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  • From: Woody Wodraska <wodraska@mac.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] A Different Take on CSAs
  • Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2010 11:22:35 -0700

Friends: "Successful?" What makes successful? Long-running might be a good measure, so I'm thinking of the Temple-Wilton Community Farm, which is entering on its 24th season, if I do the math right. They started in 1986, on of the two first CSAs in North America. T-WCF inspired my first attempt to do a (short-lasting) CSA in Quincy, IL, in 1988, the year Yellowstone burned, and then I was a member there in the first years of the 1990s. In the most recent post in this thread, there were casual references to "drops," i.e., dropoff points where the farmer or his/her staff drop off, say, several dozen boxes or bags of produce, presumably labeled with the consumer's name. Casual reference, too, to a "far flung" network of dropoff points. The organization would be happy to ding your checking account on a regular basis. All very smooth, I'm sure, and businesslike. How long running this CSA is, I don't know. But there's gotta be something more than black ink on the balance sheet, and people are presumably happy with the arrangement, another measure of success...but what is missing? I will venture to say that I know, out of experience, for a ran still another CSA in the late 1990s which did a lot of things right. One example: They (the Core Group) made the shareholders come to the farm to get their food. And they encouraged them to come at other times, for a little mandatory work (8 hours for the season) and for festivals at May Day, Summer Solstice, High Summer, Michaelmas at the end of September.

The same deal for T-WCF, Come to the farm. Come and at least take in the atmosphere of animals, and feed, and soil. Come and feel how it's different in different seasons. Let the land touch the bodies of those that it's feeding. Learn from the compost, from the unwashed carrots, the eggs. Be greeted and be shown around the nearby rows of vegetables; trip over a hose, get a whiff of the thyme and rosemary as you go by. Touch the farm with your feelings; know how you are a part of a living organism and be proud that you help it go 'round with your dollar-energy. Connect with the others, your farmers and fellow- traveler shareholders. Connect with the Others, the Nature Spirits and Devas overlighting the land.

If a significant portion of the shareholders are experiencing something like I describe, then I'll agree that the CSA is successful. I know what I'm proposing is impractical; I know that the dropoff system is more efficient. But in my opinion what is gained in efficiency is lost when the feeling of participation, of connectedness, never even happens.

Woody Wodraska
wodraska@mac.com
http://www.soulmedicinejourney.com
Deep Gardening: Soul Lessons from 17 Gardens, Biodynamic Memories now available at http://www.trafford.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000138866







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