By: Angela Buchanan
(Dec 9, 2010)
We would absolutely do the egg share again, but next year we will try a different C.S.A. for the veggie and fruit shares. Vegetable shares had some excellent stuff, especially the greens and the leeks. The huge disappointments were the tomatoes and the sweet corn, which were generally of poor quality. Tomatoes were packed so that any ripe ones were crushed and had to be composted. We ate a lot of fried green tomatoes, which I can grow on my own. The cherry tomatoes were nice, and perhaps that is the way to go.
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Fruit shares had some real highlights, especially the pie cherries and the cherry wine, but it was not of a great variety, and the P.R. regarding that issue could have been better handled. In the same newsletter that told us we would not get a fruit share that week, there was an article about people needed to help pick raspberries. There were no melons, which would presumably be one way to avoid crop losses due to bloom freeze. There were no grapes. Things like that. Ultimately, we just can't eat that many apples. This is an organization well worth supporting, but we will spread our C.S.A. cash someplace else next year.
Comment
Angela...........I appreciate your comments....and candor. I am sorry that the veg and fruit fell short of your expecations. As the farmer I really do want everyone to always be totally pleased with the quality of what we grow. We are learning HOW to distribute and make all things work (IE we have to ship tomatoes in the same box as all of the refridgerated items...........tomatoes don't like to get cold as it kills the flavor....and sometimes get squished.....got to find a better way of shipping them for sure) The corn was a huge dissappointment to us too. The cold spring into summer caused a crop failure on the first 4 plantings out of 5. The last planting we had to use a short season variety that wasn't very good. 2010 was a great year for 100+ things we grew......but a terrible year for corn, peppers, tomatoes........hopefully next year will be better. ON the other hand some of the green crops loved the summer. When we grow virtually everything in the produce department some things in a given year will be great.....and some won't like the year. With the fruit, I didn't even think about the PR gaff on the week that we had to skip (but made up in the fall with pie cherries and wine) becasue the sweet cherries got frosted out. The raspberries you refer is a test plot to see what will grow here.......the ask for help was on a very small acreage. We have actually taken them off our calender for next year until we figure out vareities that will work here. The grapes....got frozen out and the western slope was declared a disaster area. Again, that is why we made teh frozen pie cherries (3 tubs) and cherry wine (3 bottles) to help make this up. One thing that did work great were the Plums...........even though the Western Slope got forzen out, the plums at our farm did not and were tasty tasty..............we are going to plant another 2,000 trees this spring! Melons! You point makes complete sense. We planted 5 acres of them for late summer juiciness..............but the plants froze out in the spring and the crop was lost. We will plant more next year! Angela................thank you for being a member of our farm. Thank you for sticking with us on the eggs. We really do work hard and try hard to make ALL people happy with what we do. If you would want to reconsider for next year please call me and I will take good care of you. Andy Grant