According to the EPA, in its document entitled, What Climate Change Means for Wisconsin: “Wisconsin’s climate is changing. In the past century, most of the state has warmed about two degrees (F). Heavy rain-storms are becoming more frequent, and ice cover on the Great Lakes is forming later or melting sooner. In the coming decades, the state will have more extremely hot days, which may harm public health in urban areas and corn harvests in rural areas.” It goes on to say: “Evaporation increases as the atmosphere warms, which increases humidity, average rainfall, and the frequency of heavy rainstorms in many places—but contributes to drought in others.” As farmers, we are seeing these effects on our land. Our farming friends up north have had 2 separate “100 year floods” in just 3 years. In our area, the average rain per month is 4 inches in the summertime. Just this season alone, we experienced 9 inches in just 11 days. Then, last week we had 12 inches in one night. It’s hard enough to be a farmer when the weather is so crazy like this. But it’s like salt in the wound when people try to deny that climate change is happening. Sometimes it’s hard not to feel really really depressed about the reality of things. Here we are trying to do the right thing, trying to be part of the solution, and yet we suffer the consequences of a larger public and its elected officials who seem deaf to the severity of it all. When I want to crawl into a corner and cry at the frustration of the state of things; when I want to scream “How much damage and suffering need to occur before our country really decides to do something about this problem?!!” I stop. I reverse. I try to think about the positives. I look for hope. And well, you all, you are my hope. Whether you joined CSA for sustainability reasons or not, you all are part of the solution. Creating long -asting environmental change will take a true movement. In my brain, I often think of musical movements as an analogy. So many different instruments will need to make noise and play together to create a true movement. How we grow and eat our food is one tiny part, one small musical part in this larger movement of change. Through organic CSA, you are supporting a better way to grow food for the health of this planet. Your carbon footprint is so much smaller when you eat local. And without the use of synthetic pesticides and herbicides that persist in the environment, you are choosing a way to eat that protects our soil, water, and bodies. So whenever I start to feel down about it all, I stop, pivot, and think of you all joining together with Mike and I as we try to play one of the many instruments needed to create this movement of sustainability. Despite the slow pace of change and the frustration that comes with it, all of us together are making a different. Thank you for being a part of it! Thanks for providing me hope and perspective. Enjoy your veggies,
Farmer Cassie | 
