Handance Farm

I joined the Handance CSA for the first time this past year after hearing about and seeing all of the wonderful produce my neighbors were bringing home each week in their bag. My experience has been nothing but wonderful. I don't know how they work the long hours they do, show up long before daybreak each weekend, and manage to greet and assist the hundreds of people who cram into our small market, but they do, and they do it well. The produce is beautiful and bountiful, and Pat has always been so helpful with information, tips, and even special recipes for items I haven't cooked with before. And when the harvest is extra-plentiful, like it was with the tomatoes this year, we CSA folks were offered all of the "seconds" we wanted at no extra charge. Handance accomodates special requests as much as possible - like holding or postponing my bag when I'm going to be out of town. But with so much to do and so many to take care of, there's no way to be all things to all people. Impatient customers should remember that the folks you are talking to and buying from have worked themselves to the bone and put their heart and soul into the food you're getting - they aren't retail clerks who just hopped behind the counter fresh from the coffee bar or their spa appointments (not that I wouldn't enjoy one of those myself). They aren't sleeping much, and they're lucky if their income covers expenses, but we are the ones who consistently benefit from having the best possible food grown just a few miles from our doorsteps!

After my summer CSA was over, I re-upped for the fall, and I'd already be in for next year if Pat would let me. But the new signup won't happen until sometime in January, and if you want to be in on it, you'd better act quickly, because the shares sell out fast!