Last week at the farm, we working members got started late.  Our farmer is tired and was visibly upset, chastising us and asking us to be on time... we weren't sure what to do.  We awkwardly kept bagging the produce as he talked, knowing that if we paused to explain all of the myriad reasons why we hadn't been ready to start at 7 a.m., we would be that much later sending him off to deliver the shares.

Later, once the trucks were almost packed, someone dropped a watermelon, and it cracked open.  Our farmer pulled out his knife, and we shared the melon there in the sun.  Then we shared another, and another.

I brought home my share of produce and spent the entire afternoon processing it. 

These two photos don't show my weekly onions and potatoes, or the yellow beets I was already cooking, or the apricots and sour cherries which were turned into apricot bars, or were frozen for pies. 

Before we joined a CSA, I was completely ignorant about farming.  I don't mean just the miracle of growing produce-- though I was ignorant in that, too.  I knew nothing about the risk of farming.  Yeah, sure I read the Little House series.  But in doing so, I lamented Almanzo's gambling nature that led him to risk what little they had to gain more.  I had no sense of the roles of Providence and Disaster in a farmer's lot.

My farmers get up at 4 a.m.  They work non-stop all day, seven days a week, and still can't keep the weeds at bay.  When there's a storm, I close my windows and bring my laundry inside.  They thank God for the rain... or watch in horror as the hail destroys months of work that would have paid for a new axel on their truck. 

I read several posts in June from folks who were calculating the benefit of bring in a CSA purely in terms of their grocery bill.  What they received in a given week had cost more than 1/12 of what they had paid for their 12 weeks of produce.  Hence, by that math, the CSA was not a sound investment.  One farmer read a blog post to that effect and offered that member a refund. 

I am sad for that former farm-member.  She did not get to see the amazing bounty that is August-- this week alone I brought home enough corn for forty people.  She may have understood the value of the food she invested in, but she missed the point of a CSA.

A CSA is about community.  I take the risk with the farmer: if it is a cold spring, my table is lean in June. (And mine was.)  Because of a late frost, there weren't enough strawberries for jam.  If July is hot, the corn is early and awesome.  (And it was.)  But my standing in community with my farmers (and the other members) meant that for the first time, our farmers didn't have to take out a loan to buy their spring seeds.  When the harvest overflows, they pour it out upon us.  When the strawberries fail, we mourn them together.  And when the watermelon cracks open, we stand to share its juicy sweetness and promise to get up a little earlier next week.

• Post A Comment! • Send to a Friend!

Posted by Anonymous

Annie,

I loved this post-- about the community of a CSA, the loyalty to the farmers. YAY! :) Plus, the produce you're eating sure beats the taste of any you'd buy at the store, so if you're paying extra, you're paying for QUALITY. Of food and relationship. :)

~Stacy

• Permanent Link

Posted by henspace

This was a thought-provoking post. We were in something like a CSA, though without any labor from us, and I thought about it more in financial terms whether it was worth it or not. It was also time-consuming, both to pick up the shares and to process the veggies, and we wasted some things that I just wasn't sure what to do with! I grew up on a farm, but never thought about it the way you expressed.

:)

Jeanne

• Permanent Link