THE BEET: VOLUME 16; ISSUE 12

FULL SHARE & YELLOW HALF SHARE

Pick up today: 5pm - 7:30pm at PS 56 on the corner of Gates and Downing

Of CSA Note!

  • We'd love to highlight members in our page! Maybe you have a local business or project and want to be interviewed for the Beet to let us know more about your life and work and interest in the CSA? We'd love it! Let us know at newsletter@clintonhillcsa.org.

This Week's Share

  • Tomatoes
  • 'Genovese' Basil
  • Potatoes
  • 'Salanova' Lettuce
  • White or Yellow Onions
  • Green Beans
  • Red Russian Kale
  • Cabbage, beets, or eggplant
  • Fruit: Peaches and Melon

News from Windflower Farm

This week's share is the first of the second half of the season. My nephew, Adam, has been working with us this summer, and he is superb on my cultivating tractors. He lives on the farm with his partner, Laureal, and their son, Abe, in their tiny house. I don’t mean that they live in a small house – we live in one of those – but a bonafide tiny house on wheels. Adam built it himself last winter and pulled it over from Vermont with a borrowed pickup. Everything they need fits within an 8 X 20’ rectangle – living room, eat-in kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms in the loft. Solar panels power their little home, a garden hose provides water, and a composting toilet completes the package. Clearly, living so lightly produces a pretty small carbon footprint. It was the most visited attraction during our open house on the farm. No 30-year mortgage for them, or participation in the attendant rat race, just some thrifty material sourcing, a lot of sweat equity, and most of several month’s wages. As an example of Adam’s frugality, the floor of his tiny house is made from hardwood that was discarded when his old high school gymnasium was renovated. You can see foul line paint just in front of the kitchen sink. Because the tiny house can be pulled to any number of remote locations, they have been able to lay claim to the prettiest spot on the farm, well up the farm road, on a rise overlooking hills to the northwest and the setting sun. Having spent the spring and summer cleaning out my parents' old house (with some courage provided by a can or two of Six Point’s Resin, I tackled the attic last weekend), I can testify to the amount of baggage one might accumulate in a lifetime if one has the space in which to do so. Traveling light has a distinct appeal. With the popularity of the tiny house movement, Adam is thinking of trading his career in agriculture for one in tiny house construction. As his current employer, not to mention his uncle, I’ll do what I can to help him succeed, but I’ll miss how he handles my cultivators.

Have a great week, Ted  

 

Veronica