Tag Archives: community supported agriculture

June 8, 2012

always enough…

a note to our csa members ….

i’ll never forget that saturday in november — elizabeth and i were sitting in the front row, as we always did, in our farm beginnings class.

a woman, activist, farmer who we both admired….the mother of local organics, atina diffley stood in front of us, taking a moment to guide us through one of our exercises on holistic management goals, needs, and dreams.

i’ll admit ….. we were having a moment of feeling like we’ll never get our hands on a farm and land that we could call our own. many in the class around us had inherited land, had equipment and the infrastructure to really make things happen. we, on the other hand, had a 1.25 acre piece of rented land that had never been tilled, 30 miles outside of the cities. no equipment. no infrastructure. no real farm transportation. all we had was each other, a vw beetle, one hoe, a couple of rakes, and a burning desire to get bossy.

(photo credit: lavender magazine)

so it was in that moment…..of feeling down and a million miles away from our dream, that atina kneeled down in front of us, lowered her voice, and started sharing with us some of her struggles, pains, and heartache of just starting out and feeling like they didn’t have enough. not having everything, be it money, land, all the right equipment…turned out to be a blessing. while others around her were just throwing money and bigger tractors at their problems, she got intimate with the farm, the land, weeds, bugs…..she gained a knowledge and an understanding that the others would never obtain.

i remember listening to her so intently. in many ways, she seemed like a mother, a super-hero, a mentor, and a friend….all in one.

and in a stern, determined voice she told us …..

never let money, land access, lack of equipment, or even bigger farms get in the way of your dream. your passion.

there will always be enough to make it happen.

if you truly want it, then there will always be enough.

—–

i couldn’t help but think of that over and over again this morning as i was out in the fields harvesting for this week’s csa.

we still don’t have that dream farm. no equipment. no infrastructure. it’s just e and i …. with a pair of hands, old crunchy knees, and a passion to make this work.

we can’t give you tomatoes and cucumbers out of season.

we can’t offer you farm fresh eggs or fruits and berries that come from being able to have animals and long-standing perennial trees and plants.

but we can give you an honest day’s work of doing everything we can to grow healthy, chemical-free food for you and your family.

we know that there will be some deliveries where you wonder why there isn’t more.

we also know that there will be days when you think we gave you way too much.

but in the end … and overall ….. we hope that you will enjoy being a part of this adventure with us and that you, too, will have faith that there will always be enough.

1 comment | tags: agriculture, atina diffley, community supported agriculture, csa, farming, gardens of eagan, local food, minnesota, organic, organic farming works | posted in bossy acres, bossy csa

March 2, 2012

farmer’s perspective: real meaning of csa

By bossy acres

a few weeks ago, i was reading an article about a csa (community supported agriculture), and the writer described the term as a “subscription service for vegetables.”

while that is somewhat true, it’s inaccurate in many ways as well. a subscription service offers a guaranteed product, at an agreed upon time — a “jam of the month club,” for example, promises to send a new jar of jam, without fail, at a specified time.

comin' together....

but a csa is different in that it asks its members to assume the risks of a farm, and those can be quite formidable: weather, pests, water issues, soil problems, and the myriad other issues that keep farmers feeling anxious.

by signing up for a csa, you’re shouldering part of that worry, you’re providing support and emphasizing to farmers that they’re not alone when it comes to facing the hazards. and to do that, you’re taking a risk. most of the time, that risk turns into reward, but there are plenty of stories where that risk turns into loss.

if that happens, though, a farmer won’t get crushed beneath the financial weight of crop loss, because those supports will be there to help him or her bounce back. it can be chalked up as a tough year, and everyone can move on to the next.

because of the assumption of risk, csa members have a level of bravery that i find commendable. to be willing to share in the difficulties as well as the bounty — often for farmers you’ve only just met, or maybe haven’t yet — is the true definition of support.

community!

then, too, there’s the community aspect of a csa. i doubt that you’d get to know any other members of that monthly jam delivery service, and maybe you wouldn’t want to if you had the chance. but a csa creates a community of people who can meet at farm events, work alongside each other in the fields if they choose, or chat at weekly dropsites or farmers markets.

we draw our members from the community, but we also create a deeper sense of community within that group.

at the bossy, we’re especially keen on boosting this aspect of our csa, because we think our members are all quite kickass, and that if they get a chance to talk with one another, they’ll find some compelling intersections.

for instance, one of our members is an amazing yoga teacher (shout out to jessie seehof carlson!), and another member has been interested in doing more yoga. why shouldn’t they tap into the bossy bond to find each other?

we’ll be hosting events — like an initial gathering slated for the end of march — that let us all enjoy the feeling that we’re in this together, that this is a shared adventure, not just two farmers and a few dozen of their customers.