Sign up now for 2013 Vegetable Shares!

Greetings friends.  It may not yet seem like spring is nigh, but I assure you, before you know it that sweet smell will be in the air, the earth breathing out as the sun warms us and the flowers spring at our feet.  It is also the time to sign up for 2013 CSA Shares!  If you know of anyone who might be interested, please pass the word along!  This is a tremendous help, both to us as it helps with our marketing and broadens our community but also for your friends, as they have the opportunity to participate in the farm alongside you.

If you know what we're about, here's the form to fill out: 2013 Supporter Commitment Form

And our brochure to pass around, a brief overview of our practices and vision: Great Song Farm Brochure

You can also poke around the pages up top to see more about what a CSA is, how it works here, a little bit about myself and the other fine folks who help out around here, and some links to articles and interviews out in the world.  Don't be shy to contact us, and we especially like visitors to the farm., so get in touch and come on out.  Hope to see you soon! 

-Anthony

Winter CSA Week 2

Great Song Farm Winter CSA Pickup this

Saturday, November 10th

 
New Hours 10 am -  4 pm

This Week's Selection

Beets, Carrots, Brussel Sprouts, Endive, Escarole, Arugula, Large Radish, Daikon Radish, Tat Soi, Kale, Leeks, Parsley, Onions, Garlic, Cabbage.

From the Farmers

It's finally feeling a bit like winter around here.  I write tonight as the sun, oh the glorious sun, has finally shown her face and is moving below the horizon and is calling a flame into the heart of the woodstove between and among split logs to warm me through the night.  These days the sun seems to set almost without notice, before I can put away the task at hand, and the cold moves in alongside the bright, brisk, clear night sky; one wakes to crystals on the leaves, atop the water, on the windows, sometimes even gathered as a radiant white blanket spread over the ground.  Despite the cold and snow, we still have a bit more greens for your enjoyment.  I've finally given in to the fact that the brussel sprouts have done all of the growing they will do this season; though some are a bit small, they are incredibly tender and tasty and worth the preparation.

Though Lisa has left, I have been staving off solitude well thanks to the usual cast of friends lending a hand.  The walls of the root cellar are done and the door is in progress.  It has turned out to be more of a 'bunker' than I imagined, the walls 15+ inches of packed soil, a solid home to spend the winter if you are a looking to be a dormant vegetable.  The cabbages took up residence earlier this week and this weekend the turnips, radish, rutabaga, celeriac and parsnips will be moving in, leaving the chinese cabbage alone in the field to hopefully tighten up a bit.  Stop by for a visit during pickup if you'd like.

The cows have settled in nicely, and are looking for fitting names if you'd like to send along suggestions.  They are beside the barn in the gated corral if you'd like to visit; they are friendly, but please be quiet and allow them space.

Besides working on the root cellar and settling in the cows, much of the work this past week has been focused on organizing myself a bit and getting the farm prepared for my temporary departure this coming week to the National Biodynamic Agriculture Conference in Madison, Wisconsin for a week away.  I know Betti and Larry will care for everything, but I feel a bit like a worried mother leaving her child for the first time, a partner departing for a vacation alone as I leave the farm and its creatures behind.  The farm has told me it will be ok, and she might even benefit from a little time away from me; when I arrive back home, our relationship will be renewed, rekindled, a new light shining upon each blade of grass, gleaming eye, and manure paddy, and perhaps even myself.  I do have my eye on Betti though as I've seen the gleam in her eye when she's with the farm ;)

As I will be away, I will not be around for distribution next Saturday, November 17th.  I have some experienced farmers filling in for me, so all should go smoothly.  I'll try to set up a reminder, or perhaps Betti will send a small note your way in my absence.  I will defer my gratitude til later in this offering via another's voice (read on), but will personally wish you well wherever and with whoever you share your Thanksgiving with.

to giving thanks, always
-Anthony

Belgian Vegetables

Though these vegetables don't have the same reputation as belgian waffles, we hope you'll still welcome them.  Our Brussel Sprouts come still attached to the stalk.  To prepare, pluck each off.  Trim the bottom with a paring knife and pull away any undesirable leaves.  Steam, Saute, Roast, whatever your fancy, until tender.  If the sprouts I just had for dinner are indicative of the others, there is no need for maple syrup.  Carmelize if you must, but my gosh were they sweet and tender after simply steaming.  I didn't even think to salt or butter them, me, who eats a few pounds of butter a week.

