CSA Summer Newsletter: August 15th, 2022 (Week 12/23)
Howdy Folks,
A sort of short and very important parable! Carpenters have a saying that they swear by… ”Measure twice cut once” said the carpenter to the apprentice.
Really, always measure twice and cut once? said the apprentice.
“Yeah it just makes the work a little easier. I’ve caught myself many times with the wrong measurement.” said Bub, the carpenter.
Well here is farmer Aeros’ version of the story…
Once upon a time, the kids are arguing in the car on the way to the pick up site. “ I want the Cherry Tomatoes, Cyan ate all of them last week, '' said Cedar.
“I did not, Dad ate them too!”, said Cyan.
The back and forth bickering Mum is trying to let them work it out. Meanwhile she is thinking "I didn't eat any either.”
“We are here!,” says Mum
They get out of the car, and the kids run up and grab the box (with their mum’s name on it.) “Yeah! Cherry Tomatoes!” shouts Cedar as he opens the box. “ I’ll count them out and divide them up evenly between all of us, how about that?”
“That sounds like a great idea, Cedar” The boys eagerly unpack the box and repack into the bags they brought. “ Hey Mum, can you please flatten the box, it’s too hard for me.”
“Sure…….Ahhhhh, boys!” said Mum
“What?”
“This wasn’t our box!”
“What?, I grabbed the one with your name on it!” said Cedar.
“Well this is not my name, it says Neko Johnson. “
“What? Let me see!”
“Oh geez!!!!”
“Ok boys! I know you are excited to get our share, but it looks like we need to pay closer attention to what we are doing. Did either of you look at the list?”
“No, what list?”
“The check in list, on the bright red clipboard over here.”
“Oh cool, I never saw that.”
“Sure you did, we always check off our name and read what we are picking up each week.” “ I’ve never done that.”
“ You mean when you pick up with your Dad you don’t look at the sign in sheet?”
“No, we just find our name and get our shares.”
“Oh Shoot, we got to text Dad right now and tell him about this protocol. The farmers have been asking us to please look at the sign in sheet, before we get our shares.” They said that each week there is a mix up or two, maybe even three on a given week, when someone just takes what isn’t theirs, sometimes a veggie share and I guess it’s especially happening with the cheese, mushrooms, fruit and egg shares too that have the bi-weekly option.” said Mum.
“What’s a bi-weekly share Mum?” asked Cyan
“It’s a share that you only get every other week.”
“Why do people get that?”
“ Folks get it when they would be overwhelmed with getting it every week.”
“ So boys lets look here together. Find our name, and tell me what it says next to our name?” said Mum
“ 1x Bag Fruit Share, 1 Medium Vegetable Share” said Cedar
“Ok! So what do we do? We took someone elses share?”
“Let’s find our box and put our stuff in this box for this dude, who’s name is on the box we just empied!”
“Ok, good thinking Cedar.”
“What about our fruit?”
“Oh yeah lets get the fruit. Where is it?”
“In the box labeled fruit shares.”
“Is all of this for us?” asked Cyan
“No, the sign in sheet said 1 x bag fruit share, so just grab one.” Cedar remarked assertingly.
“Mum, what would have happened if we had taken Neko Johnson’s box?”
“Oh Geez, Neko wouldn’t have had a box!”
“Well yeah, but what would he do?” He said.
“Well the farmers say to call them or our host if our box is missing. I called once last year, and the farmer asked me to look through the boxes that were broken down and to compare the names on the list with the names on the broken down boxes, then I would be able to tell who most likely took my box as we would have the same size, but the person who may have checked off their name still has a box in the stack.”
“Ooooohhhhhh.”
“What happens if someone takes our fruit share, there aren’t names on the bags?” asked Cyan inquistely
“Well I think we may be out of fruit for the week, especially if we get to the pick up site late and there are no more in the box.” declared Mum
“Oh I hope that doesn’t happen to us, I love our fruit share!”
“Me too!” said Cyan
“Well it could be hard to remember from busy week to busy week, especially if you have a bi-weekly share if you don’t look at the list, like we didn’t.” said Mum
“Ok boys lets dot our i’s and cross our t’s before we leave the pick up site. The list said one medium share and 1 fruit share, we got that right?” declared Mum
“Yep!!” the boys chimed in together “and Neko Johnson also has his share too,” said Cyan.
“Awesome, lets’ go home and eat some peaches and watermelon with cream!”
WELL THERE YOU GO, A LITTLE PARABLE…. Please read before you touch and look twice, then unpack once!
We hope you all have a beautiful week! Let’s nip the share nabbing in the bud! We got this, we are officially mid summer CSA season!
Your Farmers,
Chris, Aeros and The Who Crew