CSA Summer Newsletter: September 19th, 2023 (Week 17/23)
Federico, Jaime, and Ana in the Pack Shed.
Howdy Folks,
Team Work! That’s the name of the game here at Who Cooks. It all began with Chris and Aeros being the first and only players on the team in 2009. The two player team only lasted one season before we added another teammate in 2010. In 2011, Cedar, our first son was born, and we added three new teammates due to complications with the pregnancy, and Aeros being put on bedrest. This was the beginning of a new role for Aeros… Office work and Packhouse coordination. Chris kept his duties of the greenhouse and fieldwork.
In 2023, our 15th season, we’ve got 11 counting Chris working in the field, planting, weeding, harvesting, etc. We have 3 field crews that Chris directs, each of these crews has a leader! Our Packhouse has three full time folks cleaning, sorting, & packing the produce. The field crew will help out when more hands are needed in the packhouse. We have a couple guys that are used to being the first called to this duty. Sometimes all hands are put on deck when a big harvest gets brought in & everybody helps get it put away.
The Office work begins at 7am. Aeros has passed on this duty to Natalie and she is great at it! We pull numbers from spreadsheets and see how many folks need shares, and as Chris determines what we have available for the shares, Natalie, searches for items folks don’t want to see in their shares. More spreadsheets get made, with all the numbers of what needs to be harvested from where on the farm and how much is needed to fulfill tomorrow's delivery. Pictures get taken of these spreadsheets by the field crew. They are paperless, unlike the packshed, we still do a lot of writing and tracking on paper. At 8am harvest begins as does wash & prep. As produce comes in it gets washed, everything is counted, and inventory is created. Each produce item is washed upon arrival at the packshed, if it’s being distributed the next day. Bulk harvests are left with dirt or dust on them as dirt is their best friend verses water to keep them in their optimal condition.
Teammates! The farm is a collaborative effort. The crew here works hard lifting lots of heavy items, handling tiny seeds, sorting through produce, working in the elements, staring at a computer screen all day, no matter the work, it takes us all to get the food to the people. Then after all is harvested, cleaned and packed, then it’s final stage is yet another crew member, our driver! This driver bringing the food directly to you, it feels like a homerun! It’s a loop that feels very right! You, our CSA members, are a foundation for us. Your investment in the farm and your health keeps this system running. It’s been 15 glorious years of growing for people, and every year we get a little more organized and a little better at what we do. Thank you for believing in us and trusting us. Thank you for helping us grow this beautiful team, we hope you are enjoying the benefits of your investment. If you want to extend the fresh food goodness, you can register for the fall CSA.
Registration here for a Fall CSA! The Fall CSA starts the week following the last week of the Summer Season. The first fall deliveries begin Nov. 7, 8, & 9th and continue for 7 weeks into the heart of December. The final deliveries of the fall season are December 19, 20, 21, the last days of Fall. A little note we don’t retain all the pick up locations from the summer into fall and some of the pick up days get switched around as we no longer deliver on Fridays in this season, so please be sure to double check the pick up days when you sign up.
If you lose this link to register, it will be on our website as well, under the Traditional CSA tab listed as “2023 Fall CSA Registration”.
If you are looking for organic apples, we have finally coordinated a delivery for next week, so please order them from the online market. We only have room for these on the truck on our weeks that are not biweekly pick up. So even if you have just a biweekly share, you can still order and pick up your special order.
Cheers,
Your Farmers
Chris, Aeros and the Who Crew!