The belgian endive and the escarole, close cousins, aren't quite as sweet or tender but are full of a flavor and texture uniquely their own. To describe them as pleasantly bitter and tough is not to disown or apologize for any failures on my or their part; this bitterness and toughness is so pleasant it brings an uncontrollable smile to my face.  Steam or braise gently, top with a bit of olive oil and salt, enjoy.  They are also popular alongside white beans and leeks in a hearty soup.

A little something else...

For Success

Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope with which we expect the morrow; for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies, that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth, and our friendly helpers in this foreign isle. Let peace abound in our small company. Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge. Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Offenders, give us the grace to accept and to forgive offenders. Forgetful ourselves, help us to bear cheerfully the forgetfulness of others. Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind. Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavours. If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and, down to the gates of death, loyal and loving one to another. As the clay to the potter, as the windmill to the wind, as children of their sire, we beseech of Thee this help and mercy for Christ's sake.

-Robert Louis Stevenson, Prayers Written At Vailima

Winter CSA Week 1

Great Song Farm Winter CSA begins this Saturday, November 3rd! 
Pickup from 8 am - 4 pm at the CSA Barn.

(If you can't make these hours, let me know please and we can arrange something)

I will have commitment forms available Saturday.  Please bring your checkbook or cash.  If you are unable to pay in full Saturday, we can work something out.
 If you cannot come Saturday but are planning to participate, please contact me and I will make note.


Some details
 
Here is an outline of the Great Song Farm Winter CSA:

 7 distributions, Saturdays, 8am - 4 pm

November 3rd
November 10th
November 17th

December 1st
December 15th

January 5th
January 19th


Vegetables available

Through November, dwindling as the frost sets in

Lettuce, Arugula, Mustards, Hon Tsai Tai, Boc Choi, Tat Soi, Endive, Escarole, Collards, Parsley, Leeks, Kale

Available throughout the season, though not every pickup

Carrots, Beets, Large Radish, Daikon Radish, Purple Top Turnips, Onions, Shallots, Garlic, Parsnips, Potatoes, Celeriac, Cabbage, Chinese Cabbage, Rutabaga, Butternut Squash, Buttercup Squash

We have varying quantities of these crops, so I will be (hopefully) wisely rationing some of them, and, even so, I don't expect the potatoes, celeriac, or squash will last the season.  We may also have vegetables left after these 7 distributions, at which point I will inventory and collect folks interested in continuing on if that seems like an option.

All of the root vegetables will be dirty, as they store better this way.


Price and Quantity

Share size is the peck basket (1/4 Bushel), somewhere between 8 - 15 pounds of vegetables.

Price is sliding scale $180 - $140.  Again, if this is a hardship please let me know and we can work something out.  We also accept SNAP.


I am excited that so many of you are interested in a Winter CSA.  I will be sending out a newsletter a few days prior to each distribution as a reminder and a little update on the going-ons around the farm as well as what vegetables will be available.

See you Saturday
-Anthony


Motion by CSA member John Fitzpatrick

Honestly, tadpoles grow into frogs.
                Or do frogs emerge
                          From length of movement?

The swirl, the swag,
                 The back and forth
                             of water churning desire into form.

There is no other way to explain it -
                  This essence of one's self
                             moving to completion.

