CSA Reminder: Did You Miss It?

Hi Everyone,

Just a reminder that the 10th pickup (halfway) for the CSA was yesterday, Tuesday, July 26. Usually, I am looking forward to whatever is next. This week, I am looking back at whatever was and how that was, whatever it was. And I hope it was good.

This week was the first of the sweet corn (sorry only three ears and even that was a stretch (we plundered and pillaged every stalk of corn) -- but it's so tender and succulent, you don't even need to cook it!) which brings back many family memories for me (not all of them sweet!).

My father would plant the plot of sweet corn with a tractor after planting the field corn for the cows (other varieties are popcorn, seed corn and dent corn (for flour)). A few days before the corn would ripen, he would place an electric fence around the sweet corn to keep the raccoons out. Otherwise, they would take a bite out of each ear. For two weeks solid we would eat sweet corn for breakfast, lunch and dinner (I kid you not, and I think that excessive trait continues to haunt me today) while picking, husking, blanching and freezing the rest. I can still remember the whirr of the electric knife (my mother's favorite kitchen tool) slicing the kernels off the ears. One year we found a snake in the kitchen which we assumed came in with the basket of corn. We would freeze enough corn so that we, a family of 8 -- and yes, it is enough, too much! just ask my mother but not my brother-- could have corn 4 times a week until the next year's harvest.

Another not-so-sweet memory of corn is my summer job when I was 14 years old as a "corn detasseler." It's not nearly as glamorous as wassailing. And yes, it is a "real" job:

Job Description: Detasseling involves removing tassels that grow on a corn plant, which forces cross-pollination. The steps involved include finding the tassel, pulling it off, and throwing it to the ground. That’s all there is to it! But, it must be done right, or the crop will fail.
Disclaimer: Detasseling is tough. It’s a hot, muddy and sweaty job, but it’s a great way to work for a few weeks in the summer and reap the financial reward. (I'm not sure about that but $300 for an entire summer of working was a lot of money back then).

And last but not least, King Corn, "a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation.." Yeah, no **it. If there is such a thing as "karma" I wouldn't want to be Earl Butz. Because I think that he is responsible for the obesity of millions of people. Yes, his intentions (to get the cost of food down to 17% of a family's income) may (probably not, for how can we even charge anyone for the basics of life? air, water and food?) or may not be admirable. But the outcome has been nothing short of catastrophic; millions and millions of people eating not much else but corn and chemicals.

But the appealing part, (at least for me it's seductive), is how these guys who are growing this acre of GMO corn have so much free time. They lounge, listen to music, contemplate the mysteries of life, play frisbee, harvest their acre and then collect (from the government -- because if it wasn't for that check (subsidy, welfare really) the check that puts them in the black (I had to look that up but "in the black" means on the credit side of the ledger: prosperous) it wouldn't pay (it doesn't pay at all) to plant all that GMO **it.

And there we have it.

I, too, could be a lounger (Please, God, make me a lounger!) listening to music and playing frisbee (my brother keeps telling me to mono crop). Or I could continue to pain-stakenly grow a wide variety of vegetables for the "members" of the farm -- the CSA ("Oh, Lisa, I know what you're doing is hard but it's so good," my sister and her husband tell me). I am getting tired. (My bloodshot eyes give it away). CSA burn out. It's very common. The main reason most give up.

But I plan to persevere (as will Zach, my stubborn brethern, and his wonderful mushrooms). And I do have help. A lot of help. Lauren and her cast of characters and me and my cast of characters. And so, we are a community after all. This is what it is all about. Community Supported Agriculture. It takes a community to produce it and it takes a community to consume it.

So, thanks. To all of you from all of us.

Enjoy!

Lisa, Lauren & Jacob (and our wonderful cast of characters)