Happy Friday!
We have a bounty of beautiful organic goodness for you again this week. Every Monday morning we 'write the board'- identify the items we are harvesting, their location and quantity needed. We divide and conquer the tasks with much teamwork and a quick pace.
We often need to clear the whole bed of an item and turn over the bed to maximize efficiency. So the seasonal crop plan (that I create in the winter, before anything is planted) needs to match the number of shares we are harvesting. The weekly Friday estimates that build your shares need to accurately reflect what we have in the field so the pick list on Monday morning, used to 'write the board', reflects accurate numbers for harvest on Monday.
It is a dance, paying careful attention to the weather, keeping on schedule, knowing how much we need to plant of certain crops to feed 'x' number of members, to estimate how much we actually have to harvest, when to start seeds (in succession) when to replant and on and on. 'Balls in the air' is often how I describe my dynamic job keeping track of all the moving parts. Of course there are wrenches like pests, weather, human error, humanness, accidents, and so on. It sometimes seems like a miracle when it all works out perfectly and the carrots or peas, or strawberries are the perfect size and sweetness for the Monday harvest and we have a rested and ready crew to harvest, wash and pack them! And of course sometimes the crop of radishes that I planned on being ready for next week is ready now as is the radish crop I planned to be ready this week...Or the hundred pounds of squash we need for Monday is ready to be harvested on Friday because it rained so much.
The crew this year is determined and working tirelessly to grow good food. They are happy growing food for you. They are passionately committed to the bigger picture of a sustainable local, food system that they are a part of building and helping flourish.
All in all it's a symphony and we couldn't make this beautiful music without all of you devoted members. We've come to understand that you are with us in varying levels of commitment and understanding. Many of you are with us for so many more reasons than eating nutrient dense, local, organic food. You realize that it's so much more than dinner...it's fueling a local, sustainable economy that we all benefit from. We want you to know that no matter where you are on the spectrum you are valuable. We do this together. We want you to understand our level of commitment and our passion. We want you to know that we appreciate you and are grateful for you who are willing to share in some of the risk, who understand we are a small business and working hard to provide you with the best product we can so we can make a living AND help create a stronger, local food system. We are grateful to do what we are so passionate about. Thank you.
Flower shares start this week!!!
Be Well.