Week 22 2012

Volume II, Issue 23
CSA week 22, for the week of October 27th

Last Regular Season CSA Pickup

This Week’s Selection

Potatoes, Lettuce, Bok Choi, Tat Soi, Cabbage, Turnips, Daikon Radish and other large radish, 
Salad Radish, Hon Tsai Tai, Kale, Swiss Chard, Garlic, Onions, Shallots, Leeks, Parsley, Winter Squash


From the Farmers


Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Here we are, end of the line.  We have been looking back over our summer and forward to next year 
for what seems like months, but here is the breaking point.  The bright yellow and orange and red leaves 
are filling the yard, the trees more bare each hour.  The mice and rats have moved in, and despite all the 
lady beetles hatching it seems like fall is here.  Our final regular season vegetable pickups are this week,
 which means I won't have the opportunity of seeing some of your smiling faces every week for many months,
 though I do hope to see you around. Many of you (many more than I would have guessed) are interested in our 
winter CSA, which is great!  We still have many crops to pull in from the fields and store in our root cellar 
including radish, turnips, celeriac, cabbages, and hopefully some rutabaga.  And believe it or not, as we bid 
farewell to this season we have already begun planting for next!  This past week we planted our garlic crop 
for next season to let it put down some roots so it's ready to spring up early next year.

We are now accepting commitments from folks for next season.  When you come by for pickup, if you are
 interested in participating next year, please fill out a commitment form to let us know!  Even if you can't 
or won't put down a small deposit to carry us into the new year, your moral support is tremendous and it 
means I don't have to call or email you next spring or worry that I need to seriously market the farm to bring 
in new CSA members. Tell all your friends too!  Word of mouth is where most folks find out about us, and we'd 
love to have your friends as part of the farm.

We'd also love to know what you've thought of the season.  We have paper surveys for you to fill out at pickup 
or if you'd prefer here is the web link:
 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?fromEmail=true&formkey=dHU5Qjd5alJUS3dIVVduV1VoX19qX1E6MQ

We are also giving cows yet another try!  This Saturday 2 heifers and a young bull will be arriving on the farm.  
The heifers are bred to have calves next spring and provide us with milk for all the butter and yogurt we eat, 
and the bull will make sure they will do the same the next year.  They have fellow bovines this time around and we're 
securing our corral so we won't have another disappearing act on our hands.

We're also looking for an apprentice to join me for next season, April through November.  If you know of anyone 
interested, please send them my way.

Lastly, to add to this time of transition, I would like express great gratitude to Lisa for all the good work and care she has 
brought to this farm as she heads out next week.  Lisa has kept more things together around here than I can begin to imagine! 
 We've done well to make it through this year without many wounds, and have even begun to heal some.  As you eat your winter 
roots, taste the vegetables next season from the ground she has helped cultivate and amend, or know what you are about to
 take home thanks to her signage, keep her in mind.  Thank you Lisa for being a part of Great Song Farm.

And Thank you all for helping to make this year as wonderful as it has been. It is truly special to share this farm and this food 
as we do, to see each other weekly, to know firsthand the soil and the hands and the hooves and the mouths, the great minds
 and hearts and voices, all these small quiet inspirations whispering in the dark, holding together and taking small steps into a 
common future.  Thanks for the warmth and understanding, the joys and small disappointments, the surprises and the constancy. 
Thanks for feeling comfortable to be you with us.

In the grace of community
-Anthony and Lisa


Winter CSA

I know I have told many of you I would be sending out more details soon, but those details are still not as firm as I'd like.  
I hope you don't mind.  Just know there will be many dirty roots for you to choose from, more of some than others, for at least
 a few months, and our first distribution will be Saturday, November 3rd.  We will have food for all that are interested, so please
 don't be shy!  I am working with Jen Carson and Jon Ronsani who farm at Lineage farm and Ashley from Sparrowbush who 
provides our eggs to secure more vegetables to carry us through the winter and round out some of our small deficiencies.  
Both farms are well managed and cared for to organic standards and good friends as well, so know that we will be 
supplementing our vegetables with like or better quality.


