First Harvest

There is so much blood, sweat, and tears when it comes to raising vegetables. From February to April the farmer grapples with risk and worry in the greenhouse. From April to June he's locked in a passionate battle and embrace with the soil....but come the first harvest day and the veggies of a sudden seem to leave the physical far behind and become the stuff of poetry and ballet.

Is it just me? Or do you hear Prokofiev when you see the curving graceful stalks of baby bak choi, fresh from their harvest baths?

These are the days we fall asleep in our clothes and wake in the morning to fan mail gushing about our salad greens. We share big communal meals around a gigantic salad bowl and plunge our hands in to toss the arugula, mustard greens, and romaine together with a homemade vinaigrette. I too swear by the meat and potato diet. Yet I cannot deny that our greens make me positively hum with cheer.

Week 1 Share:

(THE BOX OF SALAD BLISS)

Red Romaine

Baby Kale

Mustard Greens

Gourmet Salad Mix

Baby Bak Choi

Asian Greens

Arugula

Rosemary, Sage, Basil, Sweet Marjoram, Thyme herb starts

Cherry Tomato Plants

mini-greenleaf romaine

Copy of Food For Thought Magazine

Excerpt from our Week 1 Newsletter:

"What is Community Supported Agriculture?

It is a purple-rimmed horizon all washed with pink as the sun is setting, and a pack of children running beneath it, their hearts floating out in front of them, the air filled with their exhileration and happiness. It's the first harvest of the year.

"Look at this one!"

"Ooooo! Look at this big one!"

"Look how many we've harvested already!"

"I love farming!"
"Hey did you know that my Papa said that when I am older, sixteen or so, I can take over the farm from him!!"

The next generation of farmers covered in dirt, barefoot, ages 1 to 8 run the rows with breathless glee and bend over the baby bak choi and lettuce in triumph. If you harbored any illusions about your membership before, let them be dashed against the realization that this first box that sits in your kitchen has been packed with the kind of joy and reverence that only the very young possess. Within 7 tiny hearts a notion is slowly taking root that perhaps there will be a place for them when they "grow up" here on the farm, there will be work for them...and home will ever be so;where you form a place, and where place forms you. And with each new year the land will be more beautiful, more lovingly tended, the trees taller, the soil more fertile. Your membership is not just the very best way to procure the freshest and healthiest vegetables possible for your family, but a step toward just and livable wages for farming families, towards the building up of aging rural populations. You inspire us! Thank you."