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Rising River Farm
CSA Box newsletter
October 10, 2007
360-273-5368
LAST BOX IS NEXT WEEK-OCTOBER 17TH.
Greetings CSA members:
I, Gregory Crawford, have been given the privilege of writing
this week’s newsletter. There is a serious slew of potential
pieces I could bring up right now because the farm life is
a wonderfully complex and invigorating lifestyle….
First and foremost I want to take the opportunity to speak
for every Rising River farmer, and say thank you. Thank you
for caring about where and how your food happens. Thank you
for allowing us to grow your food and work outside and enjoy
what we do. Thank you for being a part of the evolution and
the diversity of food production. Your choices do matter.
This year was a great one for me, as is usual. I am currently
living on top of a hill in a black walnut orchard 15 minutes
from the farm on foot and 5 minutes by bicycle. Some friends
and I are building a natural house on the hill (during the
farming off-season I am prone to travel and one such period
was spent learning the art of natural building and seed saving
in Thailand). Things are coming along very well on the house,
albeit sometimes slowly, but overall I am very, very pleased
with the progress and lifestyle. The combination of growing
food and building a house has boosted me into a new existence
full of wondrous possibilities with concrete, real-life applications
and results.
I personally have been working with Rising River for three
years now. I do a bit of everything from planting, weeding,
harvesting, washing, packing and delivering your CSA boxes,
and selling at the Olympia Farmer’s market, where I
have met some of you. Next year I plan on working at Rising
River part of the time while exploring an independent farming
operation focusing on herbal teas and salad greens.
In starting my own venture I am now realizing the difficulties
of planning and predicting.
Becoming established and reaching the point where you ‘know
what you are doing’ is rather tricky; the initial leap
is not necessarily initial. Success takes many years and presents
a constant and unrelenting challenge. I want to congratulate
Jim and Jen and Rising River for achieving this end. Think
about it: everything from expected crop yield and how many
seeds to plant; to growing what needs to be grown no matter
what; equipment and trucks breaking down; waking up every
single morning so early, even after a late night playing softball;
balancing/juggling CSA and market and Co-op deliveries; coping
with weather –whether it is raining buckets upon buckets
while trying to harvest leeks, or cold, cold herb picking
mornings when basil is ice and cabbage is too, or a freak,
surprise frost that wipes out a crop prematurely…. it
all has to be done. And, so much more that I have no idea
about at all…. On top of this, Jim and Jen are fluid
enough to receive new and inexperienced farmers every year,
and opening doors for new and unexplored farming styles -of
which I am gladly knee deep in- even at the expense of creating
a competitor in the local food economy market. Needless to
say, I am immensely grateful and am awed time and again through
the course of the growing season.
So, let it continue…. Please continue to support local
agriculture and continue maintaining and building your relationship
with it and us.
Until I write another newsletter….
Thank you….
Gregory
P.S. Jennifer here. Just want to mention a few details about
today’s box.
1.The potatoes you are getting are a mix of russets and reds.
They are unwashed to help them store longer. As with the onions,
keep them in a cool, dark place. Perhaps transfer them to
paper grocery bags to keep the light out.
2. Next week-October 17th-is the last delivery. Please bring
back any wax boxes you may have lurking around your garage.
I recommend bringing a handful of grocery bags with you next
week to transfer you box contents into so you can leave that
last box at the site. If you forget, try to get the box back
to the site within a week or drop it by the market. We’ll
be doing a site clean-up next week.
3. The squash today is called “Bon Bon” (who
comes up with these names?) It is semi-sweet, with a drier
flakier flesh. It is good in soups or baked, then stuffed.
4. The onions in your box are “Candy”, a sweet
storage onion. It’s a little more pungent than a Walla
Walla, but not as intense as Copra.
5. DON’T FORGET TO SEND US THOSE SURVEYS!!!!!!!!! Thanks!
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