A warming and colorful fall supper

I'll make you all Hon Tsai Tai lovers yet!  This asian green, a cousin of broccoli raab, is loving this cool fall weather and 
is tender and flavorful. Along with a roasted winter squash, you have a simple, delicious, and nourishing meal.

Cut your butternut squash in half and scoop out the seeds.  Place face down on an oiled baking sheet and roast in the oven
 at 400 degrees for 45 minutes of so until it is tender.  Steam a few handfuls of Hon Tsai Tai with a little salt until the 
stems become tender; remove from heat.  A little olive oil on the Hon Tsai Tai, some butter for the squash, serve with 
you favorite grain.



A Little Something Else...

 Then said a rich man, speak to us of Giving.

 And he answered:
 You give but little when you give of your possessions.

 It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

 For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?
 And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow  bring to the overprudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the 
        pilgrims to the holy city?
 And what is fear of need but need itself?
        Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?

 There are those who give little of the much which they have – and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire
        makes their gifts unwholesome.
 And there are those who have little and give it all.
 There are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.
 There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.
 And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.
 And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with the mindfulness of virtue;
 They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.
 Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes he smiles upon the earth.

 It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding;
 And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.
 And is there aught you would withhold?
 All you have shall someday be given;
 Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors.

 You often say, “I would give, but only to the deserving.”
 The trees in your orchard may not say so, nor the flocks in your pasture.
 They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.
 Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights, is worthy of all else from you.
 And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream.
 And what desert greater shall there be, than that which lies in the courage and the confidence, nay the charity, of receiving?
 And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and their
        pride unabashed?
 See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.
 For in truth it is life that gives unto life – while you, who deem yourself a giver, as but a witness.

 And you receivers – and you are all receivers – assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and 
        upon him who gives.
 Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as if on wings.
 For to be overmindful of your debt, it to doubt his generosity who has the freehearted earth for mother, and God for father.

        excerpt from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

CSA Newsletter Week 21 2012

Volume II, Issue 22
CSA week 21, for the week of October 20th

This Week’s Selection

Peppers, Beets, Carrots, Parsnips, Bok Choi, Tat Soi, Cabbage, 

Salad Turnips, Lettuce, Arugula, Daikon Radish and other large radish, 

Salad Radish, Kale, Swiss Chard, Garlic, Onions, Leeks, Parsley


From the Farmers

Thanks to everyone who came out on Sunday to help with the harvest, share a meal and conversation, and share some poetry.  I had a great time, though a bit tired by the end of the day, and I hope everyone else did as well.  Our beet and carrot crop are now stored in the root cellar to be; we've still got about half of the walls to build up, as well as some sort of door within the next couple weeks if anyone would like to lend a hand.

Speaking of fun, we will be planting our garlic next Monday and Tuesday and extra hands are also welcome for this big job.  We'll be planting around 3,000 cloves again to grow into 3,000 heads to be harvested next July for your enjoyment.  We'll be splitting the garlic heads into cloves at CSA pickup, so if you have a moment pull up a chair and converse a bit with us.

We are now accepting commitments for members for the 2013 regular season.  Pledging your interest in participating in Great Song Farm CSA next season right now is extremely helpful to us if it is at all a possibility for you.  The money is always helpful to get us through the winter as we make many large purchases before the season begins such as potting soil (~$1500), seeds (~$2000), not to mention my salary ($$$$$$), but really the acknowledgement of your support is really what is important to get us through the winter and into the spring.  Knowing we have people interested in what we are doing helps inspire us and brings meaning to our work.  Just filling out a form and saying yes, this is a worthwhile experience that I would like to participate in next year, is more than enough for me!  It is also difficult knowing how much effort to put into outside marketing in the spring only to have folks who are interested now wait until then to show their interest.  As you well know, we are flexible regarding pick up times, payments, and just about anything else as we are able be accommodating thanks to our size.  If you would like to commit now but have a question or hesitation, please let us know.  Our best advertising is word of mouth, so tell your friends as well!  We'd love to have them be part of the farm next season.  We'll have forms at CSA pickup.

