Greetings from Against the Grain and welcome to the second week of the 2021 CSA!
Just like last season, the customization period begins once this notification lands in your inbox (which should be around noon on Friday) and will end at 11:59pm on Sunday, May 30th. During this customization window, you can make swaps to your box and add extras. Pick up your box at your chosen location on Wednesday, June 2nd. Just as a reminder, if you'd like to change pick up locations for the share that is currently open for customization, please email Harvie support to request that change support@harvie.farm. Always feel free to double check with Holly to make sure the change was made. It is so important to the farm that CSA members have flexibility in their pick up location.
This newsletter platform will serve to keep you up to date on details pertaining to the CSA as well as happenings around the farm. Through out the season, different folks will be writing the newsletter and this week's contribution is from M Mueller, Biodynamic Farm Worker at ATG.
Against the Grain’s farmers have a passion for growing food that nurtures a whole human being: body, soul and spirit. One may well ask, "How can food nurture soul and spirit?" Sure, in the case of the physical body it’s a simple, if erroneous, assumption that what we take in through our stomachs becomes our physical substance (I say erroneous, because we all know, for example, that a lot of what we take in through our noses and lungs—oxygen—becomes incorporated there, too; not to mention trace nutrients). But soul and spirit? How could food nurture them?
There is a curious notion enshrined in our food laws called “substantial equivalence.” This phrase, which grew out of the effort to describe the effect of Genetically Modified Organisms as opposed to traditional foods on the human body, basically states that if you can’t detect differences, there aren’t any. By “detect” it is meant “detect with machines.”
But none of us with able bodies eats through machines. We eat through our senses: the sight of the enticing color of a red radish, the origami folds of kale and textures of all kinds help us move toward food; the aromas given off by green garlic raw or cooked begins our mouths a-watering; and the taste buds lining our tongues set off tiny pleasure explosions while mouthfeel adds its own savor. Once you swallow food it begins an interaction with your body that encompasses well-being. In any case, these effects last a long time, at least until you find yourself hungry once more!
Where do these pleasant sensations come from? This is where Against the Grain’s Biodynamic farming practices show their power. While we could simply buy inputs on the OMRI list (approved for USDA organic use) and plug them into our farming practices, we have noticed that if we go just a little further and grow our own inputs as much as possible (good grass for the cows providing compost ingredients, herbal ferments and hand chosen compost tea concoctions, as well as specific biodynamic preparations, just to name a few) we can keep our processes in the realm of the living (see last week’s blog for more info). Now, a machine does not know whether something is living or dead. But our bodies, our senses and our sensibilities do. Is there “substantial equivalence” between dead and living food? Maybe for a machine!
Let’s go just a bit further. One great analytical ability we humans have is exemplified and taken to new heights by professional wine tasters, sommeliers, as they are called. If you have been attracted to ATG’s food by its taste, you are in the company of professional tasters! The difference is, you know what food tastes good to you and your family without special training. Biodynamic practices encourage, as much as is practicable, coordinating farm work with processes occurring in the cosmos, the sphere of the solar system and the background of star regions. Having noticed that our greens, fruits and roots all taste better to us and remain fresher when harvested on days that correspond to the moon’s position in the various constellations (more on this at a later time!), we do take the care and go the extra length to bring you what the plants have indicated to us: They always know exactly where the moon and sun are, and when humans pay attention, then the well-being of the plants widens into the well-being of humans who enjoy them! Happy eating! And be sure to let us know how you are nourished in body, soul and spirit...
Much love and happy eating,
Holly, Andy and the ATG Crew
