Nourishing Bites: Small Talk
Part I of II
Hosting a CSA pickup is a lot of work, but I have always believed in the value of building relationships, one by one. In part, that’s because so much of what we do at April Joy Farm is cultivating company - coming to know, learn, and grow from a diverse farm system full of plant, animal, soil, and human teachers. CSA pickup is an incredible opportunity to listen and connect and thus enrich my farm. And all that happens through the sharing of stories that are as diverse as the produce we grow and the families we serve.
In my earliest years as a CSA farmer, I hitched up my blue cargo trailer (Babe the Blue Ox) and headed to downtown Vancouver where I distributed my produce from a small parking lot. It was a no-frills operation, but my CSA members were supportive and thankful. I shared stories of farm life and they shared tales of delicious meals and expressed encouragement for my efforts.
In the autumn of those first years, in between the bright conversations of comings and goings, I remember sitting in the very cold truck, as dusk fell, waiting for the last of my families to arrive and carry home the bounty from the farm. This was always a time of both momentary stillness and reflection for me.
From a farmer’s perspective, CSA pickup days are always like this- bursts of activity punctuated with bouts of stillness. Families arrive, exchanges occur, and then, as they drive away, things fall quiet and there are precious moments of reflection- bits of time for steeping in the alpenglow of those warm and sincere exchanges. My goal is always for my families to leave with a grocery sack full of joy- for them to know they are cared for and thought of in very real and concrete (or rather, vital and nourishing) ways. I want my families to know that I see them-- really see them-- and that despite our many differences, the connection we share is important, it matters.
CSA pickup is a weekly exchange of gratitude, an ebb and flow of stories and small gifts given and received.
It seems like without fail, the very week I tucked an extra eggplant into the share of the non-vegetable eating teenager who surprised everyone with his love for it, or the week that I shared a quiet thought with a member facing a hard loss, I’d receive hand colored drawings of Grazer the farm cat from sisters Nora and Edie, or a warmhearted recounting of how much my kohlrabi reminded Katie of her special grandfather, or a note from Alice full of gratitude and instructions to “keep writing.”
As I reflect back on my eleven years of CSA pickups, I am filled with the comforting and warm thought that many of those families who met me in that gravel parking lot on dark October nights all those years ago, are still today meeting me at the farm all these years later, or rather, all these stories and hugs and delicious meals later. And the circle of caring, the exchanges of gratitude, the giving and receiving, just keeps on widening and deepening.
At the time, such things may seem immaterial- this common stuff of everyday life- but really, this the very fabric of our lives. This is the foundation of a most precious community. ~AJ
Sow & Sustain Farm
Several of you have asked if we have any spots still available in our CSA this year. We do not and our wait list is growing strong. Please encourage those interested to add their name to our wait list for next year.
Luckily, we can also help you and your friends find fresh produce right now!
Please let them know about Sow & Sustain Farm’s produce boxes.
Farmer Lauren completed an 18 month apprenticeship at April Joy Farm. She had to pivot quickly this spring when the pandemic put a lid on her plans to sell at the Camas Farmer’s Market. She’s a new, young farmer trying to get her foothold and everything she does is infused with love and care.
Thanks for helping spread the word.
We Are Each Other’s Destiny
“I would say that there exist a thousand unbreakable links between each of us and everything else, and that our dignity and our chances are one. The farthest star and the mud at our feet are a family; and there is no decency or sense in honoring one thing, or a few things, and then closing the list. The pine tree, the leopard, the Platte River and ourselves—we are at risk together, or we are on our way to a sustainable world together. We are each other’s destiny.”