Well, we've made it though 2 full weeks of CSA pickups which means we have gotten a chance to connect with all of our members, both Weekly and Biweekly. This is always an exciting and meaningful time for us; after seeing all of your names on lists, emailing you, and yes, spending the money you provided us, getting to finally put faces with names makes all of what we do seem so much more purposeful. Which leads me to the topic of this weeks newsletter: Community Supported Agriculture.
By now of course you all must know that CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, but it seems that term gets used a lot these days in ways that devalue what it REALLY means. Let me explain. There are wonderful, amazing small businesses in Buffalo and all over that provide people the opportunity to buy "CSA" boxes on a one time basis, often made up of local fruits and veggies and even deliver these boxes directly to the customer. These business support local farmers, employ local people, and offer a great option for folks to get fresh, healthy produce. I have NOTHING against these services and we have been partnering with them to sell our produce! But they are NOT what a CSA is and that matters. When you become a CSA member you become an invaluable part of a farm's success. You make a huge commitment that goes far beyond visiting your farmers market, ordering "CSA" boxes when they fit into your schedule, or buying local at the grocery store. All of these things are valuable and important and those who support farms this way are important too. But it is our CSA members that make the farm work. It is you who gave us your money well before we gave you anything, so that we could buy our seeds, our compost, our tools, our supplies. It is you that committed to getting a box of veggies from us all season long even when you weren't exactly sure what would be in your share week to week. These days when we can have basically what we want, when we want it, joining a CSA means so much.
Being a CSA member is not for everyone and we respect and understand that. This may be your only season with us, or you may be a part of our farm for years (as many of you have been!). Either way, we feel that together we are a community coming together to support shared goals of eating and living well and building relationships around that commonality. We hope that you take pride in your commitment to supporting our small local farm and want you to know that we recognize the importance of that commitment.
As far as the farm goes, we finally got the rest of the melons in the ground today which means that most of our large major plantings are done. The beets and carrots already planted are well on their way and the tomato plants get bigger and bigger literally ever day! Say goodbye to bok choy this week as you won't see it again til perhaps later this fall. Big news this week: Strawberries are here!!
Eat well and Enjoy,
T&J
