GREAT post! For myself, I like the CSA model because it means the small farmer can survive, and that's what we need to rebuild our economy, our biological diversity and our country, IMHO. A legacy of biological diversity and small family businesses is so much better than a legacy of war industry or supporting agribusiness (and no, I'm not equating the two, though I don't like either industry, but I put them in very different categories).
I wonder if we had the same CSA. I also had to pick it up at an assigned time and write a check for the produce. And I felt the same way; that is, I was paying way too much for a few vegetables.
My current CSA is NeedleLane farms, and they deliver to Morgan and York, which is a quick drive/bike from my house. Can't beat it with a stick.
"And whatever doesn't grow or is destroyed by hail or woodchucks or drought or heat or bugs or frost or deer or fungus or flood - you won't be getting some of that. You pay up front to give the farmer enough security to grow food for you."
This is really well put! I know some folks in Terre Haute whose CSA was 75% wiped out by flooding in the last couple weeks. They assumed some of the farmer's risk, and everyone lost a little - but the farmer needn't go out of business. If he'd only been selling at the farmers' market, he *would* go out of business...because at the market, you're only paying for vegetables, not risk.
Ironically, the shareholders are desperately trying to convince the *farmer* that it's ok - they understand there will be no tomatoes this year, and that shares will be small. But he's stuck thinking his business has failed...it shows that the farmer is new to the CSA model, and that our assumptions about food capitalism run deep.
Hi Jen - it's true we need to do things differently in this country if we're ever going to have a thousand year history rather than one in the hundreds. I'm always thinking about Easter Island and wondering about that guy who cut down the last tree....
Hey Patti - Prolly was the same CSA. I'll have to ask you more sometime about Needle Lane. We got some grass fed beef from there and it's been great!
Hi Emily - It does seem to me that our ideas about food, how much it should cost, what's in it, why we choose one thing over another, are all pretty wacky these days. Obviously my own are, and I even spend some time thinking about them. So far our CSA hasn't had a crop failure (that I know of), but I do wonder what people would think or do if it did. I know a few people got a bit panicked when they didn't get any asparagus one week.
Kim
I joined a CSA this year and it has been an interesting experience so far. We got a full share which was for a family of four. I will say though that it is for a family of four BIG eaters of vegetables. My kids are not that excited about the vegies and I struggle to make sure everything is getting cooked and eaten before it goes bad. Also, we pick our own share of vegies from the choices available. Sometimes it's hard to choose because I'm not sure of what I want or can use but I guess that's a stupid thing to complain about. It certainly makes me show up every week at the market.
Hi MissKitty - I find epicurious.com to be my best friend when I can't figure out what to do with yet another bundle of greens that I've never seen before. Do you ever use it?
I've also been strolling through some of my dusty cookbooks that have not seen the light of day in a while. That's actually been kind of fun.
Kim
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