THE BEET: VOLUME 18; WEEK 21
FULL SHARE & YELLOW HALF SHARE PICK UP TONIGHT
Pick up today: 5pm - 7:30pm at PS 56 on the corner of Gates and Downing
This Week's Share
Lettuce
Arugula
Salad mix
Kale
Garlic
Rosemary
Yellow onions
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Bunched carrots
Leeks
Broccoli
Fruit: Yonder Farm's apples
This week’s fruit share will be your last of the year and will include Empire apples from Yonder Farm. I hope you have enjoyed the fruit share. Please feel free to send me an email with any thoughts that might make for a better one next year.
Letter from Windflower Farm
Delivery #21, Week of October 28, 2019
What’s new on the farm?
Members of our local staff have begun to announce their plans for the future. It’s something of a tradition here that in the last weeks of the distribution season, Jan and I learn about the changes we can expect in the makeup of our team. Farming is a seasonal activity, and life changes here tend to follow the seasons. Andrea, our membership coordinator, will be back for her 15th season next year. If sign-ups run smoothly, it’s because of her excellent work. Sisters Victoria and Naomi, our distribution and delivery coordinators, respectively, have indicated that they will be with us again next year, too. Victoria has been here for 15 years! She joined us as a newlywed and is now the mother of three boys. We are her mental health day. She is our key to a well-run packing shed. Naomi, now the newlywed, has been with us for 12 years. She makes sure the truck is on time, and that the right packages are delivered to each site. Don, who drives the delivery truck through the narrow and often chaotic streets of New York City, has not announced any changes, but that is different from announcing no changes. My fingers are crossed. Daren, who runs his own small garlic and specialty crop farm and works with us part-time, will also be returning. Working for us, he has said, is his day off. We are his “easy money,” and he’s been collecting it on and off for more than ten years. Angela, who works part-time on the farm and drives the van to Google’s offices in Manhattan on Thursdays, will be behind the wheel again next year.
TB, the jack of all trades who lives in our little cabin, has already returned to school, but he will be with us for a couple of days next year, which is likely to be his last. When the time comes, his vacancy will be a tough one to fill. Sara, who has worked with Jan on the flower team for the past several years, has been developing a pottery business that is consuming more and more of her energy. She also has two or three other jobs. We are not sure if we’ll see her next year. Julia, our first-ever field coordinator, has announced that she is changing careers and will be moving on. Farming for profit, it turns out, is not for her, and she intends to answer the call of another vocation. We’ll all miss her. Nate, my oldest son and both payroll and soil health coordinator, is also staying on. I am grateful that he loves our little farm every bit as much as Jan and I do. I’m grateful to the whole staff - the best team in the Hudson Valley.
What’s a winter share?
Winter share signups are underway! The share will start on Saturday, November 23rd, giving you enough time to empty your refrigerators of any summer share debris. The share lasts a total of four months, and come just once a month, on the following four Saturdays - November 23, December 14, January 11, February 8. Each month, the winter share, which comes pre-packaged in a returnable box, will include a big bag of greens (about 2lb of spinach, kale or mustard greens from our unheated greenhouses), all kinds of storage vegetables (8lb or so of carrots, beets, red and yellow onions, celeriac, potatoes, winter squashes and more), about 4lb of apples and pears, and a locally made sweet treat (honey or jelly or apple cider). I hope you’ll decide to join us and keep our farm team gainfully employed during the winter! Follow this link to learn more and to sign up.
https://windflowerfarm.wufoo.com/forms/m1xr27rk05nzoa8/
Best wishes, Ted
Delivery #20, Week of October 21, 2019
What’s new on the farm?
I’ve just purchased airplane tickets for Leon, Mexico. I wish one was for me (I’ve never been), but, alas, no. Which brings me to the subject of the Medina family.
Half of our farm team, all members of the Medina family by marriage or birth, hail from Mexico. Half of them now live year-round in nearby Cambridge (Salvador, Candelaria and their son Daniel) and the other half (Daniel’s cousins Martin and Jesus and his aunt and uncle Angelica and Jose) return to Mexico each winter. They’ll head home on November 8th, and they can’t wait. They come from the small town of Laguna Prieta, in the mountainous state of Guanajuato, about four hours west of Mexico City. It’s a warm and sunny place all winter long.
Twelve years ago, by chance, Hiliberto Medina passed our farm, slowed down, turned his car around and pulled into the drive. “You need help,” he said. He was talking about how our weeds had begun to outgrow our crops. “I know just who you need,” he continued, and proceeded to tell me about his father Esequiel and his brother-in-law Salvador, who had been working in the mushroom plant in Cambridge until it went out of business the year before. Salvador has been with us ever since, and Esequiel worked with us until his retirement eight years ago. In the intervening years, Salvador’s wife and son have joined the team, along with Esequiel’s son Martin and Martin’s wife and sons, and Esequiel’s daughter Angelica and her husband Jose.
They don’t all come every year - they make those decisions among themselves, depending on the needs and opportunities they have at home. They know that we can provide housing and employment for the local members of their family and four or five others. They come to us through the H-2A program, which provides the successful applicant with temporary work visas for seasonal agricultural workers. The Medinas do much of the harvesting and weeding and take care of the “caterpillar” tunnels. I don’t know what we’d do without them.
The other half of our farm team - the people managing field production and membership, coordinating the packing shed, making deliveries and sometimes weeding - are all locals. More about them in a future letter. Their average employment with us is more than ten years. We all have lunch together around a big table. My favorite day is the occasional taco Wednesday.
When Jan and I first started our farm in 1999 (this will sound very shortsighted to you), we didn’t give a great deal of thought to who our workforce might be. Hence, all the weeds, and the 16-hour days. “Many hands make light work,” indeed. Twenty years later, our excellent farm team is the aspect of our farm that makes me most proud.
Best wishes, Ted
End of Season Survey
Please don't forget to complete our end of season survey. Printed surveys will be available at check-in tonight.
We really value feedback from our members to make our CSA even better, so we're looking for your responses on things like payment options, communication, veggie/fruit selections, etc.
If you don't have time at pick-up to complete the printed survey, you can always complete it online here.
Thank you in advance for helping to fine-tune our CSA!
Winter Share
As Ted mentioned in his letter, now is the time to sign up for your winter shares!
The sign-up link is here:
https://windflowerfarm.wufoo.com/forms/m1xr27rk05nzoa8/
For those who haven't done a winter share before, delivery is at 345 Waverly Ave. in Clinton Hill, once a month for four months starting in November. The dates and more information are on the sign-up form. Delivery consists of a bounteous box of root vegetables, greens, and fruit, and sometimes extra treats like jam or cider. There is also an option to sign up for Davis Farm eggs and even a maple share. Ted runs the share himself, so no need to sign up for work shifts. We hope to see you there!
Cheese Share
Our friends at Crown Finish Caves, who are longtime CHCSA members, are offering a cheese share this winter!
Sign up information is here: www.crownfinishcaves.com
Those of you who were members last summer may remember that they offered their wonderful cheese for sale on site. This share will consist of either one or two pounds of cheese, once a month for four months. Pickup is in Crown Heights.