Greetings from Against the Grain and welcome to the Nineteenth week of the 2022 CSA! It's time to see what's in your box this week, make swaps and add extras.
ATG is offering a five week Fall Extension CSA in 2022 on Wednesdays from October 19th through November 16th. Pick up at ATG or at the High Country Food Hub. Sign up link: https://www.harvie.farm/farm/against-the-grain/signup
Just like past seasons, 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, October 2nd. During this customization window, you can make swaps to your box and add extras. Pick up your box at your chosen location on Wednesday, October 5th.
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.
We've got another crew profile this week as a way for you, our CSA members, to get to know the people and hands who grow the food that's in your weekly share. Taylor Broussard, our pack shed manager, has volunteered to interview and document the personalities and interests of the crew who have chosen to call Against the Grain home for the 2022 season. This week's profile features Luke Lawerence.
If Luke was a medicinal plant, he would be Lemon Balm, bringing a sunny uplifting energy with him wherever he goes.
His catchphrase ‘You’re doing great’ has caught on and is usually said by someone in the crew at least once a day. Besides being a cheery member of our crew, Luke is a talented musician, avid cyclist, rock climber, and a great dancer. Luke started his path of farming on a biodynamic permaculture homestead in Colorado. He continued to explore agriculture while he was going to school for Geology at ASU, volunteering at ATG once a week. After a short stint on an aquaponics farm in Hawaii, he returned back to Boone and began working at ATG full time as our ‘Greenhouse Guru’ in March of 2022. When reflecting on the greatest take-aways from the season, Luke talks about how important the experience of living in community has been for him. He has greatly enjoyed our weekly biodynamic bookclubs and the chance to learn Non-Violent Communication during our monthly workshops. He also loves getting to connect with the animals in a meaningful way, especially with the pigs, never shying away from the opportunity to wrestle or cuddle with them. Honoring the great opportunity that is raising animals for slaughter, he values building relationships with them as an integral part of getting to eat his favorite foods: pork chops and sausage.
In his role as Greenhouse Guru, he has spent a lot of time in solitude tending to the seedlings in the greenhouse, a place he likes to call ‘The Cathedral’. He feels grateful to have learned a great deal about what plants like and how they function by getting to observe their first stage of life so closely. Bea (one of Andy and Holly’s daughters) has built a close friendship with Luke this season and you can often find the two of them listening to Harry Potter books in the greenhouse together.
Although you would never be able to notice, Luke is often in a lot of pain due to having Legg Calve Perthes disease (LCPD) which caused necrosis of his hip when he was nine. While it can sometimes provide a challenge, he is grateful for the experience of farming to keep him moving and strengthening his body. Luke plans to get a hip replacement next spring and then wants to do a big bike packing trip and travel somewhere far away. He knows with certainty that he will end up back on a farm, wanting to continue living in connection with the seasons, living a life that feels purposeful, and caring for the earth and animals. He wants to dive deeper into biodynamics, permaculture design, and agroforestry.
PS: his spirit vegetables are turnips and scarlet amaranth.
