CSA #9: Shared Risk

I knew going in that there was always a chance for problems with this venture.  When you buy a subscription to a farm, you share in the risk as well as the harvest.  If a storm wipes out some crops, you get less in your weekly share.  If rain makes it hard to plant, you get a later start.  If rain disappears for a month or more, you get less because the plants are struggling.  So far, this farm hasn’t had to beg off for a week or anything, and almost every week the share has been more than I expected, but I keep waiting.  July was very dry.  Horribly dry.  Not like last year, but still very very dry.  When the paper is posting articles about how we might hit a new record for the driest month ever, you know everyone is aware of that.

Still, the basket arrived today, just a day late but plentiful for this weather.  The enclosed newsletter mentioned how dry their farm is, but that they’re starting to water.  I happened to arrive at home when the basket was being dropped off, and I talked to the farmer about the lack of rain.  She said they have a pond and a pump system set up so they can water their crops, but we both agreed that there’s nothing quite as good as Mother Nature.  However, when Mama is busy, sometimes we need to help her out.

Today’s basket had some new goodies and some old favorites too.  We got a pint of blackberries, some kale, a cucumber, 8 tomatoes, 2 peppers, a cantaloupe, and fresh celery.  Oh, and something called “All Red Potatoes”, which are supposedly red all the way through.  The kids are excited to try those!

The farmer included a recipe for a cold veggie pizza that sounded terrific, so I think I’ll box up the celery, peppers, some tomatoes, the cucumber, and see if my family at the reunion this weekend wants to enjoy that with me.  Lunch anyone???