When choosing your share price, it is good to make it a conscious choice.  We put it there to hopefully inspire you to think about the deed you about to commit, offering a monetary gift to support another's work and livelihood, so that this community of people and this earth may be well cared for.  $25 or $50 over the season comes out to a little more than $1 or $2 a week, but for us it really adds up and allows us to better care for the farm.

We have just 2 weeks left this season, and still more vegetables to come.  This week we're bringing in the white salad turnips you all loved so much this spring.  They germinated very poorly for some reason which is why they haven't been available sooner, as they are sparse, but here they are.  We'll also begin harvesting fall cabbage and are doing our best to move along the brussel sprouts and rutabaga so that there are some worth harvesting for the final week.

We will be distributing vegetables via a winter CSA this winter, so if you are interested please talk to me at pickup about details as they are still being worked on depending on how many folks would like to participate.  Rather than limit the amount of people who can participate I decided to cut down the number of distributions and welcome everyone.

If you would be so kind as to help us better your experience by filling out  our survey here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?fromEmail=true&formkey=dHU5Qjd5alJUS3dIVVduV1VoX19qX1E6MQ it would be greatly appreciated.  It is the same as the midseason survey, just a couple months later.  Thanks!

A Great Need

Out

Of a great need

We are all holding hands

And climbing.

Not loving is a letting go.

Listen,

The terrain around here

Is

Far too

Dangerous

For

That.

-Hafiz-

That King of Vegetables, Cabbage.


Ah yes, the fall cabbage is arriving!  There's nothing like it, really.  I actually did not eat much cabbage this spring and summer as next to the fall cabbage it is an entirely different beast.  Enjoy!

Braised Cabbage adapted from the Victory Garden Cookbook
two ways: butter braised and broth braised:
Butter Braised:
4-6 T butter
2-3 t curry powder (optional)
8 cups finely sliced cabbage (this goes quickly with a sharp knife or a food processor)
S & P to taste
Heat 4 T of the butter with curry powder (if using) in a large saute pan. Add the sliced cabbage and stir to coat with butter. Cover, lower heat, and cook gently for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the cabbage is tender. Season with S & P. Add more butter if you like. (Makes 4-5 cups)
Broth Braised Cabbage
note: this originally called for green cabbage, but any might work. I can’t promise what the color will be if you use red cabbage for this one. -julia
8 cups finely sliced cabbage (this goes quickly with a sharp knife or a food processor)
1/2 Cup chicken, beef or vegetable broth
S & P to taste
2 T butter (optional)
Put all ingredients in a covered saucepan, bring to a boil, and cook for 5-6 minutes or until just tender, stirring or tossing occasionally. Or, cook covereed in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or longer, until tender. The timing depends on the cabbage variety and the size of the slices. (Makes 4-5 cups)
* substitute wine for broth or butter
* use bacon or goose fat rather than butter

Sesame Cabbage
1/2 cup raw sesame seeds
1/4 tsp salt
1 dried red chile flakes
1 head Cabbage, chopped
3/4 cup water
1 tsp salt
"Popu"
1 1/2 tbsp oil (olive, sesame, canola, etc.)
1 dried red chili, cracked
1 pinch fenugreek
1/4 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp cumin seed
Dry roast sesame seeds and dried red chili in a pan over medium heat. Stir often until majority seeds are brown. Remove from heat and cool. Once cool, grind in a food processor or blender with 1/2 tsp of salt. Excess ground sesame can be stored in the refrigerator for further use. To cook cabbage over medium heat, add chopped cabbage to 3/4 cup boiling water + 1 tsp salt. Cook until cabbage is desired texture. Once cooked, drain excess liquid. Add 1/4-1/2 cup ground sesame. Turn off heat.Prepare the "popu" in a separate pan by combing all ingredients, heating over medium heat, and waiting for mustard seeds to crackle. Once ready, add to cabbage, stir and heat over low heat for 1 minute. The "popu" can be prepared when the cabbage is nearly finished.

