact him at: Patrick Henderson [domainebellerive@hotmail.com] – .
Alyson Chisholm is also starting a CSA in Dieppe this summer, she is already full, but has a waiting list: alysonchisholm@gmail.com and http://www.windyhillfarm.ca/
Alain Rousselle and his spouse also do one in Shediac – I would look them up: alain@fermealvafarm.com and http://fermealvafarm.com/csa.htm
Aramosia Farm also has a CSA and it is a little different than ours: http://www.amarosia.com/farmshare.html
I hope this helps.
Kent Coates
Ruth & Kent,
I was delighted to somehow come across your webpage and see what truly remarkable work you are doing in Sackville. It brought back a lot of good memories from the old days – but mostly it made me intensely hungry
All the best to you & your lovely family
Ray Miksa
Hi Kent,
Firstly, I really enjoyed your practical approach to farming, and analytical thinking in making It all work. Lyné and I would love to come out and visit you, so consider this a quick I intro too. We’ll contact you soon!
Hello Kent and Ruth,
I would love to chat with you about a project I’m working on concerning Working Land Conservation Easements in the Chignecto Isthmus. Specifically if you are connected to folks who may be interested in attending any of the information sessions we will be conducting on the topic.
The New Brunswick Community Land Trust is the only group in N.B. to offer this kind of owner-specific conservation easement and we want to get the word out to farmers and woodlot owners who may be interested.
Thanks,
Zach Melanson
Project Coordinator
New Brunswick Community Land Trust