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  • From: Jacque Greenleaf <jacque@book-woman.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] A Different Take on CSAs
  • Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2010 10:10:30 -0700

I agree that it would be more fun to have a farm to visit. But with Abundant
Harvest, there's a network of growers, and they are a distance away. The
tradeoff is the variety and the available addons.



On Apr 4, 2010, at 11:22 AM, Woody Wodraska wrote:

> 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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