The Spring Rains Have Started - and we have a new CSA!

Hello All,

It seems to me that winter tricked us all because by hiding for a few days this week and giving us temperatures in the high 50's. It was too hot in the greenhouses even in a t-shirt last weekend, but now that it's raining and damp, I'm beginning to think that we have a little way to go. But who really knows?!

That's the thing about nature and the elements, you just never know what you're really going to get. Growing and farming for a living includes living with so many variables. I sometimes wonder if the gamble taken every new season by those of us who sow and plant, then nurture, coddle and talk to a bunch of seedlings might be totally nuts. The answer might indeed be a resounding "yes!" - especially the talking to part....

But more so the risk involved. So much can happen in a season, and many crop failures are totally out of the hands of the grower, and in those of Mother Nature herself. If not her, then whatever name you want to give to the almighty Economy, and the whim of the stock exchange along with anything else which affects our money - or lack thereof.

This year, we've decided to offer a Community Supported Agriculture or membership program to the list of things we do. The requests have been increasing over the past year, and the reason is clear: People want to feel connected to something that is real, something which gives them a sense of belonging in a world that seems more uncertain these days.

The idea of a CSA is simple: you buy a share of the harvest from a local farm. You don't know exactly what you're going to get, but you know it's going to be good. You pick up your box each week - Fridays for ours - and you take it home to enjoy. What could be better than seasonal produce, freshly picked by people you probably know or will come to know rather than something anonymous from a grocery store?

We grow a wide variety of crops - an advantage for a CSA program because while you'll get some of the same things each week, over the course of the 20-week season, you'll likely get to try some things that you don't normally buy very often. You and your loved ones will gain a much better understanding of what seasonal eating is all about and the healthy benefits of food that has not traveled further than you went on your last vacation! Plus - your dollars go back into your local economy rather than somewhere hard to trace.

Depending on how many people you are feeding, your box may or may not be enough produce for a week, but for two people who cook for themselves most of the time, it should be a good amount with some supplementation necessary depending on the amount you eat. For a family of four, you'll get a few good meals out of your box. And depending on the season and growing conditions, you share in the harvest and its bounty alongside us, the growers.

To become a member of our CSA, click here to go to our website for more information about cost etc - then download and print the application form to mail in with your check. You may also fill out the application at our store, and you have the option of paying by credit card in person at the store rather than by check. We open for the season on March 27th.

Check back here each week to see what we're up to, and see you soon!!

All the best,
Annalisa

Photos: Top - one of the greenhouses with seedlings busy growing to be transplanted outside later. Bottom - beets are one of our earliest crops - these are golden beets and the more common red variety.