Radish Cabbage Slaw

1/2 lb. 3 cups 1 cup 1/2 cup 2 tbsp. 1/2 tsp. 2 tbsp. 2 tbsp.

radishes, trimmed and grated coarse (about 2 cups) finely shredded cabbage coarsely grated carrots thinly sliced red onion fresh lemon juice sugar olive oil finely chopped fresh cilantro, mint, or parsley leaves

In a bowl toss together the radishes, the cabbage, the carrots, the onion, the lemon juice, the sugar, the oil, the coriander, and salt and pepper to taste.

Gourmet, April 1991


A Little Something Else...

Act Great

What is the key
To untie the knot of your mind’s suffering?

What
Is the esoteric secret
To slay the crazed one whom each of us
Did wed

And who can ruin
Our heart’s and eye’s exquisite tender
Landscape?

Hafiz has found
Two emerald words that
Restored
Me

That I now cling to as I would sacred
Tresses of my Beloved’s
Hair:

Act great.
My dear, always act great.

What is the key
To untie the knot of the mind’s suffering?

Benevolent thought, sound
And movement.

~ Hafiz ~

 

CSA Week 20

Volume II, Issue 21
 

Welcome to CSA Week 20, week of October 13th

This Week’s Selection: peppers, parsnips, beets, carrots, tat soi, pac choi, swiss chard, radishes (black, daikon, and watermelon), garlic, onions, scallions, parsley, dill, cilantro, lettuce, broccoli

From the Farmers:

Dear Friends,

I write beside my first fire of the season (the blessedness of heat!) awaiting the first anticipated frost of fall.  I write approximately 362 days after I have arrived at this lovely little patch of the Earth known as Milan, as Great Song Farm, and yet also a few weeks away from leaving.  In preparation of writing some words of goodbye, I have spent a few moments here-and-there over the past days tracing back my steps of the year; of course, they are jumbled now, a delicate and deliberately crafted montage of memories, a concoction of elements too harmoniously ingrained within me to be sorted through with any sort of precise understanding or definition.  My memories jump through those first weeks after arriving—the warm October, planting and mulching garlic, spending early winter trying to grow accustomed to dwelling in a tent with a trifle of grace and something resembling dignity, my initial hesitations in spending too much time in Larry and Betti’s home (I couldn’t have them growing sick of me too quickly)—which were quickly dismantled out of a combination of necessity and the overwhelm of being welcomed with such humility and constancy.

The doors of family and community opened to me; each opening held a revelation; each opening was exactly what I needed—another example of unrestrained generosity revealed before me.  Prayers were not ignored; needs were never left unmet.  My struggles, like all struggles, were teachers in disguise.  The earth and its inhabitants offered me the nutrition to fuel and feed this mind-heart-body—vegetables of beauty and abundance to support my growth and health and spirit.  We worked to cultivate an environment of trust and compassion, of patience and learning.  Anthony and Jen taught me, and challenged me.  Larry and Betti taught me, and challenged me.  Sunny and Kate taught me, and challenged me.  I worked, seeking discipline, and self-care; seeking forgiveness, and balance; seeking self-acceptance, and success.  I sat with failure.  I sunk myself into the majesty of this land—the shadowed shapes of the horses grazing on the hillside at dusk, black forms against a lucid velvet-blue sky; the stillness of morning harvest—dew-touched leaves of chard as the moon fades from view; the bikerides home through the night, through fullmoons and newmoons and darkness adorned with the fireflies’ glow; watching the transformation of the land as the horses work and re-work the soil—seeing the potential to feed a community next year, and the next, and the next—transforming the micro and macro nutrients of the earth and atmosphere into clean food, real food, living food.   

