Page 22 - Flathead Beacon // 2.4.15

22 | FEBRUARY 4. 2015
NEWS FLATHEADBEACON.COM
HAPPY. HEALTHY. HOMEGROWN.
Community Supported Agriculture for the Flathead Valley.
Who We Are:
Dannik Gardens is a small, family farm located near the base of the Swan Mountains in Columbia Falls, MT. Originally established in 1994, Dannik Gardens is run by Dan and Nicole Fisher, with abundant help from their six children.
After years of selling our produce at the local farmers’ markets, we recently transitioned to the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) business model. Although we continue to sell at the mar- kets, our first obligation is to our shareholders.
About Our Gardens:
Dannik Gardens has over two acres of land dedicated to producing seasonal vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Our standard crops usually in- clude the following, weather permitting:
• Spring: Low volume - cool season greens: Romaine, red leaf, and bibb lettuces; spinach, Swiss chard, mesclun mix, radishes, and vari- ous herbs.
• Late spring: Carrots, snow peas (edible pod), shelling peas, beets, green onions, herbs, strawberries, and gooseberries, in addition to all of the spring produce listed above.
• Summer: High volume - tomatoes, pep- pers, green beans, yellow wax beans, slicing cucumbers, summer squash, leeks, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, early cabbage, carrots, beets, herbs, raspberries, and greens.
What is CSA?
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a relatively new business model that creates a direct relationship between farmers and their customers. CSA members, or shareholders, purchase a share of one farm’s annual harvest prior to the beginning of the growing season. As the season progresses, members pick up their shares each week, either at the farm or another designated location.
Becoming a Member:
Our CSA runs for 20 weeks, from June to mid-October. Members will generally receive the equivalent of two grocery bags of produce. The amount will be slightly smaller at the beginning of the season, but will increase to the equivalent of nearly three bags full during peak production.
Annual membership for full shares costs $500, which amounts to $25 per share per week. Half-shares are available for $265. Ap- plication for membership opens January 1. The deadline for application is April 1.
For more important details about CSA mem- bership and payment policies, please visit our website, dannikgardens.blogspot.com.
EDUCATION
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did not have that early-education expe- rience. They are already at a disadvan- tage.”
The argument over early-education funding boils down to fundamental questions over how the state should edu- cate its children and what role the gov- ernment can play.
Montana remains one of only eight states without universal pre-kinder- garten funding, and also one of only a handful of states without some kind of school choice program, a definition that includes charter schools, private school tax credits and vouchers.
Against that backdrop, the debate over school choice and early-education funding has ramped up in Montana as legislators once again grapple with the issue this session.
Early education advocates held a rally at the state Capitol in Helena on Jan. 23, when children and their fami- lies filled the lawn in support of Bull- ock’s “Early Edge Montana” program, encouraging lawmakers to adopt the measure during a House Appropriations committee of the Montana Legislature.
“It’s time we caught up with other states by investing in the future of our young people through this important initiative,” according to the letter by Missoula County Public Schools Super- intendent Alex Apostle, which was co- signed by Flatau and superintendents from school districts in Billings, Great Falls, Helena, Bozeman, and Butte. “While ultimately, parents remain chil- dren’s first and best teachers, not all kids have parents with the time or resources to provide language-rich environments needed for healthy brain development, 90 percent of which occurs by age 5.”
But the Montana GOP has been re-
sistant, saying the money would be bet- ter spent elsewhere on education, rather than on launching a new program.
Proponents counter that Early Edge Montana is a fiscally smart investment, pointing to studies showing that every dollar spent on early education yields $7 to $9 in savings down the road.
“Quality pre-K means students ar- rive at kindergarten ready to learn, more likely to read at grade level and to fin- ish high school,” the letter states. “That translates into our schools being better able to shape responsible citizens who earn better wages, are less likely to find themselves in trouble with the law, and who contribute more to our tax base.”
Flatau said he’s seen firsthand the benefits of early education and how it provides a stronger foundation for stu- dents to be successful when they enter public schools, but that he also under- stands the perspective of opponents who say a publicly funded preschool program could be detrimental to private pre- school providers by eroding their busi- ness.
To that end, Flatau has been in an on- going conversation with local preschool providers to determine how best to pro- vide early-education opportunities to a broader base of 4-year-old children while maintaining solvent businesses for the private preschool set.
“The last thing that we want to do is put any of our private preschools out of business. We are not going to let that happen,” he said. “But this could provide additional resources to our 4-year-olds whose families can’t afford preschool and we are going to work together to get those kids who are most needy into par- tial-day programs to prepare them and teach them the basic skills, so that when they begin their formal education they are already prepared and they are not going to fall behind.”
Mark Flatau, superintendent of Kalispell Public Schools. BEACON FILE PHOTO
• Late summer/fall: Corn, winter squash, pumpkins, gourds, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, toma-
toes, peppers, greens.
840 Wapiti Meadows Road Columbia Falls, MT 59912
[email protected] • dannikgardens.blogspot.com
(406) 871-2094
[email protected]
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