Greetings from Against the Grain and welcome to the Twelfth week of the 2021 CSA!
Just like previous weeks, 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, August 15th. During this customization window, you can make swaps to your box and add extras. Pick up your box at your chosen location on Wednesday, August 18th. 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.
If you'd like to donate your box, change your pick up location to the FARM Cafe and email Holly to let her know you'd like to share the love!
This week's newsletter offering, entitled "Cows Homecoming," is brought to you by M Mueller, ATG's Biodynamic mentor and compost crafter.
In the interest of developing our herd of four Highland cattle, this past June we carried our two females to nearby Between Two Locusts Farm to be bred. For them it was a homecoming of sorts, since Between Two Locusts was their home before coming onto ATG Farm.
While the females were away, we fell back on our two steers, Brutus and Jupiter, to supply us with manure, the substance we believe to be absolutely necessary for superior compost. Compost is no small matter for the farm. Whereas other farms may import compost—if they use it at all—our piles are hand built from a variety of ingredients originating on and off the farm. While these ingredients change over time because of availability or suitability, one constant is the addition of bovine manure. After the manure becomes incorporated into the compost, natural processes heat the it to high temperatures for several weeks, a process which destroys harmful bacteria.
Why is cow manure so important? Of all the mammals in the world, the cow is most suited to digestion. In fact, the cow is one huge living digestion chamber set on four spindly legs with a small head up front majestic in its horns and a fly-swatting tail behind. The cow stomach with its four compartments is the perfect biodigester of cellulosic matter—grasses and forbs—processing a steady supply of plants into a remarkable substance which it distributes freely over the land. Those horns which give the cow its majestic appearance--mixed with a whiff of potential danger--are actually part of the sinus system, which in the cow is a highly developed pathway that senses the substances it digests and analyzes them contentedly as it chews the cud.
We are grateful to the cattle who gather the goodness from the high hills and bring it down to the farm for our use. We welcome Mama Cow and her daughter Hew back to the farm with great gratitude, and we are especially grateful for our CSA member, Jonny, from Between Two Locusts Farm, who cares for Highland cattle with true sensitivity and earnest commitment. Jonny is a good example of a CSA member who goes above and beyond for ATG, keeping the “Support” in Community Supported Agriculture!
Much love and happy eating,
Holly, Andy and the ATG Crew
