Photosynthesizing: Summer CSA ’13 ” Week #1

 In CSA Newsletter

the farm kids: Edie and Zea

Tomorrow, I (Cassie, your trusty newsletter writer) turn 34. On the same day, we will officially begin the deliveries for our 9th CSA season.  While I can’t say I’m thrilled to add another year to my life count, I am thrilled to be adding another to the farming count. I feel so grateful to be able to do what we do.  I honestly love the farming life. Like any thing, any person, or any creation, there are upsides and downsides. But the particular set that come with farming seem to suit me very well.

The thing I love best about living and working on a farm, is being able to live and experience a truly seasonal rhythm of life.  Before farming, there were certainly seasonal differences to life for me, but they did not dominate my daily experience the way they do now.  I work all winter long, but at a slower, milder pace. But then, the intensity of my daily life explodes right along with the intensity of light hitting our particular patch of land.  When the sun is at its strongest, we are at our busiest.  We go, go, go from the moment the light awakens us until it goes down at night. And while this need to work so very hard – to practically photosynthesize right along with all the plants we grow – prevents us from experiencing the more chill, relaxing pace that many others associate with summer, I so appreciate the connectedness this rhythm allows me to feel.

I love that I hear birds singing while I work.

I appreciate having work that is both repetitive and mundane on a daily basis, but ever-changing along seasonal lines. The winter finds me planning, catching up on clerical work, and entering registration forms. The spring brings me to seeding in the greenhouse and transplanting in the fields and selling at farmer’s market. Early summer transitions to harvesting and washing crops.  And then there is the 6-month delight of new crops ready each week, and goodbyes to other crops another week. Late summer brings large harvests. Autumn into winter is characterized by lots of washing and packing. And then the cycle repeats and continues.

I enjoy working in fresh air and wearing clothes that are meant to become dirty.

I love working where I live. While this can often lead to the feeling of never actually leaving or being done with work, it also creates an environment where work and family aren’t so separate. In the mornings and a couple afternoons each week, other families watch our two daughters. But when our baby, Edie (9 months) is hungry, I come into the house from the fields or shed and feed her, and often lay her down for a nap. While washing veggies in the pack shed, I can often hear the laughter of our older daughter, Zea (3 years). And on afternoons when I have the girls myself, I have the opportunity to integrate our time together into the wonder of living on a farm. We feed our 3 pigs, we water plants in the greenhouse, we look for mushrooms in the grass, we identify weeds and listen for birds, we take trips to the field and check on the readiness of the things (Zea is very excited about the strawberries), and we get vegetables from the cooler and cook meals together.  The veggies, the dirt, the girls, it’s all so integrated.

Just as our lives are very integrated, so will your newsletters be an integration of information about farm and family life. It’s just hard to keep it all separate. I look forward to sharing more with you as the CSA season continues. Thank you for support – as it makes it possible for us to make our living farming.

Enjoy your veggies!

 

 

In the Box:

  • Arugula
  • Bok Choi
  • Cilantro
  • Head Lettuce, Red Butterhead
  • Kale, Red Russian
  • Radishes
  • Salad Mix
  • Salad Turnips
  • Scallions
  • Spinach

 

Recipes: Sign-up for your free CSA menu planning with Local Thyme. Register here and use the code: CROSSRCF

Summer CSA Week #1: Wednesday, June 12th ” REGs & Group A -EOs