“ In nature, nothing and everything is perfect. Trees are distorted, bent in weird ways, and they are still beautiful.”
-Alice Walker
The Full CSA Box The all-illusive “full” csa box is much like having ideal weather for the crops. Much of this, of course, comes down to one’s interpretation and perspective. In any one of Earth Dance Farm csa produce box their will be one crop that is too dirty, one crop that is not the highest quality possible, and the box is never as full at it could/should be. I would like to comment on three important aspects of vegetables:
- Quality – Quality of a vegetable has to do with the seed used, the organic practices of the farmer, the soil quality on the farm, the weather conditions of a growing season, harvesting at near peak ripeness, how quickly it is washed and cooled, and finally the time span to reach your table after harvest. I feel that EDF does a very good job in all of these areas. One flaw may be my ingrained nature to ‘not waste’ and hence I may put a crop in the box that is past its prime or too affected by weather conditions rather than not give it at all. Examples of this are earlier radishes given or Napa cabbage with holes from insects.
- Quantity – Folks have a choice to receive a full share (3/4 bushel box) or a single share (5/9 bushel box) at the time of registration. This does not mean that the box will be full too the top each week. I hear two main negative comments from people who tried CSA, but did not choose to continue: “It was too much stuff all at once. I could not manage it all and I had to throw a lot of it away. I hate to waste food.” And “That was all I ever got was Kale. The box would be full, but it was just way too much of a few things.” This being said, there are definitely weeks when I feel like the box could use another crop, or more of some of them – especially during June and July. Next season I plan to plant tons of Romaine, cabbage, and some crops that are somewhat easy to grow and harvest and can help ‘fill’ the box early on. You must understand that raspberries, herbs, green beans, etc. all take tons of time to harvest, but do not take up much space.
- Variety – I try hard to deliver a box with 10-12 crops for full shares and 8-10 for single shares. We rarely fall short on this except in the first couple of weeks. Berries, some fruit, herbs, honey, and the availability of eggs add to this dimension. It is my philosophy that the variety is a higher priority than making sure the box is full with fewer things.
I hope everyone likes the box this week – it is nice and heavy and ‘full’. There is always an appreciable amount of settling as the boxes are jostled in the van during the course of the delivery day. Sincerely your farmer, Norm Farmer notes:
- Boxes are getting heavier – just shy of 20 lbs. today
- Cucumbers are tasty, but few. Do you remember that 2/3 of the seed rotted in the wet soil this spring
- Radishes are great – so different/better than the first planting
- Cabbage moths have their name for a reason – wash these thoroughly
- Sorry about the raspberry ‘sauce’ last week. We hope they were still delicious in yogurt or over ice cream
- We ate our first sweet corn on Monday!!!
- These are sugar snap peas – eat the whole pod
- Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant are missing those 90 degree days
- Lettuce and red beets are only in full share boxes
- New red potatoes are always a bit small and gnarly – roasted with the savory and some butter/salt will have your mouth watering
- Tis’ the season for zucchini and summer squash – grate and freeze in quart baggies for all sorts of uses later on
- Wash all of your vegetables before you eat them
