Welcome to the Crowdsourcing Mornings segment! Every weekday morning, Geek Alabama talks about and features one crowdsourcing project from crowdsourcing sites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and others. The hope with Crowdsourcing Mornings is to feature and help a project be successful and reach its fundraising goal. Please enjoy today’s featured project!
Please read our crowdsourcing guidelines at: https://geekalabama.com/media-kit-pr/geek-alabama-crowdsourcing-guidelines
Here’s our story: Stacey Carlberg and Casey Gustowarow met in the office at The Farm at Sunnyside in 2009. Casey was a farm intern then and 2024 marks their 15th year of growing food together with real care for their soil and their employees. Little did they know that chance meeting would lead to marriage and a shared career.
Early on, Casey wooed Stacey with the meals he cooked for her and her housemates who pleaded with Stacey not to mess this up. Their shared interest in growing food responsibly and enjoying good meals in community lead to over a decade of farming and eating together.
Following two management positions at Potomac Vegetable Farms (2011-2014) and The Farm at Sunnyside (2015-2020), they scaled-down and launched their own farm + food business in 2021: Fireside Farm.
Based in Loudoun County, VA, Fireside Farm is a site where vegetables, grain and community grows organically. Currently, the farm produce and grain is transformed into wood-fired pizzas inspired by the freshness of the seasons and eclectic tastes that drive Casey’s passion for cooking.
In May of 2024, after much searching, we found an opportunity to finally purchase a piece of land in the village of Waterford, VA. Loudoun County has some of the best soils in the region, a community of farmers + food makers that are important to us, and a customer base that we are excited to feed.
Over the next few years, our vision is to transition this land from grassy fields into a productive produce and grain farm and a space where our community can gather. We have the experience and knowledge to accomplish this but it will require time and resources to make it happen.
One of the first essential components to any produce farm is a place to wash, pack and store produce. We are known in the region as growers of high quality and beautiful produce, and a space to process and store that produce is important. We are asking for your help to make this space a reality so we can begin to transition our growing of produce to this property.
This building will serve as a hub for our farm and a place where we can meet with our employees and complete administrative tasks as well. We look forward to soon having our customers and community join us on this gorgeous farm property. This is the first step to making that happen.
As of December 31st, this project has raised $62,000 of their $55,000 goal. This project has 7 days left to raise as much as it can. For a pledge of $50, you will get two market veggies. For a pledge of $100, you will get one hat and pizza. To learn more and to pledge money, go to: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/firesidefarm/fireside-farm-growing-on-new-land?