I thank you, eaters, community members, landlords, fellow farmers, neighbors, friends, for giving me these countless gifts, countless opportunities to learn, to seek, to grow, to know this land and to know all that I do not yet know about this land.  We can only do this work, and continue to do this work, out of your faith and care.

I was struck by these words of Michael Pollan which were published in The New York Times this past week.  Okay, okay, he is talking about farmer’s markets, but I couldn’t help myself in feeling a clear sense that our community of Great Song—along with countless other CSAs and farm-to-consumer direct-marketing avenues across our wider community and world—offers the hopeful soft politics which Pollan calls forth.

It’s easy to dismiss voting with your fork as merely a lifestyle choice, and an elite one at that. Yet there is a hopeful kind of soft politics at work here… Money-for-food is not the only transaction going on at the farmers’ markets (and CSA pick-ups); indeed, it may be the least of it. Neighbors are talking to neighbors. Consumers meet producers. City meets country. Kids discover what food is. Activists circulate petitions. The farmers’ market/ CSA pick-up has become the country’s liveliest new public square, an outlet for our communitarian impulses and a means of escaping, or at least complicating, the narrow role that capitalism usually assigns to us as “consumers.” At pick-up, we are consumers, yes, but at the same time also citizens, neighbors, parents and cooks. In voting with our food dollars, we enlarge our sense of our “interests” from the usual concern with a good value to, well, a concern with values.

Thank you for complicating the roles of “consumer” and “producer” with us, for allowing your kids to discover what food is, for helping us each to add dimensionality to our lives, our work, our consumption.

You can find the full article here (worth the read):

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/magazine/why-californias-proposition-37-should-matter-to-anyone-who-cares-about-food.html?pagewanted=all

In gratitude and goodbyes,

Lisa (and Anthony)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is divinity?

Wallace Stevens

What is divinity if it can come
Only in silent shadows and in dreams?
Shall she not find in comforts of the sun,
In pungent fruit and bright, green wings, or else
In any balm or beauty of the earth,
Things to be cherished like the thought of heaven?
Divinity must live within herself:
Passions of rain, or moods in falling snow;
Grievings in loneliness, or unsubdued
Elations when the forest blooms; gusty
Emotions on wet roads on autumn nights;
All pleasures and all pains, remembering
The bough of summer and the winter branch,
These are the measures destined for her soul.

 

 

 

 

 

Harvest Celebration

Harvest Celebration

Sunday October 14th

Help harvest beets and carrots for the winter, enjoy a potluck supper and conversation with friends, and a community reading and sharing featuring recently published poet and CSA shareholder John Fitzpatrick, and you!

1 pm - 5 pm: Beet and Carrot harvest in the back hilltop fields.  We'll be pulling and digging, topping and bagging these sweet roots to be transported with the help of our horses and you to our root cellar to be stored for the winter CSA.

5 pm: Pot Luck Supper.  Please bring a dish to share and a table setting.

Once we've eaten and conversed a bit, probably around 6 or 6:30, we will have a Community Sharing.  John Fitzpatrick is a local poet who will be reading from his newly published book, Moving to Completion, to start us off.  Then we will open the floor to anyone who would like to share poetry, your own or someone elses, a short story, maybe even from your own life, a (clean) joke, a painting, a drawing, a song, a dance, anything you would like.  Please join us!

A little bit about John's poetry:

Moving To Completion reflects a fascination with nature and a communication with the spirit world found through sentient and insentient beings around us. Through poetry, photography, and art work, individual items such as a turtle, bird, fox, or migrating geese, provide the reader with unique reflections on simple ordinary animals. Moving To Completion shows an energy of oneness between nature’s spirit and the creative human spirit found within every element of the universe.

To find out more about John’s poetry and bio, please visit his website: http://turtleami.com.

be well
-Anthony and Lisa